The Once-a-Year Big Job: Character Bento

The once-a-year big job. After the New Year holidays end, once or twice a year, I get the feeling of “I’m going to do it.” My usual bento is, well, just okay. I put in some rolled omelet, pack in the leftovers from yesterday, shove something into the gaps, and that’s it. I think that’s fine. I’ve been doing it that way for nearly twenty years.

But only at the beginning of the year do I get a somewhat different feeling.

This year was the

Year of the Horse. So I decided to make a horse bento. I decided that while eating breakfast, and I just felt like it. I didn’t think about it deeply.

First, I made the horse face using satsuma-age (fried fish cake).
I shaped two pieces of satsuma-age into circles, used nori seaweed for the eyes, and laid crab sticks across them like reins.

For the ears, I placed small-cut pieces of satsuma-age on top. When I lined the two up, two horses with indescribable expressions were finished.

I felt like the eyes were a little off, but I thought that was part of the charm.

Kadomatsu (New Year pine decorations) were made with chikuwa (fish cake tubes). I inserted cucumber and broccoli into the chikuwa and tied them with crab sticks.

I see, they certainly look like kadomatsu. If you say they look like them, they do. They feel New Year-ish. Good job, me, I thought.

I wrapped carrots in pork and made them teriyaki-style.

I wrapped the omurice in egg and lined up star-shaped cutouts of hanpen (fish cake) on top. It looked like white stars lined up in a yellow sky.

A little night sky was created inside the bento box.

When I packed everything in, it became quite a lively bento.

My husband apparently opened it at lunch. He said there were onlookers at his workplace. Well, of course there were.

A man in his fifties took out a bento with a horse face on it. I wonder if my husband said anything.

No, I didn’t ask. I felt like I didn’t need to ask.

It’s a character bento I only make once or twice a year, but every time I do this, I think, “Ah, it’s started again this year.” It’s nothing special.

It’s just a bento. But on the morning I pack a zodiac bento, it somehow feels like the beginning of the year.

What year is it next year? I’ll decide to remember that while eating breakfast again.

🍱 Today's Bento Memo

• Satsuma-age (horse face)
• Crab sticks (reins, kadomatsu ties)
• Chikuwa + cucumber + broccoli (kadomatsu)
• Egg (omurice)
• Hanpen (star-shaped decoration)
• Carrots (rolled side dish)

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