In case you don't follow the sister site, Just Hungry, last week we got home from attending my father's memorial service in New York to find out we had been burgled in our absence. Among other things, they took most of our 'temporary' kitchen equipment (we are still in the middle of renovations...) including the working hotplate, the microwave oven (which was also a convection oven...so handy), not to mention my food processor, KitchenAid mixer, even my stick blender.

As for my bento supplies...I had them stored in several plastic containers, all organized...and they overturned many of those containers and threw the contents all over the floor. I would have taken pictures, but I was too upset. Luckily, they only broke one box, though they did take the 2 thermal mugs that look like camera lenses (I had one of each, the Nikon and the Canon) - I guess they were so realistic they thought they were actually lenses! (Of course they took the one camera we'd left behind...they took most electronic stuff, even our bathroom exhaust fan. Ugh.)

Anyway, I am getting myself back together again. I have to figure out how I'm going to cook anything, let alone make bentos. They left the kitchen area in a mess too...they even tossed out stuff from the refrigerator and just left the food on the floor to rot). They did leave my Japanese-brand rice cooker behind thankfully, and we have been doing some cooking in there. (Polenta in the rice cooker totally works.) In the meantime though, I have some exciting products to review in the next couple of weeks (none of the products got pawed over by the burglars thankfully, because I had them with me in my suitcase to familiarize myself with them).

So, I am semi-back I guess...and thank you for your patience. In the meantime, here's a bento my mom made - just some leftover fried chicken, leftover broccoli, and rice (in this case, osekihan or red rice and beans, also leftovers). I'm not sure about the cold French fries, but otherwise it looks great! She said she's been packing bentos for herself recently too, because she hurt her leg and doesn't want to spend extra time in the kitchen. She just packs one up after breakfast in the morning and she's all set until dinnertime.

I will be getting back to bento-making very soon too. Fingers crossed.