Bento

A recent thing that i have discovered and found interesting is making bentos. I do this mostly to cheer up my boy friend who has been very stressed lately. He lived in japan a few years back and has many good memories from his stay. He says it makes him feel special and that its always nice to know that someone cared to put a lunch together for him.

I don't have any photos at the moment, i don't feel like they are photo-worthy yet, but i will post them eventually.

The past couple of weeks i have gone on shopping excursions to find the tools of the trade. that is: picks, silicone cups, bento boxes, chopsticks, cookie cutters, egg molds etc. There are still a few things im on the look out for (namely the facial expression nori cutters and a certain set of cookie cutters).

I got most of what I needed from Saizen. Its the *real* daiso here in the Philippines. Another company took the name Daiso before the actual Daiso (as known in Japan). Its hard to get alot of things here, so I'm so glad that bent making materials aren't hard to gather here.

Many of the things i saw on ebay and bento retailers online are priced from .99USD to 12USD. Everything in Saizen is priced at 85 pesos, (roughly 2 USD). So sometimes its a bargain, other times its not. Another place you can go to look are Daiso and Japan home center - they also have friendly prices (66 for 1 item, 66 for buy one take one, 88 for one item or 88 for 2, the 88 for 2 is a bit tricky though because the item is actually tagged at 44 for one).

Saizen : bento accesories (picks, bottles, may containers, silicone cups, silicone molds for cakes and divider cups, a few nori punchers and cookie cutters) the only thing they dont have are certain cookie cutters and nori punchers. They also have different Japan imports like cosmetics, table ware, gardening supplies, art supplies, some clothing accesories,

Robinsons galeria, 3rd floor.

Trinoma, ground floor inside true value.

Daiso - toiletries, some kitchen ware, hardware, some DIY things,

St. Francis square - ground level

Alabang Zapote wing, Alabang Town Center

Japan home center - japanese table ware, nice place mats, some kitchen supplies, some toys, and toiletries

Market market

Robinsons Galeria 3rd floor before sai zen

I hope that helped, if i dont post for a good long while after this thats becaouse my net is a bit wonky =O