The Moomins Bento

Yesterday, Sissi from With a Glass wrote this comment: "...If you look for a new bento character, I have my favourite one: Moomin. It's not famous all around the world, but I loved the books and still love, and also the cartoon was wonderful. I suppose it would be difficult to make, since he is light blue ;-)..."

I am always eager to know new characters from comic strips, animations, manga, etc from around the world because there are just so many out there that receive so little attention. The mainstream one are of course characters from Disney. I love Disney, but I think it's such a pity that so many good children stories and tales are left unnoticed and untold. And it's so sad to see how children nowadays grow up too early. But I guess it's no big wonder when they are confronted daily by so many useless, non-educational rubbish on TV and magazines...It must be very hard to be parents in today's society...!

Anyway, of course I had to google The Moomins after I read that comment from Sissi. The Moomins is written by Tove Jansson, a Swedish-Finn writer and illustrator.

The Moomins are a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses. The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moonminvalley, in the forests of Finland, though in the past their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a theatre. They have many adventures along with their various friends. (Source: Wikipedia)

I think the Moomins have got different colours in the animated version (please correct me if I am wrong, I've also just found out about The Moomins yesterday): Moominpappa is blue, he always wears a hat, Moominmamma is creamy light brown, Moomintroll (the main character) is blue and his admirer and lady friend the Snork Maiden, which also looks like a Moomin, is light yellow.

I made the Moomins from tinted quail eggs - blue (red cabbage water + baking soda), yellow (turmeric powder mixed with water) and light brown (soy sauce). While the quail eggs are still warm, they're quite pliable and you can shape them as you wish, but please lightly...! I tried to make a hippo-face shape to each one of them, not completely successful, but I think close enough.

The Moonmins family and the Snork Maiden are sitting on top of multigrain fried rice (leftover from a few days ago), rucola, baby corn flowers and cheese flowers. Behind the rice there are two pieces of taro mochi, a piece of ham flower and a few pieces of strawberries, grapes and blackberries.

The Moonmins don't really look like the original Moomins, but I hope you like them, Sissi :). Thank you for introducing me to a group of interesting new characters...!

And to everyone who reads my blog, if you know any other not very well-known characters which you like, please let me know....:)! As I have written above, I love learning about new characters :D)! Maybe I can even transform them into a bento meal ;). But I cannot guarantee this, because I am absolutely no expert in bento making...!

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank Satsuki from Kirschkuchen for awarding me with the 'Kreativ Blogger' badge below :)! Satsuki writes a German-language blog about bento, Japan, some reviews about foods, book, shops, etc and her daily blabbings ;). And check out her first bento box, isn't it cool? And it's her FIRST bento! Nochmal, ganz herzlichen Dank, Satsuki :). Ich schätze diesen Award sehr...:D)!

Now, 10 random things about me you maybe don't know:

1. I have one older sister.
2. I have one little niece.
3. I can speak Indonesian, English and German
4. I used to learn Japanese for 2 years in high school and I was quite good at it.
5. Unfortunately now I only remember words like 'Konnichiwa', 'Watashiwa...desu', 'Moshi moshi', 'Ikura desuka' and other happy words such as 'Oishii desu ne...!!' and 'Kawaii ne....! ;)
6. I used to learn Chinese too but I was totally horrible at it and quitted after 1 year ;)!
7. I adore bubble tea! Favourite flavours are milk tea, green milk tea and taro milk tea.
8. I cannot bear people who've got no manners (well, who can? Probably people with no manners themselves ;))
9. Imagine by John Lennon is one of my favourite songs.
10. I used to be crazy about Rondo Alla Turca by Mozart when I was younger ;).