Thursday, April 1, 2010


Ok I have been out of the bento loop to a few weeks but I am now back with my entry for the j-Cation Virtual Bento Box Battle with my Maneki Neko or Beckoning Cat. I have to admit this was a definite challenge for me because I usually don’t do character bentos. I think I needed to accomplish this one to get myself back on track.

This bento is filled with tamagoyaki with nori, mini turkey burgers seasoned with a packet of vegetable dip mix, sautéed broccoli and apple cinnamon flower tarts with craisins. The cat consists of plain white rice for the body, red bell peppers for inside the ear, collar, mouth and on the paw. I used nori on the paw and for the inner eye and fried egg for the outer eye. Angel hair spaghetti was used for the whiskers and a pink edible flower petal for the nose. The collar is decorated with sour cream dot flowers.

From my reading the Maneki Neko are sometimes shown holding a gold coin called a koban which was used during the Edo period in Japan. The koban is supposed to be worth one ryō but because as in any society early monitary units could very. The one I made although not gold has the value of two million ryō as depicted in the kanji written on it. The coin was made of a tortilla cut into an oval. Then I wrote the kanji (千万両) or two million on it using food coloring and a tooth pick which reads . I have to admit that is came out better than expected. I did use Google translator to make sure what the kanji said.

Well there you go. I hope to have another bento posted soon.

Until next time Itadaki masu!

17 comments:

Susan Yuen said...

I love this bento and it is perfect for the bento battle! Great job on the Maneki Neko!

Happy Little Bento said...

Excellent job Marisa! Love maneki neko, and yours is fantastic! Welcome back to bento!

Whats Cookin Italian Style Cuisine said...

excellent post Happy Easter!

Ingrid said...

Great entry, this is without a doubt good contest material. I never made character bentos neither but I want to try one tonight with an Easter theme. We'll see how that goes.
Great work on the kanji too, btw.

Marisa Lyn said...

Hi Susan, I wasn't sure if I could pull it off seeing as I've never done a character bento before. I'm glad you like it.

Hi Sheri, Thanks I'm glad you like it. It took me a while to get it right I guess I'm to much of a perfectionist. I'm glad it came out as well as it did.

Hi Claudia, Thanks and Happy Easter to you too.

Hi Ingrid, Thanks for the encouragement. I hope your Easter one comes out good I haven't done one yet. Thanks about the kanji I've been working on my writing.

Anonymous said...

Wow! What an enormous amount of patience you must have! Really fun ideas!

Marisa Lyn said...

Hi Danielle, It did take me a while to get it just the way I wanted it but I'm glad it worked out. I don't usually do character bentos so this was a challenge for me and it was fun. Thanks for stopping by.

BentoBoxUK said...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your bekoning cat! Great work! It is so realistic! And those tarts look scrumptious! Good luck in the competition! Best wishes :o)

Marisa Lyn said...

Hi Bento Box, Thanks it took me a while to get it right but it was worth it. I will be posting the apple cinnamon flower tarts soon. They are so good and go great with a cup of tea. Good luck to you also for the competion your bento looks great.

Whats Cookin Italian Style Cuisine said...

Marissa this is truly so creative I love this!~ I had to visit this twice!!!!

Marisa Lyn said...

Hi Claudia, I'm so glad you really liked this bento. Because I've been so out of sorts lately I really needed something to get me going again. I will definitely try to keep myself on track with my cooking and get back in there wit more posts. Thanks for all your support.

Lia Chen said...

Marisa, this is a great one! Love it! Hope you can do more character bento in the future ;)

Marisa Lyn said...

Hi Lia, Thanks this was a challenge for me but I hope to do more in the future maybe not so big. hee hee. Thanks for the encouragement.

Bentobird said...

Beautiful, what a wonderful bento concept! The details are so carefully done, and I love the perfectly letter kanji--yay!

Marisa Lyn said...

Hi Jenn, Thanks so much I appreciate your encouragement. I've always like the Maneki Neko as a matter of fact I have a very mini one sitting on my computer right now. Because this was my first character bento I wanted to do a good job on it so it took me a long time to do it but I was glad with the out come and the kanji was good practice for me. I'm glad you liked it.

Mary Bergfeld said...

This is a lovely bento. I stopped by just to say hello and stayed much longer than I planned I really like you blog and will be back often to see what you have doing. I am so sorry for the loss of your cat. I hope today is a great day for you. Blessings...Mary

Marisa Lyn said...

Hi Mary, Thanks for stopping by. This was a coincidence because I had been taking a short break away for a couple of weeks and I just came back to my blog today. I'm so glad you like my bento it's not the type I usually do but I was happy with the out come. Also thank you about my cat. She was very special to me that's why I needed to take some time off. I hope you will come back in the future because I plan to have more for you to read. By the way I like your blog too.