The Gourmet Mama

Over the past couple of years, I`ve amassed a whole drawer full of bento accessories and tools that make food a lot of fun. Bento refers to Japanese lunches . . . you`d be astounded at what Japanese moms do for their children`s school lunches!

The tools that I`ve assembled include egg molds, which are super simple to use. You boil the egg and then peel while hot, press into the mold and close it, then leave the egg, mold and all, in the fridge. It comes out in the shape of the mold.

The egg molds are fun, but the real useful tools are the bento cutters . . . used to turn ordinary fruit, veggies, cheese and ham into something fun. They come in a huge variety of shapes. I`ve got a pretty decent collection these days!

These cutters can be used for a variety of non-bento things. For example, I like to cut carrots into stars and use them in my salads. I used my bear cutters to make the cute butter mints a couple of weeks ago, as well. Use your imagination, you can come up with some very neat garnishes!

Another fun bento tool is the food pick. These are cute little plastic skewers that are kid safe and can be used to decorate sandwiches, spear chunks of fruit or to hold a rollup together. Here are a few of mine:

For kids, sauce cups make it super easy to carry their ketchup and mayo and these little things are so adorable!

Most of these tools are super simple to use and can add a fun touch to your meals. There`s no need to go overboard . . . I rarely make fully decorated meals, but tossing a few car shaped potatoes into a mix or cutting out some cheese hearts is a great way to spice up any meal!

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