esterday I finally got a chance to head over to Japantown in San Francisco and investigate what turned out to be the Holy Grail of local bento supplies: Ichiban-Kan (their adorable slogan is "Different things!"). Eyes bulging out of my sockets, I gleefully roamed the aisles tossing all manner of lacquered boxes, hard-boiled egg molds, miniature sauce containers, chopsticks with matching cases, rice molds, and other assorted supplies into my basket. The damage for this huge haul? About twenty-five bucks, as everything was a buck to a buck-seventy-five apiece.

One tip if you're considering getting into bento: it was really helpful that I had already made a few bento lunches beforehand using plain tupperware and things I already had on hand, as I had a much better sense of what I would actually use. Otherwise I think I would have gone much crazier than I did, and ended up with a pantry full of adorable, but impractical items. You'll be seeing different pieces of my haul in photos and entries to come, I'm sure.

I also got to reap the benefits of the bento myself. M. didn't get a chance to eat his lunch at school yesterday, so I brought it along with us in the car for the trip into the city (about half an hour from our house). It was pretty awesome to be sitting in traffic and snacking on chips and homemade guacamole - so civilized! Then on the return trip we split half a sandwich and some orange slices - the perfect little snack to tide me over until I got home to make dinner.