One thing that has been bugging me for some time is that I really haven't reached out to the general online bento community as much as I'd like to. I've attempted to do interviews of bento bloggers in the past, but they tend to take a very long time to put together ^_^;. So instead I've decided to start a little Great Bento Ideas feature, which will periodically highlight a nice bento-related idea I've seen elsewhere.

And this is the first Great Bento Idea - simple yet pretty decorated muffins by Emily Ng.

As Emily explains on her blog, she bought a selection of muffins, and decorated the tops. What I like is that she's used really simple shapes cut from vegetables and cheese to make plain muffins look really pretty. The pink and white petals on the one in the middle of the bottom row are are squished marshmallows. I bet the decorations didn't take that much time to do, and they're far less messy, rather healthier, and much easier to transport than iced cupcakes. This is something anyone could do I think to brighten up a bento box, using either homemade or storebought muffins. And it doesn't have to be just for kids, either!

Look out for another Great Bento Idea next week!

(If you want your idea to catch my eye by the way, the best way is to join the Just Bento or Just Bento Bento Gear groups on Flickr and post them there. Don't forget to post a link to your blog in the description if you have one.)