Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat. aggregator

recently on twitter: makiwi: cassoulet, here i come! beans beans beans, the more you... nvm

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:00:34 +0200

makiwi: cassoulet, here i come! beans beans beans, the more you... nvm

recently on twitter: makiwi: bye to Provence for a bit, off to the Languedoc!

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:59:18 +0200

makiwi: bye to Provence for a bit, off to the Languedoc!

recently on just bento: The 3rd Sanrio Charaben (Kyaraben) Contest winners are announced

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:41:32 +0200

In Japan, there are numerous bento contests, especially targeted at practioners of the art of charaben or kyaraben, cute character bentos. The biggest one of them all is arguably the annual charaben contest held by Sanrio, now in its 3rd year. The one rule of the Sanrio contest, not surprisingly, is that the bento entries must feature Sanrio characters.

The winners of the contest were announced yesterday. Here’s the Golden Grand Prix winning bento :

Like the winning bento last year, it’s a picnic bento, titled “It’s spring! Picnic bento for everyone”, and the Golden Kyarabeniste is a Ms. Harumi Sugiyama from Saitama prefecture. The bento has the following mind-boggling components:

A homemade mini apple pie; according the the creator it’s “because when I think of Hello Kitty, I think of apple pie”
A hollowed out apple cup, made with the apple from which the pie was made, holding potato salad
Hello Kitty family shaped onigiri, and Hello Kitty jelly cups

The creator says that she tried to make the bento appeal to adults as well as kids, since it’s a family picnic bento. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t like this amazing creation. Just thinking of the time it must have taken makes my head spin.

You can check out the rest of the winners by clicking on the shiny link buttons below each photo, or the photo itself, from the main page. My personal favorite is another picnic bento, the Okaasan Arigato (Thank you Mother) bento, which according to the description is an edible Mother’s Day card of sorts (keep in mind that the contest took place in April-May of this year, so many people had spring on their minds when they were making their bentos).

I wonder when the number of charaben/kyaraben fans in the U.S. for example will become big enough so that it becomes worthwhile for Sanrio to hold a bento contest? Or, better yet, an international bento contest? After all, isn’t Hello Kitty a universally known symbol? We shall see…

I’ve found some bento bloggers who entered the contest and have written about their experiences (in Japanese of course) here, here, here, here, here and here so far. I’ll add more links as I find them (I haven’t found the Golden Grand Prix winner’s blog yet, if she has one). If you spot anymore, let us know in the comments!

recently on twitter: makiwi: cheeseburger cupcakes - yay or nay? I'm on the fence.. http://bit.ly/16OiOx

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:23:24 +0200

makiwi: cheeseburger cupcakes - yay or nay? I'm on the fence.. http://bit.ly/16OiOx

recently on twitter: makiwi: @dkirkward youre welcome and thanks! hope you enjoy Switzerland :)

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:20:05 +0200

makiwi: @dkirkward youre welcome and thanks! hope you enjoy Switzerland :)

recently on twitter: makiwi: @avlorsimprints wow...thanks ^_^;;

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:18:48 +0200

makiwi: @avlorsimprints wow...thanks ^_^;;

recently on twitter: makiwi: @dkirkward http://bit.ly/14V7cz - Isler Torten. Site is in German but they speak English. try emailing them!

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:04:14 +0200

makiwi: @dkirkward http://bit.ly/14V7cz - Isler Torten. Site is in German but they speak English. try emailing them!

recently on twitter: makiwi: @dkirkward i guess you saw this post? http://bit.ly/TlOgV the 1st company linked to at the bottom still has the chocolate classes

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:03:01 +0200

makiwi: @dkirkward i guess you saw this post? http://bit.ly/TlOgV the 1st company linked to at the bottom still has the chocolate classes

recently on just bento: And the winner of the 501 Bento Lunch Boxes book is...

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:27:10 +0200

The winner of the random drawing for the 501 Bento Lunch Boxes book is….

red the opinionated from Portland, Oregon! Ms. red, please email me at maki at makikoitoh dot com to claim your prize!

Look for another giveaway on Just Bento or Just Hungry soon!

recently on twitter: makiwi: so, next week we'll be in the Aude, so my mom is gonna send the teacher a postcard from Carcassonne...and if she won't, i will ^_____^

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:57:01 +0200

makiwi: so, next week we'll be in the Aude, so my mom is gonna send the teacher a postcard from Carcassonne...and if she won't, i will ^_____^