Put Cute Things in Your Bento

(Photo credit: e-bento.com)

Every now and then when I'm feeling really domesticated I get these ideas for ultra-cute bento boxes to take to work. Typically, you start off with a small tupperware of rice sprinkled with furikake, then you add a couple pieces of karaage chicken and a tin-foil cup of hijiki or edamame. Throw in a few slices of kamaboko and plastic frilly toothpicks for color.

Now if you're super adventurous you can make a few inari sushi pieces (aka footballs) like the ones above. The heads are made of boiled quail eggs which can be found in cans at Marukai or any other local Japanese market. Dried sheets of nori (seaweed) are good for making faces.

There's a ton of cookbooks at the Japanese bookstores dedicated to this sort of stuff. Maybe I should get into the creative bento mode instead of eating cheese all the time.