A heads up to U.S. readers: Amazon is having a 30% off sale on selected rice cookers right now. They have models from the mid-$20s on up to the $200 to $300 range. The one featured on the top left of the page linked to, the Zojirushi Neuro-Fuzzy rice cooker, is a newer version of the one I have! A rice cooker is a really great thing to have if you are serious about bento making (see Essential equipment for making bento lunches).

About the recent SIGG bottle brouhaha, and - what do you drink with your bento, and in what?

Some site news: May bento contest deadline reminder, the Bento Gear Flickr pool, a cool bento blog, and a big thank you!

Whenever I use the little apple shaped mayonnaise container in my bentos (as I did in the most recent bento no. 48) I always get comments or emails asking where they came from. It's designed by Shinzi Katoh, a very popular graphic designer and ilustrator in Japan. Of interest to bento fans is the fact that he has designed several bento boxes and accessories.

Great news for fans of cute kyaraben, especialy Hello Kitty themed ones: the Hello Kitty bento decorating set that was featured in this post is now available at J-List/JBox! They offer it for $25, which considering the original Japanese price is 1980 yen is not too bad. Now Her Royal Kittiness can invade bento boxes worldwide with consummate ease! Now, can I resist getting a set myself?

(Note: I'm not sure from the description of the product if the second nori punch with the Kassie and Teddy faces is included - although the pictures do show Kassie and Teddy-shaped onigiri with the appropriate nori faces. If this is important to you, you may want to ask J-List if it is included before ordering.) Rita just got hers and let us know that it does include two nori punches!

(Disclaimer: JustBento is a J-List affiliate.)

As I posted yesterday, making individual pies in muffin or cupcake liners is a great way to make 'planned leftovers' from dinner look neat enough to put into a bento box. As Sile suggested in the comments, if you don't want to use throwaway paper cups, silicone cups are a reusable alternative. Calphalon makes a nice silicone liner and cupcake pan set which would be perfect for this. The liners are in pretty pastel colors.

You can also use the liners as dividers in your bento, for salads, fruit, and so on. They sell the tin and liners as a set, as shown here, or the liners on their own. Extras might be a good idea to have if you do freeze the food 'cupcakes'.