Yummy Kawaii Bento Review

Have you heard? One of my absolute favourite Bento Bloggers, Bento Monsters has released a book! I love Li's beautiful Bento style and have been a fan of her charaben works since I first discovered her. This is the lady who inspired me to use my wooden chopping board as a background for most of my lunches now. It cam from the crisp clean look of the photography on her blog, not to mention how fresh she makes everything look!

Li spent near on a year working on this incredible beginners Charaben Bento book. And the work has certainly paid off! Chock full of meal designs for all sort of serving ware (plates, bowls and various boxes) as well as recipes so you can complete the dish. The introductory section of the book is almost 20 pages long and covers everything from Bento tools & boxes through to creation and packing techniques. My favourite is the rice colouring guide!

 I decided to try my hand at Tamagoyaki. And Honey decided to help!

 You can never mix your eggs too much!

 I didn't have any Mirin or a Tamagoyaki pan so made do with what I had.

 I also couldn't find my sushi mat, but had this mini sized one tucked away.

Quite happy with my first attempt!

 I ended up making three 'layers' due to the size of my pan but I think they worked just fine!

 Then I decided to wrap them in ham and decorate as piggies just like one of the Charaben lunch boxes featured in Yummy Kawaii Bento.

I didn't hunt through all my tools to find the exact ones used in the book, opting instead for what was on top! Admittedly not quite as cute as in the book, but pretty darn close!

Then Miss M had a quick look through and asked for the clown lunch. I'm sure it was just so she could use my Mummy lunchbox, although the cherry tomato nose was also a big draw card.

But she wasn't happy when I told her the 'hair' was scrambled egg. It didn't take her long to let me know that she would be happy with scrambled egg whites instead. 'Just so long as there's no yolk, Mummy! And maybe you could colour it. . . like icing!!'

 So I tried! I mixed some food colouring into an egg white and microwaved in 20 second blasts until I was happy with the consistency.

After it cooled I added it to the sandwich. I was worried the egg might make the sandwich a little soggy so I added a ham 'skull cap' to act as a barrier between them.

I carved some apple in checks as are featured in the book, but decided to do one with stripes like a circus tent which I placed on top. I also included some strawberry hearts, again featured throughout the book.

Overall I've got to say this is a brilliant Bento book and I can see lots of the ideas, techniques and recipes being put to good use! There are lots of lovely simple yet amazing ideas like this scrambled egg clown that are so easy to replicate. A great book for beginners through to  advanced Bento Makers!


Details of my tools & toys can be found on this page.

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches & Bento Monsters who generously provided me with an e-copy of their book. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.