Cute Food and Bento Box Decoration: Japanese recipes cookbook ‘Cute Yummy Time’ by La Carmina

My first NYC book signing for Cute Yummy Time went well enough that the store kindly invited me back — and on Halloween, too! (As if I need an excuse to wear spooky clothes for my events.) I am costumed as Pierrot, the classic French clown. The pointy hat is from Village Paper; I decorated it with skull stickers from Tokyu Hands. The panda’s a bit of a trompe d’oeil; it looks like a pendant but is actually a sticker from a Harajuku store.

Fun fact: I use Staedtler purple pens to sign my name.

To my surprise, as you can see in the video, the books sold out in 10 minutes! But I stuck around to demonstrate bento cutters, turning cheese and crackers into kawaii animals. (If you’re interested in my Cute Yummy Time cookbook, you may find out details and ordering info here.)

New York City, I will be back soon! I got some thrilling news today; I’ll let you know what’s up as soon as it’s set in stone. Maybe you can even be involved, dum dum dum…

Thanksgiving is almost upon us. What are you doing for the holiday? Maybe you can give the cute turkey dinner and pecan pie recipes in my cookbook a spin.

Once upon a time, I was a guest on the weekend edition of Today Show in New York — and the experience was like a fairy tale. The previous night, I stayed up late prepping for the food demo (unlike Cinderella, the neighborhood rats didn’t lend me a paw). Somehow, I managed to crawl out of bed at 5am to do my hair and makeup. A sleek black car drove up to my doorstep; the driver popped open a large black umbrella and walked me to his chariot. I felt like a princess — or maybe Sleeping Beauty, as I wanted to doze on the Dr. Oz talk show couch!

Lolita kitty dress: Innocent World, from Closet Child Harajuku
Silver sheer skull leggings: from Hong Kong
Runched ankle boots: MB Shoes from Kris + Cris shoe store in Vancouver

The chariot drove to 30 Rock, the famous address of NBC Studios. Getting past the metal barricade required a security check and airport levels of security. Fun fact: the elevators are designed so that you can only get off at your designated floor (so no, I couldn’t stalk Tina Fey or Jimmy Fallon). I crossed four more security guards and got lost several times before finding the Today Show studio.

I wanted to show a spread of cute food, so I brought some hardboiled eggs and quickly decorated into chicks. The singing crab bagel and ham/cheese animal face sandwiches are recipes from my cookbook, Cute Yummy Time. (Want to learn how to turn boring breakfasts into cute creations? There’s info on my book here.)

The sun had hardly risen, and yet the TV hosts were inhumanly perky. They gushed that their children loved the book and cooed, “Eeeeee, look at the little egg guys!” I waited for a swine flu Q&A session to end. During the commercial break, my publicists and I set up the Cute Yummy Time display. Then at 7:45am, photos of kawaii food flashed on the screen and I was up.

Nervous? Nah — you know I do cute food demos on my YouTube channel all the time. A quick photo with Erika, and 3… 2… 1… we’re on the air! (Tomorrow, I’ll post the video of my Today Show appearance on my YouTube channel.)

Announcing TWO Los Angeles Cute Yummy Time book signings! I hope to see you on Saturday, Nov 28 and and Sunday, Nov 29 from 2-4pm. Come to Kinokuniya Bookstore, 123 Astronaut S Onizuka #205, Los Angeles CA. If you’d like to cover the event or interview me for a publication, please contact me.

Announcing TWO Los Angeles Cute Yummy Time book signings! I hope to see you on Saturday, Nov 28 and and Sunday, Nov 29 from 2-4pm. Come to Kinokuniya Bookstore, 123 Astronaut S Onizuka #205, Los Angeles CA. If you’d like to cover the event or interview me for a publication, please contact me.

I did two cute food demos and signings at New York’s Broadway Panhandler, a wonderland of kitchen goodies. I’m wearing an h.NAOTO skull dress from Closet Child Shinjuku, a steal at $70. My witch hat and pumpkin hair clips are from Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku. The crown choker necklace is Black Peace Now from Closet Child Harajuku. (My outfits get progressively weirder on the tour, as you’ll see.)

I did a cute cheese and cracker demo: bento cutters are an easy way to add a twist to hors d’oeuvres. The children in the store rushed up and were wide-eyed at the transformation. One girl couldn’t stop flipping through the photos. Another loved the fairytale about Basil Farrow and me (found inside the book — it’s not just recipes!). And it was a pleasure to see old friends and meet blog readers.

The books sold out at the store — but you can find Cute Yummy Time online here. (Video from The Today Show and another store demo coming soon.)

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!).