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Updates: Site & shopping

1. Egg molds on sale at Williams Sonoma (price cut to US$10) and WalMart (for $5!)Barnyard Snack Bento for Toddler

The animal-shaped ice cream sandwich molds that I jury-rigged into egg molds (and onigiri molds, cookie cutters, etc. — full info and tutorial here) are back in Williams Sonoma stores and are currently on sale for $10 (down from $14 — so no shipping charges if you have a store near you). This makes them cheaper than on Amazon! (UPDATE: The folks on the LJ bentolunch community point out that these are also available at Walmart for US$5 for two!! They have two sets: the cow and the pig, or a heart (with an “XO”) and a “squircle” — square-circle.)

2. Site update

I recently fixed the blog font that has been giving some readers problems, and disabled nested comments that blocked the content for some. At this point I’ll be sticking with regular-style comments (not threaded) to avoid similar compatibility issues, so if you’re responding to a particular comment you’ll want to call the poster out by name in your comment. Please feel free to let me know of any site issues you’re experiencing either in a comment or by e-mail to lunchinabox AT gmail DOT com. (EDIT: Thanks to reader sff_corgi for the snazzy new header!!)

3. San Francisco: Ichiban Kan has new character bento goods section!

Ichiban Kan (Japanese dollar store in San Francisco’sMolds for hard-boiled eggs Japantown — info here) now has an all-new children’s bento goods section with a substantial selection of character goods, all between US$1 and $1.50. Characters include Hello Kitty, Shinkansen, Cinnamaroll, PokeMon, etc. Products include food cups, chopsticks/case, utensil sets (for only $1.50!), food dividers (baran), bamboo utensils, silicone-coated food cups, kinchaku lunch bags, lunch cloths (use as a napkin or to wrap bento lunches), etc. They also just got in a new shipment of the egg molds on the right (two for $1.50), so pick them up while they’re in stock! I led the Japanese moms from Japanese playgroup there yesterday and we had a shopping extravaganza for kid bento stuff…

4. San Francisco: Sanrio store at Stonestown Mall has character bento boxes

I realize I omitted the Sanrio Store at Stonestown Mall from the SF Bay Area Bento Shopping Guide. They have a pretty good selection of good-quality character bento boxes and accessories at normal prices ($10 range). Characters include Hello Kitty, Shinkansen, and Cinnamaroll; products include good-quality collapsible sandwich cases with movable inner divider for $8, child-sized (300-360ml) bento boxes (die-cut style with a bento band and the flap-type with silicone packing seal), utensils and utensil sets that include bamboo chopsticks. I’ll be updating the shopping guide shortly.

(Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Williams Sonoma, Ichiban Kan or Sanrio.)

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June 28th, 2007 | Categories: SF Bay Area local, equipment, shopping | Print This Post Print This Post | Email this post Email this post
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9 Responses to “Updates: Site & shopping”

  1. Summers Love Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 4:49 pm

    Thanks for the update on Ichiban , biggie. I had to go up Geary for work tomorrow anyway to get something, so I’ll stop by and check it out. I was there last week and they didn’t have those character bentos , but they had the rainbow pooh ones still. I’ll have to check out the others.

  2. Great Stone Face Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 5:39 pm

    Through July 4, 2007, here’s a sale at the William-Sonoma factory oulet store in Leesburg, Virginia. I got the same ice cream molds 3-pack for only $4.99 this past Saturday (June 23, 2007).

    Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets, 241 Fort Evans Rd, NE, Leesburg, VA 20176. Phone: 703-443-9259

    If you have a W-S outlet store near you, they also may have the special going on. No relationship between them and me — just took my wife out there and spotted the molds.

  3. Jessica Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 9:47 pm

    I just can’t help myself to think about just HOW japanese it is to have something like egg molds like a regular item.
    This said, I miss having a good quality japanese or asian store close to where I live, plus that the eggs are sooooo cool :).

  4. Biggie Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 10:19 pm

    Summers> You know, I wasn’t that impressed with the quality of the flaps on the Pooh box when I was there (after having so many flaps break on me last month). But for about $1, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. To be clear, they don’t have character boxes, just character bento accessories.

  5. Biggie Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 10:21 pm

    Good tip, Great Stone Face, thanks!!!

  6. Jessi Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 11:09 pm

    thanks for the tip about the “egg molds” at W.S. i completely forgot i wanted to get some lol ^_^

  7. Corgi Says:
    June 29th, 2007 at 9:32 pm

    Addressing Item #2:

    Something you might want to consider promotion as ‘local culture’, Biggie — on ‘Making Light’, which has huuuuge threads wandering all over the place, the un-nested posts get numbers. People replying to comments upstream will use the convention ‘@ [comment number]‘ and/or ‘@ [commenter's name]‘. It makes for a quick and handy reference, I think.

    Just an idea. :)

  8. Corgi Says:
    June 29th, 2007 at 9:33 pm

    @7, me

    Here’s an example. I mean ‘promoting’, not ‘promotion’; and obviously these comments have numbers too. *spaz*

  9. Biggie Says:
    June 29th, 2007 at 9:38 pm

    (so like this?)
    @ comment #7 from Corgi:
    I like it!! It’s simple and won’t conflict with anyone’s systems. I’ll start using it — thanks for the good idea.

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