Sweet Escapades has moved to LiveJournal. I had a few reasons for this move, and hopefully those reasons will be justified with LJ's service. If not, then it's another 3 hours moving everything back! Blech!

The pages under navigation WILL NOT WORK and may point to the old website. I'll try and get them running ASAP. If you have any questions/comments, just add it to this post. :-)

Today was Sweet Escapades 1 year birthday! Who knew time could fly so fast? In just a year, I've collected 5 more bento boxes and tiffins, gone to India and back, and moved to a new apartment (and kitchen). My resolution for the next year of Sweet Escapades is to focus more on different recipes and post more often. :-)

See you all for another year!

I've got such a chocolate craving, it's not even funny. And as if to mock me, I found quite the tasty few food blogs (focusing on sweet, sweet cupcakes). I'm salivating reading these entries, and I've definitely jotted a few down to try later. At this rate, my cookbook-binder (where I hold my recipes) will be full by the end of the month. ;)

• Cupcake Blog


• 52 Cupcakes


• Cupcakes Take the Cake

And what goes best with a cupcake (besides a cold glass of milk)? Why, tea of course! ... OK, maybe that's just me, but if that's you too, here's some more interesting finds accumulated over the course of an hour of random surfing. :)

• Green Tea Blog by O-Cha


• Tea 4 You


• Seven Cups Tea Blog

Anywho, it'll be back to bentos, lunch, and recipes come Monday. See you then! :)

I just took apart the suitcase and put all my lunch and container goodies in the wash. :) Here's the pictures of all the swag, pre-wash:



Yes, they are all containers, except for the picture on the left-hand side of this text, which is a stack of four stainless steel bowls. In India, mostly stainless steel is used; there's a lot of difficulty recycling and with trash build-up, so almost everything is reusable. I wish I had remembered to put a reference in the picture, but the smallest container is about the size of a quarter. It's so cute! When I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for butter or spreads. The other containers are good to tote in lunches, or to put leftovers in the fridge (I pre-grate ginger and it stores better in stainless steel than plastic). The bowls are great for hot soups. Of course, none of the stainless steel stuff is microwave safe, but they're all dishwasher safe. :)

  

This is a tiffin, or Indian-style lunch box. They are usually stainless steel and lunch usually consists of curry, shak (vegetables), chapatis, kadhi, roti, and/or dahl (soup). The tiffin breaks down into two containers; the top container is airtight so it's great for soup or runny stuff. :) Then, it stacks and clinches shut so that you can carry it around! Unfortunately, I forgot to place a reference in the picture, but I would say they hold about the same amount of food as a double decker bento...maybe a little more...so while not big, it's plenty for me and maybe even the boyfriend.

  

I actually bought two of these. One is the pink one above and one is a purple one that just says "Milton" on the front. The purple one was a special find because it actually has plastic airtight containers, so I can microwave them! This one is really nifty, too, because the stainless steel containers (also airtight) have their own sleeves, so the food stays hotter longer! :D These are smaller containers, so they are just the right size for me. The only problem is that the thermal sleeves they come in leave little room for extra containers or silverware. But I still love them. They're so portable! ;)

  

I bought this one for bigger appetites and had the boyfriend in mind, but I think I may definitely use it sometimes, when I'm really hungry or for those long study sessions. I don't really like the color of the thermal carrier, but it was the only one they had, oh well. These are slightly smaller containers than the two-stacking tiffin, but these have three stacks, so it actually holds more. They are airtight, too, and stainless steel, and they clinch together at the sides, so you take it out as one big stack from the thermal carrier.

Okay, so this is a rather dorky post since I'm so excited about all this India swag I got. What can I say? Containers make me happy. :-D

I'm finally back from India. :) I had a wonderful time; I toured Rajastan, stayed with relatives in Ghandinagar, visited Pondicherry, and ate lots of great food. :P India has some of the best lunch and kitchen containers: tiffins, stainless steel, and plastic in all varieties. They have a lot of bentos from Japan as well, and for only a few dollars! I'll put up my acquisitions later -- I still need to unpack all the souvenirs.

So, I might have gone a little crazy on Ebay and bought a bunch of Ebay stuff I've been eyeing. And just because I'm probably addicted, I threw in a bento container. The bento container features -- well, you can see who it features ;) -- and it's my first "lunch bento box." It even has a divider that can be placed anywhere, or taken out! I purposely chose one that can be stuck in the microwave and dishwasher (or so the seller said, I wish I could read Japanese :-P).

Clustered above the bento is a weiner cutter (in the shape of a crab!); sauce containers that look like cucumbers, strawberries, and a cherry; and condiment containers that look like cute animal faces. :)

This is the first post, yay! *trumpets blare* Everything is ready, and most of it is located right here. :) This website is rather self-explanatory; it deals with food and the making of food. There'll be recipes, there'll be delicious results, there'll be bentos, and there'll be pictures.

If you use a recipe that you got from this webpage, please leave a comment and tell me how it went, okay? I'm dying to know! What did you change? What did you think -- was it a hit or a miss? Will you make it again? I'd love to hear from you. :)

(If you post your recipe on your webpage, please cite me as the source!)