Wish You Were Here!

I crack myself up! Today a bunch of bento buddies on Twitter are having a #twitterfoodparty in which we share our creations on Flickr, twitter, Facebook, and on our blogs. Our theme this month is PASTA! And since we are just days away from Halloween, I had to do a scary pasta bento. It's THE SHINING!

I used spaghetti and tossed it with Pasta Etc.'s delicious marinara sauce. On top of this I placed a few alphabet pasta letters to spell out "REDRUM", which little Danny Torrance says in the film. Or rather, his finger says it in the film.

I fashioned Danny out of provolone and fresh mozzarella cheese, with nori eyes, mouth, and hair. I used food color markers to make his baseball t-shirt.

On the other side of the bento is steamed broccoli with slices of white radish on top. This is supposed to represent the snow covered maze at the end of the film. My hubby says it doesn't look like that, but I don't think he was into the spirit of the bento.

I had planned on watching the movie again for reference, but honestly, the movie scared the heebie jeebies out of me when I first saw it, and I really don't want to watch it again. Yikes! And the name of the bento (Wish You Were Here!) is a reference to the last scene of the movie, (SPOILER) where Jack ends up in the photo of the party guests.

You can check out the other Twitter Pasta Party entries by heading to twitter.com and searching for #twitterpastaparty and #twitterfoodparty. Enjoy!

Creepy Quail Eggs Bento

I used Martha Stewart's special Halloween magazine as inspiration for this creepy quail egg bento. In her magazine Martha (or rather, Martha's minions) illustrates how to make marbled hard boiled eggs. They are fresh, but look like they have been moldering around the bottom of the basement for a while. The effect is quite easy to produce, and is stunning!

In this bento: Pillsbury garlic stick "fingers" with almond slice "fingernails" hold on to creepy hard boiled quail eggs. They rest on a bed of penne pasta with fresh mozzarella pieces and delicious marinara sauce from Sonoma County's Pasta Etc. In the upper compartment: steamed edamame, baby carrots, slices of white/purple radish from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, cucumber slices, and cherry tomatoes.

Here's a closeup of the creepy quail egg. It actually had more pronounced crackles on it, but I kept in in the fridge for a day before I used it, so the cracks started to fade.

Recipe for Creepy Quail Eggs

quail eggs

vinegar

blueberry juice or red and blue food coloring

Fill a small pot with cold water, then add about 1 or 2 tablespoons of vinegar. The vinegar will make it easier to peel the shells from the eggs. Add the quail eggs to the pot, then place on the stove. Turn the stove on to high heat and wait for the water to boil. Once the water boils, cover the pan and turn off the heat. Let the eggs sit in the covered pot for 7 minutes. Gently pour out the cooking water and pour cold water into the pan.  Remove quail eggs and tap their shells to create cracks all around the surface of the eggs. Put the eggs back in the pan with the cool water. Add blue berry juice or food coloring to create a purplish brew. Let the eggs sit in the colored water for at least 2 hours to get colored effect. Remove eggs from water and gently peel. Use eggs within 24 hours for best effect.