I participated in Bento&Co's 2014 Contest for fun and submitted my bento photo a few days ago, actually on the last minutes - I thought I wouldn't be able to take part in the contest as I was rather short on time, but Bento&Co extended the contest period, so I decided to participate.

This year's theme is: OUR INGREDIENTS + YOUR BENTO. We were expected to create a bento meal using only the following ingredients plus 1 ingredient of our choice:

• Potato
• Tomato
• Carrot
• Broccoli 
• Rice 
• Eggs
• Chicken (or tofu for vegetarians)
• The extra ingredient I chose: lettuce 

We also had to include a short description of the bento photo we submitted and here is mine:

Even though I love charaben, this year I decided to submit a more traditional-looking bento. I think it's something that is less intimidating to make and certainly more applicable for everyday bento. I played around with the natural vibrance of the pre-determined ingredients to create a practical, nutritious and delicious bento which can be whipped up by everyone who wants to spend just a few extra minutes in the kitchen. 

CONTENTS

Oval Bento Box:

steamed white rice, steamed purple rice (mixture of black+white rice), scrambled egg, teriyaki chicken dumplings, blanched broccoli, cherry tomatoes (red & yellow), carrot flowers (orange & purple- decorated with egg white and broccoli stems), mini carrot coins, mini broccoli stem coins and lettuce. 

Rectangular Bento Box:

chicken yakitori skewers (with carrot slices and broccoli stems), potato salad, cherry tomatoes, carrot tamagoyaki, blanched broccoli, carrot flower and lettuce.

The results were out yesterday and here are the bentos of the two grand winners, aren't they lovely :)? I love the Japan Grand Winner's bento, it's simple but it's got beautiful colour scheme, pretty arrangement and it looks yummy too. The international grand winner seemed to have spent SO MUCH time preparing the bento, and I can imagine why she won this contest. Congrats to both of them :)!

My bento managed to be in the top 10 and I am happy with the result, since I didn't partipate to win. I just wanted to motivate myself to make more bentos, since I've not been very active in bentoing lately.

The following are the bentos of the 10 finalists. I really like the first bento - another simple bento but it looks so delicious! I hope Bento&Co will also show the entries from the other contestants. I am sure there are so many good ones, especially because I read there are more than 200 participants!

Which bento do you like best? You don't have to be partial to mine because you're visiting my blog ;)! I think my one is not so bad, but I really like the two bentos I mentioned before, the one from the Japanese grand winner and the first photo of the top 10 finalist.

Anyway, hopefully I can blog a bit more in the near future. It's Friday tomorrow, so hang in there :)!

Christmas is again on its way and since the CasaBento team really enjoyed to see the wonderful Halloween bentos created by many talented bento makers all over the world from the previous Halloween contest, they decided to organise another bento contest and this time, Xmas-themed :D)!

PRIZES

 

1ST PRIZE - A Fukuro Round Bento Box, a Traditional Fukuro insulated bottle,  a pair of Fukuro chopsticks and a matching Fukuro Bento Bag

 2ND PRIZE - A Red Lego Bento Box and a Concorde XL Black Thermal Bag

 

 3RD PRIZE - A Green Concorde Mini Box and a pair of Green Concorde Chopsticks

4TH PRIZE - A Red Marche Thermal Bag, a Red Tokyo Mini Box and a Green Tokyo Mini Box

 

 

5TH PRIZE - A Green Marche Thermal Bag, a Red Tokyo Mini Box and a Green Tokyo Mini Box

HOW TO ENTER

Each participant should submit two photos with the following details: last name, first name, postal address, date of birth together with a description of the bento in the photo (ingredients, name of the bento box used, etc) to the following address: contest@casabento.com


CONTEST PERIOD
The contest ends on December 20th, 2012 at 11:59:59 P.M. Paris Time. All dates are subject to change. 

 
JUDGES
Your photos will judged by:

- Susanne Kaluza (Norway)
- July from des Bento de July (France)
- Shirley from Little Miss Onigiri (Singapore)
- Sarah from Bento und Mehr (Germany)
- CasaBento Girl's Team
- CasaBento Boy's Team 

Each Entry will be evaluated and scored based on the following:

• artistic merit - bento skills and use of colour
• creativity and originality - considering the representation of the Contest theme “Christmas”, as well as the unique and novel approach to use of CasaBento products
• quality of photo submitted
• adherence to the the Contest Rules

For more information about the contest, please visit CasaBento.

There is another bento contest going on...:)! Since Halloween is on its way, CasaBento is inviting all bento lovers from all over the globe to take part in their special Halloween contest as long as you are over 18 years old.

HOW TO ENTER

Each participant should submit two photos with the following details: last name, first name, postal address, date of birth together with a description of the bento in the photo (ingredients, name of the bento box used, etc) to the following address: contest@casabento.com

CONTEST PERIOD
The contest ends on October 28th, 2012 at 11:59:59 P.M. Paris Time. All dates are subject to change. 

JUDGES
Your photos will judged by:

• CasaBento Team
• Novei  from Bento Nono
• Paola from Japan the Wonderland
• Me :)

Each Entry will be evaluated and scored based on the following:

• artistic merit - bento skills and use of color
• creativity and originality - considering the representation of the Contest theme “Halloween”, as well as the unique and novel approach to use of CasaBento products
• quality of photo submitted
• adherence to the the Contest Rules

PRIZES

1ST PRIZE -  1 Tokyo Pink Insulated Bag + 1 Tokyo Stainless Steel Lunch Jar + 2 Tokyo Mini Bento Boxes

2ND PRIZE - 1 Mini Marche Insulated Bag + 1 Tokyo Cup

3RD PRIZE -  15€ voucher to use for your next purchase at CasaBento (offer available with 30€ of purchase)

For more information about the contest, please visit CasaBento. 

Check out CasaBento's Facebook Page as well to find other interesting offers :D).

I've got good news for all bento and Japan lovers out there...:)! CasaBento has a one-day special discount of 25% OFF on ALL of their bento boxes and accessories.

Simply enter the code SHINGAKKI upon checkout.  Offer is available for one use per customer and limited to Saturday, 1st September 2012.

Visit CasaBento today and Happy Shopping :)!

(Click the picture above to find more details about the contest)

It was extremely hard for us to find the winners because all of you really did a good job and we know that every singe of you put in a lot of effort. I am awfully sorry that we could only choose two winners :(. I hope even though you didn't win this contest, you wouldn't feel too disappointed...!

To be honest I am glad that I didn't have to do the judging alone, because I am by no means an expert at bento making or the food arena in general. We, judges, didn't always agree with our choices of the winners ;), but in the end we just had to find the two winners...

And the winners are.........

*Roll drums*

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Congratulations Tataya from Thailand for winning the 1st prize




and Yunita from Indonesia for winning the 2nd prize... :)!!




And of course not forgetting our lucky winner:

Number 45, congratulations!!

You're Haku from France :)!



Winners, congratulations one more time :). I will contact you via e-mail shortly regarding shipping. Casabento will send the prizes to your door in January.

Hi everyone, two of my bento photos managed to get into the top 15 of the "Food Deco Contest" by Allthingsforsale.com. You would do me a great favour if you could help me vote for these two pictures in Facebook. Here are the simple steps:

1. Click this link http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.269819619735411.87650.161843023866405&type=3
2. Look for my two photos.
3. "Like" them.

As I have mentioned in my Facebook page, I can't really give you anything in return for this favour, but a promise to make you smile with more of my bento creations :).

MANY, MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE :D)!!

Finally the time has come :)! I've been so crazy busy lately that I've not had the chance to officially announce the bento contest that I've been talking about since last week. I am so excited, because this is my first bento contest ever :D). I am incredibly lucky that CasaBento has generously offered to sponsor this contest and the talented Lia from Bentolicious and the sweet Nami from Just One Cookbook have agreed to help me co-host this event.

CONTEST DETAILS

• Photo: Take a good, clear picture of your bento.
• Theme: Let your imagination fly :). Can be anything really, it doesn't have to be a charaben either, tradional, modern or whatever kind of style is fine as long as it's a meal in a box/container.
• Description: Please include a description of what you have inside your bento.
• Contact Details: Include your name or nick, e-mail address and the country where you come from to be eligible for the competition. If you have a food blog, you can also post your entry there and send me the link, but you're still expected to e-mail me your photo, description and contact information to enter the contest officially.
• Limit: 1 entry per person
• Send your entry to: Cookinggallery@yahoo.de
• Can everyone (worldwide) participate? YES
• Contest Period: 19th November 2011 - 20th December 2011

CasaBento, Lia, Nami and I will judge your bento photo based on the following criteria:

• Food Balance: We'll not only look at how cute or pretty your bento is, but also if your bento is well balanced. Let's say, a bit of carb, meat, veggies, fruit, etc instead of just rice with a cute nori face.
• Colour Balance: People would be more attracted to your bento (including us, judges) if your bento doesn't look too dull.
• Creativity: Impress us with your creativity :)!

PRIZES
I chose the following prizes myself. I hope you like them :).

The 1st prize: 1 Totoro bento box, 1 set of Totoro cutlery (chopsticks, spoon and fork), 1 blue thermal bag, 1 Winnie the Pooh pancake pan, 1 set of bento picks, 1 set of mini sauce bottles and 1 set of mini sandwich cutters.

The 2nd prize: 1 big Yume Sakura bento box, 1 small Yume Sakura bento box, 1 Yume Sakura bento bag with matching chopsticks.

I hope a lot of people would participate in this contest and if you're not so confident in your bento making skills, there's still a chance that you might win the fantastic book 'The Just Bento Cookbook' from Makiko Itoh, the writer of the wonderful and informative sites Justbento.com and Justhungry.com, because I will also draw one random winner using random.org. (NOTE: The 1st and 2nd winners would not be eligible for this).

After I have received your photo including the decription and your contact information, I will post your photo in this Flickr group, so that all of you can see all the entries.

I will announce the winners on Tuesday, 27th December 2011.


Good luck everyone :D)!!

By the way, I'd like to hear what you think about the bento items I chose for the prizes. Do you think that they're something that you would like to add to your bento collections? If not, please do give me some feedbacks on what kind of prizes you would like next time I do another contest or giveaway. Browse CasaBento site and suggest me some items you would love to have from there. Thank you :-)!

UPDATE

You will receive a confirmation e-mail from me that I have received your photo. If you sent me a picture but haven't heard anything from me, please let me know...!!

Another UPDATE :)

This contest is closed. Thank you for participating :)!! There are 60 submissions in total, I didn't expect there would be so many people who would join in the contest, especially because my contest was held at one of the busiest times of the year...^-^.

The slideshow below shows all 60 pictures from the bento contest participants.

You can also check out my Flickr Page to see what the participants say about their bentos.

I will announce the 3 winners on the 27th of December 2011, so stay tuned :D)! Currently Casabento, Nami, Lia and I are still having a headache - we don't really know which photos to choose because all of you did such a marvelous job with your bento creations...;)!!

I know I have been absent for a few days, I've been awfully busy this week and had no real time (and motivation) to cook. Anyway, there is nevertheless a very good news: there is another BENTO CONTEST by CasaBento :D)! You can find the details in BentoChannel.

Long story short, the contest is actually a game where you have to find an onigiri in distress which has lost his way.

If you want to join this bento hunt contest, the only thing you have to do is write an e-mail to bentochannel (at) casabento (.) com and tell them where you have found the image of this little onigiri in CasaBento's site.

The image of Onigiri in Distress which you have to find in CasaBento's site!

The lucky winner will be randomly selected and will receive ALL the goodies below :)!! So, join in...!!! You have time to participate until midnight GMT +1 on 22nd June 2011. This bento game is open to everyone around the world! Have fun :)!

Hi everyone! I would like to 'announce' that my humble blog has managed to get over 100,000 clicks since yesterday :D). For some bloggers 100,000 is not a big number, but considering the fact that I have not been the most active blogger in the world (I've only been rather active since I've started making bento ;)), I am very very happy to reach this number and to know that there are indeed people who are interested to see my creations :). That's why I would like to use this chance to say thank you to everyone who has been reading, commenting and supporting me throughout my journey as a blogger. As a token of appreciation to you all, I've prepared two bento sets to give away. CasaBento, a French-based bento online store, has very kindly offered to sponsor me and has chosen 4 new products from their bento shop: a bento box, a pair of pink chopsticks, a set of animal food picks and an onigiri mold.

There will be two winners, the first winner will get SET A and the second winner will get SET B. Scroll down to find out how to win these.

SET A

• 1 Shokuiko Bento Box (Colour: red, Capacity: 600 ml) plus a matching kinchaku bag
• A pair of pink chopsticks from Yellow Studio
  

SET B

• 15 Animal Food Picks
• 1 Onigiri mold

HOW TO ENTER

• If you own a blog: Leave a comment on this page and simply tell me where you come from and tell me what you like best from my site (or maybe what I should improve as well :)).
• If you don't own a blog: you can e-mail me instead (Cookinggallery@yahoo.de) and state that you want to enter the giveaway (since I am still using an old fashioned comment system, I cannot see your e-mail address in my blog, so if you leave a comment on this page without leaving your e-mail address, I will not be able to contact you, in case that you win...).

You can also do one of the following, or all to increase your chance to win:

• Follow me through Google Friend Connect
  
• Like my Facebook Page
• Like CasaBento Page

The competition is open to EVERYONE and ends at midnight GMT+1 on the 31st May 2011.

Two winners will be selected using Random.org and will be contacted through their blog or via e-mail. CasaBento will send the bento sets and no shipping cost will be charged.


I hope a lot of people can participate. Please spread the love...:D)!!!

This giveaway has ended. The two lucky winners will be announced shortly :).

UPDATE

The two lucky winners are.....*roll drums* ;): Mieke (first winner) from the Netherlands and Lyn Trinix from Singapore (second winner) :D)!

Winners, you'll be contacted shortly, you'll have to provide me with your address so that CasaBento can send you the prize :).

I thought I wouldn't make any bento meals until this weekend, but I just couldn't resist it...! When I got home, it was still sunny, so I thought, why not make a bento dinner, eh ? This is what I like about spring and summer, the sun shines much longer and everything just seems to be more cheery. In June and July, it often doesn't get dark until 10 in the evening. This really lifts up my mood and makes me more motivated to still do something after work.

I came up with the idea of Rilakkuma in a koala suit on the way back home. I thought it would be a really cute idea. I was thinking about making the koala bear brown, because I didn't like the look of my gray Totoro - the sesame seeds look too obvious and rough. But then, I thought, why not grind the toasted sesame seeds with a pestle? How could I have not thought about it earlier?!!

I hope you all can see the koala's face. My husband couldn't tell (again!!), let's just say, he's got no imagination ;)!! I think we just simply think very differently, that's why ;). The koala's nose is made out of black olive and his eyes of nori, the same with Rilakkuma's eyes, nose and lips. I blushed his cheeks with pink edible lustre (usually used to decorate fondant cakes). He's holding a mini sweet pepper, and as usual, he looks very sad, probably because he prefers to have a mini hot pepper instead ;). The other bento box is filled with baked cheese chicken nuggets, two Kiiroitori chicks from quail eggs tinted with turmeric, two pieces of strawberries, a few pieces of grapes, two slices of mandarin and deli meat flower.

BENTO CONTEST

By the way, in case that you are interested, there is a bento contest currently going on in two Italian blogs, which are sponsored by CasaBento. The contest is OPEN TO EVERYONE and you have time to do this until THURSDAY, 2nd JUNE 2011. Basically, you have to make a bento meal, take a picture of your bento and write down the recipe. Please only one picture/recipe per person!

If you have a blog, you should post the picture and recipe there including the logo of this contest (which you can see below). Then you should inform one or both of the Italian bloggers Kitty's Kitchen or Simplicemente Pepe Rosa that you want to participate and give your bento post link to them.

If you don't own a blog: simply e-mail your bento photo plus recipe to elisaceccuzzi(at)fastwebnet(dot)it. You can also publish your photo in Facebook or Flickr, then send the link to the bloggers via e-mail.

CLICK THE LOGO to find more information about the contest!

THE PRIZE

Look at the these gorgeous goodies...!! I want them too ;)! There will be 2 winners and they will either get PRIZE A or PRIZE B. If I could choose, I want to have PRIZE A ;)! Love the Polka-dot motives. CasaBento and the two bloggers are going to be the judges. Let's join in the bento fun...!!