Spring Piggy Bento

I bought this new slim 'bento box' yesterday. Well, it's actually not a bento box but a container for storing screws, nuts and bolts, etc - I bought it in a building supplies/home improvement store ;). It only costs about €1, so I thought, why not? I have been itching to make bento using a slim bento box and my new slim bento box which I ordered online a few days ago has not arrived yet, so when I saw this container, I didn't give myself a second thought and directly place it in my shopping trolley :D).

I am still very busy since we're going to start renovating our house tomorrow, so if I haven't been visiting your blogs or replying any comments or e-mails, please do understand :).

Fortunately, the weather has been quite nice lately. It's still rather cool but mostly sunny. I see lots of flowers around, including cherry blossoms and plum blossoms (which look very similar to cherry blossoms but the petals are slightly darker). My bento today is spring/hanami inspired, thus the pinkish props :).

By the way, I made kimchi yesterday, so the bento box today is filled with some Korean goodies, such as Kimchijeon (Korean Pancakes with Kimchi) and Onigiri seasoned with Kimchi juice. The two little piggies are made out of quail eggs and coloured with beet juice. I shaped the piggies into round balls by slightly pinching/forming the quail eggs with my fingers when they were still warm. This really works...! I first read about this method in Tata's blog, so thanks, Ta :)!

Kimchijeon with Whole Kimchi Leaves - serves 7
Adapted from Maangchi

• 7 Kimchi leaves
• 150 grams ground pork
• 125 gram minced tofu
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Flour for coating the kimchi leaves

Please check this link for directions. I made the second type of kimchi pancakes, the one with ground pork, minced tofu and whole kimchi leaves. I find this version tastier than the normal round kimchi pancake with the flour/water batter.

Easy Kimchi Onigiri

• Cooked rice
• Kimchi juice
• Chopped green onions
• Nori (roasted seaweed) to decorate the onigiri

I also had tamagoyaki, 1/2 mini cucumber, 1/2 mini orange sweet pepper, 1 chilli, 1 blanched carrot flower, blanched broccoli, 2 ham flowers, grapes, 1 strawberry, 2 blackberries and red currant in the bento box.

Now I need to get some sleep as it's almost midnight here. So good night, everyone :)!