Category Archive for Cute Yummy Time
TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN HARLEM HEALTHY EATING. JAPANESE CHARACTER BENTO LESSONS IN UNDERPRIVILEGED NEW YORK CLASSROOM.
I began my speech by telling the Harlem schoolchildren that I brought a cute friend with me. I pulled her out of a large bag… and they awwed in recognition: “It’s Hello Kitty!”
I talked about kawaii in Japanese culture and character bentos, and gave pointers on healthy eating. The nine-year-olds were very high-energy and asked me rambling questions. Then it was time for the students to try making their own cute-faced sandwiches. They chose ingredients from the spread I had prepped the previous day. By the end of the shoot, almost everything was gone!
The children intuitively understood how to use cookie cutters, straws and other basic tools to make kawaii characters out of food. I went around the tables to help and encourage them.
Amazingly, the children ate vegetables that they’d never seen before — sprouts, green snap peas, red peppers — and said they tasted great. Their parents took away a fun, new approach to making healthy food accessible for kids. I was pleased.
Hana cheered, “Let’s make kawaii character bentos together!” — and we all raised our fists and yelled “Yayyyyy!” Ah, the wonders of Japanese TV.
You will love the episode of New York Wave, which will air next month on NHK (I’ll upload clips). Much thanks to Thomas, a teacher at the school, for his invaluable help in making the lesson possible. Arigato also to Shichi for the photos and help in dishing out the food.
For more images from the Harlem TV segment, you can watch this video slideshow. If you’re interested in cute healthy cooking for picky eaters, I have a new book out, Cute Yummy Time.
I Tweeted a link that got a lot of responses: Condom Fashion Show in China. A very creative use of the material (and my mom sent me the link!). Birth control couture: kawaii or ai-yah?
Received my Akumu Ink x La Carmina t-shirts today and AHH the prints are so eye-catching! Each tee and hoodie is hand-screened; you won’t be disappointed by the quality. (They’re available for order at www.akumuink.com — I’ll post photos of me in them soon.)
What’s next? My visit to NYC Lolita store Tokyo Rebel, my spooky Goth girl band, Bowie’s birthday party, and more undead adventures in LA!
Song of the Day #295: Matenrou Opera (摩天楼オペラ) – Murder Scope (A solid Visual Kei band with hard-rocking melodies.)
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JAPANESE TV SHOOT PREPARATIONS: MAKEUP, REPORTER INTERVIEWS, PHOENIX WRIGHT COSPLAY & HELLO KITTY STUFFED TOY.
A 20 minute documentary about cute character bentos requires 20 hours of filming… and 200 hours of preparation!
The NHK makeup artist, Tamami, is ultra talented and a doll to work with. She has a phenomenal line of makeup brushes — the lip brush is flat and made of high-quality hairs, and I really want one!
The New York Wave reporter, Hana, got her army green dress from a boutique in Shibuya 109. My silky dress is handmade — it’s part of the cosplay outfit that I later put on. I own three skull scarves; this one is from a random mall vendor.
I was scheduled to teach sixteen rambunctious 9-year-old students how to make kawaii bentos. We set up the tables with Tupperware boxes, cookie cutters, straws, toothpicks, plastic knives and other tools for making sandwiches with cute faces.
On camera, I interviewed Principal Cesar of the Talented and Gifted School for Young Scholars. Her school is one of five housed in a large complex at East 109th and Lexington. It’s crazy: in the course of a few blocks, the neighborhood goes from fancy Chanel to Harlem housing projects.
Tamami helped me clip on my onigiri hat. This and the furry cardigan complete my handmade Phoenix Wright costume; I’m the bento lady Angel Starr. (You may recall I wore this to my LA book signings; more photos here and here.)
To hold the childrens’ attention, I drew cute animals, wrote on the whiteboard and dangled my stuffed Hello Kitty.
Time to hide in the back… the uniformed schoolchildren are about to enter the library! (All photos by Shichi. You can see a slideshow of the Harlem photos in this video-post.)
Thank you to each of you for reading my blog; you make my work possible, and I appreciate your comments and camaraderie. You can also view the posts by RSS and posts in your inbox. I also post updates several times a day on Twitter and try to add everyone back.
Song of the Day #294: Patti Smith – Horses (Halfway through her new book and still mesmerized.)
LA CARMINA
