Inspired by a suggestion from Pete Custom of DC and the Customatix(link) fame, this bento is an attempt to capture two of the things which spring to mind immediately when I think 'rockabilly'. Pretty pin-up girl 50s style and the double bass. I made two identical bentos, but the faces of the girls ended up with completely different forms and character. I'll display the second one below, for comparison.
The blonde girl began with a base of lettuce, then a shaped cream cheese sandwich. Her face was cut out of a hand cut strip of red leicester cheese (try cutting a block lengthways on it's facing edge- not easy!). I was using individually wrapped cheese slices for making layers, but my children expressed deep displeasure with the 'plastic cheese'. Her features are 'tattooed' on with food colouring and tooth picks. I gave her green eyes and sulky red lips. Her hair is egg noodles and the ornament she has pinned in is half a strawberry. You can just see the shoulder of her tomato red dress.
The double base is a kind of open topped sandwich. A shaped piece of deli wrap 'varnished' with chorizo (a firm favourite with the children). More deli wrap for the detail and blue-dipped egg noodles for the strings. I think the meal should be quite filling, but I'll team it up with a little pot of yoghurt and a fruit 'Zinger' stick (shown in photo).
And here's the other girl. See how completely different she is. I think they are close friends that dress alike to go to concerts. Or maybe I'm giving them a bit too much personality for people made out of food... I'm brimming with bento ideas today, with at least three or four more formulated in my mind already. I have a quite complex Dr. Who themed one that I need to draw up carefully before I attempt. Also a Lichtenstein bento, which was inspired by today's bento and also by handling my violin so that I could put the bow into the picture as a prop. The violin's name is Warhol, and it was through reading Warhol's biographies that I first found mention of Lichtenstein. There is also a robot bento to consider...
Hi! Nice to read your bento blog, very creative!
ReplyDeleteHi Lia! Thanks for compliment, I appreciate you taking a look.
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ReplyDeleteHi! I am glad you followed me on Twitter today, otherwise I would not have known about your blog! You have some really awesome bento art going on! I think it is cool that the 2 girls have different personalities - they could be sisters! :o) If you do a Robot one, don't forget to eneter it in the Kawaii Bento Club's Contest. I am trying to keep a list of the current bento contests on my blog, on this page: Bento Contests
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you Asfora! I'm very new to the online bento community and looking forward to making friends with the same interest. Funny you should mention that they could be sisters, because that's the subject for my bento tonight. I have recently found out that my big sister, who lives quite far from me, has taken up bento making after being inspired by mine.
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled and deeply touched. As a tribute to my wonderful sister I am going to create two bento meals that come together to make 'sisters'. Check back if you get the chance, and let me know what you think!
Thank you for the link to your listed contests, much appreciated. I entered the garden themed bento (#7) and have some plans for the robot contest. Exciting! Your blog looks wonderful and your bentos are so full of colour and detail. I love them!
I love this bento! I am new to the bento scene and I'm scouting around for fun ideas to make my daughter's lunches, and I must say that your blog has some of the best I've seen. I really like that you use American ingredients and use flavors that a kid would enjoy, but that are healthful and nutritious. :) Thanks so much for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteHello QueenofGoodEats! I appreciate your comment about using western foodstuffs in my bentos, and I understand why that's an important point for many bento makers. With the art of bento having asian origins, it can be difficult for those of us in various other countries around the world to source all of the ingredients mentioned in traditional bento making. It's often true that many of those traditionally used foodstuffs aren't appetising to families that haven't experienced a similar diet, too.
ReplyDeleteI cook a lot of asian cuisine at home and I'm lucky enough to have two very good asian supermarkets locally, so I have good opportunity to include some traditional recipes in my bento. On the other hand I'll often use quite common ingredients that would be found in other forms in many western lunches. It's an important point to make to new bento artists that you don't have to be an expert sushi maker to enjoy packing fun character lunches for your family! All of the foods of the world are as good as one another for bento.
Isn't it great that bento has become so international!