Here's part two of my recent escapades in Cooking Cute. I turned my macaroni and cheese into a mouse with a 1980s retro twist. Shutter shades... Pacmen... and more attitude than the Fresh Prince of Bel Air!
In a large saucepan, boil 3.5 cups of water. Add macaroni and cook uncovered, stirring frequently until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Heat the flour and olive oil. Add the milk and mustard, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat. Add the grated cheese and stir until melted.
Toss the macaroni and sauce together in a large bowl. Fill a small, oiled bowl to the brim with the mixture and let sit. Reverse the bowl onto a plate and remove it to form a mound.
Cut out sunglasses and a nose/mouth circle from 1/4 inch slices of Swiss cheese. Cut out a nose from cucumber skin, and add expression with rosemary. Insert cucumber slices for the ears. Cut wedges out of cucumber and carrot slices, and arrange the pieces on the plate.
Tsugino Kerori, the popular San-X frog character, changes colors depending on his mood. White means it’s a wonderful day; green equals grief. Our cheesecake Kerori is the latter… because he’s about to be stabbed with a fork and devoured!
Ingredients: 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, 3 eggs, 25g Stevia or sugar substitute,1 tbs vanilla extract, 3 tbs matcha (green tea) powder.
Decoration: 2 pizzelles (Italian waffle cookie), matcha, whipped cream.
Mix together the cheesecake ingredients. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for 3 minutes, or until creamy. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Place a ball of cheesecake (3 inches in diameter) on top of a pizzelle. Cover with another ball of cheesecake (4 inches in diameter). Make protruding eyes and feet out of small pieces of cheesecake. Sprinkle matcha powder over the eyes and mouth. Optional: add whipped cream to the plate.
Tomorrow, we're back to Goth/Loli fashion. Wait til you see what I did to my nails!
Time for another edition of Cooking Cute with La Carmina! As you know, I love to Japan-ify Western foods by decorating them as kawaii characters. Today, we'll make hard-boiled cuties will put a smile on the grumpiest morning-face.
Ingredients: 6 eggs, food coloring, 6 teaspoons vinegar, a few sprigs of rosemary, mixed salad greens, small carrot
† HARD-BOILED EGGS: Place six eggs in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover the eggs by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium heat and simmer for 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately place in a bowl of cold water to chill.
† DYING THE EGGS: For each color, fill a small cup with 1/4 cup boiling water, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, and 20 drops of food coloring. Immerse one hard-boiled egg per cup to dye the shells. To color the egg whites, peel the boiled egg before placing it in the dye. Let sit for 30-60 minutes.
Peel three hard-boiled eggs and prop upright on bottlecaps.
1. MOUSTACHE MAN. With a sharp paring knife, cut a moustache and facial features from a few leaves of purple lettuce. Press the pieces onto the egg.
2. SLEEPY DUCK. Carefully poke a small hole in the peeled boiled egg and remove the yolk. Fill the hole with salsa or sauce, and re-insert the yolk so that it protrudes from the hole. Cut out eyes and nostrils from rosemary or dark salad greens.
3. NEWBORN CHICK. Immerse a peeled egg in yellow food dye. Crack a raw egg and save half of the shell. Place the yellow boiled egg in the shell. To make the eyes, cut out two circles from purple lettuce. A small piece of carrot forms the beak.
Here's the obligatory photo of Basil Farrow admiring my egg creations. All together now: one, two, three, awwww!
4. LOVERS IN HATS. With a black marker and pink highlighter, draw a smiley face and cheeks on the shells of two hard-boiled eggs. Make hats out of salad greens. Form a heart out of two sprigs of rosemary.
5. KAWAII ANIMALS: For an Easter egg effect, dye the shells of three eggs yellow, pink, and green. With marker pens, draw the faces of a chick, pig, and bear. Serve with salad greens.
Unlike with last time's cheeseball, no taste testers were injured in the making of these eggs. Next up: an 80s-era meal and a frog-tastic dessert!
Get ready to squeal kawaii. The talented Count3D directed/edited a video (starring La Carmina and Count D) in the style of a silly Japanese cooking show! I demonstrate how to make a cheeseball that looks like a Super Mario puffer fish, similar to those adorable character bento boxes from Japan. Please watch, comment, and spread the word!
"You may have seen Japanese school lunches decorated like Hello Kitty or Pokemon. I like to think outside the bento box – so I’m going to show you how to make an apple, walnut and blue cheese cheese ball. But we don’t want it to look like something your grandma made – so we’re going to turn it into a Nintendo-style blowfish."
Ingredients: 300g white cheddar, 250g cream cheese, 125g blue cheese, 2 Granny Smith apples, 1 cup walnuts
Chop up the apples and shred the cheese. Mix together the cheddar, blue cheese, cream cheese, and apples. Shape the mixture into a ball. Cover it with wrap, and refrigerate overnight. The next day, take out the cheese ball. Roll it over a plate of chopped walnuts.
"Now let’s turn this lump into a Nintendo baddie."
Ingredients: 4 heads of endive, 2 radishes, white cheddar, fresh tarragon, dried apple ring
Cut off the root of the endive. Arrange the spears on the cheese ball to look like spikes.
To make the eyes, slice the cheese about a centimeter thick, and cut out circles or semi-circles with the help of a shotglass. Add expression by pressing on fresh tarragon leaves. You can also use strips of other herbs or seaweed.
Use two slices of radish to give him rosy cheeks. You can turn the extra radishes into baby mice. "Kawaii! Oishii!" ( Cute! Yummy! )
A dried apple ring forms the blowfish’s mouth. Serve the cheeseball on a platter along with crackers and apple slices... and pray that you don't keel over and die!
A can of pet food is about as visually appealing as Spam ham. My Scottish Fold kitty Basil Farrow deserves better; after all, his shaky YouTube videos have chalked up over 20,000 views! Inspired by Japanese decorative bento boxes, I turned Basil's mush into an adorable mouse.
I popped two cans of Natural Balance, a premium wet cat food. Using my hands, I worked the contents into two balls and placed the smaller on top of the larger. I used two pieces of Spot’s Stew for the eyes; fragments of Solid Gold Katz-N-Flocken form the nose/mouth and feet. (All of the above contain no animal byproducts, gluten, wheat, corn, or other junk. Only the best for my baby! )
Using scissors, I cut out the ears from a piece of smoked salmon. Blades of catgrass formed the whiskers and tail. As a garnish, I shaped a pinch of catnip into a pawprint.
Was my mouse as yummy as the real deal? I think the photo speaks for itself!
I’m a tad OCD and neurotic (if the chronic blogging is any proof). At regular intervals, I’m swept away by a new frivolity; generally something Japanese, kawaii, Goth, or a combination thereof. La Carmina’s manie du jour is cooking cute: school lunches dressed up as adorable characters by Japanese mothers. Eee!
I’ve been scouring several bento blogs, but my favorite is Mari Miyazawa’s e-obento. The Osaka mother of two has been honing her skills since 2004 and has released several cookbooks in Japan. I love her trademark whimsy. Can you imagine opening up your lunchbox to find Frankenstein proudly waving two happy ghosts (quail egg/nori) and a not-so-pleased demon (cherry tomato/cheese) – all of whom are impaled in a most awkward location?
I’ve picked out Mari’s most Gothic creations for your visual titillation. Most mothers cut the crusts off a sandwich; this one turns the edge of bread into Dracula’s coffin!
I’m always looking for excuses to post pictures of Basil Farrow – so here’s the world’s cutest Scottish Fold along with dishes that almost rival him in kitty kawaii. Can you can figure out the ingredients involved?
I'm going to stop pimpin' my cat after posting this silly YouTube. "The Song of the Count" remix is the product of moi, Count "Chocula" D, Basil Farrow, and way too much procrastination. Enjoy!
Do you remember the scene in Kamikaze Girls where Momoko takes out her school lunch? Everyone's nibbling on rice balls and sandwiches - but our Lolita heroine opens up a pink heart-shaped box filled with girly-colored sweets, meticulously arranged for maximum cuteness.
She is not alone. Every school day, Japanese children tear open their bento boxes at lunchtime and squeal "KAWAII!" Their mothers had risen at dawn and spent three hours arranging slices of egg, cheese, and seaweed into Doraemon, Pikachu, and Super Mario. Okay, I'm hyperbolizing... but "charaben" (character bento boxes) arranging is in fact soaring in popularity in Japan.
In his new book Face Food, Christopher Salyers documents the art of the kid's meal. Character bentos are a modern spin on elaborate food arrangments dating from 12th century Japan. To my surprise, the driving force behind these visual feasts is not artistic fulfillment. The parents toil in the kitchen for the sake of their children; one arranges ham slices into Piglet to delight them, encourage them to eat nutritiously, and hopefully boost their social standing in the classroom.
The book includes helpful hints on how to make your own bento box character lunches. Above are some adorable animals that would suit a Sweet Lolita. Rice is dyed with curry powder or pink food coloring. Egg, sausage, and fish cake form the facial features.
Gothic Lolitas would never be deficient in iodine: a lot of black seaweed (nori) is required to sculpt Emily the Strange, Jack Skellington, and Spiderman.
I whined to my mom: "I'm so deprived! You should have woken up at 5am to craft Goth-themed lunches for meee. Like a skull-shaped sandwich, impaled with red peppers and dripping with ketchup-blood. Or a soy-based interpretation of the Seven Sins, one for every day of the week." She snapped: "Well you were lucky to have ANY FOOD at ALL!"
