You want one number?
Sheese!
You may as well ask whick of my children I like best.
Some bentos have strict eye appeal.
Others spark my creativity (I’m a closet bento-ist).
And others? Well, some just say “had one of those days, haven’t we all?”
Keep ‘em coming!

I have to say, I really like this bento: http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/07/10/hello-kitty-agrees-a-fishie-bento/ I love fish and Hello Kitty. *0*

http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/05/15/tonkatsu-cucumber-salad-bento/#more-211

Probably my favorite bento. I absolutely LOVE tonkatsu. And cucumbers. And tomatoes.

I wish I could find fancy fishballs here.

My favorite is the picnic bento one! The one where you “broke in” your big bento box–it’s beautiful, and totally inspired me to make “bulk” bentos for our park outings rather than making three or four separate bentos when they ultimately have the same items!

My favorite bento of yours? That’s hard!

The mini bento you made for Aki is awesome, of course….but if I had to pick an “actual” bento, it’d be this one: http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/04/24/spirited-away-bento/

Soot sprites!

I don’t know why, but the Salad Monster bento makes me smile:
http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/07/18/salad-monster-bento/

But truly, the thing about your website that makes my mouth water every time is the salmon/lettuce wrap photo at the top. It looks unbelievably tasty, and the photograph itself is so beautifully balanced.

It always makes me want salmon.

I want to join because I’m sad like that, but I know I wouldn’t use these bento goodies XD Anyway, yay for anniversaries! I’m going to be celebrating my 2nd year as well. And yes, may pa-contest din ako XD

My favorite bento is the Kero-chan bento. It’s so adroable, and looks yummy. I love your site for quick ways to prepare a bento, even if it means just re-heating frozen foods.

http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/06/16/kero-chan-is-that-you-in-my-bento/

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

I really liked this post of yours: http://www.kitchencow.com/2008/01/11/patis-calamansi-fried-chicken-bento/

It was a simple proof that even the simplest dishes can make the one of them pretty bentos

Thanks for such a wonderfully fun and inspiring site! As everyone else is saying, it’s definitely hard to choose a favorite. I think I have to go with your jubako…I lived in Japan for a while and it reminds me of hana-mi with my family. Natsukashii! (And you’re not kidding- it really is crazy how much food they hold…)

Please keep the bento coming- Daisuki yo!

http://www.kitchencow.com/2008/01/29/breaking-in-my-jyubako-with-a-picnic-bento/

you have so many great posts, but i got such a kick out of the halloween 2006 post with the “brains” caption! loved it!

Like LizAndrsn said, just one? Yikes… that’s gonna be hard!

The Calcifer bento was cute, as was the one with all the foods staring at you… I love alot of Kyaraben ones though… *grr*

I’m trying to map out my process of elimination here… if you’re a bit fuzzy on how I’m doing it, then imagine it from my end.

I am going with my inner fangirl and saying the Keroberos one! I loved Cardcaptors, if not for wanting the name as Sakura then simply for laughing at and loving Kero. Now, do you have a SailorMoon one somewhere by any chance?

Happy 2nd Anniversary Kitchen Cow! And as much I want that prize for myself, good luck to whoever wins!

the bentos on here are always a wonder to look at, you manage to make every one cute somehow, without going over the top with lots of decoration for the point of decoration, which is always inspiring. i’ve had this site on my rss feeder since i got my new computer, one of the first sites on, and i always get excited when it’s updated.

favorite bento? the halloween ones are always fun, because that’s my favorite holiday and you never take it too seriously. i think the one i’d pick was #25, that picnic bento you did from what you had on hand without shopping a lot. it’s one of those things that made me look at the contents of my pantry more closely on those mornings when i’m running late and considering just going to taco bell for lunch (never as fun or as satisfying) though the recipies are also very good, and i’ve tried a lot of them. it’s always cool to see something you’ve never tried to make before in someone’s lunch, then being able to try it yourself (like in #33, with the chicken inasai bento, i’ve tried that recipie many many times now, even if i’ve tweaked it a little, and it’s become a favorite, another thing to do with chicken i can freeze and thaw in the morning ^.^)

i hope you keep going with this, and have many more years of fun, inspiring bentos yet to come! happy second birthday Kitchen Cow!

one of my fave bentos has got to be this one

http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/07/03/bento-adventures-in-beef-stroganoff/

i love Beef Stroganoff, lol its not the cutest, but so yummy

Good Day! Happy Anniversary! I chanced upon your blog late last year and got hooked eversince…You have influenced me to prepare not just a lunch for my hubby, but a nice-looking and appetizing one at that..I also just purchased new lunch kits for my kids.

I have a big family…( a hubby and 4 kids!) so i like your picnic bento, the one you made with your jyubako box…that would be awesome to bring to pot lucks and picnics..

God Bless you.

i love all your bentos! My favorite is your picnic bento when you got your new jyubako though. So elegant and beautiful. Picnics really can be more sophisticated like that instead of the potato salad and friend chicken usual. I’m waiting for the weather to get warmer to make it your picnic bento

http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/06/20/i-just-love-korean-beef-stew-bento/

The “I-just-love-Korean-beef-stew-bento” is my favourite. Because I remember reading it back when I was posting bentos daily - and because I LOVE a hot lunch. Somehow cold lunches like sandwiches and fruit bits always leave me a bit unsatisfied.

The Korean beef stew looks SO yummy especially in that container. I don’t own a thermal bento (yet!) so I definetely am bento-envious.

I guess I just doesn’t get any better than that.

By the way, I noticed that you - like most bentoers incl. myself - often apologise for not posting in a while. I think we should all let go of that guilt.

At some point, getting up at 6am to cook for bentos and sometimes even having to skip my morning shower just left me exhausted and bento’ing became a bit of a chore. And I felt bad for not bothering anymore ’cause bentoing IS really an awesome thing. For me it saved me a LOT of money and a LOT of calories too.

So what I’m saying is: That feeling of obligation and guilt… let it go, everyone. It’s great if you bento and it’s okay if you don’t.

Phew. I feel a bit better. ^_^’

i really liked the picnic bento
bento #181
i just found a nice NEW picnic style bento box at my local used bookstore. it was a real lucky find, i walked in looking for a book on felt crafts and anything on bento that they might have there, and i turned around at the register and saw it sitting on this shelf and was priced for $3.
the bento #181 helped me think of ways to use my box, so it was very inspirational and i really appreciated the use of color and textures.
so, even if i don’t win the wonderful bento giveaway, i just want to tell you thank you for helping me with some inspiration for my picnic bento adventures.

My favorite bento is the World’s Smallest Bento, but if I have to pick a full-sized one, I think it’s the Happy Eggs one. http://www.kitchencow.com/2006/06/03/happy-eggs/

I love the cute onigiri!

“When Sea Monstaaars are your Bento!” is definitely one of my favorites. So wacky and awesome. ^^

First off, Advanced Happy Anniversary!!!

My favorite would be the simple Bento #174 “Bagnet: A Calorific way to Bento” heheh….because you can never go wrong with Bagnet ;P

First of all, Happy Anniversary! I’ve just discovered your blog about a month ago and I was immediately hooked. I have to say I love the fusion of Japanese bento touches with Filipino food.

Now, on your question… There are a lot of memorable ones for me particularly the Halloween bento, smallest bento, the They’re all eyes post (that one made me laugh!), the Omuraisu one (I love omuraisu!) and the picnic bento. I know, I know! Only one favorite!

Well if pressed, I would have to vote for the picnic bento since it’s truly pretty, creative and could be shared by a lot of people.

Thanks and keep them coming!

I’ve relinked your doll bento a few times, so I guess its that:
http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/10/15/worlds-smallest-bento/

I also love the salad monster http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/07/18/salad-monster-bento/ and generally all your monsters like hte multi-eyed bento and the tomato monster!

Ooooo… it’s hard to choose. But I think that is my favourite.

I loved the doll bento:
http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/10/15/worlds-smallest-bento/

Hiya!
I love how imaginative your bentos are, and my absolute favourite one is the doll-size one. Out of the full-size ones, I love number 171, the Sea Monster one! It’s so cute and imaginative. Keep the bentos coming! Amy xx

My favorite is #162. I love those cute little faces!
Congrats on your anniversary

a bento giveaway! thats really sweet ^_^

my favourite bento : http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/09/16/theyre-all-eyes-bento/#more-586

the octopus and onigiri are really cute! btw, your bento box/bento box paraphernalia are really cute!

Happy anniversary!

well, all the bento are excellent. But I’ll go for the Curry Omuraisu bento. The very first bento I made for my brother is also omuraisu! ^^
http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/11/22/curry-omuraisu-bento/

I do love Japanese foods, and I’m trying to learn how to cook quite a number of Japanese cuisines. But Vietnamese foods also goes very well in bento box! You can find some of the recipes here. Those are not the best ones, but at least, they’re in English, and quite nice!

http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/recipe.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Market/7773/vietnam.html

Wha–? You want us to choose just one?! I don’t think I can do that. Hmm…looking through the archives, I think that my favorite is #19. Though I also really like #74 and #103.
(I also loved Aki’s mini bento.)

Congratulations on your 2nd Anniversary! ^_^v

My favorite bento would have to be the Adobo onigiri and menchikatsu bento (http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/08/21/adobo-onigiri-and-menchikatsu-bento/)!

Even though you said it wasn’t originally your idea, I’m glad you made the bento for all to see. I would’ve never thought to combine a Filipino classic with a Japanese one

Geez, my favorite? I like just about all of them, but I think it’s a tie between the mouse one (#178) and your picnic bento. Actually, you are one of the ones who got me (back) into making bentos! Kudos for you!

I have to agree with Barbara B; I love the Sea Monstaaar (http://www.kitchencow.com/2008/04/12/kitchen-cow-2nd-anniversary-bento-giveaway/#comments). They are all adorable though; I find the ones with eyes especially appealing.

Hi! I’ve been lurking for a while, was looking for bento sites in Google and stumbled upon your site. Anyway, I couldn’t resist! Eeeeeep bento give-aways!!

Hmmmmm. It’s tough picking just one, I have lots of favorites, but I must say I love Bento #163. I love the colors and the variety of food.

Hi! Happy 2nd birthday to your site!
Its really a fun and helpful site, inspiring your readers to get creative with whats available in the pantry….

and W-O-W that’s a lot of entries up there!
i really want to win that fantastic loot above, for me and my daughter esp in the coming school year…

All your bentos are really amazing even with just simple foods…
I love the Jyubako Picnic Bento the best, inspires me to prepare creative meal for a picnic not just the usual stuff we bring like chicken and pasta. Now that my husband is coming home from his work abroad, he will be delighted if i will prepare a picnic bento just like yours cos there’s so many plan for our family to go out…

Congratulations and wishing for more bentos to come!

W-wow, I think you’re awesome for giving away such great things ;0; I don’t even know where to buy them around where I live, sadly.

Anyway, my favorite bento of yours would have to be:

http://www.kitchencow.com/2008/01/11/patis-calamansi-fried-chicken-bento/

I tried the recipe for the chicken and my whole family loved it :D! It’s so simple and yet so much flavor can be tasted. So yummy x)

Oh Happy 2nd Anniversary =)

Well I have two favourites:
Bento #162 and Bento #114 , because they are soo adorable and look really tasty ^___^.

I’m looking forward to the next two years ^.~

My favorite has always and forever been Tuna Fish for Two: http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/09/11/obento-with-tuna-fish-for-two-please/#more-584

Always make me hungry..

My favorite has been the Spirited Away bento for a while. Soot Sprites

Happy 2nd anniv! For some reason this post wasn’t picked up by my Bloglines. Anyway, my favorite is the Chibi Dragon Bento. It may be really “chibi”, but it also looks badass. The best part is that it really looked tasty, and ulam is love, right?

My favorite is Bento #144 • 17 July 2007! I love the monster peeking out from the box…So cute!

Oh, that’s a great idea! I love this blog. Your pictures are always great, and I love stealing your recipes.

One of my favorites was one from this year, #179. I stole the idea of frying chicken with fish sauce and lemon, which is always a finger food hit when I have company over.

Happy second anniversary!!!!!!

I think All Hail Mc Donald’s! is the second best bento in the
world!(I have made one bento in my life and it was so delicious. So my homemade bento will be first:3)

I think you are very creative.

since it’s spring and i’m itching for picnics, i have to vote for your giant bento (#181)! it makes me want to get together all my friends and go outside for lunch:-)

Should I put Kat#2? lol. I see you already have a comment from a “Kat,” so maybe I should, haha. Well, our favorite bentos are different, so I guess you’ll be able to tell!

Mine is this one: http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/04/24/spirited-away-bento/

Spirited Away was one of the first animation movies I’d ever seen since I left elementary school, and I found it beautiful. The little soot balls were one of the cutest parts.

I like Bento # 139. The stroganoff looks so yummy! And happy anniversary! keep bento-ing (if there’s such a word) Haha!

Oh man, it’s so hard to pick just one of your bentos as a favorite, but I think it’s this one: http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/10/19/eeeeek-it-lives-bento/

It’s simple, but super cute at the same time. Keep up the beautiful work!

Bento 164
http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/09/26/beef-and-straw-mushroom-bento/
I love mushrooms also. I like all your bentos with mushrooms. The beef one looks the tastiest. The cute ones are nice, but like you said as long as it tastes good nothing else matters.

Ah! It’s a little hard to choose - I was torn a bit, with the banana mouse and cat-on-the-fence, but if FORCED to pick one, I’d say it’s the Chibi Dragon - I love dragons so I really had no choice. Though if you had a frog-themed bento, that would win my choice award, too XD

http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/09/09/chibi-dragon-bento/#more-583

I have to agree with those who have already voted for the doll bento and the Beef Stroganoff, the stroganoff defiantly looked delicious!!
But..
I’m voting for #133. I think Kero-chan just looks so cute and friendly hugging the little sauce bottle! aww, you just wanna hug him back!

#163, I think. It was a hard choice– I really had a hard time choosing between cuteness and the yumminess. I tried to get a mix. I like that your bentos are yummy and don’t sacrifice class for cute. Plus your pictures are perfect!

WOW - what a fantastic haul of bento stuff in the prize stash! I just stumbled upon your web site yesterday in search of bento stuff and bento related blogs to bookmark to spend some time this week visiting. I came back today to actually read your blog, and found this sweet contest! Now I’ll have to go through and read all your old posts so I can actually have an entry! Fun!

My favorite is the Panda Bear, #184. There were many that I would have liked to vote for but he is just so cute it would be hard to actually eat him.

http://www.kitchencow.com/2008/02/19/th e-return-of-the-kyara-bento/

My fave would have to be Bento #49 posted on Aug 14 ‘06… i like the way a Pinoy food classic was made into a Japanese bento…

Congrats on your 2nd Year Anniv!

God bless!

I loved your curry omuraisu bento (#173) — thanks for including the recipe, because it inspired me and my husband to try it for ourselves, and it was delicious!

Keep on bentoing; you give me refreshing ideas for my own lunches all of the time. I only wish mine would turn out so pretty!

#178! I just love the mouse!

Keep up the great bentos. I love to come here and see what you have created. A lot of your recipes have ended up on my table. Thank you!

Bento #164 • 26 September 2007

Simple; it gives me hope that even on a limited amount of time, I could prepare a tasty bento. Inspiration strikes me when I visit your site. ^_~

Definatly Curry Omuraisu Bento because it made me really hingry when I read it, so I made my own. ^_^

It’s gotta be…
“WHEN SEA MONSTERS EAT YOUR BENTO!”

This is such a cute charaben and the sea monster’s prolly miffed that you actually ATE ALL HIS CHILDREN SHRIMP!! XDD

Oooh Anniversary! Shall we celebrate with a big lunch bento? XD

i really loved this one! i believe it took a great deal of effort from you to make it albeit it’s size!

http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/10/15/worlds-smallest-bento/

I loved the cute panda bento you did recently I wouldnt want to eat him though, haha, he was too cute

http://www.kitchencow.com/2008/02/19/the-return-of-the-kyara-bento/

Good Luck everyone x

I love the thieving chick eggs bento the best!
http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/04/12/those-darned-thieving-eggs/#more-38
So cute and SO yummy looking. Definitely inspired me to make egg chicks and to cute little scenes in my own bento.

My favorite? When you tested out your big Bento box on a Picnic bento with the so-so-yummy looking little oranges.

However, my favorite posts of yours are when you go over how to make things, like how to make curry, or when you talk about restaurants you like. Because then I can follow along.

-WG

I just love the sea monster bento
http://www.kitchencow.com/2007/11/05/when-sea-monstaaars-are-your-bento/

Bento #171

Then again, I love all of your bentos. Even the normal ones.