Contest Winner & Hawaiian Bento (381)

Yesterday I confirmed that I am officially a bento failure with my daughter. I opened up her backpack and found that she had actually opened it up to eat it and did eat one small part of it. Can you guess which part that was? The part I hated, of course: the center of the flower! LOL! She tried to make me feel better by suggesting she could eat it for dinner, but I had to snatch it away before she could self-inflict herself with food poisoning. Maybe if I try for cuter she’ll take one and if she doesn’t, then I’ll just eat it.

Before I get to the winner (oooh, suspense!), I’ll briefly go over my own lunch today. My sister-in-law was visiting from Oregon this week and so Grandma J put together a Hawaiian dinner for her. I took some of this for lunch on Thursday, but then I forgot it at their house, so I’m eating Hawaiian bento today, packed in a Zojirushi Mini Bento. This is the smallest of their thermal lunch jars and is just about the perfect size for a child. There’s one main container where you can put soup or rice (I put in chicken long rice), then two small side dish containers. Mr. Bento and even Ms. Bento are fairly large containers, so this one is perfect for people with smaller appetites.

On to the winners of my pitifully overdue contest! Once again, I apologize to all the people who took the time to enter. Thank you very much to everyone for entering! I received 22 wonderful entries and each of them had a unique flair to it. In the end, however, there was no doubt in my mind which bento deserved first place.

This astounding Harry Potter themed bento by Krista just blew my mind. From the intricate House emblems to the lightning bolt HP to the color variety and the use of fresh ingredients (she picked many of the ingredients herself!), this one definitely took the cake. She even put a wand in the photo! If I could give cool bonus points, I would! The lighting was wonderful, everything came out clear and bright. For a run-down on all the contents, please visit Krista’s blog at Disposable Aardvarks, Inc.! It’s a bento that I’m sure even Professor Snape would break out in a smile over.

I wish I could post every bento entered, but 23 images in one post is pushing it, so I’ll post three bentos that I especially enjoyed looking at!

The concept for this bento by Susan was hilarious and so adorable. These five octodogs are having dinner on little cucumber flower plates and they even have dishes on the table! So, so cute and inventive!

This bento is by Sheri and I loved the way she made a flag on the left and her kiwi stars, carrot stars, and salmon patty star all look very scrumptious!

I was immediately drawn to the colors and lighting of this bento by Harley. The food is very healthy, nicely balanced, and the angle of the photo was something I admired as well. As a surprise, I have runner-up prizes for these three bento entries. I don’t have a photo of it, so you’ll just have to wait and see!

I’d mentioned that I would be picking one winner at random to win a copy of 501 Bento Lunches and the winner for that prize turned out to be Sandra, who entered with the first bento she’s ever made! She designed this with a Louisiana theme.

Congrats to my winners! I’ll be in contact soon.