Hubby bought me a portable lightbox kit and I am in love with it! The backgrounds suck so I’m going to have to get to the fabric store and sort something else out, but I love not having to use the flash on my bentos. I just need to play around with the lighting a bit more since the one box is showing up a bit dark. Bento #33 was made using an Indian tiffin box.

Box 1: Spring onion tamagoyaki, strawberries and grapes, cheddar cubes. Box 2: brown rice with sushi vinegar and radish green rice seasoning, mixed veg kinpira

Kinda a lame Easter this year.  No kiddies around, no family to go to for Easter dinner.  I had to do something to make me not be so homesick!  I decided a couple of Easter bentos would do the trick.  These were fun ones to do!

My dyed eggs this year - Kawaii Faces

Bento #30 & 31 ---- Garlic Veggie Stir-fry, Spring Onion pancakes, carrot flowers, dyed eggs

And for dessert…..

Bento #32 ---- Chocolate tofu pudding, grape and brie kabobs, kiwi slices on top of pound cake muffins

While I haven’t been blogging lately, the shopping never stops! I’ve been building up my bento collection gradually. I finally got a free second today to get everything out and take some pictures.

This is my entire collection to date. Some items have been through flickr swaps, some I’ve ordered online and others I’ve managed to find at the few shops we have around here.

My bento collection

This is one of my favorite little boxes I found while up in Pittsburgh @ Kawaii Gifts. They also have an online shop: Shop Kawaii

Dreamy Friends Pig Bento

The two stackable snack boxes below are so cute!  I found them at Borders of all places.  They make great sidecars.

In hopes of not losing my many wonderful subscribers I want to let everyone know what is happening on my side of the world.

After coming home from visiting family we found out that hubby needed surgery on a growth near his brain.  He had the surgery last Wednesday and only just got out of the hospital on Saturday.  So far it looks like they were able to remove the entire tumor and it was benign, but we still need to wait for everything to heal to find out if there is anything left and if his hormone levels will go back to normal.

It’s been a very trying week for both of us since we were told 3 months ago that medication would reduce the size and surgery would not be necessary.  He is recovering brilliantly and we are hopeful that all will be better soon, but it may be something he will have to keep a close eye on for the rest of his life.  It’s strange how things can change at a drop of a hat.  It definitely made us both realize what’s important.

I should be back to bentoing and blogging in the next coming week.  Right now, as you all can understand, I need to focus on him and getting him back to good health.  Wishing you all a wonderful week and of course, happy bentoing!!

My mom is coming in from FL today then we are out of town for a couple of weeks so I’ll be taking a little bloggin break.  Stay tuned in April as we feature some new bentos, recipes, bento gear and even some new amigurumi I’ve been working on!

Hope everyone has a great rest of March and see you all in April !!

Want bento gear?  Want bento gear for free?  NotExactlyBento.com is running a drawing through March 20th on the Natural Lunch – Green bento line from Ichiban Kan.   Enter contest HERE! Do it, do it now!!

I’m doing a week long cleansing fast so there won’t be much in a bento for me this week.  To keep my practice going, I’ve made my wonderful husband a bento this morning.  He made sure to tell me not to make it with any cutesy animals or hearts and flowers so I kept it very plain and simple (which equals boring in my opinion!  — But he is the man so we have to pretend like they have a say in these things!)  Being adorable, as I am, I even stuck in a little “I <3 you” note under the lid… awww!

Box 1 = Soft Boiled Egg, Chicken Dumplings, Carrot sticks, Fishy soy sauce holder. Box 2 = Pepper Jack Cheese cubes, Cinnamon Graham Cracker Bites, Apple cubes. Didn't figure out calories because he doesn't need to watch what he eats... lucky!

All sealed up and ready to go with chopsticks and Pocky!

Maki just published my guest post on JustBento.com (one of my fav bento blogs!)

How Tracy Uses Bentos For Weight Loss

Weee!  Enjoy!

Made a homemade pizza last night for dinner and tried to save some before Pete scarfed the whole thing down.  Just made a simple salad with bottled lite Italian dressing to go with it.  This was my first attempt at the bunny and checkered apple.  I don’t think they turned out too bad.  I picked up and exacto knife to use just for the kitchen since all my knifes are way too dull for anything this intricate.  Other than that, the bento was pretty much thrown together.  I’m getting lazy!  I definitely need a nicer bento that’s a bit bigger than the other boxes I have.  They just don’t look as good in a boring plain tupperware container.

Homemade Pizza, Apple, Salad with Lite Italian Dressing and Green Olives. 280 Calories.

Today’s bento was a pretty lazy attempt at making something quickly when I got home from the shops. I think it came out pretty cute though!

The roll up is made using vegetarian deli sliced ham. If you’ve never tried this before, using it in a roll up with lots of crunch is a great way to add a vegetarian meal to your day! The outside of the roll-up is a Flat Out wrap. These now come really low in calories and carbs and really high in fiber and protein.

Here’s how I made this one.

1. Lay the wrap flat, so that the short end is facing you.
2. Cover a very thin layer of dijon mustard mayonnaise. I used Hellman’s Dijonnaise.
3. Top with 4 pieces of the veggie ham.
4. Lay 2 slices of cheese on top of the ham.
5. Add a fair amount of baby greens to the middle.
6. Top with a good amount of clover sprouts.
7. Roll up tight and cut into slices. YUM!

Veggie Ham and Swiss Cheese roll-up, black grapes, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, hummus dip. 385 Calories