Happy Witch and Dracula Bentos (409)

Halloween is tomorrow and by some miracle, my children have managed to keep Buddy’s costume a secret from Grandma and Grandpa. Baby Girl could no longer contain her excitement about her own and last night at dinner, she asked Grandma, “Would you like it if I was… a fairy for Halloween?” LOL! She’s insisting that I buy her green Tinkerbell high heels, so I guess I’ll stop by Price Busters to see if they have something…

I did it again. I sat on the couch, watched some tv, and then dozed off. Luckily Baby Girl’s mental alarm clock knew it was Furlough Friday and she got up at freaking 5:45 am. This was good though, because I ended up doing a LOT of cooking. I made the kids French Toast earlier in the week to use up the sweet bread we have and she loves it to death and requested it this morning. Having no leftovers to pack, I ended up cooking breakfast and three bento dishes! Gah!

For me, I have a cute little witch, whose hair did not turn out how I really wanted it to, but oh well. Her face is made of swiss cheese and nori, the hat is cut from the leftover usuyaki tamago from the pumpkin patch the other day, and the yellow egg is the leftover usuyaki tamago from the mummy’s eyes. I cut out the letters and the bat freehand with a scissors. I cut her eyes and bangs myself, but used a punch for her nose and mouth.

Her hat drove me crazy. The thing I hate about usuyaki tamago is that it doesn’t seem to let anything stick to it. I have to dab dab dab water like crazy (Or just lick it, if it’s my bento. I know, gross.) until it sticks. It’s very frustrating. >.< Underneath the egg is some shrimp fried rice. I have no idea how it will taste, but I’m betting it will be bad. At first I was going to sear them after soaking them in Italian dressing, but the heat wasn’t high enough, so I threw in sliced asparagus, salt, pepper, and rice.

Then I tried to add just a dash of soy sauce but since I was pouring from a bottle I ended up accidentally sloshing like a quarter cup into the frying pan, which immediately came to a furious boil. I frantically grabbed paper towels and soaked up as much as I could, but it was still a lot of soy sauce. This type of cooking disaster isn’t all that uncommon for me, so whenever someone sees my bento and praises my wonderful cooking skills, my brain just starts bust laughing. I am far from a good cook. If my food comes out tasting good, it’s with the help of a little luck.

I also suffer from UKS, or Uncontrollable Kitchen Syndrome. No matter how much I try, my clean counters are soon covered with a bazillion things, the sink is full of dishes, the rack is full of dishes, and eventually the stove is covered with pots and pans. It doesn’t help when you use four pans in one morning…

Next to the fried rice I have broccoli, tamagoyaki, and a baby Roma tomato. For Mr. Pikko, I made a boogie-eyed Dracula!

I really need to work on my lighting setup… I’ve been staying away from my lightbox in the bedroom because the color of those lights frustrate me. In the living room I set up a Tota Light Kit, but I don’t have sunlight coming in from the back to light from both sides, so I end up with a deep shadow in the rear. Arrrgh!

Anyway, At first I tried to make the ebi fry look like creepy fingers holding the Dracula onigiri, but it wasn’t working, so I just laid them out the best I could. The box wasn’t the best choice, but I was in an extreme hurry. Dracula is made from white rice and his hair, eyes, and mouth are made from nori. I used a thick straw to cut yellow circles from leftover pieces of usuyaki tamago, then used an eye from a smiley punch for his nose. A slice of kamaboko helped with the fangs, and ketchup blots are on his cheeks for blush and on his fangs and chin for blood. I sliced a tomato in half and stuck it in the two empty slots and funnily enough, it looked like it could be his collar.

Tomorrow Mr. Pikko will be helping me make this disgusting thing. This is the first time in a long time he’s ever been so excited to cook something. The last time was maybe 6 years ago when he volunteered to cook Hamburger Helper at his mom’s house. I don’t count the times he messes up microwaving soup.

I finally splurged and bought an alarm clock for the kids. It’s got an alarm to wake them up and a green light to make them stay in bed on the weekends. Whether this works remains to be seen, but that product description sure convinced me to try!