Bento boxes

Bento boxes came to mind in the middle of the night. The single-serve conveniently boxed Japanese meals can be purchased ready-made by the worker on the go or the components - rice, fish, meat, eggs, fruit, vegetables (pickled or cooked), etc. - can be bought and lovingly crafted into aesthetically appealing lunches for the kids. The most interesting of these are featured on numerous websites, some devoted specifically to the art (Adventures in Bento Making, Bentolunch, and Eat My Bento), others suggesting it within a larger gastronomical context (The Bento Box Boom, Bento Boxes: Stunning Art You Can Eat, Box Lunch, Thinking Outside the {Bento} Box), and still others focusing on representative (fun, creative, anime) or extreme (Geeky, Spooky*) examples. You can spend hours looking at examples of bento boxes, if you choose. I have to finish my Christmas cards today, so I have cut my browsing short and offer only the single seasonal bento box above and plenty of links to others!

*The fingers remind me of the bloody finger shortbread cookies I have eaten on Halloween!