Saturday, May 26, 2007

Bento Shopping Madness

I hit Ichiban Kan and Daiso in one day. Daiso was somewhat disappointing; far more chaotic than Ichiban, would have definitely been more fun with a friend (browsing the 'toy' aisle and finding strange, X-rated latex 'toys' was just not as much fun alone, which is why Jenijen has agreed to come with me next time!), and did not have the coveted egg molds for which I drove the extra 10 miles. They did have some interesting cookie cutters, tons of food separators for bento, about 300 different types of chopsticks, but a very small selection of actual bento boxes, and absolutely no bands (keeps them closed, as 'clickety click' is more of a concept than an actual function the box performs. Let us remember that the name of the company is 'lube sheep').

I was so sad not to find the egg molds, that I actually refused to believe they did not carry them. The first woman to help me replied, "Ah yes! EGG! We no have."
The second woman to help me said, "Oh! EGG! Yes, here for egg!" and offered me a very pedestrian looking egg slicer.

I satisfied myself with some interesting food cups/box liners, scored some very cute reusable silicone cups that I intend to use as food cups, and found some hilarious stationary. That made me feel better for making the trip into overwhelming shopping mecca, but I still think Ichiban is a better place to shop. Not only is it shockingly neat for being so stocked with STUFF (sure Daiso has an entire room devoted to pastel tupperware, but really - do you need more than one very well stocked aisle of that?), but they carry Pocky. And Daiso does not. Which is just wrong. Not only does Ichiban carry Pocky, but they have every possible flabor (it says so on the back, 'artificial flabor') they can get 'at good price', as the very friendly woman who is always working there says.
"Can you please get egg molds?" I asked her.
"If I see good price, I get!" She replied.
Ichiban also has a few things for $1, whereas some of the same things are sold at the blanket $1.50 price at Daiso.

Dh mentioned how convenient it is that this all came about just for the last three weeks of school, and questioned if my passion would be renewed come September...stay tuned, I suppose.

Meanwhile, back to the booty:

What flavor Pocky are you?
Top row: Pocky Strawberry, Pocky Men's (bitter chocolate), Pocky almond crush, Strawberry Pocky (different from Pocky Strawberry). Bottom row:Lucky mini almond Pocky, Pocky 'Decorer' peach (blechh. but supergirl likes), Pocky gree tea mousse (Dh claims 'perfection'), Pocky chocolate mousse, Pretz Salad. I realized that I did not even get original Pocky!

Bento in pink: Clockwise from top left- Classic Clickety Click of the bunny variety, reads: "My name is Rinda. Favorite food is the white cake and the sweet cherrys. Verry nice" - I got one for NakedJen, and Supergirl got all jealous. Next to that is a little snack container with locking handles, reads: "Enjoy a quiet lunch time while feeling a season. nature put a person at his ease." The Clickety Click matching Rinda chopstix (for Jen; Supergirl's not so hot with the chopstix), then an unknown maker (made in Japan) bento, reads: "Polka-dot. love me little, love me long." This was from Daiso- the rest from Ichiban. Underneath it all is the matching pink bag (also for Jen).

Bento booty in blue: Clockwise from top- Clickety Click blue bear bento, reads: "My name is Bobbin. It likes playing outside. I will carry out what and will play today." Then another unknown, three-tiered box in a lovely retro-aqua that included a strap and chopstix, that I got at Daiso. Another snack container in blue (see below), and a super-cute four-tiered (I do count the small top layer) mini-box from Daiso.
I love the 'feel at ease' snack boxes. They make me feel happy. And at ease.

Rice molds (bear and two kids), ball-shaped rice molds (hide almonds or whatever inside!), flying pig sauce containers (oh yes, I am serious), and two tiny tuppies that fit in bento boxes: seal and cat.

Cutters - though not as miniature as I would like. Heart and star, tiny boat and plane (my favorites), two corrugated squares, bigger heart and star, and unidentifiable leaf-type shapes.

Food cups and separators for bentos. I love the ones on the left with fruits on them - they are made by a company called 'Putifresh". I couldn't make this stuff up.
Also note the silicone cups and teeny tiny bread pans (yes, so you can bake teeny loaves of bread that fit in your bento box, but I see their future as reusable food cups) - they say "Ecology and washable"! Hooray for ecology and washable!!


Now, aren't you dying to see the stationary I got? You are.

"Puppet play ~Hello everyone~
I have taken rest now...Other men are dancing!"

And one more...I don't think I could top this....

"CUTE LADY
Today I want to produce a femininity different from the usual."

'Nuff said.

5 comments:

Smiley Riley said...

Wow, I've not checked in for a while and this post reads like a foreign language! I obviously need to catch up!!

Anonymous said...

oh.my.goddess.

you are the BEST FRIEND EVER! i can not wait to eat my bento with those chopsticks. and i am already the rage with my bento box.

but now?

well, now i have to go shopping with you. if jenijen can't make it, i will go!htt

theotherbear said...

Wow. What a fantastic idea for making lunches. They are so cute - I must get some myself! I have no child to feed lunches to. I wonder if my hubby would like lunches filled with moulded eggs and such!

Anonymous said...

Miss, i would like to point out that one of your "leaf shaped" cutters is, in fact, in the shape of a ginko leaf.

gwendomama said...

um, anon, yeah.
that would be why i said 'leaf shaped'!!