Poor Ms. Bento...

Poor Ms. Bento, feeling a little neglected. Awww. Don't worry, Ms. Bento, I still love you and your brother, Laptop Lunch. It's natural to feel a little neglected when new siblings enter the family, but I love you all the same, I promise. You're still the best at soups and stews and keeping things warm. Like today! See how good you did keeping my comforting lunch nice and warm for me on this rainy gray day? You're a good little bento, yes you are.

• homemade beef stew, with curls of carrot and scallion (leftover from sushi making) for a bit of color
• carrot and celery sticks, tortilla rolls, and a little container of honey peanut butter for dipping (with carrot "supports" underneath so it's at the same level of the rest of the food)
• Sierra Gold tangerines, pineapple chunks, and raspberries in one half; dried mango slices, chocolate almond clusters, and dark chocolate covered raisins in the other half

Taken today with a regular digital camera from work instead of my cameraphone because I forgot to charge it. I may have to break down and start taking these with my regular camera since they look so much better than with my phone.  My mom surprised me with a new camera for my birthday, so it would be a good excuse to start using it. Our old digital camera -- a refurbished Fuji we got in 2003 -- is a 1.5 megapixel, which makes it an Etch-A-Sketch by today's standards. Though it sure has hung in there well. The one she got me is 10 megapixels and has a ton of neat features, including a food setting, but I haven't had time to play with it much yet. May just have to do that....