Bento Time, Pt. 2: Yum-Yum Bento Box Book Review

Today, I continue on the bento theme. This time, we will be looking at bentos aimed at children instead of adults.

Yum-Yum Bento Box, by Crystal Watanabe and Maki Ogawa.
Charaben, (character-themed bentos) are the focus of this book. Don't expect sophisticated dishes or unusual combinations. This book relies on old standbys that appeal to young kids. The presentation of these foods, however, are what make it special.
This book was authored by two mothers, and it is obvious they agree with the popular idea that bentos can be used as expressions of love for children. Every bento featured is tiny and perfect for little fingers.

Of course the book starts off with a brief history of bentos as well as a photographic list of different supplies you can use in your bento. Because this is a book for kids, the supplies are especially bright and colorful and cheerful. They are great fun to look at.

The bentos are divided up into "Cuties and Critters", "Fairytale Friends" and "Special Day Treats". Each bento has a full-page photo of the finished bento, with a brief description of what's in it as well as recipes for the food on the opposite page. The recipes are fairly simple. Rice balls, grilled cheese, spaghetti, etc. Occasionally it will call for things like making hamburger patties.
The back of the book does contain additional recipes which are a bit more involved, but still very easy.

Helpful tips given by cute vegetable characters add to the appeal. Some of the bentos, which require more elaborate food characters, have step-by-step instructions to do so. For example, one bento shows you exactly how to cut octopi out of sausages.

It's amazing how cute you can make these using everyday ingredients and some imagination.

Now, on to the flaws. This book is adorable and helpful, but by no means perfect. As Little Red Riding Hood shows up above, some of the bento are photographed in such a way that the front is sharply focused, but the back of the bento is fuzzy. I can tell those are strawberries, and I'm guessing a pink rice ball, but what is that brown stuff? I can read the ingredient list to figure it out but I still don't know how it's supposed to look. While this isn't terribly confusing, I still think bentos (especially if you're a beginner) are much more effective when the whole thing is in focus and you can see all the little details. The first bento book I reviewed was great about this.

The recipes themselves are usually only for one or two portions. A few do make enough servings for a whole family, but the majority of these are not. Making an entirely separate meal for one's children is time-consuming. I would have liked it much better if they had all family-sized meal recipes and suggested ways to divide it up so kids get healthy portions. Though with a little tweaking, I'm sure one could do this on their own easily enough without the help of the book.
Obviously this nitpick is referring to actual recipes, not things like sandwiches.

The food used makes me raise my eyebrows a bit. Plenty of fruit and veggies and rice, yes, but also a lot of processed cheese, sausage, bologna, some fried versions of dishes, and SPAM. I'm not feeding my children SPAM. I don't care if it's an old standby and if it's popular in bentos. (Tidbit: Apparently SPAM is extremely popular in Hawaii). Also, for me at least, any pork products are a no go. I'm not going to condemn the book for failing to meet my personal dietary needs, the same way I wouldn't be angry if I needed vegetarian dishes, but the fact so many processed cheeses and meats are used is rather off-putting. I want my kids to eat as healthy as possible.

Listen to me...I don't even have kids yet and I'm pulling the "Only the best food for MY babies!" stuff.

So much emphasis is placed on making the individual parts of the bento that there are really no photographic tips for actually packing the bento and putting it all together. Though the bentos are pretty simple in terms of the amount of dishes in each one, showing which food to put in first would be very helpful.....written instructions for packing the bento are included for each one though, so I admit this is a small nitpick. I just prefer visual reference.

One more thing. I was able to get a gently-used copy for $7, but the retail of this book is $16.95. In my opinion, that's a bit much. The book is 143 pages, but its dimensions are a bit on the small side. I can get huge, hardcover books for only a few dollars more.

In summary, this book offers very cute inspiration that is sure to delight your children....but inspiration is the main positive tribute in my opinion. If you are creative enough to figure out how to assemble bentos on your own and you don't mind a little tweaking, this could be perfect for you. I will probably swap out the processed foods with foods I've picked myself and use the ideas featured to decorate the bentos I make.
And hey, if the food featured doesn't bother you, you'll probably love this book completely! Pick up a copy if you can find it for cheap. Just flipping through it will probably brighten your day.

Disclaimer: The book Yum-Yum Bento Box, its content and photos, are copyrighted Crystal Watanabe, Maki Ogawa, the publisher, and any other creators. Pictures and content featured here are for the purpose of personal review only and no copyright infringement is intended.

Friday, Friday

I was looking through my older Max* last night, and thought I'd share just a few but extremely pretty nails that I feel match the wonderful warmer weather we've been having.

I definitely have a penchant for purple nails.

But blue is nice too.


I have three book reviews in the works. Expect more bentos, cupcakes, and jewelry-making book posts this weekend as time permits. :)



*Max = plural of Nail Max, if it wasn't that obvious.

Nail & Deco: Nail Max, Pt. 1

I got the April issue of Nail Max yesterday! :D

I knew as soon as I saw Eriko Kurosaki's lovely face on the back cover that it would be a good issue. :)

Kumi Koda is the cover girl for this issue. She often wears extremely long, sculptured nails. I personally don't care for overly long nails, nor do I like her much period. She is entirely too eagar to wear skimpy things/show cleavage/take off her clothes.

I love the issues with bridal gowns, mainly because one or two will be white with the rest being vibrant, frilly, and poofy. XD

The best part of this issue is a six-page spread featuring beautiful Spring nail art.

Butterflies!

Little Things

I got the newest issue of Nail Max today. I am excited to go over it in more depth tomorrow or Friday.

I realized I like the whole Japanese decoden thing a lot. Maybe as much as nail art. MAYBE.

I spent about half an hour talking to a couple of new customers at work.

I have had no fewer than ten other women compliment my nail polish; four of them liked it so much they went and bought their own bottles right away. :)

I have two more days left of work and then I have the weekend off.

Amber came to give me a hug because she was in Florida on vacation and she missed me.

I just took a shower, rubbed flower-scented lotion on myself, and now I'm curled up with a book and a giant glass of water while a breeze comes in the open window.

All in all, it's been a pretty good day.

Sparkles

I don't know what's wrong with me lately. I've felt pretty moody and unmotivated. I really need to get a grip and be more grateful.

I have nothing else to say right now, so here is my newest polish.

It's called Rainbow in the S-Kylie, by Nicole for OPI as part of the Kardashian Kolors collection. I'll be the first to admit I don't like the Kardashians, but when I like the shade, I don't care who it's from!

I think this is meant to be more of an accent coat; three layers of polish still didn't get full coverage....however, it's sparkly enough that I think it still looks nice by itself. Next time I'll be sure to add a base coat. I bet the different glitters over black polish would look really nice.

Bento Time, Pt. 1: The Just Bento Cookbook Review

The tradition of bento is very old indeed. While it has been a part of Japanese life for a long time, it is just recently catching up in popularity here. It's easy to see why; many Japanese mothers make their children bento lunches as a beautiful, healthy display of love to be taken to school. Decorated bentos---charaben---are often used in school lunchroom competitions. The presentation of these can get quite elaborate.

Which begs the question: does a bento have to be fancy to be considered bento? Certainly not. A bento is simply a meal in a box. Bentos are not quite able to be lumped in with Western-style lunchboxes however. Bentos are packed and presented with a little extra care. The size of many bento boxes requires that some thought be put into how the different food items are arranged and prepared.

And while there is nothing wrong with the cutesy character-themed bentos, many working adults do not want or have the time to take to prepare these lunches for themselves.

The Just Bento Cookbook, by Makiko Itoh.
Mrs. Itoh is a Japanese woman, who has spent most of her adult life in the USA and Europe. This affords her a unique approach: the fact she has lived several places gives her not only knowledge of her native cuisine, but also what different countries have to offer and what they can and can't easily get for bento. Because of this, even her Japanese-style bento meals contain ingredients that are quite accessible. So far, I have had no issues, and I definitely do not live in a big city. She also lists substitutions one can make if the proper items simply can't be found.

The book starts out with Makiko's bento rules (such as one should never sacrifice taste simply because something is supposed to be healthy) and tips for making the bento process faster. Throughout the book are little text boxes with extra tips and comments.

There are 15 Japanese-style bentos, and 10 alternative style bentos (Western, but even French and Indian too!) Each bento starts with a full color picture, with the recipes of the ingredients featured next. It's important to note that while the finished bentos are in color, the other little pictures used to accompany some of the filler recipes are not. Personally, this does not bother me. The author then expounds on the theme and offers many variation recipes that you can switch out if you want to try different vegetables or flavors. Because of this, even though there are only 25 finished bentos, this book has a whopping 125 recipes! This book offers tips on what to put in your pantry for bento staples, the proper way to make authentic Japanese white rice, and the different types of bentos and supplies.
And if you need extra help:

Each and every bento has a timeline, to show you not only when to start on a certain item, but how long it should take. There are a few night-before steps for some of the bentos, but most of them take a mere 20 minutes or so to complete in the morning.

This is a bento cookbook like no other. It's obviously Makiko Itoh loves good food, and she has made that the focus of her book, instead of the frills that overtake so many other titles. This is the perfect book for novices to bento, who want to incorporate portion control and healthier eating into their lives, but not sacrifice taste. It's a wonderful "grown-up" bento book.
The true test of any cookbook is how successful the recipes are, and I am pleased to say that the many I have tried are delicious. Though to be honest, the plain white rice is too plain for me. I know it's a traditional part of the Japanese diet, but I'm a seasoning and spice kind of girl, and have to doctor it up a bit. I love cumin in my rice!

In short, by this book if you're interested in diving into the world of bento, but are more concerned with its health benefits than making really over-the-top decorated lunches. Highly, highly recommended.

Sukiyuki-style beef donburi bento.

Mini-hamburgers with carrot and cheese flowers, red onions, seasame-salted rice, and fruit.

Salade Nicoise bento (a seriously delicious French food made of hard-boiled eggs, potatos, tomatos, capers, olives, and tuna.)

Mediterranean Mezze-style bento...lamb/beef koftas, baba ghanoush, edamame hummus, pita bread, and vegetables.

Disclaimer: The Just Bento Cookbook, its content and photos, are all copyrighted Makiko Itoh, the publisher, and any other creators. The pictures used here are purely for the purpose of personal review and no copyright infringement is intended.

Asian Confections, Pt. 2: Fantastic Desserts

I am in love with YesAsia. They offer so many books and other goods that I otherwise would not be able to get, or else would pay a ridiculous amount for. Even their standard shipping and expedited shipping is reasonable. ($20 for 2-5 days, which is easily half the amount many other places charge---I'm looking at YOU, Amazon Japan!)

Recently, they had a sale on some of their cookbooks, and I decided to go ahead an add this book to my order.

Fantastic Desserts, by Fiona Fong.
Everything in this book is based on fairy tale stories. You have desserts for "princesses", "witches", and even Peter Pan. True to this theme, the desserts are a bit fancier and prettier than normal....though they still maintain that lovely presentation that I adore about Asian sweets.

As a bonus, this book is both Chinese and English. Does that mean it's usable for English speakers? Well....kind of.

If you can get past the measurements used in this book, which are metric and therefore will need to be converted depending on where you live, you still have to be able to decipher the instructions. They are very brief and scant. Often they consist of: "Mix this. Mix this into the other thing. Bake for this amount. Decorate." Or they'll have odd instructions, like: "Blend the fruit until puree." Of course, I blame the translations---it's obvious they were translated very quickly, almost as an afterthought. Expect quite a few typos and "Engrish" phrases that don't quite fall on the ear correctly.

The few tips on decorating are also very sparse, which is a shame because many of the desserts are fairly common recipes that rely on the special presentation to really give them that "fantastic" kick.

Is this book impossible to use? Nope. If you are familiar with metric measurements, if you are proficient enough to figure out what's going on by a few directions and by looking at a picture of a finished dessert, you will probably be fine. If you can read Chinese, you'll probably be better off than anyone! :P

However, for the novice baker, I simply can't recommend this particular title. I am not sorry I bought it; the price was right, and if you love pictures of beautiful food, especially desserts, looking your way through this book could prove to be its own reward.

Green tea cheesecake.

Blueberry cheesecake.

Strawberry cheesecake. (They really love their cheesecake...)

Strawberry chocolate hearts.

Chocolate cake.

Banana and white chocolate mousse.

Disclaimer: The book Fantastic Desserts and all it's content and pictures are copyrighted Fiona Fong, the distributor, and any other creators. Any pictures used in this post are for the purpose of personal review only and no copyright infringement is intended.

The Craze Starts

For awhile, from the ages of 15-20 or so, I was obsessed with the entire Gothic Lolita movement in Japan.

I bought all I could on it. Gothic & Lolita Bible, Kera Maniax, Gothic Lolita Punk Brand Book, you name it, I probably tried to locate a copy of it. I was taken with the whole thing---the over-the-top clothing, the adorable accessories, even the wigs and makeup.

Everything was so beautifully made and unique.

Though I did like the darker, punk styles....

My FAVORITE style was the sweet, doll-like Lolita look. I was especially drawn to Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, and Angelic Pretty. (The brand that remains my favorite to this day) The dresses are sweet, innocent, and beautiful, perhaps reminding me of my own childhood. Add things like matching hats, umbrellas, and purses, and I'm a puddle of goo. If I were a tiny Japanese girl, I have no doubt I would wear this stuff.

So cute.

Kitty! I want this. :(

However, after awhile, I noticed something:

Nails.

It was very common to have tutorials in these book-magazines (called mooks, FYI) to show readers how to accomplish the looks for themselves. You could have a matching wig, makeup, and even your manicure could be....

Wait a minute. Even your manicure? Really?
That got me to thinking. If this was a big thing, perhaps there were magazines in Japan focusing on just nail art?

On a whim, I typed a search into eBay.

Oh. Oh my. Oh yes, there were. There were a lot. Apparently it was a HUGE thing over there--many people credit Japanese nail artists with starting the new wave of nail popularity----and I was sitting here, oblivious. Well, no more. I looked at the listings. My pupils dilated, my heart sped up, my breath quickened.

I was in love. Who knew you could make such beautiful things for the tips of your fingers? This was a far cry from the tacky, airbrushed, five inch long talons I sometimes saw on the walls of salons.

Putting the Goth Loli on the backburner, since I didn't have enough funds for both, I proceeded to go even more crazy. I was a girl possessed. The only time it died down was briefly in 2008-2009 when money was extremely tight.

Thank you, Japan, for just one of many things you have introduced me to that I find exciting and can be passionate about. I never thought that a simple search back in 2006 would lead to years of following something like nails.

Book Review: Sew Kawaii!

I felt so unmotivated yesterday that I didn't put anything up in my blog at all; today, I am making two posts. Since the nail one was 99% images, this one will be an actual review.

Sew Kawaii!, by Choly Knight.
Once again, I apologize: Blogger has been acting up and keeps flipping my pictures even when they're supposed to be at the proper rotation. >_<

I was very excited when this popped up in my recommended products on Amazon. Anyone who really knows me, knows I love the cute Japanese style. However, it seems many products made by Westerners to fit this style don't quite feel "right"---something is off about them and they don't feel like items you would actually see in Japan. I'm pleased to say that isn't the case with this book. The items within are indeed very adorable and could easily pass as sewed goodies from Japan!

The book is divided up by: Key Chains, Storage Accessories, Wearable Accessories, Plushies, Clothing, and Home Decorations. Each project has a full picture of the finished piece, a list of materials, and step-by-step photos. Each project is rated on a level of difficulty (very easy to experienced beginner), which means even the most difficult project in the book is still very obtainable to someone who is still new to the art of sewing, so long as they've had a little practice. As a fun bonus, each project features a different Japanese word, the kanji for it, as well as the phonetic translation, so you can learn some Japanese terms that relate to the projects within. For example, a pig is buta (boo-TAH).

Things start off in the typical way, with a list of needed tools and materials. Don't expect to be able to make these without a sewing machine; you might be able to pull it off with the smaller items like key chains, but once you get into making your own hoodies and hats, you'll want to have that machine handy. Also, the material you make these out of counts. If you want something simple, go with felt. For a really nice finished item, make your stuffed animals out of plush fabric---they'll look like you bought them in a store.

One of my favorite things about this book, is that the author shows you how to achieve the tightly-stitched thread around the characters' eyes, mouth, etc.---a feature of many plushes and character goods that really lends it an authentic and very professional look. You'll be amazed how much more polished your items will appear, just by including this one little step.

The projects are sooooo stinkin' cute. This is one of the easiest ones: a tiny dumpling key chain. You can easily accomplish this with some felt and a needle and thread. (Though to get the proper stitching around the mouth and eyes, you will need a machine...but you can easily forgo this and sew it by hand for a more "handmade" look)

Jellyfish purses!

Zombie kitty hat!

Angel bunny poncho. All clothing items featured have patterns for sizes S-M, M-L, and L-XL.

Octopus plushies! These are one of my favorite things in the book. Seeing one on the cover is partly what made me decide to buy this. I'm happy to say it was a rare case where judging a book by its cover proved to be correct.

Of course, my favorite project of all (and the most difficult) is this seriously awesome sushi quilt. This project is especially challenging and fun because you have the added need to shop around and figure out which fabrics to use with which sushi roll. You can really play around with the patterns and colors here---notice how a brown, swirled pattern was used to effectively mimic the appearance of a unagi (eel) roll in the bottom corner. I need this quilt in my house someday.

At the back of the book are the patterns for each and every project. Many of the projects have variations. For example, the author will give a pattern for a character hat, then offer several options to customize it, such as a kitty, bunny, or fox. Some craft books, and many Japanese ones are guilty of this, rely on only diagrams. The first part of the book will have only pictures of the finished items, then the back of the book contains boring black and white patterns with directions, leaving you to figure things out. If you cannot understand by looking at a plain diagram you'd be in trouble. The actual photos in this book that show important steps make things much easier than those traditional books.

I would recommend this book to those who are interested in beginning to sew, but want something a little cuter than normal beginner sewing books. Obviously this would be a perfect choice for anyone who loves the kawaii/Japanese culture. The projects in this book range from being useful (cell phone cases) to simply decorative (pillows) but each one is well-done, looks very professional, and would no doubt bring joy to whoever has or receives them.

Disclaimer: Sew Kawaii! and all of its content and pictures are copyrighted Choly Knight, the publisher, and any other creators. Pictures used in this review are for personal reasons only and no copyright infringement is intended.