bento-mania!

My friend/co-worker came back from visiting her family in Japan a couple of weeks ago. And the sweetheart brought me back a bento box!!! I'm very excited about this. It's so compact and clean and organized looking. So many possibilities! I have yet to use it, though, but I've been scouring the internets for ideas/tips/etc. I will definetly post photos when I make some. I plan on hitting the oriental grocery store this weekend for some bento goodies. Until then, here's a small gathering of some of my favorite bentos swiped from various websites (I will link to all of them after the photo):


This site has a few cute (or kawaii) lunches, with hello kitty characters being the main theme.

A bento photo group on flickr.

Not as cutsie, but the food looks delicious, and beautiful.

e-obento website (mostly in Japanese) has TONS of awesome photos.

Bento Corner< is a bento blog.

Another bento blog, How to Build a Better Bento. should come in handy!


And I just learned this tidbit today, thanks to good 'ol Wikipedia:
A bento is traditionally made in a 4:3:2:1 ratio: 4 parts of rice, 3 parts of the side dish (either meat or fish), 2 parts of vegetables, and 1 part of a serving of pickled vegetables or a dessert. However, almost anything can be used to make a bento.

I don't know if I'll be that mathmatecal about it. But I will make my first few stick with an Asian, and Japanese if possible, theme. Then maybe I'll venture into more international bento experiments.