Bento#100: Panda Bento
I thought I will be having a short bento break but then, my boy said “I need my bento to the beach!” Aiyo, this little fella is very addicted to his bentos! Both my kids love the pandas they saw in Chiangmai, so today’s theme is Panda Bento.
I think a lot of Japanese mothers have done pandas with rice, and if you look around for those popular Japanese bento blogs, you can easily find a few variations. But for me, I prefer bread as I pack the food in the morning, and my kids only eat it by 5pm. So, bread is a better choice. Besides that, my kids will have their bento meals in the car on our journey to the airport and the beach, thus bread is definitely more convenient.
Here’s how I did the panda bears.
Gently flatten the white bread with a wooden roller. I found that bread is easier to be rolled up if it’s compact and flat. If your bread tends to tear up when you roll it, you may try this trick.
Spread a layer of jam of your choice. You can use ham or cheese too.
Roll the bread into cylinder form and gently flatten it with your hand. If you are using the bread roll for lollipop (some of you may have seen it at my blog), you don’t have to flatter it.
Cover the bread rolls with food wrapper to hold the shape for awhile. You can also refrigerate them for the next day, and I’ve tried it, the bread is still fresh.
Cut a few strips of nori.
I cut the bread rolls into halves and wrapped the bottom part with nori. Previously, I tend to use butter, but this time, I used the strawberry jam to stick the nori onto the bread. I think my kids will love the sweet jam than butter!
I used the smiley punchers for panda’s ears and eyes. I finally found a way of using these smiley punchers nicely, this time, I got the right brand of nori!!! It’s thicker than those I’ve tried.
After that, it’s all about packing the chicken sausages and tangerines. My boy has some sweet potato because he likes it. So here’s the result…
My gal’s bento. I slipped in a grape to fill in the gap.
Oh ya, I decorated one of the bread roll into Hello Kitty as if she’s wearing a panda hat. My gal beamed happily when she saw the Hello Kitty. 
My boy’s bento with pandas in different facial expressions.
A close up of his panda bears. He loves the pandas too and he promised that he will finish every bit of it. LOL!
I should have decorated the bentos with picks and barans, but then, we are going to the beach for days and I don’t want to lose anymore picks and barans!!! So, the lunch boxes looked like under decorated.
Anyway, I hope you like today’s bento, which is also my 100th bento! Yippie!
oh that is a great idea! thanks!
Nice how you turn the bread roll into a panda.
haha… I like the way he said “need bento”. First time I’ve seen Panda made of bread… very nicely done. The Hello Kitty with Panda hat is a stroke of brilliance!
very nice pandas – will give them a go soon. tks for sharing. Love the hello kitty one!!
btw, congrats on your 100th bento!
Wow…. Realli a surprised for your 100th Bento!!!! Don’t worry it’s not under decorated,it is so cute and amazing…..
Hi. been reading your bento blog but didn’t leave comments..hehehe. you are very creative and I really enjoy seeing your creation. i bought some bento stuff but haven’t got time to make for my girl.
Just want to wish you Gong Xi Fa Cai and have a great reunion
Congrat of ur 100th bento! Those little panda n HK are so cute, bet my girl loves them too, will try out some day, thanks for sharing.
What’s different between this nori and the previous nori you’d used? Mind to share the brand coz I am also having problems punching my noti sheet
Congrats on your #100 post!
The pandas are so cute! Gave me an idea on how to finish up all my
nori sheets which are expiring!
[...] to fix pandas again, but by using rice. If you are new to this blog, you might want to check out Bento#100 which featured pandas [...]
[...] know that I’ve done some panda bentos previously (as in here, here and here), but panda is always a nice theme in bento-ing, especially if you have those cute [...]