bento zen vacation contest!

a few months back, debra over at hapa bento ran a great contest, where participants had to guess where she was going on vacation… it was very cool and very “where in the world is carmen sandiego” (uh oh, i’m dating myself). since i’m leaving for a short getaway this thursday night, i thought it would be fun to do the same thing (thanks for letting me use the idea, debra!)…

so, here are the rules:

1. the contest starts as of this post, and it ends sunday, february 7th, at 11:59pm EST. since it’s such a short one, you are allowed to enter twice a day.
2. i’ll be posting clues about where i’m headed on this page and on my twitter account (@bentozen), so keep your eye out for them!
3. when you think you know my vacation destination, email your guess to bentozen@gmail.com, and then leave a comment on this post linking to your latest bento (or in the case of your second daily entry, to a past favorite bento you made, or to a recipe you’d like to share or try for bento)!
4. when i get back from vacation, i’ll take all the correct guesses and enter them into a random drawing for the prize package. i will announce the winner here on the morning of monday, february 8th.

and here are the prize details i know you’ve been eagerly awaiting! the prize package includes:

• one square 870ml lock-n-lock bento box with 2 removable 2-compartment inserts (for a total of 4 compartments when both inserts are inside the box). this box seals very tightly, making it great for wetter foods, and even though it’s not particularly kawaii, it’s a sturdy and practical box that will beautifully show off your food!
• one rectangular, striped blue, 430ml sopra bento box. this one is cute and fairly small, excellent for kids’ meals. (it’s this exact box; sorry for the glare in the photo!)
• one box of the often-coveted chocolate biscuit mushrooms by meiji!
• one box of the oh-so-cute kabaya petit pastels i recently discussed!
• one package of 5 sets of colorful flowered chopsticks — great as a prop for your bento photos.
• one hello kitty “pill case” — it has 4 little lidded compartments that separate from each other so that you can include just one in a bento. these would make great mayo or mustard cases.
• one set of small paper food cups, assorted designs — this set includes an all-green design (st. patrick’s day is coming up!), an all-red design (little tomatoes?), and an all-yellow design.
• one yellow banana putifresh bento tote — it’s a versatile size that will accommodate most bento boxes.
• assorted packages of jillibean felt shapes — i use these as props too; they add a pop of contrasting color against background paper, and look cute as a faux chopstick rest. (the ones in the photo are my own; yours will still be in the original packaging.)
• and speaking of background paper, i’m also including more than 50 sheets of colorful background paper, hand-picked by me from the kaleidoscope and citronella sets. many of these are reversible, so you’re getting far more than 50 patterns. i removed these sheets from the larger packs they came in, but they are completely unused, and will come to you protected inside a plastic bag.

good luck everyone… i can’t wait to see your bentos and recipes, and of course your clever guesses!

oh, and i almost forgot — your first hint! since yesterday was a quiet sunday, i took the time to do some of my packing in advance… i’m taking plenty of sweaters, as it’s very cold where i’m going!