Bentos and Broncos

I've been wanting to talk about Bentos for the longest time. EEK, they make me so incredibly **happy**. And not just any Bentos... I was first inspired by these cute CUTE japanese style lunches when I stumbled upon Wendy's blog many, many months ago. I was like, "What is THIS? Might this be the cutest thing I've ever laid my eyes upon? How have I not learned how to eat as CUTE-LY as THIS?" I didn't even know what the heck a "Bento" was! So I dove into my internet research on the topic and couldn't believe this whole Bento-world that I'd been missing out on.

Three of my favorite things all wrapped into one:

- Food
- Japanese
- Cute

She makes them for her preschool son. Not only is Wendy's blog such a fantastic resource (her photos are eye candy in themselves! She so kindly let me borrow some of her photos.... I just HAD to post some! Thank you Wendy!) but I found this site, LunchInABox, that is all-about-Bentos-and-Bento-building. It's totally overwhelming, but just incredible. I've only skimmed the surface of that site.

(Bento box photos courtesty Wendy Copley)

Wendy has shared alot of information with me about her process and where she shops and mentioned this store... it has fantastic prices on all of the little bento accessories you can use.. all of the INCREDIBLY CUTE food dividers, food cups, food molds, etc, etc.. all with extreme Japanese cuteness. (That I honestly canNOT resist. No matter how hard I try. :-) I don't know what we're going to do next year when we go to Japan on vacation. Ethan will have to drag me home, kicking and screaming. ;-)

I purchased some cheap Bento boxes at our local Super H mart store, but they weren't cute enough, so I found some online that I couldn't, yes, resist. I think all 4 of them are designed by this AMAZING Japanese artist that I discovered a couple years ago in blogland... Shinzi Katoh. I found some on Ebay and some I purchased at this store: I Love Obento.

I have to admit that alot of the designs lean towards the girly side, which makes it hard (since i'm making these for Coop)... but  I thought these weren't too bad.. honestly, i had planned to use some of them for myself, but I didn't realize how SMALL they are... definitely for childrens' portions. I almost thought it was too small for kids thinking the Japanese put we hearty Americans to shame eating so little.. lol... but then i realized that the art of Bentos is really cramming (or rather artfully arranging) your food to maximize every last inch. There's definitely an art to it! I tried to make Cooper one the other day (my first and only try so far) and it's tough getting used to really maximizing the space, when you're used to just throwing some stuff on a huge dinner plate.

I think the thing that excited me the MOST about these Bento boxed lunches, was that this would be a way for me to get used to packing healthy, but FUN (and cute!) lunches for Cooper, now that he's going to "real" school. I don't know if I've talked much about this here, but I remember telling someone once that cooking has been my most regretful failure in life. She was taken aback at how dramatic that sounded, but it's so true. The kitchen still to this day intimidates me. I can't cook.. plain and simple. I can boil water for pasta. Lol. Luckily I have a husband that can cook. And honestly, I think I've just always seen eating as an inconvenience in that I'm always like "I could use that time for something ELSE.. why waste time on cooking, when it's much easier to just eat out?"

See what I mean about failure? ;-)

But I've always known that I would need to set a good example for my kids. They eat pretty healthy for the most part. When we DO eat out (which isn't THAT often) I at least try to go to cafeteria style places that serve veggies, etc... fast food only happens occasionally. I do know that I need to get acquainted with my crock pot. ;-) Easy cooking DOES exist, i realize that!

My point is that, these Bentos are also FUN for me to make.. that motivates me even more. So my goal is to make some of these cuties for Cooper a few days a week for lunch (the rest of the week he can eat at school as I was impressed with the school menu.. it isn't like it was when i was in school.. you could eat pizza and french fries EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK if you wanted to.. and I DID! Lol!)

So anyway, sorry for the novel, but I'm excited about these! Cooper really loved the one I made him! Here's some of the goodies I got for his lunches... I have my eye on some other little things... some sauce containers and some silicone cupcake liners (these are great b/c they are reusable!).

(Shinzi Katoh boxes... one was dirty so that one is missing... it is much more boy-ish looking... and the thing in the background are some vintage Japanese paperdolls I got... they have nothing to do with Bentos. ;-)

I hope to take some pics of the Bentos I make, but it will be hard since it's so dark in the mornings... We'll see. Check out this flickr group for more Bento inspiration!

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Managed to make another necklace for the update this Friday... I think each one I make is my "new favorite"... I was actually inspired by a vintage horse show ribbon I saw on this blog last week.. it was like a light bulb for me.. I wanted to create something that had a horse-show-ribbon feel to it, but cuter.. ;-) I made my own button, and made the rosette out of fabric. The background on the button has a subtle houndstooth pattern. I wanted to make sure that the rosette really resembled the rosettes they use in the show ribbons. I'm really happy with how this turned out. The yarn is much more khaki in real life.. it seems to lean toward the green side in the photo.

Here's a photo of a modern day ribbon.... of course having the garrish colors, but i love the rosette style...

And here are some vintage ribbons... which are much prettier. ;-)

The horse imagery is also dear to my heart... the thought of horses really takes me back to my childhood... I REALLY loved horses. Loved drawing them. Loved the romantic idea of them. I always wanted to ride. And compete and wear all of the awesome outfits. ;-) I even thought for the LONGEST time that I wanted to have some land one day and own my own horse. My grandparents live in the country and I used to always try and find a way to talk about their neighbor "Butch" who owned his own horses... I would find some sort of segue and then ask "Can you ask him if we can ride?" I was always the only cousin that was interested.. all my other cousins weren't really interested... and don't even ask my sister about horses. She's had a BAD experience. Lol! :-) (i can laugh, b/c it was damned funny. But I think she probably still has nightmares about it. ;-)

The vintage paint-by-number painting is part of a pair I bought on Ebay for Cam's room... I hope one day to start a serious collection of vintage PBN's... I'm slowly warming Ethan up to the idea. ;-) I think the PBN's remind me of my grandparents' home as well.. i remember some she had hanging that my dad or his siblings painted.. I think they're still hanging in her home!

 

And here are my attempts at getting some standard shots of wearing it... Cooper thought he was just the funniest thing popping his head in there. I will be needing to take more/better shots... ;-) But i do love these! He cracks me up. ( i will ignore the fact that my skin looks really old.. not to mention my frizzy hair... hopefully you will too. lol!)

Comments

[chelsea Ann]

Very fun yummy treats... I actually have a box full of horse ribbons right now that I'm using for craft projects... it helps that my little sister is a horse girly- rodeo princess and all! So I think its really fun that you made a necklace with the same idea! Funny stuff! Lovely images as always :)

[sara]

Oh, the BENTO! Bento is everywhere in Hawaii and I miss all of the cuteness and convenience! I should have stocked up on boxes when we lived there. Oh, well...you have listed some great sources so I can always stock up now!

[joleen]

holy cuteness!! :)

[lorena b.]

Oh my goodness!!! My daughter (12 yr. old) & i love Japanese food & culture! We have been exploring the Bento Box for her school lunch to break the monotony. Thanks for the great info!

[kerry lynn]

oh yea, bentos!
we've got a japanese 1.50 store in sf
that is fab for that type of stuff!!
xoxo

[Lyndsay]

danielle, i learn so much from your blog.
i'm always saying, "ugh, how have i never heard of this?" or "why didn't i think of this?"
thanks for all the fun ideas. i can't wait for your etsy update!

[stephanie]

i love wendy's blog!! don't have kids, but am ready to pack bentos when i do :)

[Karla]

I've got another great bento and all things Kawaii and Japanese source for you http://www.from-japan-with-love.com/
Karla

[braydensmom]

love it! my babe is only 11 months, but now i am planning ahead! thanks for yet another wonderful idea!

i put a couple of links to you on my site... http://braydensmom.shutterfly.com/

[Marla]

We caught the bento box kick last year when Liam started school. He has the laptop lunch box that he carries to school and his teacher commented on how clever it was!

[miss morgan...]

eeek! i might just have to start making these for myself!!!

[Diane]

I just visited Japantown in San Francisco... Ichiban Kan had a lot of Bento box lunch-y things. I didn't know what it was all about. I just thought, "What the heck do they DO with all these little lunch containers??" Very cute and affordable there. Great area for beautiful paper too.

[Meghan]

Those Bento boxes are super cute. What I wonder are they safe? I've been concerned about BPA and didn't see if they were BPA free or not. Do you know?
Thanks

[Melissa de la Fuente]

Where do I begin? The GORGEOUS new necklace or your incredibly cute need to make cute lunches for your boys? Or the adorable bento things you found( I love his stuff) or your cute photos of said gorgeous necklace(and your skin does NOT look old and your hair does NOT look frizzy!) You are amazing my friend!
Love it all!!
xo
Melissa

[Amber Z]

Oh my goodness - HOW FUN!! After reading your blog, I stocked up myself on all these bento goodies! My two girls are going to school for the first time this year - and I was so excited to see clever ways of packing their lunches. Not to mention my little guy who is starting to eat table food and I have zero creativity when it comes to food. These tips were so helpful and I have had a blast looking up all the "accessories" for my new bentos. Thanks for all the great links! =)

[Celia]

Oh, what lovely ideas now the school is so near! Thanks so much!

[Jessie]

http://poppytalk.blogspot.com/2008/08/tiny-bazaar.html
You know about this, right?! Yay, you!!!

[Miss M!]

A friend sent me a link to this post - I love bento! I haven't really made any this year, due to being pregnant and tired all the time, but I did it for about a year and a half before that and posted photos of ALL of them on my blog. I did one for me and one for my husband every day just about. They're small, but if you do them right, you can get full from one.

I look forward to getting to make them for my new son in the future. :)