Category Archive for Cute Yummy Time
CUTE YUMMY TIME: INSPIRED BY THE JAPANESE BENTO DECORATION TREND. CUTE FOOD RECIPE BOOK BY LA CARMINA.
Can you believe Cute Yummy Time is in stores today?!?! I am this week’s guest blogger on the Penguin blog; I’ll also post the articles here. The first one’s an intro…
Hello from La Carmina! My life revolves around Japanese pop culture; I’m the author of three books and blog about Harajuku fashion and all things kitschy-cute. I’m very excited to share my new cookbook with you — Cute Yummy Time.
Cute Yummy Time is inspired by the art of the cute bento. Japan’s latest food trend: dolling up school lunches to look like adorable creatures (Hello Kitty, Pokemon). The creations are a feast for the eyes, but not all the ingredients may be familiar to Western palates. So Cute Yummy Time thinks outside the bento box, sharing more than 70 recipes for making food “so cute, you could just eat it!”
In addition to creating the recipes, I took all the photos and drew cute Japanese-style illustrations on every page. There’s even a whimsical story about La Carmina and her cat Basil Farrow, who must journey through Kawaii-Land (the realm of all things cute).
Farm animal oatmeal… egg salad wraps… plus desserts and dishes for all occasions. The ingredients are familiar to Western palates and are sure to please picky eaters.
And all the meals use healthy, natural ingredients (such as the salmon and citrus bunnies above).
I hope you have as much fun reading Cute Yummy Time as I had writing it! You can see more adorable bentos on my cute food blog.
PS: INSANE Tokyo photos and behind the scenes at the Andrew Zimmern TV shoot coming up…
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CUTE YUMMY TIME BOOK TOUR SIGNING DATES ANNOUNCED! SCOTTISH FOLD BASIL VISITS HIS GRANDMA MIA FARROW!
Activist/actress Mia Farrow was in town to give speeches… and of course, she made time in her busy schedule to see her furry grandson! I smuggled Basil Farrow into her hotel room (fortunately, he didn’t “maoo” in the elevator). As you can see, our lovely bear was relaxed and happy to see his wonderful grandma.
Dress: Banana Fish
Makeup: yellow and green shades from Cuberry
Lip creme: Cakewalk from Aromaleigh
Spotted tights: from Hong Kong
CUTE YUMMY TIME BOOK SIGNINGS!!!!
Three tour dates announced so far in NYC, Philly and DC. I hope to see you there — I’d love to stay afterward to hang out with you! More US dates to be announced soon.
NYC
Sunday, October 11: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
The Broadway Panhandler, 65 East 8th Street, New York, NY 10003
PHILLY
Saturday, October 17: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Fante’s Kitchen Wares, 1006 South 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
WASHINGTON, DC
Saturday, October 24: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Hill’s Kitchen, 713 D Street SE, Washington, DC 20003
So far, Cute Yummy Time has been getting an awesome reaction. Popular bento blogger Bento Lunch gave my cookbook a 100% positive review. Shannon writes: “…the food is absolutely darling. Called “kawaii” and pronounced like Hawaii, the food is all presented as adorable animals. Even better, none of the animal shapings call for anything extremely complicated […] All of the recipes seem to be reasonable in terms of time & ingredients and many of them appear to be rather kid friendly but still healthy (lots of homemade breads & pastas, wheats instead of whites and plenty of veggies). Personally, I love how easy her tips are for making the food cuter. There were so many hints we’re going to try and add into our bentos since they aren’t time consuming.”
I loved seeing the animal ham/cheese crackers and quesadilla she made, inspired by my recipes. Best of all, the book gets her daughter’s stamp of approval! “Faith also loved the little story that runs through each page of the author and Basil the cat’s adventures in Kawaii-land.”
More info about Cute Yummy Time here. Hope to see you soon (I’ll try to bring adorable snacks!).
LA CARMINA
