Bento Maniac in a "Hyakuen" shop aka 100 Yen shop

I was at the 100 Yen shop today. As always, I'm like a bull in a China shop only I don't break things, I can't stop buying!

I was trilled by the bento boxes that they had. When I looked at the bottom of the boxes I found that some of them were made in CHINA! I immediately called one of their Managers whom I got to know since my frantic, manic shopping sprees in the 100 Yen shops.

I asked about the lead scare on CHINA produced plastics and he assured me that the bento boxes produced in China under the licensee of their Japanese brand was safe and lead free.

See the blue and pink Clikety Click boxes, I bought two of each because they come in single bentos. You can buy many and stack multiple bentos.

The rectangle pink ones in the back attracted me because they had a movable divider. This allows a lot of flexibility. The white one in the back is quite standard, just wanted to add another color to my collection.

I loved the chopsticks they had on display. I pick up some for hubs and I. The 'fun' chopsticks in their cases are for the girls bentos.

The three cylindrical containers are for tea leaves. They only had three colors, I got them all. Coincidently, I am brewing three different types of tea (by rotation) daily.

The plastic box is to contain some of the Onigiri molds as they are bulky and difficult to contain.

The rest of the non-bento stuff, you don't want to see - too many of them! Hehehehe!!!

Bento #31

My Bento experience tells me one thing for sure. If you want your food to stand out in your bento, you need to use a box which is black inside.

Every time I pack bread, the bento looks too 'yellow'. #1 is adverse to 'red' food e.g. tomatoes, peppers in all three colors, including red, pumpkins, etc, etc.

Besides it's nutritional value and recommended portions, bento's are supposed to look yummy - a feast to the eyes. With limited choices of food and fussy eaters in tow, one has to work doubly hard at a bento.
This morning, I had to think fun as well as practical. I sandwiched the last batch of Focaccia bread (the practical food) with mushroom, ham and cheese on one side and a portion of banana topped with Cinnamon sugar.

In the other side of the bento box are some more sandwich in white bread cut into flowers (this is the fun food). The silver foil cake cup is filled with cucumbers, fishcake, crab sticks and corn. In the Hello Kitty tub is Thousand Island dressing. In the silicon cups are three slices of tamagoyaki. I threw in a Keroppi candy to cheer up the bento.