I am having a blast here in Seattle, promoting the Just Bento Cookbook. We had a terrific private blogger-event/party hosted by the lovely Viv of Seattle Bon Vivant on Wednesday, where I got to meet a lot of food bloggers, and yesterday I had a book talk and signing at the wonderful Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park. (I tell you, if I had a bookstore like Third Place Books in my neighborhood, my bank account would be in serious trouble.) I've already met lots of beautiful Seattle people through these events, as well as the equally beautiful New Yorkers who came to Kinokuniya's US flagship store on Bryant Park last Saturday. I have to confess, before I embarked on this little book tour I was really nervous...but I find that I am really loving meeting and talking to so many bento fans! I'll be editing and posting some photos very soon. Tomorrow, Saturday January 29th, I will be at one final event in the Seattle area, at local institution Uwajimaya in downtown Seattle, co-sponsored by Kinokuniya Bookstore, which is located right in the Uwajimaya (or Uwaji as the locals call it) complex. (For non-Seattle-ites, Uwajimaya is a family-run Japanese, Korean and general Asian grocery store and more - fantastic resource for fans of east Asian food in general and Japanese food in particular. Uwajimiya also sells Japanese food products online via Amazon.com Groceries.) This time around I won't be doing a talk, but I'm going to be available for questions and to sign your copy of the book and so on from 1pm to 3pm. I'll be at the sushi/deli counter right near the Uwajimaya side entrance to Kinokuniya. Since I'll just be sitting there really, I've decided to do something a bit different. I've already gotten permission from Uwajimaya management to select some of the products they have on sale that are particularly suited to use in bento boxes. I'll have them on hand to explain their use to anyone who is interested. If you're going to be shopping there anyway, and have always wondered what a particular Japanese ingredient was or how to use it, but have been afraid to ask, please stop by and ask me. You MUST BUY A BOOK in that case (Just kidding!!! You don't.) - seriously, take advantage of me being there! (OK I hope you'll buy a book too of course ^_^;) I've always wanted to do something along the lines of taking people around a Japanese supermarket and explaining how to use things, so this is fairly close to that. (Note: since Uwajimaya also sells other Asian food products, if your mystery item is not Japanese, I probably won't be able to tell you how to use it.) I hope to see you there tomorrow! (And I know, I wish I could go to to more cities, but that's all for this round of tours I'm afraid...;_;)