Via the site referrer logs, I found this lovely, well-written account of a first-time bento: My first attempt-o at bento. Do you remember your first bento attempt? What was it like? I think mine was when I was in the first year of middle school (7th grade in US school chronology). My mother was too busy, and I made some salmon onigiri. My hands were sore from the hot rice, but boy were those onigiri good!