May 16, 2007
And This Bento Belongs To...
This was my bento for dinner last night at game. I thought I would try out some of my other cookie cutters. It turned out okay, although I'm reminded that I need a wider box to make pretty things on top of rice.
I used 8 slices of pepperoni (2 points) originally, but only about four slices worth fit in the box. I was planning to put all the scraps under the rice, but I forgot to do that, so instead I put them in a bag and brought them with me. Under the pepperoni is one cup of sushi rice (4 points). The bottom of the box contains about 3/4 cup of grape tomatoes (0 points) and eight pieces of Japanese star candy (about 1/2 oz; 1 point). I couldn't get the grape tomatoes to fit lying down, so I stood them all up on end.
I also brought a small container of the cocoa mochi I made last week to share with everyone. They're holding up very well in the refrigerator. I can't detect any difference in their consistency or moisture content.
If you're interested in star candy I believe it's called konpeito (or possibly konpeitou or kompeito depending on your romanization scheme) in Japanese. It's essentially just a small funny shaped sugar candy. I got mine from JBox, although I expect it will be much cheaper if I can find a local source.
I really like star candy. I learned about it back in high school from one of the Sailor Moon movies I think. At the time my best friend was a Korean classmate. She helped me locate several varieties in a local Korean grocery. Since it's only sugar, it's light and sweet and since it comes in small pieces it's quite satisfying to suck on without the danger of losing the ability to speak for minutes at a time.
Update: Since writing the previous paragraphs about konpeito, I've discovered this blog entry which points out that hand-made konpeito are often flavored and deeply tied to stories. Neat. I learn something new every day.
Update 2: So far this is the only hint I can find about how one makes konpeito.
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