More Bento Greatness

Ok, so I went a little bento crazy over the weekend. Obviously I'm into it to the point where I'm making an extra blog entry over it.

I actually ordered bento dividers and a few sauce containers via ebay. I bought another bento box at the Lotte store in Fairfax, so now I have three of them. I got new Hello Kitty chopsticks, and I think my Hello Kitty obsession is going into new territory. It's a good thing I don't have loads of money. I think right now I'd be tempted to spend it on Hello Kitty crap, bento accessories, and shoes. Sad.

Anyway, my supply stores right now are (for anyone in the Northern Virginia area):

Lotte - Fairfax, Virginia
Super H Mart - Fairfax, Virginia
Grand Mart - Annandale, Virginia
little thingamajigs - Annandale, Virginia
Some International mart in Woodbridge

So far, my two favorites of these places are Super H Mart and little thingamajigs. Lotte was awesome, and all, but those other two have more of what I wanted. Lotte was great for little bowls and cutlery. They also have incredible fish selections, so go there if you want fish of any kind.

Super H Mart, on the other hand, was like the perfect combination of an Asian specialty store and a regular grocery store. They have incredible produce and reasonable prices, and carry small fruits that fit into my bento. :D (tiny donut peaches, baby-sized pears, and baby bananas for my son) They had rice molds, which I desperately needed, and a huge section of housewares and other similar 'stuff'. I also got a lucky bamboo plant. I've been wanting one for a while now and they had the most perfect ones at Super H Mart. So here it sits, now, on my desk in front of me. They also had full bento sets. Most of them were pretty modern, and not a whole lot of cutsie ones. But they still had such an incredible variety, it's impossible to find fault.

My other favorite place is the little thingamajigs in Annandale. First of all, Annandale is like the Asian store mecca. There's this bakery...not sure what it's called, I'll find out so I can update here, but they have this incredible cake. They have green tea cake with raspberry filling...just amazing. There are Korean BBQ buffets all over the place, and of course Grand Mart is right down the road. But little thingamajigs is like Ali Heaven. I swear this place was made for me. It's a tiny store with tiny things, lots of cuteness, and an overload of Sanrio/Hello Kitty 'stuff'. I could probably spend easily a couple hundred bucks in there. But nothing is expensive. There's just that much stuff that I like.

So anyway, this weekend I got all but the bento dividers. I spent a good half an hour hand-washing everything when I got home, and it's now all put away and organized. Now I need ideas of what to put into my bento. I wanted to have leftovers for lunch today, and they would have been perfect bento fodder. Unfortunately, we're having leftovers for dinner. So no go. Now I'm trying to rack my brain to come up with ideas for my bento lunch tomorrow. I already know I'll put in a donut peach. And probably one of the desserts I got from the Asian stores. I have salad I can put in there too. But that leaves some sort of rice and some sort of protein. No idea what to do for those.

I'm off to search the web for inspiration. Meanwhile, I wonder...will I use the cute tiny blue bento, the more grown-up looking bento, or my special blue with dots? Or will I put my own bento together, using the Hello Kitty containers I got? Tough call. I did see a Hello Kitty bento yesterday. I almost bought it. I bet I'll get one at some point.

It's an addiction, it really is.

Throw Me Down!

Oooh that sounds kind of dirty! But really it's just a reference to my obsession with "Throwdown! With Bobby Flay"

I heart this show. I love that there are Throwdown marathons.

One thing that makes me sad is watching Bobby lose all the time. Sometimes I think it's just because he veers so far off the mark of the person he's up against, it's impossible to win. I bet if he tried to duplicate those dishes, instead of just do his own version, he'd win more often.

Anyway, I love how he doesn't get upset when he loses, and he's a pretty gracious competitor. I can't say the same about the people he competes against. They can be kind of rude and arrogant. Oh well, I can't say I blame them. I mean, I don't know how I'd react to someone coming up to me, in the middle of nowhere, and challenging me to a cooking duel. Since I can't cook anything worthy of a throw-down, I'd probably cry and hide in a corner.

So far I'm dying to try Bobby's lasagna and mac and cheese. But as much as I love him, his soft pretzels that were supposed to be in the Philly pretzel throwdown were just...um...yeah. Not a Philly pretzel.

One thing I wonder about though. Has anyone ever declined a throwdown with Bobby Flay? The guy who made donuts a while back seemed like he might. He was kind of a jerk about it too. I can understand not being up for the challenge. I just wonder if anyone has ever said no. If so...I wonder what happens then. Does Bobby just pack up and leave? I mean, he spent all that time preparing. I bet nobody has turned them down yet.

I'm not ready for a throwdown, but I sure am ready for the next marathon.