Wash and rub the cucumber peel with salt to remove the waxy coating. Use a vegetable peeler to slice into long strips. Soak in salted water until soft.

Parboil the spinach in boiling water. Cut the carrots into 2 to 3 mm rounds and boil (in dashi broth, if possible).

Hard-boil the egg and put the yolk through a sieve.

Pack the chirashizushi in a mould. If you don't have one, use aluminum foil or cardboard to make one.

Remove the mould, wrap with cucumber strips, and bind with spinach stems.

Top with the egg yolk, carrots, and spinach leaves. The chirashizushi is ready.

To make the figurines. Cut out thin pieces, about 5 mm, from the bottom of the hard boiled egg to use for ears. Use a spaghetti noodle to attach them. Prepare a thin omelette.

Use nori seaweed to make the facial features and the red part from imitation crab sticks to make the cheeks.

For the empress: cut the cheese slice for a collar, and wrap under the thin omelette, fashioning a kimono. If you cut the cheese into a rectangle it is easier to wrap.