Adventures in Bentomaking: Bento Lunches by Pikko

Last weekend I made a bold move. I got on a plane with my two rugrats by myself to go home to visit family and do a book signing. I was really worried it was going to be a hellish trip because before we even got on the plane our trip to the bathroom had me huffing and puffing. I was balancing two pizza boxes for dinner, my camera bag, and my purse in the ladies room trying to convince Baby Girl that she really needed to take her hands off her ears because the toilets really weren’t all that loud, but she insisted that I lift her onto the seat and wipe her so that she could keep her little earmuffs in place.

Meanwhile, Buddy is out by the sinks turning on every automatic faucet because he “has to wash hands”. It was not fun. Fortunately, they weren’t too bad on the plane. She let him have the window seat because we couldn’t remember if he’d been on a plane before (he had). Once we took off he looked out and screeched to the plane, “WE’RE IN THE SKY!!!!!!” and Baby Girl immediately goes, “Fo’ real?”

Coming back to Honolulu was a completely different story with my kids stripping off their clothes, kicking each other, kicking seats, and yelling really loud. I tried not to look anyone in the face as we deplaned.

I think only people who grew up in Hilo eating food from Y’s Lunch Shop can appreciate the significance of this photo. This is Mrs. Miyamoto, who I bought food from since 1991, when my parents took over the family florist. Whenever I was hungry, I’d go scrounge up any money I could find in the car. Sometimes all I could afford to buy were her little sweet potato fritters. Usually though, the best thing to get was plain rice (instead of a musubi, since it was cheaper) some fried chicken, a fried fish, and a slice of egg. I’ve blogged before about how much I love Y’s food and my family certainly has a near unhealthy obsession with her fried fish. I had a pretty mean crush on her grandson Darren for a summer, but I was such a shy dork back then that I don’t recall ever saying a single word to him.

Anyway, the photo of me is at my Hilo book signing, which took place at The Book Gallery downtown, a local store that has survived for quite a long time, having been open now for 40 years. I was pretty mad when I saw that there were people with signs to go to Borders for their closing sale at the end of her block. Talk about rude.

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Tagged as: hilo, onigiri, y's lunch shop, Yum-Yum Bento Box

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