Bento!

My Mio Bento Lunch Box!

Delish!

This weekend I was out of town visiting the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco for school and it was an amazing experience! I carpooled with another student and we stayed in a hotel near Japan Town so we'd have plenty of time to meet up with our class. The entire trip turned into a roller coaster of intense Japan culture and fun. We sang karaoke (My first time ever!), went to the Cherry Blossom Festival (Sakura Matsuri) and saw the parade, and toured the museum with Professor Chirapravati who used to curate the Southeast Asian art there!

After the museum, we decided to peruse the end of the Cherry Blossom Festival and I bought an authentic Japanese bento box! (I got Justin one with the hungry hungry caterpillar on it too) I have been experimenting with traditional "Bento" type lunches for a few weeks now and to get my hands on this adorable lunch container made me super happy. Not only is it the cutest lil design with cats on the lid, it has made bringing lunch to class with me so much easier! I packed some noodles in the lower compartment, an assortment of snacks and a salad in the top, and tucked it into my bag before leaving for class. It fits perfectly in the front part of my backpack (you can see how tiny it is in the photo) and is awesome for covert munching in the computer lab. Goodbye wasteful spending, crappy school food, and throwaway wrappers! I will not miss you.

Being away at school makes it really hard to eat healthfully and inexpensively and be considerate to the world at the same time. The "brown bag" lunches I pack usually don't fit well into my bag and end up getting smooshed. I think coming across the idea of the Bento lunch has saved my life. They are amazingly beautiful creations, compact, eco-friendly and can be made with healthy foods. Justbento.com is a great resource for anyone who wants to explore the wonderful world of Japanese Bento lunches and there are loads of amazing photos of beautiful bento creations online.

Bento recipe ideas will commence!