Those of us from the south grew up on this stuff. In just about every grocery store you can find these tubs of beautiful orange lumpy goodness. Some people use it as a sandwich spread with lunch meat but most of us use it alone between 2 slices of bread as a lunch or snack. At times I would eat it directly out of the tub and I’m sure I’m not the only one to enjoy this guilty pleasure. What many people don’t know is that you don’t need to buy it premade. It can be easily made at home and is great for in your bento. It stand up well to room temperature storage and kids tend to love the stuff.

16 oz. chedar cheese
2 oz. jar pimentos
1/4 tsp. sugar
Mayonnaise
Few drops vinegar

Grate the cheese and mash pimentos; put together and mix well. Add sugar and enough mayonnaise to make it smooth and creamy. Put in container and keep refrigerated.

[my personal note: Fall is coming up and it adds a bit of color for fall themed bentos or that splash of fun color for your childern's bento! 8B Yuriko-chan]

(Today’s post is brought to you by Subu-chan, my friend, proof-reader, and now guest poster on Rayne’s Bento. A few of my friends will be writing posts on occasion or inserting their 2 cents on my posts. I hope you enjoy them.)

If you like a little crunch to your sandwiches, thin sliced veggies are a welcome addition. Cucumbers and carrots for a lot of crunch, tomatoes and pickles for less. Replace regular lettuce with baby spinach for a bit different flavor and crunch.
- Subu-chan

I had read about sandwich boxes before on other sites and blogs so when Ichiban Kan started offing these, I pounced. Whe I got it in though, I was less than impressed. The to section that holds the the bread is a bit difficult to clip together. Once assembled it’s very sturdy though; there seems to be no risk of it coming apart and smashing the bread. The other major problem I had with it is the size [or lack of], it’s too small to hold standard sandwich bread. If you cut off your crusts or if you like to cut your bread into cute little shapes, though, it works as fine. Remember though, if you cut your bread into shapes be sure to cut your meat and cheese to fit. The bottom section has plenty of room for your meats, cheeses, condiments, and other small side items. Over-all, I don’t think I will use this box very often, but it is not entirely useless. I think I would rather pack the top with a couple dinner rolls and put some fried shrimp, sliced tomatoes and mayo in the bottom and have mini shrimp po-boys. It’s a much better use for the sandwich box.

I give it - (2/5 sushi rolls)

Links: “Pink” Collapsible Sandwich Box

(Note: Normally I will try to put reviews out on Monday but I had some comp trouble this week.)

Ok, things are starting to settle down here a bit so hopefully regular posting will start soon. My hope if to be able to offer one recipe, one review, and one tip a week.  If all goes well I will be starting this next week. I have been collecting recipes and brainstorming tips, also I have bought loads of new products to try. I also hope to update the contest next week sometime so keep your eyes out!

Ok, I know I have been singing the praises of Ichiban Kan (I am not affiliated with them, nor with any other shop, I just shop there) but there are other places to feed your bento need. eBay is a great place to find all sorts of odd and beautiful bento boxes and accessories. You can find everything from the traditional to the wacky. Be aware of what you are buying though. Check the description throughly, read to find out exactly what you are getting. I had ordered a bento for my mom (the aforementioned Winnie the Pooh bento) while the bento was a great price, a great seller, and the set was awesome, but I had thought it was getting a 2-tiered. Had I actually read the description I would have seen that it was a 1-tier. My mom still loved it but I was a little disappointed. It was fully my fault though and the disappointment could have been avoided had I read a little instead of spazing and clicking the “Buy It Now” button.

The other thing you need to watch for is shipping prices. I have seen many cheap and lovely bentos but the shipping prices were WAY too high. If you look around you can get an idea of what reasonable prices are. Look at the feedback and see what other people are saying about the shipping prices and speed. Another thing to look at is location. It will cost more and take longer if the seller is in Japan, though that is where most of the bento sets come from. There are a lot of great bento seller in the USA too though, and the shipping is cheaper (if you live in North America that is) and it is sure to get to you faster as well.

CHECK FEEDBACK! Most important thing. If a person has a lot of recent negatives then you know to avoid them. If there are only a few, read, a lot of times it is over stupid stuff, or from non-paying buyers trying to cause trouble.

I will be putting up a page soon listing eBay sellers that I have bought from and I will try to remember to list where the sellers are from as well.

Sorry about the lack of activity lately, I just moved. Geeze! I never realized how much bento stuff I had until it was put together all in one place! Hehehe And I have more on the way. I got my mom hooked on bentos now too. I bought her a Winnie the Pooh bento set and she has been using it regularly. It came with mayo cups and she uses one of those to put her pills in when she goes out to eat and she brings her bento to put leftovers in. Every time she has taken it out at the restaurant she gets a lot of questions about what it is. She grins and tells them it is a bento and a gift from her daughter and then tells them all the joys of the bento. Even the waitresses at her favorite restaurant are going to get their own bentos. My sister and I are planning to start a business of making custom bentos and accessories.  We plan to offer hand-painted boxes and personalized embroidered bags and oshibori cloths as well as other things. Once we get set up I will post here. =D

Hello all! Today I would like to talk about using non-bento items in your bento. This can be a great thing as long as you are careful. You need to make sure that the item is food safe. From my experience most plastic containers that don’t have some sort of painted label or something are just fine. Things like the “attachable mini case” and the “travel mini bottle set” at Ichiban Kan are great as sauce containers. The little pump filler thing in the travel mini bottle set is also handy for filling little sauce bottles and the little spatula thing is great for scooping things like mayonnaise into the little cups. You can find lots of little containers like this in the health and beauty department in you local discount stores, mainly where they have the travel items, for really cheap. On flickr someone had posted how to use stickers and such to personalize you mayonnaise cups. You can find that here.

If you have any other tips or tricks please post them in the comments for everyone to see!

Ok, I am jumping the gun a bit here but I figured I’d start this post now. I will edit this post as I think of things, as entries come in, or if I change things. As soon as all the rules and info are finalized I will let y’all know and at that time you will not be able to change your entries. Up until then you can change and modify your entries all y’all want. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I placed another big order (mainly accessories) from Ichiban Kan and it should be in tomorrow! Gods, it feels like Christmas Eve every time I am waiting for a new shipment. ~lol~ Josh and Wendy will be moving up in less than 2 weeks so I will be getting some help designing bento lunches and I also may get their input on the reviews so that there is more than just one opinion for y’all. Keep your eyes peeled for another review in a few days because I’m sure there will be something in my new order that strikes my fancy. You know, I really should set a certain day a week to do reviews. Oooo, me being organized? I guess it could happen.

YAY! Ichiban Kan is now selling the Natural Colors Collection in their online store. I got all of them of course and I love them. Word of warning though, the cups are great but the seals cannot stand up to the carbonation of soda. My sister found that out the hard way. She usually packs a bento in her purse when she goes out to run errands. Well, we just got in the new bentos on errand day so she decided to take her new cup, untested. She filled it with soda and put it in her bento bag and put that in her purse. She called me when she got on the bus to tell me that her cup exploded in her purse. Luckily her bento bag was insulated and kept the stuff in her purse safe. So I guess there is two lessons here.

1. Always test your bentos and accessories before leaving the house.
2. When putting your bento in your purse/backpack/book bag/etc use a thermal bag protect your items from possible leakage.

Anyway, I guess this is technically a review so… This set is great, all sorts of matching accessories, and the mini chopsticks that come with the leaf brown (striped) and cherry pink (polka-dotted) are really neat. They come in a cloth bag but have these cute little plastic covers that just cover the tips to keep your bag clean after eating. The rectangular 2-tiers are a little on the small size but since each set has also a small oval 2 tier or a tight bento there is plenty of room for a bigger appetite or to pack snacks or even extra food to share with friends. I wish these sets had been out when I first started buying bentos because these sets are something I would highly recommend for a first bento. I am thinking of buying extra sets to keep on hand as gift sets for friends. Also with the undecorated lids they are great for all ages and genders and also are going to be a great pallet for my sister and me to paint on. You can get plastic paint at just about any craft shop in either tubes, spray, or even pens so anyone could customize these easily. The tight bentos that come with the leaf brown and cherry pink have a really good seal on them and seem to hold together well. The gasket removes easily for cleaning. The cups have a great seal on them but as stated before they cannot hold sodas, but juice, water, kool-aid and such would work fine.

I give it - (5/5 sushi rolls)

Links: Natural Color Picnic Series Beige | Natural Color Picnic Series Green | Natural Color Picnic Series Pink | Leaf Brown Bento Collection | Cherry Pink Bento Collection