Rudolph the red-nosed onigiri

Inspired by all of the WAY adorable Reindeer onigiri I've been spotting in the blogosphere, and also a tad big inspired by my snazzy new rice cooker and it's cool timer feature (which allows me to set it and forget it and wake up to a fresh batch of rice!  Mmmm!), I whipped up a brown rice Rudolph lunch for A today.

My Rudolph doesn't hold a candle to some of the amazing works of art I've been seeing, but I think he turned out alright anyway.  I realized today (too late) that I don't have one of those cool bear shaped onigiri molds.  I really should invest in one!  I think the heart turned out alright, though, with some strategically placed nori, bone picks, and a red M&M.  ;)

Rudolph is accompanied by carrot sticks, a mikan, some edamame, a boiled hot dog and a strawberry jelly.  One more bento this week and A will be off school for the holiday!

PBJ-ingerbread Man... And Zojirushi!

A's lunch today was a hodge podge - seems those are my favorite style since I make them most often!  She enjoyed it though, and I was happy to be able to include so much fresh produce - I made it to the commissary on time!

Marshmall-snow man, pink chocolate star, apples, mikan, and pineapple jelly

Went out last night without the kids to take care of some Santa business and while I was perusing, I discovered that they put my long-coveted Zojirushi rice cooker on sale for $20 off the normal price.  I got some birthday money from a couple of family members so I indulged.  I am SO excited!  I made my very first batch of rice in it this afternoon and I've got to tell you, the texture of this rice is amazing!  It's like infinitely better than any white rice I've ever made on the stove top.  For dinner, we're having rice.  (Ok, and pork tenderloin.)  For dessert, I am going to have rice with milk and sugar.  Mwahahaha.

This Week in Bento...

Meatball/Onigiri Santa

The Christmas season is in full swing in Okinawa - whatever that means.  This morning our temperatures were in the low 60s and I was FREEZING in my sweater!  That's how you know you've arrived in Okinawa - you start responding ridiculously to the weather.  60-65º weather should not make me shiver! I'm from a significantly colder climate than this.  Ridiculous.

Anyways, last week my husband had Friday off and with all the commotion, I didn't get A up for school.  So I made her bento for her to eat at home for lunch.  She had a meatball santa onigiri with a strawberry/mini-marshmallow hat, steamed broccoli and a reindeer marshmallow Peep.  Santa's details are nori and ketchup.  It's fortunate that she wound up eating this lunch at home because the lid wouldn't fit over Santa's hat.  I went a little bit overboard, apparently.

Santa and his elf onigiri

This is today's bento.  It's a Santa onigiri and an elf onigiri with hot dog "snowflakes", steamed broccoli, holiday marshmallows, cheese, and diced fruit.  I got the inspiration for Santa from Sonoma Bento (hers is WAY cuter!!) but I used a fruit roll up for his hat.  Looking at her bento makes me realize I should have made his cheese hat pom pom a lot bigger.  Oh well.  Santa's elf is wearing a smooth egg sheet hat (my first attempt at this technique!) and both onigiri are filled with minced teriyaki chicken.