The only Asian market I'd been in was many years ago in San Francisco's China Town. I wasn't sure what to expect in Fort Collins. To my delight, and that of the children, we found the market to be full of fascinating foods. We placed sweet and salty rice crackers into our cart along with ramen noodles and sticky rice. Then we spotted something we'd had at a great Asian bistro called East Moon. Japanese soda with marbles. YES MARBLES! I'll explain how you open them later. We found chopsticks to add to our collection and some spices of our own. We couldn't resist buying the tiny speckled quail eggs either. Dear Mama donated lychee gummy candies to try and I purchased strawberry Pocky as a treat for the way home.
Dear Mama came over to help make our first Gento meal. I know I have to do a much better job actually READING the philosophy behind bento instead of just looking at pictures, but I wanted to just jump right in. We decided to make California sushi (I'm allergic to fish), inside-out sushi, Onigiri, rice paper wraps (don't know the official name. kind of like spring rolls-ish) and hard boiled eggs pressed into fish shapes (not so successful, I think we needed the larger eggs). My attempt at sushi produced a gigantic burrito sized sushi! It looked pretty, just large. The boys all made onigiri by taking sticky rice, laying it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and making a little indentation. Meat and veggies were added to the indentation and the rice was then formed into a triangle. Finally a piece of nori is added to the bottom of the triangle to produce a cute little rice package.
Once all the food was prepared we each took on the task of decorating our Gento box with our delectables. Some added wasabi and pickled ginger. Others added little cheese circles cut out with tiny cutters (the cheese got stuck in the star cutters and none of the kids wanted to use the red bell peppers). I think everyone did an amazing job!
Our final treat was the Japanese soda. When you remove the lid there is a little cylindrical piece in the lid you use to punch down the marble which is keeping the bottle sealed. This makes a big exciting popping noise as the marble is thrust part way down the neck of the bottle. The neck is narrower in one section keeping the marble from going to the bottom of the bottle. Once this is accomplished you have one of two options. You can either use a straw (we like the bendy kind) or take your chances trying to beat the marble to the little opening each time you want a drink. Either way you have a lovely tinkling sound to entertain you through your meal.
Our first meal was a messy, rice-y, happ-y success (y). I can't say how much we laughed! We had so much rice sticking to our hands and clothes. The girls were great in the kitchen and very creative with their Gentos. The boys did an amazing job helping and even making their own sushi, which turned out pretty well, I must say.
Things we learned:
1. Sticky rice is VERY sticky
2. We need larger eggs for the egg mold
3. The correct protein to rice ratio is very important (too much rice this time!)
4. Picky eaters are much more likely to try what they've prepared themselves!
5. Bite size sushi is a better idea than burrito sized :)
