For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
The showpiece of today's ultra-cheerful bento, courtesy of Amanky, is a Trader Joe's calabacitas and cheese quesadilla graced with a rather expressionistic sunrise rendered in Betty Crocker Easy Writer food coloring markers. As if that weren't sunny enough, dessert is pink and white Mother's animal cookies, which studies have shown are the happiest cookie in the grocery aisle.
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