A Return to the Y

It's soo good to be back at BYU. Utah is a very special place to me. However, I miss my family immensely. So my sister Lise and I have decided to create a DropBox. This is a two-person filesharing system. It started because I took all my music with me when I went off to college, and she and her sister Sasha just got mp3 players, and had no music. Lise is basically addicted to my musical taste, so I drop some of my music into our dropbox and she downloads it. We also have a Word document going that is something like a penpal/letter/email/blog between us. It's really quite fun! Every time we add something to dropbox or add to the Sisterlog, we change the title of the document to something ridiculous and usually having to do with an inside joke. For example, the first time I sent it, it was entitled BACON!!, as a nod to one of our favorite standups, Jim Gaffigan. We talk about what's been going on in our lives, what music we want from each other, and really silly and stupid stuff we think will make the other laugh.

So the spotlight from our very first correspondence was Imogen Heap's new album Ellipse, Mika's new album The Boy Who Knew Too Much, and Regina Spektor's new album Far. So far, I only have Imogen Heap's album, but what I've heard of all them is AMAZING.

Eheh...er, hi there.

Heh, um hey guys. It's uh, been a long time, yeah? Well, I won't even try to catch up now... I'll just do it in small increments. But not right now.

I've been slightly to really obsessed with bento and onigiri and sushi lately. It's so delicious and healthy and cute and artistic, I can't help myself! So here I give you my favorite Bento sites. Plus some. Will post pictures of my own little things later.

AnnaTheRed’s Bento Factory is the blog of a Japanese-American woman who loves to make bento, plushies, and go to random anime conventions. She makes bento for herself and her boyfriend, and they are incredibly detailed and colorful. Lots of well-known Japanese characters from anime and movies, like Spirited Away, Totoro, and Pokemon. Some of the instructions are very detailed, sometimes bogglingly so. Her index contains all the bentos and the how-tos. Go to her flickr account for a complete gallery.

Cooking Cute is another bento site by a Vietnamese woman who makes bento for herself, her husband and new son. Being a mom, she knows all the easier tricks to making bento. Her recipes and instructions are very easy to understand. Her bento is mostly normal, colorful, tasty creations, but she does have quite a few remarkable character bentos in her gallery. The recipes section is very detailed, and even has sections for vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.

Just Bento is an online Bento community. They share pictures of their creations, stories, recipes, cultural knowledge, and dietary specifics. The section entitled “Bentos” Has pictures and detailed descriptions of each, including time needed, calories, culture, and diet type.

Just Hungry is Just Bento’s sister site. A blog created by a Japanese woman in 2003, her site focuses on Japanese cuisine and home cooking. She also comments on food wherever she travels, and discusses “healthy and casually ethical eating and cooking.” It looks nummy :3

Lunch In A Box is a blog by a mom in San Fran who started making bento because they found out her husband had celiac disease. She is fluent in Japanese, and loves making bento for her family. She makes bento from all sorts of cuisines.

I used the search engine on Lunch In A Box to find a bento store closeby to Boston, and the nearest is in Quincy, called Kam Man Market. I’d like to go there sometime, because commenters have said it has a dollar store for bento boxes, accessories, and tools for bento, as well as a big asian grocery and POCKY.

I’m really excited about this new edible hobby. It will be a great skill for me in college and in the future when I’m a mom, because it’s perfectly portioned, very healthy food, and cute to boot!

*noms leftover onigiri* Buh-bye!