bento#32 Where the Wild Things Are – left side

And I moved on the left side…

Bento#32: Where The Wild Things Are – left side
Created and eaten on: 12/27/2008

On the night before, I…
– cut seaweed for everyone’s face
– cut kamaboko (fish cake) for their terrible claws
– cut kamaboko for their terrible teeth
– made potato salad
– made soboro (ground beef cooked in soy sauce and sugar)
– made an egg sheet
– cooked asparagus

Just like the right side, I put lettuce in the bento box, and put renkon (lotus root) on lettuce, and soboro (ground beef cooked in soy sauce, cooking sake and sugar) in the bento box for the ground.

For Bernard’s body, I mixed rice with black sesame seed and salt (see “how to dye rice naturally”), put plastic wrap over the drawing and shaped the body. Just like I did with the right side, I made arms and legs separately and put them on the body to make it more 3D. Then I cut ham for his feet.

Max was pretty easy. I put a little bit of salt in rice, shaped his body first, and I made arms and legs separately. I used an egg sheet (see “how to make an egg sheet”)I had made earlier and cheddar cheese to make his crown. I cut ham to make his face and put it on his head.

Actually, I thought Moishe would be easy and fun to make… Like I’ve said dozens of times, don’t underestimate anything!

I used the same rice with black sesame seed rice as Bernard for his legs. I made his upper torso with plain rice first, then put ketchup on it. I was just going to cut the egg sheet in strips and wrap them around the body and the arms. Sounds easy, right? It turned out it wasn’t… The egg sheet kept coming off because of the ketchup. (The ketchup made the surface slippery.) I somehow managed to tuck the egg sheet strips underneath the rice. After I was finally done with the stripes, I cut out ham for his face and feet.

After all the characters were done, I started putting the seaweed face parts I had cut out for Bernard, Max and Moishe on. Then I cut cheddar cheese for their terrible eyes and put seaweed which I cut out using a hole punch on their face. I put kamaboko (fish cake) that I had cut out for their terrible teeth and terrible claws. I cut seaweed for Bernard’s ears, and put kamaboko horns on him. Finally, I cut seaweed into narrow and short strips, put them for Moishe’s hair, and put kamaboko horns on him as well.

I hadn’t decided what I’d make Max’s rumpus stick with, so I just made him hold broccoli with a stem.

When I finished this bento, it was 10 minutes before my boyfriend had to leave for his bus. It was really early in the morning, and it was still dark, so we tried to use a hand-held light to light up the bento. It was pretty chaotic. After the photo shoot, we had to heat it up so he could eat it inside the bus. (He took the left side, and I ate the right side.)

As I said before, “Where The Wild Things Are” is probably my most favorite American picture book. It’s so full of adventure, mischief and rumpus! I realized then that this bento was more for me than my boyfriend, but I’m really glad that I made it. I got to make the Wild Things themed bento for the last bento for 2008 and share it with my boyfriend. 🙂

I know that Spike Jonze has been working on the “Where The Wild Things Are” film. I really hope he won’t compromise in any way to make it Hollywood-friendly. The wild things are supposed to be scary! That’s why it meant so much when Max tames them. Then again, I’m not the one who’s giving him the money to make it. I can only pray…

Bernard:
– rice mixed with black sesame seeds and salt
– ham for his feet
– kamaboko for his terrible teeth, terrible claws and horns
– seaweed on cheddar cheese for his terrible eyes
– seaweed for his ears

Max:
– rice
– egg sheet and cheddar cheese for his crown
– seaweed on cheddar cheese for his terrible eyes
– seaweed on ham for his face
– broccoli for his rumpus stick

Moishe:
– rice mixed with black sesame seed and salt
– seaweed on ham for his face
– seaweed on cheddar cheese for his terrible eyes
– seaweed for his hair
– kamaboko for his terrible teeth, terrible claws and horns

For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.