Bento Beginnings

My first memory of the word "bento" is an image of my Grandmother. She went to Japanese school as a child during their occupation of Taiwan and speaks Japanese fluently. In fact, her attempts at English speech is heavily accented with Japanese BUT I digress.

Lookie! My new bento supplies! I'm really excited to use them. Haven't really figured out how or when I'll use them. Kinda feel like I went overboard with rice molds (3 other molds are not pictured). Oh well, no time to wallow in buyer's remorse for now :)

Bento Supplies (Clockwise from Top-Left): Disposable Chopsticks, Bento box (650ml), Bento dividers, Rice Molds, Silicone Cupcake Liners, Disposable Dividers that look like fake grass.

Also wanted to brag about my bento box. It's NOT really a bento box. I swore off plastic tupperware for several reasons. I'd like to say the main reason was for health and the BPA scare, but that's just a mere 10% of the reason. THE main reason is that I like for things to retain that "new shiny" look. I'm really sensitive to that and plastics, even high-grade plastics always end up looking foggy. Another big reason is that I need my tupperware to be ovensafe and this one is up to 220 degrees (F) since it's made from glass.

My favorite plastic storage solution is the Lock n Lock collection and THIS bento box is from the Lock n Lock Glass collection made by Iwaki Japan. It also has a non-porous polycarbonate lid that won't stain and is shatter resistant. You can't really tell from the picture but the lid has a subtle raised design of flowers/vines and butterflies/birds. All I can say is....Eat your hearts out!