Oink Oink (271)

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that whenever I look at the elite Japan bentos, I see the almost-impossible smooth, pink mystery meat posing as pig snouts and children faces and what not. There are little sausage flowers that are cut so cleanly they look plastic. After some internet searching I finally found out that this incredible item is called “fish sausage.” I have to extend thanks to furikakemonster on LJ for blogging about this recently. I’d seen a Flickr comment refering to it, but really had no idea where to get it.

I called Marukai and Don Quijote and both said they carried it, but that they were currently out of stock. I remembered that Nijiya Market had just opened at Puck’s Alley right by UH, so I called them and they had some in stock. I picked up a package, which resulted in me completing the Fish Sausage quest. I got some exp out of it and am the happy owner of three fish sausages. It was pretty cheap, something like $3.29 for the set. It expires next February!

My bento today is far from original. I’ve seen these piggies out on the online bento community many times but never did make them myself. Now that I have the Super Awesome Shape Cutter Wheels of Doom, I can do piggie snouts and much, much more. I’d picked up this package of “powdered vinegar” from Marukai that has pictures of very pink rice on the front, so this was the perfect time to experiment with it.

Before I get into the bento, I have to say that my new camera is really frustrating me. Depending on what color background material I have, suddenly the picture becomes saturated with that color. I’ve tried all types of settings and tried reducing the light only to have nearly RED pictures. I still have to read the whole manual, but it’s still annoying that it happens. I’m guessing the picture of the Art Contest bento only turned out decent looking because of the yellow background. Eventually, I took all the material out and just used the plain white lightbox background. Even now, it looks terribly lit. I wish I knew what I’m going wrong.

The powdered vinegar was basically a fine pink dust. I used half the package on these pigs. I made the noses and ears with the food cutter wheels, then used one of my Hello Kitty nori punches to do these. Tucked underneath are three Aidell’s meatballs from Costco and some small sticks of bell peppers. On the side are a few raspberries. Carrot flowers are there for color and the pomegranate seeds up top are there to help fill space. This bento was packed in my Pig bento box.

This one will probably go into the manuscript, but I’ll have a different picture for it. I was so frustrating with the lighting issue that I took the bento outside and plopped it onto the lawn area to take a picture in the natural sun.

I was so happy with this bento, but was late for school and work, so I rushed out the door, forgetting to take my camera cord with me. Grrr! This is why I’m blogging at 9:45 PM. O_o