Bento, anyone?

Ok, just today I discovered a whole new world of cooking that I'm definitely going to have to explore... soon! I am absolutely amazed by the photos, and I've sat here for too long a while surfing around various sites in awe of these creative meals.

Many of the meals I've seen so far are full of exotic vegetables and sushi, but there are also tons of pictures of kid-friendly meals, like the one below. (Photo found on Photobucket, I don't know who took it.) My 4 year-old daughter would just love this!

From what I can tell, Bento is basically a very creative Japanese way of packing lunches in tiny containers and compartments. There are special Bento containers, but you can also do it using simple (frugal) things like cupcake papers.

Since I really do need to go do other things, I'll just leave you with a quick list of the links I've been enjoying:

What is Bento?http://www.airandangels.com/bentobox/intro.html

Lunch in a Box: http://lunchinabox.net/links/
Bento photos on Flickrhttp://www.flickr.com/groups/bentoboxes/pool/
This one includes some cute kids' themed lunches:http://mmmbento.livejournal.com/
Bento Yum: http://www.bentoyum.com/

Bento AND WW: http://pikkopots.blogspot.com/

I'm sure I'll have more on Bento later, as I said, I've just discovered this for the first time today. When I have more time, I'll clean these links up and put them into my sidebar. If any of you are into Bento, I'd love to hear from you!