Three Little Pigs Bento from Yum-Yum

I know a lot of people (like 375 or so of you) are anxiously waiting for me to get off my lazy ass and finish with the giveaway. I’m happy to report that I only have around 150 more entries to log before I can draw numbers. Hopefully I’ll be able to post something on Sunday or maybe even, *gasp*, tomorrow.

I have no idea how people like Bakerella or The Pioneer Woman do their giveaways, since they get thousands of entries. Can someone enlighten me? Currently, I log every entry in on Google Docs with an assigned number.

Since I couldn’t sit very well yesterday, I decided to make myself useful and so in addition to the kitchen cleaning I mentioned yesterday, I also made the bento that will appear in the May 25th issue of Marukai’s newsletter Irrashai. I also took the time to work on another video which will be used to help promote Yum-Yum Bento Box’s release. The Marukai bento and this one are very similar in that both feature piggie onigiri. I was able to get better angles this time, but there are still some areas that need work.

Like me lifting things up out of the camera’s view and saying something like, “See, like this!” (-_-)

I also need to work on the sound. I bought a lavalier mic, which seemed to work, but it was still hard to hear myself during the intro. You’re probably going to have to turn up the volume pretty high to even hear me. Just don’t forget to turn it back down after. The folks at my publisher have been giving me advice on how to do things, but unfortunately, until I have a kitchen that has an open counter, these ghetto angles will have to do. I have an idea of how I want to do things once that happens though.

As you could probably tell, I bought a new camera. I ended up getting the Raspberry Kodak Zi8 and though the battery doesn’t even last as long as my card will record, I love it. It’s the size of my phone and I can whip it out anytime and take a video of the kids. The only problem is that it has a loud chirping beep when you start recording, which is really not good if you’re trying to take surprise video of your kids, who then start acting like total freaks instead of the cute angels you wanted to capture.

I thought I cut things down considerably, but sheesh, it ended up being a 8 minute video… I’ll try to work on that as well. I probably talk too much. Anyway, feedback is welcome as usual! Should I not talk? Do you want music again? Is the video just flat out too long? Should I go back to wearing make-up? The dang light I use (750 watts) makes me sweat like a maniac, so I didn’t go past foundation.

You can’t see it, but I’m actually wearing a Yum-Yum Bento Box apron!

This is a photo of the bento once it was done. I made it identical food-wise to how Maki originally designed it. This is one of many cute charaben you’ll find in Yum-Yum Bento Box. I should note that this is the first time I’ve ever made a charaben identical to a cookbook. In the past, I’ve always simply used books for inspiration or recipes. It was actually pretty relaxing not to have to worry about the arrangement at all. Also, I made the chicken rolls for dinner and it was a hit with everyone except Baby Girl, but that’s not surprising at all. I can’t even get her to eat rice lately. Her dinner last night was boiled egg whites with shoyu. (and one pig’s nose, ears, eyes, and mouth)

While it was interesting and fun to make this bento exactly like the book version, this isn’t the only way we intend for people to use the cookbook. Everything is interchangeable. If you want to use a recipe from one bento, a character from another, and side dishes from a third bento, that’s definitely a great way to go. Take this Three Little Pigs bento for example. You can plop any leftover dish into the spot where the chicken roll is and you’ve just made it that much easier to pack!

Have a great weekend, everyone!