News my bentos got published in Dutch magazine

Some of you might have known that I got interviewed for a Dutch magazine some time back. Today I walked past a newsstand and saw that the article has been finally published! This article can be found in a pretty interesting Dutch magazine called Jansen, Oktober/November 2011 issue. There was an article written about the whole bento subculture travelling from Japan to the United States and Netherlands and all over the world. Bentocat was featured extensively in the article together with another Dutch bento enthusiast Leukelunch. Today is indeed a lucky Friday for me :)

Bento Miffy Sandwich Nijntje Boterham

Today's bento features Nijntje, also known as Miffy internationally, which is one of my favourite characters when I was growing up. When I was young, I remember my mom reading the books to me. Sometimes we would go to the library and I would pick out the books by the basket, literally begging her to bring all of them home. hahaha!
Many people might not know, but this little rabbit has Dutch origins and goes by her Dutch name Nijntje. Her creator Dick Bruna created this character in 1955 after telling his grandson stories about a little rabbit they had seen in the woods in Utrecht. Nijntje (pronounced roughly as "NAI-n-je" in the English way) was the typical child's pronunciation for Konijntje which means little rabbit in Dutch.

Although Nijntje is drawn with barely a few lines, it is instantly recognisable as a rabbit. Soon the character Nijntje becomes an instant hit internationally. Dick design his Nijntje books with minimal dialogues (some even without dialogues) because he thinks that the illustrations should speak for themselves and also because the books were also meant for children as learner books. Nijntje's books soon got translated into many languages and exported into many countries in the world, including Japan. But there was a big problem because not many people can pronounce Nijntje's dutch name. Soon, Nijntje got another name that is easier to pronounce, MIFFY. This is why all translations of Nijntje referred to her as Miffy, or at least with a phonetic translation that sounds like Miffy.

Bento Miffy Sandwich Nijntje Boterham

Many think that Miffy is Japanese, because Sanrio's Hello Kitty and friends are drawn using a similar line style. In addition, the Miffy brand is popular in Japan and there is a lot of Japanese-made Miffy merchandise. To complicate things a little more, Hello Kitty found a friend called Cathy in 1976. Just like Miffy, Cathy is also a rabbit who doesn't talk much and is drawned in a similar fashion. Of course Dick Bruna wasn't very happy about it and there was a long love/hate relationship between the company that owns Miffy, namely Mercis BV and Sanrio. On November 2, 2010, a Dutch court ruled against Sanrio and ordered the company to stop marketing Cathy products in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Sanrio raised an appeal soon after.

Following the 2011 March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Sanrio and Mercis BV settled the lawsuit out of court under the condition that Sanrio must stop worldwide production of merchandise that feature Cathy. Instead of continuing the court battle like most big companies are likely to do, the two companies will donate the legal fees to help the earthquake victims, which I thought was rather sweet of both of them.

Ok, I think this post is getting rather long. Sorry I got carried away, hahaha, because I really love Nijntje / Miffy a lot and she reminds me a lot of my childhood. I hope you like this Miffy Sandwich Bento or should I say Nijntje Boterham Bento as much as I do :)

Award: Heart Locket Award

Although fall is coming (or should I say, it's already here ^^,) and the sky is slightly grey, it's been a very nice day today.  I woke up later than usual, switched on my computer  like usual (don't we all do that in mornings nowadays? hehehe) and to my surprise I found that one of my blogger friends gave me a Heart Locket Award, which I think is so sweet of her. She is Tata from Bonitofood.

 

Thank you so much Tata for being so nice and sweet, you really make my day :D

 

 

These are some rules for the award receiver:

1. If you get this award, pass it on to other 7 blogs

2. Put in the award picture in your post

3. Don't pass the award back to the award giver

4. Answer the questions below and post them in your blog

Only 2 questions, it's good to know you better :D

1. What makes you feel great about yourself?

2. Who inspires you most? Also be more specific, which qualities inspire you, in each person? You can list as many people you like.

My answers:

1. Bento making really make me feel great about myself. I've been asked before, why bother to go through so much trouble, when the food is going to be eaten up in 3 seconds anyway. This is really a good question though. The thing about me is my gratification doesn't actually come from the bento receiver slowly savouring the food. On the contrary, it comes from me knowing that my bento has cheered someone up from a boring/busy workday and the rest are totally not important for me. haha, I guess in a twisted sense, its the fascination (that my bentos make other people happy) that makes me feel great about myself. hehe

2. Well, I guess it has to be my husband Mr Bear. Usually I don't go all mushy about us and such, but I think he really deserves a mention. I think he is the most intelligent and sensitive guy I have ever met. I used to be a die-hard feminist and never really believed much in stuff like cooking for my man. When I got to know Mr Bear, everything changed, my world changed, the way I view the world changed as well. He was the one who gave me the strength and encouragement to really do what I like without being judgemental. Thank you for being you Mr Bear.

Now let me pass this award to 7 lucky beautiful blogs:

 

1. swiedebie

2. herbsfromfrance

3. rosewhiterabbit

4. leukelunch

5. hwsoh

6. teenbento

7. shinsveganloving

Have a Happy Day!

The Ugly Bento

Since I had made that ugly bento, something random cropped up into my mind. Do photos of ugly bentos ever get published by bentoists? Or do they just get discarded or saved somewhere in the computer, never to be seen and never to be mentioned to anyone else?

What happens to unsuccessful bento attempts? Do bentoists turn into monsters and eat them all up before the recipents even have a chance to take a glimpse at the ugly bento? Ha, I would.

Bento Cat's rules for dealing with ugly bentos:
#1 still take a picture of it.
#2 store the picture somewhere safe in your computer
#3 quickly grab another bento box and start doing a brand new one if your bento recipent is expecting a bento today.
#4 pretend nothing happened.

#5 when nobody's looking, quickly gobble up the ugly bento to save yourself the embarrassment. hahahha!

and if embarrassment is not an issue with you and you still would like to share pictures of your ugly bento, check this out:

 Flickr Group - The Ugly bento

Enjoy!