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.”

Ai-yah! The Ming Pao, a leading Chinese-language newspaper, did a super cute feature on Cutie Food. The article includes two of my recipes from my cookbook Cute Yummy Time (brown rice penguin onigiri and panda tofu soba). My round-faced cat Basil Farrow makes an appearance too!

Below is a scan (click to enlarge) and translation. Funny: they translated my name, La Carmina, as 田中裕美 (Yumi Tanaka) — I wonder why! And Basil is called a 摺 耳 貓 (jip yee mao) — fold-eared cat! Cute Yummy Time is now available for pre-order here and will be found in all major bookstores after October 6.

Local primary students are limited to eating sandwiches and pizza in the cafeteria, so they might as well take a box lunch to school. Don’t think this is an old school thing to do. In Japan, bento culture is not just about the food, but the picture. Hello Kitty, Snoopy, and other Japanese anime characters can all be made into a cute bento box lunch. This trend has spread to Vancouver, and local people are making their own bentos. There’s even a recipe book — Cute Yummy Time can encourage your mom to express her creativity. It’s written by author La Carmina.

Our lovely bento teacher who doesn’t want to be a lawyer
Local lady La Carmina graduated from Yale Law School but didn’t want to be a lawyer because she loves to design and write. Lately, she is focusing on making cute bento boxes, in addition to freelance writing and blogging. She loved cute culture since she was young, and has been designing cute bentos for the past two years. Carmina designs them in different character styles, but they all look cute and use healthy ingredients. Her new book, Cute Yummy Time, introduces 70 cute food recipes that she made herself. You can buy it in all major bookstores on October 6th, or online through her blog, https://lacarmina.com

Photo caption: Blogger La Carmina loves cute culture. Her cat is a rare breed (Scottish Fold). Do you think he’s cute?