I kind of went crazy in April after I gave Pasta Girl/Boy Bowl to Sam and Sawyer. My creative juices started flowing and I wanted to make more plate art dishes for Sam to eat.
I have to admit, I get a lot of satisfaction and joy that my little girl appreciates all the effort I put into my creations. It didn't matter how simple or lavish I made the dishes, Sam would always beam up at me like I just gave her the moon. The best part, she now eats everything on the plate!
Orange You Sprouty
This was my very first plate art and it turned out to be much better than what I had imagined. Sam plucked those steamed carrots off the tree and plopped them right into her mouth. "Momma, I love oranges," she would say after each one.
The orange tree is made with stir fry pea sprout. I put rice underneath to shape the mound. I steamed up some mini carrots and sliced them up and for the tree trunk I used thịt kho (caramelized pork ribs).
Spamming for Fish
The day I made this, I had been running errands all day so I wasn't able to cook up something a little more fulfilling but I still wanted Sam to enjoy her meal. This dish was super simple consisting of jasmine rice, spam and cucumber.
I cut spam into thin slices and pan grilled it for about 2-3 minutes to get them slightly crispy. I cut the spam slices to make my fish, used roasted seaweed for the eye, rolled up some rice balls and cut a cucumber into thin slices. Voilà, Spamming for Fish. The whole meal only took about 20 minutes to cook and plate.
Everything's Eggstra Bunny
I come from a very large family so every Easter is an eggstravagant (sorry I couldn't resist) affair. With the egg hunting and candy being passed around, Sam can get too excited to eat but she jumped (pun definitely intended) right in with my Everything's Eggstra Bunny.
This dish consisted of caramelized ground pork with quail eggs and sautéed carrots.
Bear Today Gone Tomorrow
I think this one is my favorite so far. This is a very familiar dish i grew up eating constantly. Rice and thịt kho with some canh mồng tơi (spinach and shrimp soup). Before I started down this plate art path, Sam would not eat anything green. As you can see, this soup was a problem. Canh mồng tơi is one of my favorite Vietnamese soups to eat and to my utter delight, after I served Sam this dish, she loved it too!
I used saran wrap to shape the bear with rice and coated it with chà bông (pork floss). I cut up some ham to get the belly and ears. The bear stands above some thịt kho and the pond is made with canh mồng tơi. I sliced up a hard boiled egg to make the sun and clouds.