our first bento lunch

So bento lunches seem to be all the craze lately. I kept hearing the phrase but wasn't sure what they were. So one day I decided to google it. I guess the term comes from Japan and generally refers to a single size lunch conveniently served in a compartmentalized box. Lots of these bentos have essentially become food art. Adorable little lunches packaged up with sandwiches shaped like hello kitty and apples cut into stars. Though it started in Japan it has become widely popular in America too. I found dozens of blogs where the only objective is to post pictures of these bento lunches.

I kid you not. Could I make this stuff up?

If you are ever curious just look it up and you will have a feast for the eyes of the cutest little lunches you never dreamed of.

So that's what I did one day, with Ella looking over my shoulder and she was entranced. Well what little person wouldn't be? Personally I thought it all a little over the top. I mean somedays it feels like an accomplishment just to make everyone a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. Who has time to make lunch look cute? Some of these bento moms even package up bento snacks. Really? My idea of snacks is much more simplistic, a bag of pretzels and on a good day maybe some fruit snacks or a cheese stick thrown in my purse as we run out the door.

Neverthess, once Ella saw those "adorable little lunches" (her words said in a high pitched girly voice) she couldn't stop dreaming that one day I would make her one.

Well today that day arrived.

I was in a particularly good mood and tired of boring sandwiches so I whipped out a few plastic containers and a cookie cutter and got to work.

It in no way compares to those crazy bento mom's creations but I thought it was rather cute and tasty: yogurt with craizen smiley face, cheese tulip and pbj tulip, pretzels and oranges.

And it sure made this little one's day:

Grace was pretty excited too. However her inner cuteness sensitivity meter isn't as highly tuned as her sister's so she was more interested in eating it right away. Which really is the point of lunch.

Meanwhile Ella was so enraptured in the cuteness that I thought she would never eat it. But she did, every bite. So I guess that it was a hit.

Would I do it again?

Probably.

It was pretty fun and really not too much work.

But no worries... I will not be renaming this blog, "The Perfect Words and the Perfect Bento Lunches."


Update: So I sort of lied...I did cave and make a Bento Snack.

But how could I not.

Matt came home from school and Ella filled him in on her her fantastic lunch experience and he was rightly jealous. He begged for a bento snack and I couldn't leave him out.
Would I make one again?

Probably.

Because look how happy it made this boy: