konnichi wa! (from Colorado)

Hajimemashite. Kyandasu desu. Hi everyone, my name is Candace (or Kyandasu in Katakana). I'm a college student who just joined the site after browsing about it for a while. My roommate and I are getting our first apartment, and to save money I'm going to be bringing my lunch to campus everyday. That's mainly why I went online to look for bento recipes, because I'd like my lunches to be bento. I'm obsessed with everything Japanese, but my small budget keeps me from indulging in that obsession much. But I take Japanese lessons and am trying to develop a good Japanese cuisine cooking style. Japanese food is sometimes hard, and doesn't allow much room for error. Also, as a college student (though I'm home with my family right now) I don't have the most expansive kitchen. I do have a rice cooker though! Right now, I'm trying to make anman, which are sweet bread buns filled with azuki bean paste. Hopefully they turn out okay. If you have any Japanese recipes that adjust well to western cooking appliances that might be found in a college student's home, I would be much obliged. Where my school is, asian foods are easily available, and there are asian markets. But where my family lives, there's only the small section in Safe Way and city market. So right now, the recipes available to me are minimal, but they will expand come august when I begin my sophomore year! Anyway, I'm excited to start making bento and joining the community. It's seems like a really close community! ^_^ Thank you for welcoming me. Douzo yoroshiku. p.s.: If anyone speaks Japanese relatively well, I would love someone to talk to so I can practice over the summer! I only finished my first year, but I'm actually pretty good at the language. Thanks!
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