Daiso and Bento

There is a great Japanese 100 yen store (or Dollar Store here in the states) called Daiso. When I was in Japan I got this funny sign to hang on our bathroom doorknob:


There is also a Daiso within a few miles of San Francisco that I've been frequenting. It's dangerous because things are so incredibly awesome/cute/useful/Japanese in addition to being incredibly inexpensive (most things are $1.50). They sell kitchenware, home goods, gardening supplies and tools, craft goods, music, decorative wares, office supplies, the list goes on and on. I recently bought myself a Bento Box to take my lunch to work.

It has two major compartments with an additional, very shallow compartment to store things like sauces. I bought the necessary elastic band to hold it together. It's a green band with a raddish:

I bought some sauce containers in various shapes, small dishes also in varying shapes, and a red hashi (chopstick) case with two little bunnies printed on it.


Here's my lunch from the other day, which consisted of three rice nigiri (shaped as a star, bear, and heart with seasoned seaweed and sesame seeds), carrots, wakame (seaweed salad) and cherry tomatoes, fish cake, cucumber, and manju (sweet rice and bean cake). The soy sauce is in the green star container:





My almost 4 year old daughter wanted a Bento Box of her own so I used that as an excuse to go back there to shop more. Her bento box is blue and equally cute. She uses it to hold her snacks in her bike trailer or stroller.

Click here to find a Daiso near you. And if not, it's a perfectly acceptable reason to go to Japan! :)


Warmly,
denise of akemidesigns