UFC BJ Penn Bento (299)

Today is the last day to enter my 200k Bento Contest. I’ll be updating the list on the forums again tonight. People can submit until midnight tonight Hawaii time, which is 5 AM EST.

Today is UFC 94, which is the most anticipated fight card in UFC history for Hawaii, because local Hilo boy BJ Penn can potentially win UFC belts in two weight classes. As I mentioned, I needed to make one extra bento this week in order for #300 to fall on a Monday, so I decided to make a UFC bento.

I enjoy watching GSP, but since BJ is from Hilo, highly skilled, an exciting fighter, does so much for Hawaii kids and causes, and because I’ll never forget how much I laughed at the fight picks in his season of The Ultimate Fighter, I am rooting for BJ all the way. I got to meet him once at a Barnes and Noble signing and got my FBI (From Big Island) shirt signed by him. He portrays the punk Hilo boy  really well on tv, but he was really cool in person.

We’ll be watching the fight at Mr. Pikko’s parents house. We’re trying to keep the kids awake so that they nap late, meaning they’ll be sleeping during the fight. It’s more likely that they’ll wake up just as Bruce Buffer is introducing BJ or something. They love Bruddah IZ music, so if they hear it, their ears will probably perk up from dreamland.

If you look carefully at the bento, you can see that I’ve used mostly foods from the Big Island. On the right I have some fried pipi kaula, which is smoked beef by Frank Foods. On the bottom right, I have baked Okinawan sweet potato, which is grown in Honoka’a. On the bottom left are some slices of Hilo’s Amano vegetable fishcake.

I’ve made an octagon musubi. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. I was getting so frustrated, so finally I wrapped it in saran wrap to shape it and that helped a lot. I showed it to Mr. Pikko and he said, “It looks like a circle.” I wanted fo slap his head. For the UFC letters, I printed out a UFC logo and cut it out with nori underneath. The “Good Luck BJ” letters are cut out from nori using my scrapbooking QuicKutz tool.

My dad mentioned on the phone today that watching the fight at BJ’s gym is only 5 bucks. I wish we could be there, that’s got to be the coolest place to watch besides the actual fight.

Mr. Pikko is watching one of the UFC Primetime episodes and it’s pretty hilarious to see so much footage of Hilo. It’s like watching LOST, only for UFC and on Big Island. Good Luck BJ! Give um lickins!