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.
Today's bento is from the blog Cooking for Monkeys, where a very creative mom displays her ultra-adorable kiddie bentos. This safari bento is from her three-year-old's birthday party. Each kid got a box containing a PB & J jeep, an alligator carrot, cheese lions and giraffes and a blueberry elephant, all atop Veggie Booty "grass." Beats the heck out of the floppy slices of pizza from my own childhood birthday party days.
We are at that time of year where we look backwards and forwards and we think about life. A few days ago Nicole asked which the 
What Can I Get You Folks? - Eating Out for Thanksgiving
In Defense of Guy Fieri
'Top Chef Vegas' - And Then There Were Five
