leggo my obento! the bento blog

i’m still alive. in the market for a decent camera so i can take decent photos. still been cooking the bentos but haven’t been able to photograph them. any camera suggestions? i’m a digital SLR fan (did photography in high school so i know how to work it manually) BUT even something with just a decent zoom lens would be cool.

also my goal this year is to make osechi ryori. we’ve been out of town for the past few holidays but this year we’ll be here. yay!

another quick update, jlist is now carrying bento accessories and they have some pretty cute ones.  i’ll have to update my info!  lucky me tho, i can just walk over to daiso in westlake ;D  seattle r00lz!

my bento blog turned 1 on Dec 28th!  i’m currently on vacation so no bentos.  expect more bento action january sometime…

i took a trip up to daiso in alderwood mall and found a lot of bento supplies there. it’s a bit of a journey (especially for the car-less) but the prices are good!

here’s one shot of the section with REALLY SUPER TINY bento boxes, great for kids or snacks. they also have the little paper cups with the plastic coating.. and foil cups:

here’s a shot of the other part of the bento section with all the little wiener cutters, separators and other doo dads:

who knows, i might start selling some of this stuff on ebay bwahahaahahaha..!

seattle times article about daiso in alderwood mall

daiso is a japanese “dollar store”. i haven’t been to check it out yet, but i’m hoping to find some good bento supplies. right now i either buy from uwajimaya’s limited supply, or i can order online direct from japan. but for 48 paper cups, $3.00 plus shipping seems like too much money. if daiso carries these things, then i could recommend it. the article says they will likely be opening more stores throughout the country, so keep your eyes peeled!

i was searching froogle for bento boxes, and stumbled across this site. i just ordered this old fashioned onigiri style bento box from them… it’s really super cute! they only have style B in stock now, but brown isn’t so bad since it matches the food well. the character on it is Ginshari from San-x and he is a little piece of rice.

i just ordered some new bento boxes from j-list and one off ebay.

round totoro bento with miso bowl

this is a fairly unique collectors item! i couldn’t resist. also, i pack a miso soup ball on occasion, so with a small container of rice or onigiri, i think this could work great. he doesn’t like donburi, but i do, so it would work great for that as well.

large rectangular dokodemoissho bento

i hope it’s not too girly for the boy!! it’s a larger size bento in a nice green color, and i like the angles on it.

[edit: he says it's not too girly; he likes it cuz the cat looks stoney, making the bright green color very appropriate.. haha.. furthermore he has ok'ed the use of hello kitty bento accessories in his bentos. i am so glad he is a man who is secure in his masculinity ;D ]

uneri (wave) elongated oval

this looks like a good box for rolled items like sushi pouches, vegetables rolled in beef, or tamagoyaki. i like the dark blue. i’ll need to pack some onigiri or something else in a seperate container for this to be enough food, but i really like the shape.

totoro mini containers

more totoro! i couldn’t resist. one is a little more masculine (as in, not pink) so i think it will work great for salads or fruit or other dessert to add to the lunch.

kakashi bento

i am a super big naruto fan, and when i was looking for bento boxes on ebay, i saw this and couldn’t resist. the seller also has naruto and sasuke boxes. i didn’t get naruto because it’s a little too bright for the kinds of lunches i pack. i think if i was more into decorative bento, i would totally go for it. that and i really liked the design on the kakashi box.

here’s a sample of an assembled bento in the naruto bento series, thought i’d post it just cuz it’s a good example of how to assemble a bento:

bento bento bento bento! yummmm!!