This is how I make all the magic that you’ll be seeing in subsequent posts relating to bento, also known as o-bento (great bento). I had to collect these supplies over the course of a few months. Most of them came from Ichiban Kan USA, which no longer exists, I am very sad to report. Or, well, the store exists, but you can’t buy products from it online anymore, so don’t even try. Still, it’s nice to look at the merchandise and think, “I’d buy that, if I could afford to fly hundreds of miles to get it.”
You can also find bento-making supplies at JList and JBox. They’re both more expensive than Ichiban Kan USA, but the products tend to be better made and longer lasting. I know because the things I got from Ichiban Kan USA are less than three years old, and I haven’t used them daily, but the bento boxes are all wearing out — the seals don’t seal, the handles break off. By contrast, I’ve spoken to friends who were smart enough to buy from JList and JBox five years ago, and theirs are still in great shape after almost-daily use.
Anyway, on to the supply pictures!
- It’s just a cheap plastic box of drawers. I think I paid about $7 for it at a drugstore. Nearly all my bento preparation supplies fit in here.
- If you stuff these full of sushi rice and press the lid down, it will make perfect little sushi rice.
- The frosting tips are for piping shapes of various substances, of course. In addition to cake frosting, I use them for peanut butter and other spreadables. The orange and pink things above are egg shapers. You put a boiled egg in there, immerse in hot water for a few minutes, and voila: Bear or bunny shaped eggs!
- Instead of plain old green plastic sushi ‘grass’, I thought I’d use these. Cute, aren’t they? If you’re careful, you can re-use them.
- I have shapes for six-pointed stars, hearts, dreidls, bear heads, kitties, bunnies, and a few others.
- I use these to make either cut-out shapes like hearts (for instance), or heart-shaped holes in seaweed and other flat foods.
- Chopsticks in their carry cases; dipping sauce cups; soy sauce mini-bottles.
I also have two sizes of silicone cupcake cups, some plastic spears with things on the heads (monkeys, bears, pineapples, stars, other random things), and a few other little knickknacks, of which I have not yet taken pictures.
Then, of course, there are my bento boxes. I haven’t taken pictures dedicated to those, either, but they will appear in subsequent photos, never fear.
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Aug.17,2011
Tags : bento
