O Bento!

Posted by marne on June 13, 2006 in cook | 2 comments

I finally took some (slightly) better pictures of the pointy kitty I made for Backtack III. She is finally on her way to Portland, and should arrive in her new home by tomorrow.

I like the way the fabric worked out. I had my doubts, but with a little careful arranging, it’s quite cute. I like her little pink embroidered nose, and I’m quite proud of her pretty collar with the knitted rose. It even has a loop and button closure, so it’s removable.  The ‘M’, I’m not totally pleased with, it’s a little wonky, and my buttonhole stitching around her eyes, well, I’ve done better. I also think I should have cut the under body a little shorter, so she would have stood up a little taller. Oh well. I mostly like it, and I’m not too embarrassed to have sent her to her new home. I received a very cute pointy kitty from Lori. I’ll try to get some pictures taken this week so I can share, although you can see her on Lori’s blog. When I first saw Hilary’s pattern, I thought it was cute, but not something I needed to make, but I think I’ve changed my tune. I like the way it came out in the fabric I used, and I really like how it looks in the fabric Lori chose for me. I’ll talk about it more when I have pictures to share.

I’ve spent the last few days obsessing over Bento Boxes. I go out to lunch almost every day. For the most part, I think I make pretty healthy choices, but I know that if I made my own food, it would be much better for me and cheaper too! And I could control the quantity, and avoid that afternoon, "I’m so full, I’m never eating again" mantra that we chant nearly daily around here. I’m stopping by Mitsuwa tonight on my way home to get myself a bento box and I’m going to make myself lunch at least 3 days a week. I actually started today, even though I had to use ugly disposable plastic containers for my food. I made Japanese noodles (I don’t know what kind they were specifically, the package just said "Japanese-Style Noodles") with spicy peanut vinaigrette from Trader Joe’s. I added shredded chicken, green onion and a sprinkling of sesame seeds and topped it with some shredded lettuce. I tossed it all together before I ate it. I also made a cucumber-radish salad with rice vinegar dressing and some cantaloupe melon balls. Delicious! Although I am pretty full.

Some inspiring links I’ve found about bento:
Cooking Cute makes some very tasty looking lunches for herself and her husband. And it sounds like she has a Trader Joe’s nearby too. Lots of good ideas here and some really great links to all sorts of bento resources.

Some seriously beautiful bentos

This is from June 9, I love that green bouquet on the rice. And that’s not even the most elaborate one.

This is a nice little introductory site about bentos.

I’m watching a couple boxes on EBay. This one is pretty. I think this one is really elegant, and this one is just cute.

This post at Recipezaar is informative, and has links to some recipes that look really delicious.

PBS has a nice feature about a mother who makes a bento for her child each day.

Live-journal has a bento community, and there is a Flickr group too. 

For a more modern version, you could go with Mr. Bento although  $44.29 is a little pricey. I’m sure long term it would be worth it.

Stay tuned for more Bento mania!