No.55 'Sleepy Yellow Cat' Bento

'Twas the night before school, and all through the house, nothing was stirring, not even a mouse. Well, here it comes! Back to school tomorrow. A bit of a surprise for me this evening when my daughter, who had previously told me that she needed 'serious' bento for this year, asked me to make tomorrow's bento cute! Wow. Well, I suppose we'll see how it is after her first day.

I asked them what theme they wanted for their lunch tomorrow and they both said 'Indiana Jones'. Well, thank you children, you had me completely stumped on how to turn vegetable samosas and curried rice into Indiana Jones. I'm afraid I didn't manage the requested theme, but I did warn them it might be something different. Instead I have attempted to make a large onigiri 'sleepy cat' modelled on a small wooden ornament we're quite fond of. 

The rice has been coloured yellow with a little curry powder in it's cooking water (adds a delicate flavour too). The face and tail are cut from a mild cheddar cheese slice. It's pillows are the vegetable samosas and it has colourful radish balls to play with when it wakes up.

The lunch above is my daughter's slightly larger portion and the one below is for my seven year old son. The rice layer dominates in size for my daughter's meal and the fruit layer dominates in size for my son. It works out that way, since my daughter will prefer her savoury dish and my son would rather fill up on fruit. Although having said that, there is physalis in there, which my daughter is particularly fond of. Apart from the physalis, there are grapes, red currents and mandarin segments for my son, who is less fond of the physalis.

So, back to school we go, bento packed and looking smart!