For valentine's day I made two different kinds of cupcakes. I never thought Id say this but the strawberry ones were my favorite!
Chocolate Truffle cupcakes~

Iced with chocolate buttercream and drizzled with white chocolate

These turned out a bit dry for my liking, next time I'll add in a box of instant pudding to the mix and see if that helps them at all. Id post the recipe but trust me, its not worth trying. The only good thing about these for me was that they were VERY chocolatey and texture wise were nice and crunchy on the outside. Everyone else liked them, but I'm marking these down as a failure in my book.
The night before Valentine's day I made Strawberry Cupcakes with White chocolate buttercream. Let me just tell you how GOOD these were. I hate strawberries. HATE them. I dont like the seeds or the tartness or any of it. Its just not my thing. But these... Well, they were sweet without being too sweet, tart without making my stomach ache and just dense enough that i wasnt tempted to eat 20 of them.


But it still tasted AMAZING. Definitely some of my favorite cupcakes of all time. Now all i need to do is put together the recipe I used and post it for you guys to try out, since these are easy and quick to make!
So I hope everyone here in LJ land had a nice Vday! I did ^_^ I bought myself a few new bento Items which will be posted soon (whenever they get here!) and am waiting on a rather nice order from Daiso to arrive! So i promise I'll post bento pics soon!
much love~
Kai!
Chocolate Truffle cupcakes~

Iced with chocolate buttercream and drizzled with white chocolate

These turned out a bit dry for my liking, next time I'll add in a box of instant pudding to the mix and see if that helps them at all. Id post the recipe but trust me, its not worth trying. The only good thing about these for me was that they were VERY chocolatey and texture wise were nice and crunchy on the outside. Everyone else liked them, but I'm marking these down as a failure in my book.
The night before Valentine's day I made Strawberry Cupcakes with White chocolate buttercream. Let me just tell you how GOOD these were. I hate strawberries. HATE them. I dont like the seeds or the tartness or any of it. Its just not my thing. But these... Well, they were sweet without being too sweet, tart without making my stomach ache and just dense enough that i wasnt tempted to eat 20 of them.

And look at that cute pink color! I wont lie, I added 5 drops of food coloring to up the faint pink the batter had but i mean seriously, its valentine's day! Who can blame me?

But it still tasted AMAZING. Definitely some of my favorite cupcakes of all time. Now all i need to do is put together the recipe I used and post it for you guys to try out, since these are easy and quick to make!
So I hope everyone here in LJ land had a nice Vday! I did ^_^ I bought myself a few new bento Items which will be posted soon (whenever they get here!) and am waiting on a rather nice order from Daiso to arrive! So i promise I'll post bento pics soon!
much love~
Kai!
- Current Mood:
sleepy
So since I've been on my "lets make japanese food' kick, I've found quite a few nice recipes as well as quite a few not so nice ones. I stumbled across an older recipe I had for Shogayaki which is traditionally made with Pork, but the recipe is so simple you could easily substitute any sort of meat in it.

Needless to say it turned out MAGNIFICENTLY. It was juicy, crispy on the outside and flavorful.
Shogayaki
-
4-5 small chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
2tbsp Sake
5 tbsp soy (or more if you like it)
1tsp grated ginger with juice
Salt+pepper to taste
Oil to fry chicken in
Cut your chicken thighs into 2-3 pieces each and soak in Soy, Sake and ginger for 5 minutes.
Heat oil and place chicken in pan on about medium heat until nearly done.
Add salt+pepper to taste
Drain 2/3rds of the oil and fry until the exterior of chicken is browned and crispy.
I made about 2 1/2 cups medium grain white rice and boiled some cabbage to go with my chicken and I have to say it made an amazingly easy, filling meal. Its awesome if you want to try japanese food and dont want to sink alot of money on hard to find ingredients and pull yor hair out over impossible cooking techniques. Its simple and fast. The chicken only took about 15 minutes all together, which was refreshing since most of the meals I make take much longer.
Also! If there are leftovers (there were only 3 pieces left from today) They refrigerate well and can be put in bento lunches!
Being a fan of chicken more than pork, i decided on using chicken thighs for today's dinner.

Needless to say it turned out MAGNIFICENTLY. It was juicy, crispy on the outside and flavorful.
Shogayaki
-
4-5 small chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
2tbsp Sake
5 tbsp soy (or more if you like it)
1tsp grated ginger with juice
Salt+pepper to taste
Oil to fry chicken in
Cut your chicken thighs into 2-3 pieces each and soak in Soy, Sake and ginger for 5 minutes.
Heat oil and place chicken in pan on about medium heat until nearly done.
Add salt+pepper to taste
Drain 2/3rds of the oil and fry until the exterior of chicken is browned and crispy.
I made about 2 1/2 cups medium grain white rice and boiled some cabbage to go with my chicken and I have to say it made an amazingly easy, filling meal. Its awesome if you want to try japanese food and dont want to sink alot of money on hard to find ingredients and pull yor hair out over impossible cooking techniques. Its simple and fast. The chicken only took about 15 minutes all together, which was refreshing since most of the meals I make take much longer.
Also! If there are leftovers (there were only 3 pieces left from today) They refrigerate well and can be put in bento lunches!
So i encourage you to try this recipe out and tell me what you think!
- Current Mood:
full
Oops!!!!
Well, life has been busy and I havent really made anything interesting to say the least.
Today however, I tried out a recipe from "Harumi's Japanese HomeCooking" (or something like that) for Gyu-don.
It called for white wine, i didnt have it so i substituted half of it for Sake and it seemed to work just fine.
But, this recipe also calls for Mirin (which is quite sweet on its own) and 4tbs sugar for a lb of meat.
Needless to say, it smells amazing but is FAR too sweet. So sweet infact, that I cant eat it. So next time, before i waste an onion, half a cup of mirin and a good portion of my freezer stash of meat, I'll be NOT adding the sugar to the broth.
it looks nice, but overall this recipe gets a 2 out of 10.
So sad! I was hoping this would make great bento leftovers but alas, this will probably be thrown out.
Sad day.
On a bento related note, I found an amazing Doraemon bento to buy with the last of my spending money, and i cant wait for it to get here, i also bought two others at Ohayocon, ill post photos of those later.

Well, life has been busy and I havent really made anything interesting to say the least.
Today however, I tried out a recipe from "Harumi's Japanese HomeCooking" (or something like that) for Gyu-don.
It called for white wine, i didnt have it so i substituted half of it for Sake and it seemed to work just fine.
But, this recipe also calls for Mirin (which is quite sweet on its own) and 4tbs sugar for a lb of meat.
Needless to say, it smells amazing but is FAR too sweet. So sweet infact, that I cant eat it. So next time, before i waste an onion, half a cup of mirin and a good portion of my freezer stash of meat, I'll be NOT adding the sugar to the broth.
it looks nice, but overall this recipe gets a 2 out of 10.
So sad! I was hoping this would make great bento leftovers but alas, this will probably be thrown out.
Sad day.
On a bento related note, I found an amazing Doraemon bento to buy with the last of my spending money, and i cant wait for it to get here, i also bought two others at Ohayocon, ill post photos of those later.

- Current Mood:
hungry
After much deliberation Akari and I decided to have Chicken Tacos for dinner. I'm not the best chef as I prefer to bake above anything, but! Chicken Tacos it was. When I am forced to cook I make the simplest stuff ever.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground chicken
1/2 packet of taco seasoning (you can use more to suit your taste!)
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
a pack of tortillas
Extras (all are optional):
Mexican cheese (shredded)
Refried beans
Sour cream
lettuce
tomatoes
I fried up the ground chicken in a skillet on low with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil to keep it from sticking and mixed in half a pack of taco seasoning.
It's pretty much touch and go from there. I used refried beans, Mexican blend cheese and sour cream and that was it! You can put just about anything on them of course!
It was really simple to make, quick and cheap but it was SO tasty that I've decided to never eat at Taco Bell ever again!!!!
Now for the good part!
I recently found a recipe for Banana Pudding Cake and it was a dream come true! I adore bananas and cake, plus baking is definitely my forte. So I ran to the store and grabbed everything I didn't already have and was off!
It was incredibly simple to make and baked much quicker than I expected.

And here's how to make it!!!
Banana Pudding Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 (18.25 oz.) package of yellow cake mix
- 1 (3.5 oz.) package of instant pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup mashed bananas (I needed 2 medium sized bananas)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease pan
3. In a large bowl stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the middle and pour in eggs, water, oil and mashed bananas. Beat on low speed until well blended. Scrape sides of bowl and beat on medium for 4 minutes.
4. Pour batter Into pan. (I had to use a spoon to scoop it in because it had gotten thick!!)
5. Bake for 40-55 minutes. I had to keep an eye on it (and I never go by time)
6. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out on wire rack to cool.
Now here is where I improvised with what I had on hand. I had planned on making a triple layer cake with pudding in between each but I didn't have any milk! So, I improvised by making a thick banana mousse!
Ingredients-
1 box instant banana pudding
Aprx. 3/4ths a cup of extra creamy cool whip
All I did was mix these two together until they got very thick. I mixed water in as needed to regulate the texture. It, paired with the cake was fantastic.
I hope you guys enjoyed this post!!!! More to come soon <3
I am moving/mirroring my posts here now http://cuttlefishbento.blogspot.com/ please come look!!!
I haven't posted anything new in what seems to be ages!! Since June!! I've been slacking, uh-oh!
Well, I made lunch this morning for my brother and he just LOVED it, so I figured I'd post it here!

In this one is-
A checkered Fuji Apple, Sweethearts, Hazelnut/Chocolate Tree Candy Thing, Garlic Potatoes and a crunchy Peanut Butter Sandwich.
Simple, but tasty!
For valentines day I made Chocolate Cinnamon Cake and it was FABULOUS. I was hoping to upload a photo I took of it, but it came out terribly blurry and I had to scrap the idea. If anyone is interested in the Recipe for this cake just let me know and I'll post it!
Well, I made lunch this morning for my brother and he just LOVED it, so I figured I'd post it here!

In this one is-
A checkered Fuji Apple, Sweethearts, Hazelnut/Chocolate Tree Candy Thing, Garlic Potatoes and a crunchy Peanut Butter Sandwich.
Simple, but tasty!
For valentines day I made Chocolate Cinnamon Cake and it was FABULOUS. I was hoping to upload a photo I took of it, but it came out terribly blurry and I had to scrap the idea. If anyone is interested in the Recipe for this cake just let me know and I'll post it!
- Current Mood:
awake - Current Music:vnv nation- further
So ive been away about 2 weeks, maybe more! I had to move and it was so hectic that i simply didnt have time to make any bento or anything. BUT~! Yesterday i had to cook for my grandmother (shes sick and 87 so i just /had/ to) and decided to make myself a little lunch. its not exciting or pretty but it was tasty ^__^
here i am with another one of my lazy 'im only using the top tier of this bento' bentos.

in it isss!! homemade spaghetti, flowery breads and little chocolate mushrooms! its really simple but it did the job i think. ^__^ sorry if you see this a million times its cross posted here and two other places ^_^
here i am with another one of my lazy 'im only using the top tier of this bento' bentos.

in it isss!! homemade spaghetti, flowery breads and little chocolate mushrooms! its really simple but it did the job i think. ^__^ sorry if you see this a million times its cross posted here and two other places ^_^
- Current Mood:
chipper
sooo this is a really crappy bento i made for brunch yesterday morning, i just /had/ to make one because i hadnt in nearly a month!!! anyways, i have bunny and flower shaped bologna sammiches with mustard in the monkey container, cinnamon waffles and part of a candy bar ^^
it kinda sucked, my waffles tasted icky (they were called snackers or something like that...they were ugh. ew.) but my sammiches and candy bar were awesome 8DD

im hoping to get to do a full on alice themed lunch here soon as well as a halloween themed bento for one of the upcoming weekends.
bu anyways XD ill stop babbling~~!!!!
<3kai<3
it kinda sucked, my waffles tasted icky (they were called snackers or something like that...they were ugh. ew.) but my sammiches and candy bar were awesome 8DD

im hoping to get to do a full on alice themed lunch here soon as well as a halloween themed bento for one of the upcoming weekends.
bu anyways XD ill stop babbling~~!!!!
<3kai<3
- Current Mood:
cold
Yesterday was my first photoshoot with Art Schotz. It was fun but tiring. I didn’t get much sleep the night before so it was tiring and I barely had the energy to pack my lunch.
The shoot turned out pretty good, I’ve done better ones but it was a lot of fun. I just wish I hadn’t been so tired!!! We got lost on the way there, a two hour drive and it took us three, I passed out in the car because I was so sleepy! I hope to do another shoot with him, he has a lot of great logic about posing and the way a model and photographer should interact. Here’s a picture from the shoot, its probably one of my favorites.

Ok enough babbling! Here's the bento!!!

This bento was soooo tasty, it tasted a lot better than it looked surprisingly. I put a salmon roll in there, with small chunks of chicken that I sautéed the night before. Two stars of colby-jack cheese. It looks a lot better than the last one I did, I was going to make a bear out of cheese but I didn’t want to until I can get ahold of some better cookie cutters for the job. ^^ I hope you guys enjoy!
The shoot turned out pretty good, I’ve done better ones but it was a lot of fun. I just wish I hadn’t been so tired!!! We got lost on the way there, a two hour drive and it took us three, I passed out in the car because I was so sleepy! I hope to do another shoot with him, he has a lot of great logic about posing and the way a model and photographer should interact. Here’s a picture from the shoot, its probably one of my favorites.
Ok enough babbling! Here's the bento!!!
This bento was soooo tasty, it tasted a lot better than it looked surprisingly. I put a salmon roll in there, with small chunks of chicken that I sautéed the night before. Two stars of colby-jack cheese. It looks a lot better than the last one I did, I was going to make a bear out of cheese but I didn’t want to until I can get ahold of some better cookie cutters for the job. ^^ I hope you guys enjoy!
- Current Mood:
sleepy
Lets count to 100 ^^
First of all, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Kai. I'm 18 and an aspiring bento artist. (though what I do is hardly art). I'm obsessed with Halloween above most things!! so I'm sure you'll be seeing alot of halloween inspired bento in this blog. I model by day and Write by night (no I don't really get alot of sleep) So far Ive made about 7 bentos , most of them being shameful and made with no real supplies, but recently I've gotten new inspiration and decided to give it another go and it's been turning out fantastically!!!
The name for this blog reflects two things ^^ My modeling name and a suggestion from my best friend, Akari. I'm sorry if its not the most professional or appealing but, it's who I am and what I do.
Anyways, past all that banter, here is a picture of tonight's bento.

In it there is-
Ham, Colby jack cheese, Mini hot dogs, pre-peeled fuji apples, broccoli, lettuce, a ham sandwich, and some ranch dressing.
Overall it was a pretty good snack, though I must confess that broccoli is only in there to look pretty because I LOATHE broccoli. I braved Wal-mart tonight to get food stuffs and found these interesting little bottles of pre-peeled fuji apples. Well I only eat fuji apples normally and thought "hey! thats convenient!" of course, interesting little bottles at Wal-mart can only mean one thing. Really gross food. They didnt even taste like apples, let alone the succulent fuji apples I had expected. Learned my lesson on that one. DONT BUY APPLES IN JARS. They taste bad.
In other bento news. I lost out on a Nightmare Before Christmas bento set on e-bay, a rather large one. I put a max bid of $50 on it and an auction sniper at $50.75, thinking it would go any higher. Well, end of auction and I was outbid by $4.00. I was so sad!! I wanted that damned set more than anything and missed out on it. Thankfully i got two new bento boxes and two new accesories. (no I cant spell that word)




Two things. That bread cutter/mold. has anyone see it or used it before? I cant seem to find any information on it, or pictures of it being used. AND don't you just ADORE that Alice in Wonderland bento?? I've never seen one before and I snatched it up right away. (the monkey containers are because of Akari, I'm personally a little creeped out by them.)
Anyways, thats it for now I think. I have to pack bento on Saturday for a photoshoot and possibly on Sunday if Ruu and Totch feel like going out.
bye guys!!!!
~kai
First of all, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Kai. I'm 18 and an aspiring bento artist. (though what I do is hardly art). I'm obsessed with Halloween above most things!! so I'm sure you'll be seeing alot of halloween inspired bento in this blog. I model by day and Write by night (no I don't really get alot of sleep) So far Ive made about 7 bentos , most of them being shameful and made with no real supplies, but recently I've gotten new inspiration and decided to give it another go and it's been turning out fantastically!!!
The name for this blog reflects two things ^^ My modeling name and a suggestion from my best friend, Akari. I'm sorry if its not the most professional or appealing but, it's who I am and what I do.
Anyways, past all that banter, here is a picture of tonight's bento.

In it there is-
Ham, Colby jack cheese, Mini hot dogs, pre-peeled fuji apples, broccoli, lettuce, a ham sandwich, and some ranch dressing.
Overall it was a pretty good snack, though I must confess that broccoli is only in there to look pretty because I LOATHE broccoli. I braved Wal-mart tonight to get food stuffs and found these interesting little bottles of pre-peeled fuji apples. Well I only eat fuji apples normally and thought "hey! thats convenient!" of course, interesting little bottles at Wal-mart can only mean one thing. Really gross food. They didnt even taste like apples, let alone the succulent fuji apples I had expected. Learned my lesson on that one. DONT BUY APPLES IN JARS. They taste bad.
In other bento news. I lost out on a Nightmare Before Christmas bento set on e-bay, a rather large one. I put a max bid of $50 on it and an auction sniper at $50.75, thinking it would go any higher. Well, end of auction and I was outbid by $4.00. I was so sad!! I wanted that damned set more than anything and missed out on it. Thankfully i got two new bento boxes and two new accesories. (no I cant spell that word)
Two things. That bread cutter/mold. has anyone see it or used it before? I cant seem to find any information on it, or pictures of it being used. AND don't you just ADORE that Alice in Wonderland bento?? I've never seen one before and I snatched it up right away. (the monkey containers are because of Akari, I'm personally a little creeped out by them.)
Anyways, thats it for now I think. I have to pack bento on Saturday for a photoshoot and possibly on Sunday if Ruu and Totch feel like going out.
bye guys!!!!
~kai
- Current Mood:
accomplished - Current Music:the real folk blues- yoko kanno
