One more item before I start my weekend. Cartime is a Japanese website about cars, specifically aimed at women. They've started a car themed kyaraben (charaben) series, and the first two kyarabenists are both featured in the Face Food book. The one pictured on the left is a most adorable Mini Cooper themed bento by Maki Ogawa, aka "sundae" (her old blog is here). More pictures and recipe in Japanese here. The Mini Cooper-shaped onigiri is made of soy-sauce colored ketchup, and sports a Union Jack made of imitation crabstick on the roof!

The retro-'70s pink flower car in the right photo is by Ms. akinoichigo, who has been mentioned here several times already. Photos and recipe in Japanese. I've already gotten just a bit tired of the bentos with commercial characters like Hello Kitty and Pikachuu, so these original bentos are really a nice change. I'm looking forward to what will follow in the series.

(One thing that struck me about the Cartime site itself: Can you imagine a cute, girly site dedicated to car-loving girls/women in English speaking countries? Would there be a 'that's sexist!' outcry? Does such a site already exist? I for one would love a site that told me about the most comfortable and cute driving shoes to buy, stylish car cushions, and the like. Is it an 'only in Japan' kind of thing, I wonder?)