I will be updating this space very shortly... bear with me.

Introduction

WELCOME!

I've finally decided to jump in and try this blogging thing. We'll see how long I last at it, hmm? I haven't settled on any particular theme for my blog yet, so please bear with me as I experiment with various topics. Those topics, could be connected by absolutely nothing - other than me. Things I like, things I think about, actors/actresses, music, literature, food, languages, culture, anything and everything that interests me, may end up here. I will try to make some sense within each post though. Thanks for visiting, and come again to see what I see; through the viewfinder's lens.

About Obentou

SO, today I decided to return to my first ever blog and write a little something about an activity / hobby that I have grown to love. The artful, delicious, nutritious craft of making and packing Obentou lunches -for myself. I am not Japanese, so my bentous lack that native flair, but I have fun making them all the same. Here are pictures of the newest box in my little collection. I have chosen to display it along with my preferred lunchtime drink. It is a bottle of green tea, called Oi Ocha. The brand website can be found here, although I personally prefer to buy it from Amazon.com, here. The particular box shown here is my newest one, so I photographed it's first use to send to the web-store that I bought it from. They are based in Kyoto, Japan - but they ship world wide, and the store can be viewed in several languages. This is the English version of the store. 

In the first of the two photos shown of my real lunch, you can see my obentou box and the matching chopsticks in their case.The second one shows the contents - yummy! It may be related to my choice to give up drinking soda and other sweetened drinks, but eating these, compact lunches (where the focus is on a healthy, delicious, and satisfying variety of ingredients) seems to have helped me finally get control of my eating habits and loose weight. While, I am not a diet expert (I have never dieted in my life), I really feel that the kinds of foods that I eat when I spend the time it takes to make these lunches, has made a difference - for me. I try to pattern my dinners around making a yummy obentou the next day, so everything is planned, fresh and homemade.

There are TONS of Obentou blogs and websites out there, and I don't intend to make this blog into one, although I will likely revisit the topic since I enjoy it so much. Maybe I will post pictures of a couple of meals in my other boxes, for you to see. Two of my very favorite Obentou / Japanese Cooking Blogs are to be found here and here. They are informative, easy to understand (even for Americans, like me) and most of all inspire me to try fantastic new foods.

PS - You may notice that I spell Obentou differently from some others out there. That's because I choose to represent the Japanese character う (English 'u') in the word when I write it in the English alphabet. In Japanese it looks like this: お弁当 or (phonetically) this: おべんとう. See the う on the end? It's really OK either way though. Bento, or bentou, with or without the 'o' at the beginning - it means the same - boxed lunch. ☺

My newest box ... Are you ready to see inside?

Tamagoyaki (rolled sweet omlette), blanched brocoli, spinach and onion stir-fry, and beef rolls stuffed with steamed carrot and red bell pepper strips. Japanese (short grain) white rice topped with carrot flowers.