There's a lot going on around Just Bento right now, so here's a brief site news roundup!

One more week to go for the May bento contest!

You have one week left to enter the May Vegetarian Bento Contest - the deadline is Sunday, May 31st. There are already a lot of great looking entries, but it's not too late to enter yourself if you haven't already, for a chance at at the prize: a $50 shopping spree at From Japan With Love!

Bento Gear Flickr pool, and Texas Mom of 4's bento blog

You probably already know about the Just Bento Flickr pool already, which is full of great looking photos of bentos by Just Bento readers. We started a sister pool, Bento Gear a couple of weeks ago. As the name indicates, Bento Gear is all about the boxes, accessories and other gear we use to make and carry our bentos. I'm always interested in what other people are using - if you are too, come on over and post your own pics!

The Bento Gear pool lead me to discover a new-to-me bento blog, Texas Mom of 4. I love the way she mixes and matches bento equipment from the usual sources (Japan-oriented suppliers) with things found at craft stores, dollar stores, and more. Here's her impressive pick storage system, with picks from all kinds of places:

Another great idea: Using sandwich boxes as bento boxes for kids! Here's a Hannah Montana set (I love the pairing of the guitar shaped side box) - and you can check out how she used the box for a bento here.

I often hear people complaining that they can't start making bentos until they get that 'just right' cute box from Japan, but Texas Mom shows that doesn't have to be the case (no pun intended)!

Over 100K RSS subscribers!

Last but not least: Sometime in the last couple of weeks, the RSS (or news reader) subscriber count for Just Bento went over the 100,000 mark! (As of today it's over 107K already!) I'm both amazed and humbled that so many of you choose to make Just Bento a regular read. Thank you for your support - it really keeps me going!