**Diary of A Starving Bento Artist** by Chef Big Sis

Ok this is a long list of facts about me:

I am=== 21 years old, hispanic, 5'4", a great cook ;3 , an artist, a catholic.
I love=== my family, boyfriend, bento, anime, manga, drawing, listening to music, playing my saxophone, playing video games, working at gamestop, cooking.

I was bored today and decided to take some pix of some of my bento gear. ENJOY!

This is the same bento box (that I got for $5.00!!) with a wittle addition of my friends X3

Here is my first attempt at making a kyaraben (which is japanese for character bento). This is Kohaku (in chibi angel form), she is one of the main characters from a manga called WISH. I did this before I knew how hard it was. xD My next one will be WAY better! Now that I know how to actually cut out the nori properly!!

+++ This is what I used in this layer of the bento: +++

Ham and Cheese Sandwich (underneath it all)
White Cheese (for her dress, flower, and bird)
Yellow Cheese (for her hair)
String Cheese (for her wrinkles on her dress)
Ham (for her face, hands, and legs)
Green Crunch Berries ( xD my parents hadnt gone shopping so we had nothing green in the house)
Black Nori (for her facial features)

This is the rough sketch of the bento itself. Its alot of help to draw out what your trying to accomplish in your bento on paper first. It not only helps you figure out what ingredients to use for each color but its also good for being a visual goal.

I just stumbled upon my fellow club member's (Kawaii Bento Club) new Bento Summer School!!!! I can't believe I haven't heard about it till just recently. I totally HAVE to catch up! xD Every week they give out assignments for bento-makers such as myself to help you become a better bento artist! I was like YAY!!! This is the Summer School for me! So I can't believe they are already on week 7. I need to catch up on all the assignments. But I decided to take one of my favorite lessons of the group and start there. Below you can see the outcome! :3

It's TOTALLY free and I LOVE IT!!! So for all who want to join it doesn't matter if you just started (like me) you can join in on the fun anytime!!! Just go here:

http://www.squidoo.com/bento-summer-school

This is my homework for my first attempt at a Bento Summer School Homework Assignment. I made this bento for my little sister. She loves the manga "Kitchen Princess" because she wants to become a great chef when she gets older and the manga is about a girl who loves to cook. This character's name is Najika Kazami. Well anyway I figured I should try and make a kawaii little kyaraben for the assignment which was to make food into shapes and/or make faces onto the food. I figured well why not try to kick it up by making a kyaraben. I sketched the character first then cut the main pieces by hand. Let me know what yall think! :D

The bottom layer is made of a [recipe of my own] cream che"easy" chicken salad sandwich. If you'd like the recipe (because it is delicious!) just post and I'll send it to you via e-mail. There is also a bento cup filled with steamed & seasoned broccoli. YUM!!! I seasoned the broccoli with some lemon pepper and herbs. I tried to keep this bento healthy because she asked me to. She LOVES veggies so I just HAD to throw in some broccoli.

Ok in this tier i decided to just add some fruits and veggies. My sister's favorite thing to eat is TOMATOES, which I hate. xD So I decided to put some in there for her to make her happy. I placed a lemon slice in there for her broccoli and added a nori flower cut out to it for deco. I also put in some green seedless grapes to help fill in the gap between the corn and the grape tomatoes. As you can see I also added some corn and cut some nori for decoration. I know its plain but after I was done with her top tier I was exhausted because it was around 2 a.m. T_T

This bento is one I made for my little sister Katy. She was soo hungry that she forgot that we had to take a picture of it. xD So while I went to get the camera, she began digging in.

The green you see in the bento is just some bento food dividers i got online.

This Bento is made of:

[[[Top Tier]]]
**This is her FRUIT filled tier**
Grapes - Seedless
Orange - quarter of a slice
Apples - chopped into pieces with one apple bunny hiding in there

[[[Bottom Tier]]]
Rolled Sandwiches - Made of ham and cheese
Creamy Baked Corn - with bacon bits in it (real bacon pieces)
Brisket Kabob - the toothpick "had" (lol) two pieces of BBQ brisket and a cherry tomato half

Needless to say she LOVED it.