bento

i've become fascinated in the last few days with something called bento. it's not a new concept, by any stretch, but the details are new...i love stumbling across new - to me, at any rate - ways to do the same ol' things.

blogs abound on the subject, much to the chagrin of my already over-burdened rss reader. take a quick peek at all of that adorableness:

- just bento (and its sister site, just hungry)
- bento corner
- lunch in a box

i'm terrible at making lunches for myself, but for some reason i'm able to pack a lunch and snack for j every morning. i'd love to have the creativity to make them as cute and nutritious as the bentos you'll find on these pages, but at 645am i'm not all that in. well, plus i'm not making a bento for a preschooler, so probably a lot of the really kawaii stuff is out...

lunch for the man typically consists of leftovers, since those are easiest and usually after dinner there's enough left to package into one or two plastic containers. then i just pop them into a bag for him in the morning with a snack - classic pb&j with seedless blackberry jam :) - and he's ready to scoop it up with his coffee on his way out the door.

most of the time that seems to work out quite well for him, unless i inadvertently pack something that he wasn't all that wild about when we had it the first time. the pb&j started about a year and a half ago, and he's as amazed as the rest of the world that he's not tired of it yet. the blackberry jam is his favorite, and the protein is just right for a mid-morning blood sugar boost.

i'll definitely be exploring this more, if i can manage to get that "wake up a little earlier" thing under my belt...and i'm sure adapting some of these ideas to our life won't be as complicated as it seems on the surface...