(photo by Lee Ka-sing)
(1) Bento Family
Saturday morning, cloudy with occasional showers. Mrs. Bento woke up with a headache the minute she thought about changing the clock to Standard Time. That meant she had to deal with every time device in the house - the phones, the oven, the radio with CD player, and all the other gadgets that have a time display on. "Can I just put back myself one hour so I don't have to do all this stuff?". Feeling more relieved, Mrs. Bento decided to let herself fall back an hour when she's in the house. "Everybody just check their cell phones for time anyway...and what's more, I don't need to go back to Daylight Saving Time next Spring". She lay down the Standard Time business with a sign of relief, and fell right back to dreamland.
Mrs. Bento is not Japanese. She and her husband got the Bento name from customers. Immigrated with their daughter Ginger to Canada from Hong Kong twenty years ago. As soon as they arrived, they took a friend's advice and bought a franchise business near the airport area in Mississauga. It was a small sushi bar. No business is easy business, but with Mrs. Bento's clever makeover of a 21st century's home-packed meal, combining nutrition, taste and value, the new Bento Box proved to be a top seller. After six years of continuous hard work, they were able to save enough money to move to Toronto, in an area known as West Queen West. The Bentos love city life, the short walk to all activities on the street, close proximity to cafes, shops, restaurants, galleries, supermarket and postal office. Nearby there is even the Theatre Centre converted from a historic library building built in 1908.