Today's lunch was filled with more leftovers. The bottom tier meat ravioli in red sauce with lounging panda bears. The top layer was filled with diced papaya and the side car has bunny mix. The little panda box is from the Paper Chase line found at Borders Books. When I first purchased this box it felt really small, but I find it holds a great deal. Maybe I am learning better portion control. See I can be taught!
Every where I turn this season I see green. Apparently, I am on a green swing since it is now the color of my newest bento and seems to satisfy my palate too. Todays lunch is diced honey dew melon, sliced pear, a peanut butter/jelly sandwich on pain de mie bread and bunny pretzel mix. This tower of food is actually lunch and after-school snack. The box performed well but will leak if packed with very moist foods. It fits very nicely into my lunchbox with room for a water bottle and icy.
I found these cups in the clearance rack at my local kitchen supply store. They were part of a kit designed to make a butterfly out of cupcakes. The shapes are great additions to my bento collection. Who knows maybe someday I'll need to make a butterfly out of cupcakes. I am always on the lookout for products that re-purpose for bento. These cups are made by Wilton.
I packed this bento the night before school with the hopes that the food would stay fresh and crisp until the morning. I packed the tortilla with chicken salad but layered the tortilla with fresh spinach leaves first. I loosely wrapped the sandwich with wax paper and sealed the sandwich box. To my surprise everything stayed crisp and fresh the next day. I did not dare add the steamed pea pods to the box that would really be pushing my luck.
Today I packed a high protein low carb bento in a new box. The box is stainless steel and feels huge. It measures out to be 700ml in volume which could be dangerous to pack if you don't pay attention. The sides are tall as you may be able to judge by how short my silicon cups look. The silicon cups are regular muffin size from Wilton. It's easy to pack since their is so much space thus lies the risk of including too many calories for lunch. I tried to focus on low fat protein choices- 3 turkey meatballs, 2% mozarella cheese stick, and 2 tablespoons of hummus dip. The rest of the box includes diced honeydew melon, cucumber slices and a few organic banana chips.
My favorite shop at Disney World was the Japanese gift shop in Epcot. Unfortunately for me, the rest of the family was exhausted when we walked inside. My husband is a very big roller coaster fan and he had already run the group ragged for hours. I did snag this cute bento bag the minute I saw the display of Shinzi Katoh designs. There were no boxes or accessories but I was a happy camper. The lovely sales clerk was a little concerned since she was afraid that I was purchasing the bag as a purse. She made sure to point out that it was insulated inside and wasn't really a purse. I was tickled pink and reassured her that it was exactly what I was looking for to pack bento.
On my 50th birthday last month I promised myself that this decade I will travel overseas with my husband. We have been married for 22 years and are in the process of raising 4 wonderful children. The last three decades have been all about the children as you can imagine. They are now in high school and college. It's our turn to have some fun. First step in the plan was to procure passports. I traveled several times before getting married but my passport had expired. My dear husband has never left the U.S. except for one brief day in Mexico on our honeymoon. He has never applied for a passport. The first step in our journey has begun, we have applied for passports and they have arrived. Now the planning begins.
For those bento fans who live in the United States there are certain parts of the country that are bento deserts. We have very small asian populations and very limited access to common supplies available in California or other metro areas. Simple boxes abound but divided boxes I have had to purchase online. Today while on the hunt for sandwich cutters I spied a new display of Lock N Lock boxes at Winn Dixie. They are displayed as a promotion. There in the stack I found the square four compartment box for $4.99. This same box I paid $8.99 for with shipping several weeks ago. The box below that one is 1000 ml. divided into three compartments. I have been oogling it online but am over bento budget for the month. It is too big for me but not too big for my husband, whom I am slowly converting. Ha, Ha, Ha...I'll have to roll the expense over to the month of July since I bought it for $4.99, it is $9.99 online. The third group ($5.99) I actually purchased for the smaller containers. The larger square box is sandwich box sized. The smaller side cars are leak proof and I intend to use them to store ff salad dressing when I venture out to restaurants. It's almost July isn't it?
I saved, I found, I bought, I waited. I ordered this cute little bento from Japan and shipped it slow mail to my home. I waited 6 1/2 weeks for it's arrival, but who's counting. I think he is so cute I am seriously considering displaying him in my china closet. Tomorrow is his first debut in my lunch box. I packed a four point bento filled with Hungry Girl Beef BBQ cup, sliced cucumber in pickle with ginger. Baby tangerine with red seedless grapes, cherry tomatoes and baby spinach leaves. Day 22 on WW and things are fine.
I officially rejoined weight watchers today and admitted it is time to get serious. How appropriate that the my Easter gift arrived in the mail two days ago. Note the logo. I have always been one very hungry caterpillar. Perhaps this is why my new bento called my name. It's perfect. The bento is small (bottom 200ml., top 250 ml). I think it will work very well on my new plan. I have committed to keeping records with me at all times. I have added this pouch to my purse with all of the tools I need to stay truthful and keep good records. The rest is up to me. I am on Spring Break this week so I may not be packing a bento every day but I will be weighing, measuring and tracking my points. 
My lunch bento is filled with spring mix greens, sliced strawberries and Greek Chicken with orzo. The little side car has raspberry walnut vinaigrette for the salad. The bento boxes are part the the new Happy Noodle collection from Paperchase. There are four in the stack in various sizes. 
Look what's new from Paperchase. The line is called appropriately Happy Noodle. I found this little fellow at Borders Bookstore last night on my monthly scan of the Paperchase goodies. Paperchase is a British stationary company that seems to know alot about super cute. I had to restrain myself and stick to my allowance for the week. I did need to put a few things back on the shelf, but how could you leave this little guy behind to spend another night in the dark. I also bought a similiar themed binder and notebook to fill with bento ideas.
I found these cute little containers at Target and Family Dollar Store over the weekend. Even though most of the country is blanketed in snow, I am ready to celebrate Spring. The little containers look like I can use them to shape rice figures and try out my little nori cutter I got for Christmas to make faces. The cookie cutters are tiny and will work well to cut vegetables or cheese etc. Keep your eyes open for visits from my little friends soon.
Look what the postman brought me after a quick click of the mouse on the internet. I have been saving my pennies for months to purchase this beauty and scouring internet ads. Thanks to all of the good advice from my friends on Just Bento.com I decided on the 10 cup version since I have a big family. I think they will be seeing a lot of rice this year. One of my new years resolutions is to enjoy my home appliances more and cook away. The simple pleasures in a very busy world. 
Today's bento continues along the desperately seeking low fat bento category. The white rice is about a half cup with furatake in the snowman container. I considered making the rice into a snow man but I am out of steam. The broccoli and orange slices accompany leftover pot roast slices. The side car is for snack time. I do love my new little glass bento box. It is only 500 ml but contains enough to be satisfying for lunch.
In keeping with my need to reduce calories this morning's bento is in a small bento box with an even smaller snack container for afterschool. The glass bento is filled to the brim with a serving of brown rice, furitake, tuna and dried tomato salad, cherry tomatos and orange slices. The snack bento is filled with the remainder of half an orange, dried cranberries and a nibble of cashews. Lots of Mono Unsaturated Fats in this duo for the day.
What a lovely Thanksgiving Weekend with lots of food. Thus today's bento filled with lettuce, tomato, hearts of palm, chopped egg and sliced turkey. The container looks huge from this angle but it is around 600 ml. This turkey needs to get seriously low -fat this week.
