Year of the Rabbit Bento

Happy New Year! To celebrate the beginning of 2011, The Year of the Rabbit, I made a very bunny bento. Technically, The Year of the Rabbit will not start until February 3rd. We are actually still in The Year of the Tiger. I am looking forward to this less aggressive year, myself.

In this bento: creamy polenta (I used Martha Stewart's easy baked polenta recipe), a rabbit quail egg, nori flower, steamed edamame, stir fried carrots and purple cabbage topped with lotus rootlets, cucumber slices, and an apple rabbit made with an Arkansas Black Apple from Walker Apples.

I made the quail egg rabbit by hard boiling a quail egg, then slicing a small section off of one side. I cut that section in two pieces, then inserted those slices into an angled slit on the top of the egg. The nori eyes were punched out with a tiny hole punch.

I found these lotus rootlets in brine at Asia Mart on Guerneville Road in Santa Rosa. They have pretty much no flavor, but such a cool shape. A few little slices of rootlet make small snowflake like patterns.

Happy New Year!

Godzilla Polenta Bento

Rrrawr!!! Godzilla Attacks Bento! Citizens flee in terror! Actually, this bento was really cute and fun to eat as well. I wasn't scared one bit... ok, maybe a little scared.

In this bento: teriyaki chicken meatballs from Aidell's, roasted brussel sprouts with Black Pig Meat Co Bacon, baby carrots, yellow bell peppers, white pomegranate arils from De'Santis Farms, and polenta in the shape of Godzilla.

I darkened the top of the polenta here in Photoshop so you can see the Godzilla shape a little better. I picked up the cutest little jello/custard mold at Daiso and I tried it out with a polenta recipe from Martha Stewart. It worked great! Click here to see Martha's very easy recipe for creamy baked polenta. It will firm up if you chill it in the fridge.

10,000 Hits Bento

It looks like sometime last week the Sonoma Bento blog reached a milestone. 10,000 hits since I started the blog in April. Woohoo! Thanks to everyone for following my blog, or even just stopping by occasionally to see what fun things I am putting into my bento boxes. I really appreciate your comments and your interest in bento.

To celebrate, I am doing a fun GIVEAWAY! Are you interested in bento, but don't know where to start? Are you a bento blogger who needs more bento supplies? Do you just like to win stuff? Anyone and everyone (even outside of the U.S.) who would like to enter this giveaway is welcome to enter. Here's what one of you will win:

A blue double tiered bento box. It has a lower tier, and an upper tier with a fitted lid, and finally a top that goes over the two tiers. It will hold about 500ml. The word "pastel" is on the wrapper, not actually printed on the box.

A pumpkin ice cube tray! This is fun for making polenta pumpkins (see below) or ice cubes, or jello molds, or whatever you want to turn into a pumpkin shape!

Cute apple containers for sauce and a furikake seasoning container, plus a starburst shaped craft punch, perfect for cutting nori (toasted seaweed) into fun shapes.

And finally, this cute handmade bento box strap. I call him Jack O'Bento! This felt bento box strap will fit most two tiered bento boxes. Look for more fun felt bento box straps (made by yours truly) in my Sonoma Bento Etsy Store. I just added a kawaii Skull felt bento box strap!

To enter the contest, follow these steps:

1. You MUST be a follower of my blog. To follow my blog, click on the Follow with Google Friend Connect button on the right side of the page. Let me know in a comment that you are a follower and what your Google ID is.

Additional Ways to Enter:

2. Leave a comment telling me about your best Halloween costume. I LOVE Halloween! Update: I realized that not everyone celebrates Halloween, so you can also post about any Carnival or other costumes you wear for your own holidays.

3. Blog or tweet about this giveaway and post the link here in the comments section.

That's it, please leave a seperate comment for each entry. Good luck! The winner will be selected randomly from all entries on Friday, October 8th, 2010 at noon, Pacific Time.

Here's the bento I made today, the first of many Halloween themed bentos I am sure. I used my own pumpkin ice cube tray (not the one you might win) to make polenta pumpkins!

The polenta pumpkins are resting in a pool of tomato sauce. I made this quick sauce this morning with two early girl tomatoes from The Patch. I used nori to make a Jack O Lantern face on one pumpkin and added a few basil leaves from Middleton Farms. In the upper compartment: baby carrots, red bell pepper slices, cucumber slices, tiny cherry tomatoes from Middleton Farms, raspberries, and green grapes.

Beverage Pairing Suggestion: I added a tiny splash of Syrah to the tomato sauce as I was cooking it this morning. The Syrah I used would be a great fit with this bento box. Acorn 2007 Axiom Syrah picked up a Gold Medal at the 2010 Harvest Fair this year. It's spicy and fruity, and big enough to work well with the garlic tomato sauce and creamy polenta.