Sakura Panda Bento

A little late to be sharing sakura bento, since the season is already over. I actually still have more sakura desserts to share too, I've made quite a few desserts using them, don't want to waste those pretty sakura flowers I have, will blog about those next time.

 
Sakura onigiri in this bento is rice mixed with pink sushi mix and flaked salted salmon. I added on shiso leaves and pickled sakura on the onigiri.


Panda is made using quail eggs, nori and cheese.


Can you spot the other panda beind with its head buried?


I also made a cheeky panda playing on a sakura tree. The base is a french toast. The sakura tree is made using ham and bread crust.


I made this for myself, had the lunch with sakura jam and sakura tea. :)


Turned the box round, so you can have a better look at the panda. :)


The sakura tea was not nice, though very pretty. The sakura jam was good though, sweet with a hint of saltiness. :)

Where to get same or similar items used in today's post:

The Wind Rises Bento

Did you watch The Wind Rises, the last animated film by Hayao Miyazaki? Definitely a must watch if you are a fan of his animation. There were tears in my eyes throughout the show. I remembered the last time I felt such sadness was when I was watching another animation "Grave of the Fireflies" by Studio Ghibli (not written by Hayao Miyazaki).


I made Jiro, the main character in the animation in this bento. He is made out of nori, ham, cheese, Kombu and egg white (dyed blue by soaking in butterfly pea flower water).


Side dishes for this bento were pork cutlets, fried prawns, lettuce and strawberries. Ever since my boys are willing to eat lettuce (since last year), I've been giving them lettuce for lunch on most days, save me the trouble of cooking veggies in the afternoon.


I'll end this post with a quote from this film which left a deep impression on me, it pretty much sums up the whole message the film is conveying as well. "The wind is rising, we must live!"

Where to get same or similar items used in today's post:

Totoro Bed

Back to clearing my bentos backlog, sharing a Totoro dinner I made sometime ago.


I saw a super cute Totoro bed online, even found the links to order one, but a little unrealistic to get one for our small house, lol. This Totoro was inspired by that bed I saw.


Side dishes to accompany the rice were tom yam soup, coriander wings and stir-fried cabbage.


Totoro was made using rice (blue coloured using deco furi), nori and cheese.

Where to get same or similar items used in today's post:

Donald & Stitch Star Wars Bento

Hello! I don't usually blog on weekends, but today is an exception. It's May the 4th today and it is Star Wars Day. In celebration of Star Wars Day, I'm joining a blog hop with my fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends, so remember to click on the link at the end of this post, to check out the amazing creations of my fellow bento friends. You can also click HERE if you would like to take a look at my previous creations.


I made 2 Star Wars bentos, they were both inspired by the mascots I saw at Tokyo Disneyland last year. I'll show you photos of those after I am done sharing my bento. First, I made Donald Duck who is pretending to be R2-D2.


Bento was packed with blanched broccoli, stir-fried mushrooms in teriyaki sauce and meat rolls.


Ingredients used to create this were rice (blue coloured using deco furi), egg, nori and capsicum.


The other character I made was Stitch, who's pretending to be Yoda.


The food for this bento is similar to the previous one, as they were both made on the same day.


Ingredients used for Stitch Yoda were rice coloured green using deco furi, cheese, nori and aburage.


And this is the inspiration for my bento today. The Star Wars ride just reopened at Tokyo Disneyland last year, so they came out with these cute mascots. The ride was fun, it's a simulator ride and my boys love it!


The plush versions are so cute. My favourite has to be Donald Duck and Stitch, which explains why I chose them for my bento. :)

Are you ready for more Star Wars bento? All you have to do is click on the image above, hop over to Bento Days and check out Jean's awesome Star Wars bento. May the Fourth be with you! :)

Where to get same or similar items used in today's post:

 

Sakura Macaron

I used to bake macarons quite often, but it has been a really long time since I last baked macarons. I am always hesitant to attempt them after a long hiatus, as I have a phobia that they might not turn out well. I am no expert in baking macarons, but I will try to share some of the pointers I've note down in my recipe book from my past baking experiences.


We stayed home for most parts of last weekends as my boys had to do revisons for their upcoming exams. I baked these sakura macarons on last Sunday. I actually baked a batch on Saturday, but I dropped the whole tray of macaron shells as I was taking them out of the oven. :( I would be lying if I said I was not upset, felt like crying then. :(


Kawaii characters macarons have been on my to do list for a long time, but somehow, I just could not find the motivation to start. What got me started on baking macarons again were the pretty sakura flowers I bought. Once I saw the flowers, I knew I definitely have to bake some sakura macarons. Now that I am getting the hang of baking macarons again, I will definitely be trying out different characters macarons and sharing more different flavoured macarons recipes.


The most crucial part in making macarons is the beating of egg whites till stiff peaks and the folding in of the almond/icing sugar mixture. If you have made chiffon cakes before, it should not be a problem for you. If you are new to this, I suggest that you google for videos on  how to make chiffon cakes and macarons, so that you have an idea on how to go about doing it.


The macaron shells are plain, I just added a bit of pink food colouring. The filling was whipped cream mixed with sakura jam, I added in some lemon zest and juice to balance out the sweetness. I could not get my hands on cherry blossom (sakura) essence, so I tried to substitute that with sakura jam instead.

SAKURA MACARON RECIPE
Ingredients:
80g ground almond
160g icing sugar
60g egg white, separated for 24 hours in advance
Dried sakura flowers
pink food gel colouring
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp icing sugar
1 tbsp sakura jam
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest

Method:

1. Soak sakura flowers for around 2 hours. Dry them on a paper towel and set aside.

2. Sieve 80g icing sugar together with ground almond twice. Alternatively, you can also use a food processor to pulse them till fine before sieving them once. Set aside.


3. Beat egg white on low/medium speed until foamy, sieve 80g icing sugar in 3 batches, change to high speed and beat till soft peak form. Add in some pink colouring by using a toothpick, beat on medium speed till colour is well-mixed. You can turn up the speed and continue to beat till stiff peak, if you prefer a thicker macaron.

4. Add step 2 icing sugar/almond mixture into egg white in 2 batches, folding well to combine.

5. Scoop batter into pipping bag with nozzle tip #1A attached. Pipe small circles on a non-stick baking sheet. Use a toothpick to prick the air bubbles. Dry the macarons shells for 30 minutes under room temperature.

6. At the end of 30 minutes, gently place the sakura flower on the macaron. Do not press the flower onto the macaron, as this will cause the shell to crack and sink in after baking. 

7. Preheat oven to 150 degrees celcius. Bake macarons at middle rack for around 12-15 minutes. Once the feet appears (they should do so before 5 minutes) , place an oven rack above the tray of macarons and continue baking till 12-15 minutes is up. (this is to prevent the top of the macarons from browning) When baking is complete, do not remove the macarons from the tray, allow them to cool for a while before removing. 
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8. To make the cream filling, grate yellow part of lemon to get lemon zest.

9. Whip cream with 1 tsp sugar till soft peaks. Add in lemon zest, lemon juice and sakura jam and continue beating till stiff. Do not overbeat as your cream will curdles.

10. Scoop cream into pipping bag with nozzle tip #1A attached. Pipe cream onto macarons.

Note:

• The measurements for the ingredients is crucial. It is also important to whisk the egg whites and fold in the sugar/almond mixture correctly.
• The need to use aged egg whites is debatable, but you should at least use egg whites at room temperature. I usually separate them the night before, leave in a bowl covered with cling wrap at room temperature.
• Please ensure equipments are dry when beating egg whites, else you will have problem beating them till stiff peak.
• If the whipping cream you buy is already slightly sweetened, you can omit the 1 tsp of icing sugar.
• It is necessary to leave the batter to rest for at least half an hour before baking, this is for the macarons to form a shell on top.
• It's important to use a non-stick baking sheet, I usually bake mine on silpat mats.
• Macarons taste better the following day, so if you can wait, keep in fridge and eat them the next day.