A Box of Love Bento

I thought I'd blog more that I am on holiday, but I was wrong. Practically I've spent my days off doing nothing but watching war-related films/series...;). What a way to celebrate the festive season...;)!

Do you know 'Grave of the Fireflies'? I watched the live-action and totally cried my eyes out. I have the animation too but haven't watched it yet, I read that it's also extremely sad. I found a really good mini-series as well called '99 Years of Love: Japanese American'. The story is like a mixture of 'Gone with the wind' by Margareth Mitchell and 'The Good Earth' by Pearl.S.Buck.

Anyway, back to today's post... I finally managed to make a bento lunch again this morning after being absent from bento making for more than a week. At least I wanted to have something nice to celebrate the new year :).

The bento box consists of one puppy onigiri, three homemade ebi fries, pickled cucumber and carrot salad topped with rabbit-shaped papaya, two shrimp temari sushi, one egg, cheese daisy, strawberries and parsley for garnish.


Ebi Fry - makes 12

• 12 large shrimps
• 1 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
  
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Instructions

• Set the eggs, flour and bread crumbs in three different shallow bowls.
• Add oyster sauce, salt and pepper to the egg bowl and mix well.
• One at a time, dredge the shrimp in the flour, then dip in the egg mixture and coat with the bread crumbs.
  
• Repeat step 3 one more time (optional).
• Deep-fry the shrimps until golden brown.

Pickled Cucumber and Carrot Salad

• Cucumber - thinly sliced
• Carrot - julienned
• Salt
• Sugar
• Vinegar
• Toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Directions

Cucumber pickles

• Sprinkle the cucumber slices with salt. Set aside for 10 minutes.
• Remove excess liquid from the cucumber and rinse with water. Pat dry.
• Add vinegar and sugar to taste. Mix well.
• Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
  

Easy Carrot pickles

• Mix the julienned carrot with vinegar, salt and sugar to taste.
• Set aside for 10 minutes before serving.
• Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
  

I wish you all a very happy new year 2012 :D)!!