A week in a post!

Hello there! I'm baaaaaaaack!

I had visitors last week and was out of town most of the week. The few days that I was actually here, I was running all over the county. Offaaah!

There hasn't been much time for bento making. I did make a bento for my husband on the monday. It was fairly simple, but I had 3 extra people in my tiny condo!

Here's my husband's box for monday April 28th:

He had 2 boiled eggs, couscous with peppers and onions, steamed broccoli and sliced mini peppers and cut up red bell pepper and cucumber.

We like eggs a lot, and this Monday (the 5th) my friend gave me "real eggs"! She has chickens at home (more pets than "farm animals" believe me) and she gave me 12 tiny eggs! Here's one of them in a mini muffin silicon cup. It's been boiled and cut in half (the fork beside it is one of those small salad fork, not a big "normal" fork):

Those fresh eggs taste so much better than store bought eggs! It's like being back home eating eggs from my dad's chickens! I love it! They are also tiny, so perfect for bentos! I know her chickens aren't laying eggs all year round, I'm already looking around for other sources for "real eggs"!

Ok, back to bentos. My birthday was this week, and I got 2 boxes as gifts! One in a red Donburi box that my husband ordered from Japan (I love it!) and the other one is a big "family size" bento that my friend (same one who gave me the eggs!!) gave me. Before my birthday I stopped by Kamei and bought myself a round box with dividers to use as a Donburi (didn't know I had one coming!) that will be useful too!

Here's all 3 of them:

My red Donburi box is really neat! It has a top compartment that rests on the black lid, and a main compartment under that. It also has a little container with a lid to put condiments n stuff, and a sauce bottle (which is huge... hmm).

My 2 favorite feature of that box is that the top compartment isn't the lid, it rests on the lid. That way, if I want to microwave it, it's not gummy under it. I'm fuffy that way.

Another really cool thing is that there's a little plastic "grill" at the bottom that can be removed. I love to eat a lot of salads and veggies, so that gives a little "drainage" feature so that the bottom doesn't get all soggy!

My next box is my divided round box. I got it "el cheapos" at Kamei. It's cool because each divider is a little container, and can be removed! I love that. The lady at Kamei told me it could be microwaved. The trick at Kamei is to keep the questions simple (they generally don't speak english too well) so I pointed at it "Microwave ok?" there you go!

I also like the look of a white box with a clear lid. It doesn't take very good pictures, but it looks good. It's perfect for colorful fruits... makes them pop!

Finally there's my bento "platter"! Funny thing is, when I opened the box, my reaction was "OMG, it's huge!" and my friend went "Yeah I know!" I don't think she expected it to be that big. At first I was wondering what I would do with it, but once I opened it, I fell in love!

It's obviously too big for a "lunch bento" but it's perfect for a picnic, a potluck, a BBQ with friends! the little dividers you see in one of the tiers are all little containers and are removable. They also fit in both tier (on some bentos one tier is taller than the other) so you can put 2 in one and 3 in the other. Perfect for dips, for sauces, for serving salad with dressing, different grains!

Now I can carry my bento mania even to parties!

So that's what has been going on. I made onigiri yesterday and froze them, I'm planning on making Oyakis sometime this week and will get ready to be back to work full time next week.

About time. My husband is home sick and I'm not working so no need for bentos really. After all the restaurant eating though, I think I'll be cooking all week!

Until then I'll try and make some bentos for us when I have a minute.

Happy Bento everyone!