bento II

so i made a few attempts @ quasi-bento...

the first was a last minute thought to make a few shapes out of his food.  mimi (who was here last week - yaaaay!) bought hudson some presliced lunch cheese & i realized if you cut a big triangle out of the middle, then you get 3 triangles, which he thought was so fab, & of course banana circles & then we made a (sad) circle & rectangle out of some toast.  hudson thought the shapes were super cool, so i got some good mommy points.
the second was also a quick, throw together meal.  i wanted to use the little silicone muffin cups i got last week.  they are the perfect size for little snacks & will fit in his lunchbox for school.  this meal he gobbled down like it was ice cream!  granted, it wasn't really new food he was gobbling down, but he hadn't had turkey like that in about a year (i got really grossed out by lunch meat when i was pregnant & just hadn't started buying it again).  he used to pick the turkey out of his sandwiches, but was super happy about the "turkey rolls"!  whatever works :)
 
so a few of you have inquired about bento(s) & what kinds of containers are used.  here's the little i've found out from my investigative work (read: a little research on the ol web)...

after looking @ several sites, i ended up buying hudson this -

it's (obviously) called a LunchBot & you can read about them here.  they have several different types & sizes, all stainless steel, which i prefer.  i'm trying to get away from plastic as much as possible.  anyway, i chose this one because it can fit half a sandwich on one side & some little snacks in the silicone cups i bought on the other - perfect amounts for a hud lunch.
oh, also i bought it here.  & as a side note, i also bought this thermos.  we have 2 of them & while i did think it was rather $$ for a kid's thermos, i must say i LOVE it.  i would rather have only these 2 than a cupboard full of crappy, leaky sippys.  these keep drinks super cold & will not leak if the lid is closed.  yaaaay!

this is a good pic of what can fit in this size lunchbot...

from anotherlunch

cute, huh?  & that's one of the silicone muffin cups similar to what i bought.  i got them @ joann's with a 40% off coupon.  yip, yip!  they have lots of other stuff you could use for bento-ing, too, like little regular size as well as mini cookie cutters.  i also saw some punky flower muffin cups for girls.

i really like this lunchbox idea for older kiddos...

it's a planetbox.  this is a better picture (from anotherlunch)

isn't that cute? quite $$, but i bet it would last for quite a long time.  i love how there's a tiny middle section for some little treats.  cuuute!

lots more ideas & thoughts @ another lunch, if you're interested.

and here are a few pics of the boy munching down on the bento...

and here's baby "20 minute naps are just find with me" holland...

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.