Japanese Obsession 2

From bento

Bento!

I made that with the help of my roommate back in Japan. Unfortunately now that I'm back in the states, I don't get too many chances to make a lot of bento now. One thing I'm looking forward to next time I'm in Japan for an extended stay is to get back into bento making.

From bento

Pork, Cherry tomatoes, cucumber sausage and apple filled bunnies.

From bento

From hanami

For last year's hanami.

From hanami

We made all that!

From OmNom

And from this year's, mentioned in the first post. Not really in bento-form. I gave my big pink bento box to my boss in Japan, Maiko. It's hiding in the next photo.

From hanami

I got really obsessed with bento boxes while I was in Japan, and I'm sure if my career leads me there again I'll be collecting them all over again. There's just something really fun about making cute and delicious food.

A little history

So, I'm from someplace where we eat this:

From OmNom

But I moved to Memphis when I was 4. All of my family is essentially Cajun or Creole... You could say that food is a big deal. Everyone in my family cooks. When I was in middle school, my family watched a lot of international tv and movies, mostly due to my sister's influence. The biggest influence to me food-wise was probably the food gangster from Tampopo.

From OmNom

A paragon of beauty and excellence.


I already had an interest in Asia. My sister and I watched a lot of kungfu movies and anime growing up. The local Japanese restaurant, Edo, served up some pretty spectacular sushi. Especially their crunchy shrimp and louisiana rolls:

From OmNom

And, our favorite chinese restaurant, Asian Palace, served what they called "Roast Pork with Wonton Noodle Soup". I learned later that this is basically "Wonton mien". Forgive the poor quality. This picture was taken several years ago with a much crappier digital camera.

From OmNom

Memphis has a lot of excellent food. I like to eat well. Eating delicious food all my life has been a goal since a young age. Eating yummy food led to cooking yummy food. My dad always said, "there are those who eat to live, but we're not those people."