Hello, Anime Boston.

If you’re popping over here from the panel on bento culture, hello and welcome!

I started making draw string lunch bags and coordinating napkins specifically to wrap and carry standard, rectangular bento boxes. I now make them a bit larger to accommodate a wider variety of lunch box shapes. All of the lunch bags I offer are handmade by me, reversible, flat-bottomed, and machine washable. I’m also happy to take custom orders. Please visit the lunchtime section of my Etsy shop (use coupon code ANIME2014 for 10% off anything in the shop) or the lunchtime gallery on flickr to see what I have to offer. I also carry Cuppow BNTO mason jar adapters that turn your canning jar into a two-compartment lunch container. Since I don’t make those myself, they are only available in my Storenvy shop.

Thanks for visiting, and happy lunching!

Bigger on the Inside

Notice anything new about the lunch bags lately? They’re a bit bigger in every dimension!

By cutting the fabric just a wee big bigger and moving the draw string up just a little the bags can now accommodate a larger variety of food containers. The original lunch bag was designed to fit the most common bento box sizes, but standard reusable food containers (Gladware, Tupperware, Rubbermaid, etc) didn’t work so well. This slight design change makes a big difference. Lunch bags for everyone!

Worried the new design might be too big? Bento-loving customers, take heart! The bags are still great for your lunch boxes as well! There’s just a wee bit more room. Might as well pack a snack, too.

The napkins haven’t changed, though. They’re still the generously sized 16″ square they’ve always been. Big enough to wrap a bento box (furoshiki style), but not so voluminous you feel like you’re using a tablecloth to wipe your hands on.

What do you think of the new design? And how about that bento-themed fabric? I love it!

Etsy update!

I’ve just listed five super cute, reversible lunch bags, with coordinating napkins. I’m really quite happy with how these turned out. I’ve got a few more of these bags ready for production, but I’m also adding in aprons to this week’s sewing line up. It seems there’s quite a demand for aprons, as I’ve had several requests for them since I opened my shop last week.

Pop over to my Etsy Shop and check out the Lunch Sets. Let me know what you think!

/hibernation

I have been extremely lax in my blogging these last several months. You know how it goes: Busy doing fun things. Not organized enough to put photos on Flickr. No photos = no writing about fun things. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I shall attempt to remedy that this weekend by doing a massive upload of photos. I’ll be doing them in installments, starting with last August.

It’s March. Pretty soon we will have ploughed through a quarter of the year. What have I been up to this year? What’s coming up? Hey, look! A list!

1. Coming up on Friday, I have a phone interview for a Project Archivist position at an area library. The lovely folks at MIT have offered to do a mock interview with me on Thursday to help me prep. I’ve also expanded my job search to include positions back in the DC/Baltimore area.
2. I had a whirlwind trip to Maryland and Florida last week. I left Boston for Baltimore on the 20th, caught the Riveters/CCRG bout, spent several days among friends and family in Maryland (met the BFF’s girlfriend, she’s rad), left for Florida on the 24th, spent a few days on the Gulf Coast with my seester and JeT’s dad enjoying the 80 degree weather, caught a Red Sox spring training game, then landed in Boston just as the snow began to fall Sunday morning. It was a bit of a wild week: one morning I woke up to broken glasses and raw patches on my hands and face. I try to tell people that the raw skin was due to extremely dry skin, and the glasses were on their way out anyway. There are some, however, who refuse to believe this and assert that I must have been in a bar fight.
3. I now have new glasses. They are red. And shaped rather like my pair-before-last, slightly cat-eye. Did I mention they are red? And awesome? Yes.
4. PRD is gearing up for the 2009 season. Our last batch of newbies joined in January, and there are only a couple left who haven’t yet passed their assessments to claim their name. This is really exciting! It’s going to be a fantastic season! I shall be continuing as the Rookie Wrangler, and I’ll also be taking on the job of League Archivist. I’m also going to be playing in two away games. In Canada! Also, PRD is playing host to several travel teams this year. The first Riveters home bout is against Harrisburg Area Roller Derby (HARD) on April 11 at the RICC. The Killah Bees are hosting the Skate Free or Die girls at a scrimmage next weekend, and then we play them at a NH bout in April. I’m not going to be playing in that one, though, as I’ll be playing in Ottowa the following week. It’s going to be a derby-filled summer, indeed. (Check www.providencerollerderby.com regularly for the most recent updates.)
5. I haven’t been very crafty though. I did finally finish my SIL’s hat and scarf, delivered only two months late. The BFF has a birthday coming up and I’m working on something for him. I started a hyperbolic plane in blue and white cotton, which was supposed to be a bath pouf. I ran out of the white, half way through the last round. I might just knot it off and call it done, though, since the whole reason for making it was to do a bit of stash busting. I also have to make another Jayne hat for myself, since I lost the one I made last Fall. Once I actually get going on something, I’ll feel better.
6. I have severely neglected my pen pals these last several months. The end of the derby season in September ate up all my time, and then it was fall, and then winter, and now here it is nearly spring and some of them haven’t heard from me in ages. It’s not due to lack of caring, but rather to severe lack of organization. I just need to cart around my little notebook of writing supplies, then I can write while I commute, just like old times.
7. Saw They Might Be Giants a while ago. They were super great, as usual. They played so many songs! And many many were ones I’d never heard them play before, or hadn’t heard in a long while. We made some concert friends, which was fun.
8. We have a new car: a 2008 Kia Sportage, silvery grey. It’s awesome. We can accelerate. Uphill! And it’s big enough to fit my legs! And passengers!
9. Though I have been bringing my lunch to work nearly every day (thanks to JeT who actually prepares and packs the food), I miss bringing super fun bentos. I shall endeavor to remedy this. We’ve been making some new foods, though, so we’re slowly edging out of our food rut, which I’m very happy about. More new foods to come, and of course bento photos!
10. I’ve recently discovered Wild Turkey’s American Honey. If you’re a fan of whiskey or bourbon, you need to try this. Even if you normally hate the stuff, you need to try this. It’s golden awesomeness in a bottle. Highly recommended.
11. Speaking of imbibing, my librarian friends and I came up with a blog idea to help us broaden our beer horizons. We plan to sample a different kind of beer each month, and report our findings on the blog. We’re still thinking of a name, though. I was all ready to go in January, and then I sort of just forgot about it. This should be quite fun, once we get going!
12. I would like to go bowling. And ice skating. And just go out more often. Maybe stay in town for a bit on Fridays or something. I just need to get my act together and play cruise director, I think. I’ve just been so disorganized; I haven’t felt like myself for months and months. I think I’m finally coming out of my stupor, though. I think the sunshine did me some good. I’ll work on my schedule this weekend, and will start planning some outings. I wonder where my planner is… probably under the laundry somewhere.
13. First outing: This Friday, March 6th! Watchmen! Who’s in? JeT and I are going to see it in Boston (on the Common). We’re buying our tix tonight, if anyone’s interested.
14. And then there are a couple of concerts coming up: OK Go! and The Pogues! So excited!

Super Bento Party!

bento #26

We had friends over for a living room picnic bento party this afternoon. I made inari-zushi for the first time. It took us forever to find the abura-age (deep fried tofu pockets), but find them we did, and these little morsels were a hit, I think. I’m definitely making them again. The dumplings turned out yummy, as usual, thank goodness. I’d hate for people to come over and have them turn out yucky. I made three types of maki: carrot, red pepper, and baked tofu. There were all sorts of veggies and fruits and other sweets for people to eat, as well as cheeze and fauxlogne (that’s veggie bologne), and nori for garnishing.

Everyone seemed to enjoy filling their bento boxes and decorating their food (and eating it, of course). We made our lunches for tomorrow out of the leftovers. I’m sure there will be comments from my coworkers about it. Of course I love showing off my food, but there have been a couple of comments that have been really confusing. Not annoying or anything, just odd. Friday, for example, I was working in a different building than the one I usually work in, and so had lunch with different people. One person asked, “where’d you get that?” And I told them which store, to which she replied, “you buy your lunch their every day?” And on Thursday, another person asked, “Is it reusable?” This question really confused me, because, why would I buy a lunch box and not reuse it. People keep assuming that I buy the boxes with the food already in it, which I suppose would be really flattering (they must look good, eh?), if I understood right away that’s what they were asking. Instead, I just sort of look at them with a confused expression, until it dawns on me that I should probably explain that I pack my own lunches the night before.

Anyway, it was very fun to have people over to have lunch with us, bento style. Thank you all for eating with us, and I hope you all will enjoy your bento boxes and make yummy (and cute) lunches for yourself.

ready for lunch

Bento boxes drying

Yesterday, before heading to Andrea and Bill’s for Bill’s birthday party (which was great, by the way; we had a fabulous time), JeT and I went to Kam Man Marketplace, in Quincy. Though the Laptop Lunchbox is great, we had been wanting to buy some Japanese bento boxes for a long time. But ordering them online direct from Japan is way too expensive. Seriously. If you shop on Ebay (or any of the other bento shops online), you’re going to pay at least $10 for each box, and then add on $6-10 in shipping. It’s craziness, I tell you. Especially since we got five, two-tiered boxes, two sets of chopsticks (with cases) for under $15. Total. I didn’t expect them to be that cheap. No box was over $2. (Click through to see photos of individual boxes.) And Kam Man Food rules. It kicks Super 88’s arse. Though it’s not as convenient to get to from Boston, it’s worth it. (It’s about 2 miles from the nearest T stop.)

I haven’t put much energy into any of my lunches these last 6 months or so. Sure, I’ve been packing my lunch most every day, but they’re basically just filled with leftovers plopped in, with not much fun going on. Tasty, but not fun. So, since I had today off of work (yeah!) I spent the day making food that takes a bit of time, but freezes well. The gyoza (moon-shaped dumplings filled with cabbage, shredded carrot, and tofu) can be cooked in only a few minutes, and they are super tasty. We also bought some prepared moshi (sweet rice cake things) and mini jellies (made with fruit juice and seaweed) to pack in for a little extra, and some umbeoshi (pickled plums), too. I’ve also pre-chopped some veggies (carrots and peppers) and they’ll keep all week stored in container filled with water in the fridge.

We couldn’t find any mini sauce containers nor condiment cups at Kam Man, so we’ll just have to pack our mini cups from the laptop lunch box instead. We didn’t have much time to look around in depth, so we’ll have to go back. I need some mini sauce containers. They’re too cute: little squeezy bottles in fun shapes (like vegetables or animals). I may have to order those online, but they are at least pretty cheap.

Here’s to a bento-filled 2008!

I can has short rows?

O HAI!

Thanks to all who came to the Winter Super Fun Times gathering on Saturday! Click through to see our poor sampling of photos from the event. Click here for way better pictures from SEA, though I think you have to be one of her contacts to see them. Which is fine by me, since I got one of my, shall we say, “party whims,” and decided it would be great fun to knit a merkin. Many modeled the blue, fuzzy thing and SEA captured the action. (All merkin photos are clean, don’t worry.)

I had wanted everyone’s Decemberween presents to be done by Saturday, but that did not happen. I can’t knit on the train anymore, because I take a later train, which is way crowded, and I get all cramped trying to avoid elbowing the person next to me. So, evenings are my only knitting time these days. I kept getting terrible headaches in the evenings the week before the party, so I ran out of knitting time. Finishing the larger items (which shall remain slightly secret, since there is at least one who may read this that still does not know what they are) was impossible, so I decided to just work on the smaller items. But I needed at least 15 of those, and only managed 7. Therefore, only a few party guests got their party favor nose warmer. Alas.

I have decided that one of my knitterly resolutions for this year is to knit things that teach me new skills. For too long have my knitting skills been stagnant. I decided that the first things I would learn would be short rows. I know, I know, I’ve been knitting since I was 13 and I still need to learn short rows? Yes. Well, not really anymore, since I had to learn to do them for the nose warmers. They are essentially the toe of a toe-up sock, with crochet chain ties to secure behind the head. The instructions I used (for sock toes) were pretty good, except they left out certain important elements, such as which side of the work the yarn needs to be on for certain actions. Or rather, it kept leaving out the instruction to put the yarn back after having moved it. I find it very hard to learn new skills from written instructions because there are too many gaps. Without a real person sitting next to me filling in the gaps in instructions, I’m at a loss.

Anyway, after much trial and error, and tears, and ripping the darn things out again, it was midnight on Friday, the night before the day they were supposed to be gifts, and I still hadn’t got it right. I went to bed annoyed, but in the wee hours I had a knitterly epiphany, and as soon as I picked up the stupid thing the next morning, it started to click. I finally had the thrill of learning something new, and stopped swearing at the instructions (and the yarn, and the needles, and myself), and was able to whip them out at a pretty good pace (25 minutes each, including weaving in ends). Now I just have to finish the rest of them, and pop them in the post. Who wouldn’t love to get a nose warmer in their mailbox, right? I do need to figure out who got one and who didn’t, though.

It snowed Monday, and Radcliffe was closed, so I got to finish several things and pop a few in the post, which was rad. Unfortunately, I got sick that day, and then stayed home most of the week. It was a killer cold with a stupid fever and stuff. I had a really long, one day work week. And Monday is a holiday, too. I feel like a bum. But a well rested bum.

We’re going to see Cloverfield tonight. JeT has been following the marketing/hype/propaganda for this film for months, so we’re wicked excited to actually see the darned thing. I’m just excited to get out to see a movie. We don’t get out very often. And tomorrow, I’m going on a shopping spree with other people’s money. I’ve been amassing a fairly large collection of gift cards these last few months, and I’m going to spend them all in one day. A movie and shopping? Super fun consumer times, woot! There will also be a trip to Kam Man market tomorrow for some bento supplies. Hooray!

Falafel!

Bento #11

No lunchbox today, as I’m working (read: blah, blah, blahgging) from home today. I’ll take the later train in, yes, just so I can go to SNB this evening. Ok, ok, so I have to go to the library to do work, too, but that’s not as fun.

I’m just really in the mood to be around knitters today. I listened to the recent podcast from It’s a Purl, Man regarding the Yarn Harlot‘s appearance in NYC this past Thursday, and I’m all about Representing today. I have more to say on that subject, but later for that.

This is yesterday’s lunch. Contents: leftover falafel, tomatoes, lettuce, hummus, pickle, tabouleh, potatoes faux gratin, mixed nuts, grapes, blueberries, and a little container of soy yogurt dill dip for the falafel. Not pictured are the pieces of pita bread that I nestled in the box on top of these containers.

The falafel reheated rather well, though it wasn’t crispy, obviously. I ate the fruit and nuts as a morning snack (in addition to the fruit smoothie that I brought in my “food jar”), and still I had a headache by 1 pm. I was completely out of commission last night. I went to bed as soon as we got home, around 6 pm. I thought I had this thing figured out, but apparently, I still need to tweak my habits. I even took it easy on the computer yesterday, and had plenty of water. Oh, well. I’ll figure it out. I’m getting really tired of answering the “how are you” question with “fine, but I’ve got a killer headache.” Grr.

At least my lunch was yummy!

Springtime in SPACE!

Bento #10

I think I have spring fever. And have maybe read too much “Sky and Telescope” of late. This lunch didn’t even start out with a particular theme. I just sort of threw it together, realized I sort of had a theme, and then just went with it.

I’m getting a little tired of sesame noodles, but they’re so tasty! And I think I need to get some different fruit at the market… maybe some berries or something. The crackers actually survived, even though they were a little bit too tall for closing the lid properly.

JeT’s finally got himself a Flickr account, so be sure to be on the look out for photos from “R2DJ” over there. (JeT was already taken. Bummer.) Maybe he’ll actually update his blog!

I made more of that tofu salad today, but added fresh lemon juice. I forget how much I love lemons. And limes. Hooray for citrus. I think I’ll go eat a grapefruit. Yum!

Right. I’ve got to get back to cleaning the house so that tomorrow I can concentrate on homework and whatnot. It may seem like my life is only about food right now, but really I am doing other stuff. Really. Right. Time for a snack!

Bento #8

 

Bento #8

It’s Springtime in my food! This is my favorite one from this week, I think. I like the mix of colors, the arrangment, etc. I’m especially satisfied with my little salad cup on the left, there. Every container has at least one flower (the fruit cup has its lemon, which looks like a flower, eh?) Click through for info on the rest of the contents, and the other bento pictures from this week (Bento #9 is over there).

JeT is no stranger to packing his own lunch. Indeed, for many months he’s been the designated lunch packer each morning. It’s only been since my recent bento fascination that I’ve been packing both our lunches. On mornings when I get to sleep in, he throws something together for himself, nothing too exciting.

This week, however, he decided to pack super fun lunches on his own. He’s even photographed them. I’m egging him on to get his own Flickr page so he can join the food parade, too. I think it would rule.