Tools of the Trade Pt1

Since i'm only doing two bentos a week it's hard to keep the blog full (as I'd like to keep posting daily). Today we're going to talk about some of the tools that I use for constructing my bento boxes. The colorful center pieces (bear, fish, car, bunny) are actually egg molds. It's an unusual concept, what you do is hard boil an egg, peel it hot, squish it into the egg mold and chill them in an ice bath for 10 mins. Pop them open, and lo and behold the egg is in the mold shape, it's kind freaky and cute at the same time. You'll see an example when I post the japanese blog.

Here's a (albeit washed out) picture of the rice molds that I use to create cute riceballs. Originally i had planned to stuff them with some pork sung so it's not just pure rice. It turns out they're a bit too small for that. Still they can be used for molding other items. And there are some cute things you can do with nori and rice.

Last but not least, Silicon muffin cups. These are great, they save some amount of space in my lunch boxes because they are thinner walled and can move to conform to space. Since their waterproof it's a good way to separate food. Bonus they're microwaveable and you can pop them in the toaster oven. By far one of the more versatile tools in my arsenal in my fight against hunger for my eaters :)

This is part one, in the next parts i'll show case the actual lunch boxes as well some of my other tools. It's all great fun for the tool guy in me and no doubt i'll find more cool stuff to add to the toolbox (still need to find one of those....)