mom & pop design

design crush: mary blair

We celebrated my husband's bday at Disneyland. While waiting for him to get his disney passport photo taken, my daughter and I walked into the Main Street Opera House next store. There was a small exhibit showcasing the creative minds behind "It's a Small World". I've always loved the look and feel of that ride, the children with their round rosy faces, the midcentury modern bold graphics. It was styled by Mary Blair, illustrator and designer extraordinaire. Her work -- dynamic, adorable, whimsical, and stylish-- touches my core and now I'm trying to get my hands on everything she's ever made. Pictures from the book  "Little Verses" are from animationarchive, a great place to learn more about Mary Blair.   

tiffins 'n things

Japanese have bentos and Indians have tiffins. I'm just learning about tiffins and I love the concept. Each compartment carries a different food, like rice, curry, naan, and stacks tightly together. Great for saucy foods that might not work in a bento box. Traditionally, they are made of stainless steel or tin like this. In India, they have an fascinating tiffin delivery system called dabbawala, which delivers the tiffins from home to office. These melamine tiffin boxes are made by VIVO, and are available at Pearl River, one of my favorite shops in NYC. While at Pearl River, I spotted these adorable mushroom and apple bento containers. Now I'm craving to explore Little India...

 

just hatched

Here's my latest amigurumi project from my already well worn book, Amigurumi World. The projects are short and sweet, perfect for my short attention span.

hello kitty bento tools from japan

Bento cuteness can now be yours! {via JustBento} This Hello Kitty Bento Decorating Set is now available here . I just ordered one myself. It comes with 3 rice molds, a food cutter (looks like a cookie cutter), and 3 nori punches. What the heck is a nori punch? Well, it's basically a paper puncher but for nori (dried seaweed). That is how they made the little eyes, noses, and whiskers on the rice balls. We'll see if I ever manage to use it. It's a must have for bento freaks!

 

Fish Sticks Bento

So I burnt half of the fish sticks in the oven today. Had to improvise by cutting off the burnt ends, and adding the hot dog. My four year old daughter's bento today contains a few lucky fish sticks, half of a nitrate free hot dog from Trader Joes, carrots, leftover grilled zucchini with soy sauce, brown rice with furikake seasoning, and Laughing Cow cheese. I also added (not in photo) a container of cut up melon and strawberries.

mini pancake sandwiches bento

Here's a quick bento lunch. Frozen mini pancake sandwiches. Don't bother to defrost the pancakes. They'll thaw by lunch time, like Smuckers Crustables. I made 3 types: peanut butter & jelly, honey & butter, and jelly & cream cheese. With a side of carrots, strawberries, and grapes the only thing I wish this bento had was something green to balance out the color.

amigurumi cupcake and latte

Look, Ma! No calories! So, I tried my hand at crocheting, using the patterns from the book Amigurumi World, Seriously Cute Crochet. I made this pink cupcake and this little cup of coffee. The great thing about Amigurumi World is that the projects are all small, and take just a couple hours. But if you're a rookie, like myself, you may have a hard time understanding the instructions. I had to look up a lot of stitches on the internet. It also helps to take an intro class. This will be a birthday gift for my dear friend Amy. Her favorite color is apple green. Happy Birthday Amy!

amigurumi class

I had the pleasure of taking a amigurumi crochet class from the beautiful and amazing Cheryl, whom I met from Peachhead. It was so much fun! Cheryl patiently showed us how to crochet these adorable "yarn chickens" (pictured above) of her own design.  That green blob next to the cute chickens is what I made, after 2.5 hours. It was great to hang out with other crafty ladies...but we were all concentrating so hard, we barely spoke to eachother.   

Our fabulous teacher, Cheryl.

I now know, that spending $45 for a amigurumi cupcake on etsy is so totally worth every stinkin' penny! 

Koreatown for Macarons & More

Today, I drove to Koreatown to buy a table top bbq grill. I stumbled upon these pretty macarons. These are from the Cake House inside the market at Koreatown Plaza. Just a $1.50 each...because the woman there couldn't speak english, I don't know what the flavors are. So I'll tell you the colors they had: brown, light brown, green, lavendar, pink, yellow. I'll do my best to figure out the flavors when I taste them. If you know the flavors, can you let me know?

They had an assortment of breads, cakes, and sandwiches. For lunch, I bought this cool sandwich roll, made with green tea bread. It's filled with ham, egg, cheese, imitation crab, cucumber, carrots, a pickle, and lettuce. It was rolled up like sushi and sliced. Very yummy!

Found! the ultimate bento box

I found this perfect little lacquer bento box in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, at a store called Utsuwa-No-Yakata. This is the ultimate bento box yet, and it has all things I look for in a bento box.
1. It's overflowing with cuteness and prettiness. Shiny woodlike lacquer is ladylike, but the gold bunny speaks to my inner child. (My bento box is talking to me? I'm going crazy)
2. English words on it actually make sense. Can't go wrong with "My Lunch Box".
3. Secure inner lid. Sweet.
4. Awesome inner compartments.
5. Pull this out at lunch time, and you'll be like Molly Ringwald's character in The Breakfast Club.
6. It was on sale for $9.99.

I originally bought this with my daughter in mind-- this puppy's mine. ALL MINE!
Do you have a favorite bento box? Show me!