Bento Break

Now that I have finally, dolefully, returned from my spring break trip to Southern California... blogging resumes!

On only my first full day in California, TheBoy and I took a trip to Little Tokyo, deep in the heart of Los Angeles. While there, we visited our favorite pastry shop, Beard Papa's, bought and drank a bottle of delicious, tangy Calpis water (Calpico in the U.S.), and indulged in a bento-shopping extravaganza.

While I won't show off all my new items today (because I haven't photographed them to my satisfaction), I can't resist posting a few action shots: TheBoy enjoying his brand new box's first outing -- to Laguna Beach, no less.
His box and mine are both very similar from that day: leftover burritos (prepared by REAL Mexicans at Ricardo's in Laguna Niguel). His burrito was stuffed with some yucky, pork carnitas while mine had some tasty roast chicken with rice and beans. Both of our boxes contained salad in varying amounts: his, with the larger space (870ml), held a small salad garnished with chopped orange peppers, while mine (650ml) only held a small pittance of lettuce -- mostly to provide a pleasant bed for leftover salsa and guacamole from Ricardo's. It also made for a yummy, little burrito/taco salad when I mixed the salsa-laden lettuce into the untidy burrito.
TheBoy's box also had some salsa/guac kept tidy through a reusable, silicon baking cup. We both had sliced strawberries and whole blueberries (picked up in inexpensive bulk at Costco, courtesy of TheMom) and temporarily abducted TheMom's silverware for ease of eating the fruits and salads. If we had them, we could have used either toothpicks or decorative bento picks, instead of flatware, but chose the simpler, free method of borrowing from his mom.


We both really enjoyed our lunches and I think the experience has given TheBoy an even better reason to love bento.. aside from its cuteness and tidiness, it's cheap. Instead of succumbing to our hunger in one of Laguna Beach's many overpriced eateries, we chowed down on delicious, hearty leftovers in our convenient boxes. We ate without consulting a menu or waiting in line and we chose our own location -- didn't have to deal with a rude, restaurant hostess or crappy booth.