bento(s)

our cable just stopped working.
@ the very beginning of design star!  & it's the finale.  bummer.

so to keep myself occupied while clint fiddles with the tv, i've been checking out this site.  it's all about bentos. 

have you heard of bentos?  well, i can't seem to find a good definition to link to, so i'll just give you my very-limited-knowledge-have-only-recently-seen-these-on-the-internet definition.  it's a japanese-inspired, new crazy fad in kid lunch making where you use several small containers for holding a variety of small foods.  from what i can tell, the idea is to get your kids to try lots of different & healthy foods (hello, hudson!) while also limiting your waste (i.e. bye-bye ziplocks) & exercising your inner japanese martha.  & by japanese martha, i mean these moms are doing wacky, creative things with food.  i've seen everything from taking cookie cutters to cucumber slices (cute!) to handcarving hotdog octopuses (octopusi??).  the latter seems a little extreme to me, but i gotta admit when i saw it, i was way impressed.

goodness knows i need all the help i can get with mr. picky-i-swear-i'll-gag-if-you-try-&-make-me-eat-it. 

& i DO have a coupon i could use on the little silicone cups i've seen used for little veggie slices...

& hud COULD use a new little container for school lunches in place of all those darn ziplocks...

we just might have to try this out. 

okay, cable's back & it's design star time.  go team emily!!

ps:  bentos are similar to the whole muffin tin idea youve probably seen floating around, too.  you can check out more info here.

pps:  thanks to jaclyn who sent me the link to the another lunch site & who's planning to start bento-ing grace & blogging all about it (right?)

ppps:  i just found a good bento definition (of course right as i'm finished with this post!  ha!) "Bento is a way of packing meals in a compact way in a single container. Bentos should be visually appealing and be comprised of assorted foods - smaller portions of each, but providing more variety over all." (from another lunch)

pppps:  apparently the plural of "bento" is "bento" & not "bentos" as i've used in this post, but i feel funny saying that, so i'm going to keep calling them bentos.