Not since my Dukes of Hazzard metal lunchbox of the early 80s have I been so excited about the container for my midday meal.  My new bento from monbento arrived today!

I say “new” bento because this ain’t my first bento-rodeo.  A few years back I found the Mr. Bento (the Ms. version being too small for me) on Amazon and fell in love with the portion control, the cute containers, the stackable-ness, the cute containers, the Asian sensibility… did I mention the cute containers?  Even though these were gray, and rather nondescript in every way possible, I used it almost daily, stuffing leftovers into it, and eating much more thoughtfully, and healthfully (if that isn’t a word, it should be).

The problem was, I was using it daily, and when you read the fine print about the fabulous Mr. B, it is not dishwasher safe! Ack!  How could I have missed that?? And if I didn’t miss that, how could I have thought that would be OK??? I do NOT do dishes by hand.  I loathe it like others loathe taxes and dentistry combined.  So I cheated, and threw the containers in the dishwasher from time to time.  OK, every night.  And gradually, they fell apart or stopped fitting together.  It stopped being cute and functional, and became sort of worn and only semi-functional.  And gradually I resorted to normal plastic containers for lunch.  And my portion control, healthy eating, and thoughtful meal planning went out the window.

And then, fab.com sent me an email about this even cuter bento that was dishwasher safe! At first, I dismissed it, thinking it was too small, and I had a bento (in the back of my cupboard) and didn’t have an excuse for buying a new one.  But over the next week or so, I kept thinking about the cute bento, found myself reminiscing about the fun I had preparing lunches back then, and I finally relented and ordered one (and the super cute silverware that fits in the middle). I am looking forward to healthy meals in my allotted 25 minutes during the school year.

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Not sure what the heck I’m talking about?  Check out this site, this one and this one.  One of the things I liked best was making Onigiri — so tasty!! I really can’t wait to get back into the bento-saddle again.