giveaway

(The drawing has ended and the winners notified. Thank you for entering!)

I know, it's been a while. But I am here to cheer you up hopefully in these rather dire times!

Real Bento: Fresh and Easy Bentos from a Japanese Working Mom is a cookbook by a popular bento blogger in Japan called Kanae Inoue. She takes a very pragmatic, streamlined approach to making bentos, based on her years of making them for her three children for many years - a boy (who is now in college and living away from home) and two girls.

bento4japan-bag.jpg

The Bento4Japan fundraiser organized by my fellow bento bloggers has already raised thousands of dollars to aid Japan's disaster relief - and it's still running! And, here's a chance for you to get one of the prizes that was offered!

The Just Bento Cookbook is featured as this week's Cook The Book over on Serious Eats! You can check out some recipes from the book, starting with these Tofu Nuggets with Edamame, which are even vegan! (Meat eaters do not fear, they are really tasty if I do say so myself.) The recipe has been field-tested by Caroline of SE, so read her comments to see what she thought about them. Plus, they're giving away 5 copies of the book! I am proud to be counted as a Friend of SE (I visited their World HQ in New York a couple of weeks ago), and it's an honor to be featured there. Go over there and check it out - and if you haven't gotten a copy of the book yet, you may get lucky, so go over there and give it a go!

Share your back-to-school bento strategies!

backtoschoolbentoimg.jpg

While we are still in the dog days of summer (at least here in the northern hemisphere), it's already time for many of us to start thinking about Back to School!

Whether it's for yourself, your spouse/partner or kids, you may be thinking about incorporating healthy bento lunches into your everyday routine in the fall/autumn. What's your plan? What about bentos appeal to you (I'm guessing they must, since you're here!)? Share your tips, ideas, strategies for great bento-ing, right here in the comments. And, there's a prize!