Plushie Sushi Bentos

Aside from loving and making food, I also knit. And am learning my basics with crochet.

Here's some softies / plushies I made for my boss' daughter. I got the idea when the boss' wife was talking about having a hard time finding some sushi / sashimi play toys for her daughter. When she brought that up, in pops that image of the amigurumi and knit sushi toys I'd seen on knitty.com and (the now defunct) magknits. And so after much procrastinating, a lot of trial and error, and some learning on the go, I give you the following two sushi bentos - they made me crave sushi while I made them!



The two completed sushi bentos above!

Below is my favourite of the two. Some of these were just trial and error, and playing around with little balls of yarn that I had in my stash. Clockwise from the bottom left hand corner, the items (supposedly) are:

- inari (like the confetti-coloured "rice"? ...the boy thought it looked like a dumpling. Meh.)
- tuna sushi
- tamago (egg) sushi w/ a band of nori encircling it
- ebi (shrimp) sushi (in the grey area between "fun to make" and "I can't believe I started this".)
- inside out rolls (definately in the "geez. did I *have* to commit to making rolls?" category)
- pickled ginger "flower"
- small ball of wasabi
- a baby cupcake! This was a lot of fun to make. I wished I had more time to complete it, and to embroider it with some seed bead "sprinkles".
- veggie sunomono, complete with baby "heirloom" carrot and two slices of cucumber





Above is the first bento box I worked on. Although I liked working on this, I almost gave up and wanted to gift the littler girl just one box, because I ran out of ideas on items to make! Clockwise from the bottom left hand corner:

- a baby cupcake! (see above) I really enjoyed the amigurumi items in this project as opposed to the knit items, although I am more familiar with knitting, the circular crochet methods made for near-instant gratification.
- lettuce leaf, topped with a gyoza (both were similar circular "doily" items, the gyoza was just worked a couple round less, with HDCs on the outer hem, as opposed to the TC stitches on the lettuce leaf)
- four mini rolls
- ebi sushi
- tuna sushi
- tamago sushi
- small ball of wasabi
- pickled ginger "flower"

For the entire Flickr photoset, click here.

Next "cooking" projects, will be the big Christmas feast. The bf has been working on stuffing some turkey wings with sticky rice - we had some of the stuffing for dinner last night and it was so good!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hold your loved ones close. I know I will.

Christmas Menu!

Photo of Christmas dinner past:



Christmas is at moms house, with multiple contributions by family members, but as usual, I will be cooking up a feast on Christmas day:

-stuffed mushroom caps
-cheese and squash souffles
-dips + fresh veggies
-deviled eggs
-green onion cakes
-spring rolls (possible - recipe to come later)

-prime rib roast
-suckling pig (by the T&F houses!)
-creamy corn (typical)
-parchment steamed veggies (trying to be healthy!)
-buttered mushrooms (another typical)

I think i might request that my mom makes some steamed eggs and rice. (craving some comfort / home food)

There might be a couple late contributions or additions of baked potatoes / sweet mashed potatoes, plus dessert (there's always room for dessert). We'll see!

Review: Soho Bar and Grill

Disappointing.

Aside from special event nights (UFC, hockey game PPVs), Soho is pretty much empty. On UFC and PPV nights it is the opposite. The place is packed (standing room only, people standing and dining along the partitions), and I'm surprised the fire department has not ticketed this place.

The older Indian couple who own this place hire young inexperienced waitresses and bartenders to man the front of the house. This penny-pinching is evident in other areas as well - meatless nachos, completely turning off the heat until the place is about 40% full, and limited number of debit / cc machines.

I thought it was an okay local joint until I went to watch UFC with the boys one night. The place was rowdy, and when we went to pay a half hour before the title fight ended, they could not handle the rush. The waitress meant well enough, but she had neglected to bring me a last drink (someone had spilt it, apparently), while it showed up on the bill. She did not / could not remove it from the bill, so we had to stay an extra forty minutes for the problem to be rectified. The cherry on the sundae was that the manager was unhelpful, unapologetic, and rude as well - I don't mind if someone screws up, but acknowledge it and be nice about it, at least!

Food was decent, but there are other places to spend my money and watch the game.


Soho Bar and Grill

7090 Lougheed Highway, @ Bainbridge [map]

Burnaby BC

Phone: 604-421-4877

That was a goooood weekend.....

Not exactly as planned, but the end result was great. I love it when that happens. . . portraying what I have always known, "In the end, everything will be okay."

-we were supposed to have an "all cousins" dinner on Friday night, but we were having trouble getting a unanimous decision on location and restaurant, but that was okay, we ended up having dinner with the entire family and the older generation decided on a spot. :)

-we were supposed to go down to the states for an "after Black Friday" roadtrip, but the border waits were too long. That was okay though, we wound up splitting up for the day (I got some crafting / Christmas stuff / shopping done as a bonus!) and meeting up for dinner later in day. Also got that game of Cranium and communal tv watching / alcoholic bubble tea drinking / sushi chowing done. Yay!

-we were supposed to meet for Korean lunch, but, as we had surmised all along, we are our parents offspring, and as such, could not communicate enough / assumed too much. We wound up at the same restaurant, but in different cities. Oh, it sounds funny now, but it was okay in the end: me and TM had a delicious lunch at Sura on Robson, then I picked up my *free* holiday lip balm from Kiehl's (love them!), and even dropped by TMs parents place for hot cocoa and a visit.

-we were also supposed to have dinner out or something, but me and TM stayed at home, and had a delectable dinner of three favourites: tonkatsu on yummy grilled onions and white rice, seared black cod on wild rice, and lamb chop with rosemary roasted garlic potatoes. Oh my, it was excellent.

So yeah. It was okay.

Another one?

I was supposed to have some leftover yummy katsudon for lunch today, but TM made me an even yummier corned beef sandwich with two different mustards, mayo, oka and parmesan cheeses, campari tomatoes, baby greens, stuffed between a split ciabatta bun.

I think I might steal half of his lunch when I get home tonight (he forgot his lunch this morning on his dash out the door).

I am such a lucky girl. :D