Hi Maki, I hope you are feeling better. I said in another comment, I love your website. I re-read my copy of Just Bento about once a week. I've tried out other books, but I still love yours. It's really got me started cooking again and I really love making bentos. I <3 you! If you have time, maybe you could answer a question for me. I live in Tokyo with my Japanese boyfriend. I'm Canadian and am not a big rice eater (unless it's your takikomi gohan recipe(s), which I love!) and only eat it about once a week. We always have the problem of cooked rice that has been around too long. I know rice should only be kept for 24 hours (or so?), but there always seems to be left over rice that my boyfriend will NOT throw out. His solution is always, 'Just leave it, I'll make chahan' (fried rice for anyone reading). I know the answer is probably, don't eat expired rice, but that's just not an option - he'll eat it regardless as some sort of bizarre man-cooking concoction. Is there anything I could make with it, or is there any way to re-fry it, that makes me feel a bit more happy about putting it in a bento? Usually I will make myself a different bento with a few of the same items, so I probably won't eat whatever the rice dish is. I usually only cook two rice cooker cups of rice but lately I have been making so many other things there's barely room for rice in the bento box! Maybe another solution is just cook one cup at a time. Thank you!!! Jennifer