I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Bento bloggers: Know your worth!
Bento lunches are starting to attract a lot of mainstream attention outside of Japan, with bentos appearing more often in the popular media, new bento books
On a concerning note, I’ve started hearing from talented bento bloggers who have been approached by authors putting together bento books compiling photos and recipes by people in the bento community, but offering little to no compensation for their contributions. Now, it can be flattering and exciting to get attention like this for the first time, and being published does give you exposure and opens doors. But make sure you don’t underestimate your own worth when entering negotiations! Remember that you’re providing something of value that the book “author” and publisher will be making money from, so make sure you’re properly compensated and legally protected with a detailed contract. Don’t be exploited and regret it later — go in with your eyes open and make your own decisions about what you find acceptable.
A prominent bento blogger, whose work has appeared in numerous books and magazines, recently approached me about this issue and offers the following advice so others can benefit from her experiences. She wishes to remain anonymous so as to not alienate publishers she works with, but I know and respect her work. (Read on for her tips and mine on protecting your work online, tracking where your posts and photos are being used, and how to file effective legal complaints.)
May 8th, 2009 | Categories: admin, tips | 
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Rooster sausage bento from A to Z
Today’s lunch uses sausages with a back story. A couple of weeks ago I had the rare opportunity to learn how to butcher roosters from an expert: Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. You might remember Hank from the Food Blog Awards — his excellent hunting and food blog was also recently nominated for a prestigious James Beard Award. I drove up to Sacramento to join him, Elise from Simply Recipes, and Garrett from Vanilla Garlic for an educational afternoon of primal food prep in which one of the roosters got away. I didn’t take anything home with me that day, but the following weekend Hank and girlfriend Holly generously sent me home from a Greek party with sausages he’d made from the same birds — a rare treat.
If you’re interested, see Hank’s full write-up of our rooster excursion, my rooster photos on Flickr (yes, I look demented in my close-up), Elise’s rooster photos on Flickr, and Garrett’s write-up of the rooster afternoon and subsequent Greek party. All contain graphic images, so the meat-squeamish may want to pass.
Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Rooster sausage (see Hank’s sausage recipe) and sauteed onions with balsamic vinegar, ketchup (Bug’s request), broiled asparagus, blueberries, and a wrapped cheese under the asparagus. We were struck by how dark the rooster meat and sausages were (”running-around meat” is I think how Hank described it).
Morning prep time: 6 minutes, using leftover sausage and sauteed onions from dinner the night before, and leftover asparagus. In the morning I assembled the sandwich, and cut the asparagus into bite-size pieces. Actually, I packed this lunch for my four-year-old a day earlier and dutifully brought it along to preschool, only to be reminded that that was the day of their monthly school lunch where parent volunteers cook a hot lunch for all of the children. D’oh! Many other parents had forgotten as well, and the kids were having a great time telling everyone carrying a bento that they should have their parents take it home and bring it the next day. So that’s just what I did. (Read on for full lunch details.) Read the rest of this entry »
May 1st, 2009 | Categories: for kids, poultry, sandwich case, sandwich or wrap | Print This Post
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Poll: How long does it take you to pack a lunch?
How long does it usually take you to prep and pack a single bento lunch? Unless it’s a special occasion like Valentine’s Day or Children’s Day, I usually avoid decorative food and go for the speed bento, taking about 10-15 minutes max. Prep and organizational techniques from my speedy lunch-packing tips help me quickly prep and pack leftovers, frozen foods, and simple dishes like steamed or sauteed vegetables. I try not to cook more than one dish from scratch in the morning when I’m making lunch, even if they’re speedy packed lunch recipes. How about you?
How much time does it usually take you to pack a lunch?
- Less than 15 minutes (50%, 380 Votes)
- 16-30 minutes (37%, 284 Votes)
- 31-45 minutes (7%, 57 Votes)
- 46-60 minutes (3%, 21 Votes)
- Over an hour (2%, 19 Votes)
Total Voters: 761
Loading ...Poll voting closes at midnight Pacific on Sunday, May 10, 2009. “Got Bento?” wall clock sold at the Lunch in a Box store on CafePress.
FURTHER READING:
- Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
- Poll results: What containers do you pack lunches in? (poll closed)
- Poll results: Where are your lunches eaten? (poll closed)
- Poll results: Why do you pack bentos? (poll closed)
- Poll results: When do you pack lunch? (poll closed)
- Poll results: Who do you pack lunch for? (poll closed)
- Bento FAQ and Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and reviews
April 27th, 2009 | Categories: poll | Print This Post
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Giveaway winner & Sacramento Bee article
We’ve got a winner in the Kids Konserve metal lunch kit giveaway (see my full review), and some additional giveaways around the bento community. If you didn’t win this one, the company is giving away another of their metal lunch kits for Earth Day on April 22nd, 2009. Comment on their blog post for a chance to win.
Congratulations go to reader Cyntilla in Italy (comment #278), who would pack a double-layer ham & cheese sandwich with crispy lettuce and corn salad, a fruit salad (strawberries, apple and kiwi) in one container, some meat and veg stir-fry in the other, and mint white tea in the drink bottle. Cyntilla, I’ll be in touch to get your shipping address for Kids Konserve to send your kit.
In other news, I was in a Sacramento Bee feature article the other week about bento lunches (”Bring Your Own Lunch“), and filmed a seven-minute video about making speed bentos (it’s on the online article). We filmed it in their kitchen studio in Sacramento, which took almost four hours plus drive time — we were so hungry by the end that Gina, the cameraman and I devoured everything I made right after the shoot. Still, it was the first time I’d done non-live video for bento stuff, which was a really interesting experience. Thanks, guys! Lunch in a Box was also featured on iVillage.com’s parenting site, in a slideshow called “The Rules of Bento”.
Other Bento Giveaways: (taken from the bento contest announcement section of the Lunch in a Box Forum)
- Two Ichiban Kan bento kits from Mission: Vegan (deadline April 22, 2009, open to all)
- Ichiban Kan bento starter kit from Maisie Eats Bento (deadline April 5, 2009, open only to people with blogs)
FURTHER READING:
- How to care for your lunch gear and other bento supplies
- Lunch in a Box Forum: Bento community contests and giveaways (publicize your own giveaway here)
- All giveaway posts on Lunch in a Box
- Bento FAQ and Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and reviews
April 3rd, 2009 | Categories: equipment, giveaway | Print This Post
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Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: California Hanami
On Saturday we hosted a hanami, the Japanese tradition of a picnic under cherry trees when they’re in bloom. Sakura cherry trees blossom only during a brief time during the spring and the pink petals soon fall from the trees, so there’s an urgency to enjoying that ephemeral moment when they’re at their peak. In Japan, you’ll find all kinds of people crowding onto blankets under cherry trees even on busy sidewalks, sprawling out with bento meals, and beer or sake. For our California Hanami, we invited friends to our favorite hanami location in San Francisco, a small clearing of cherry trees in Golden Gate Park across from the Buffalo Paddock. The only thing that was missing were drunk Japanese salarymen in suits trying out their English!
Foodbuzz sponsored the food as a part of their monthly 24, 24, 24 food blogging event, so we were able to put together the most elaborate hanami picnic I’ve had to date, instead of store-bought bentos or quickly slapped-together sandwiches. I always used to envy the well organized people at hanami who were able to cook meat or chicken on little portable grills — if you were lucky they might strike up a conversation with you and offer you a bite of their tasty food. I decided that this was the year that we would have the great-smelling grilled feast.
Food: We had a variety of marinated meats to grill: chicken thighs, marinated beef short ribs (kalbi), skewered bulgogi beef, and spicy pork sliced thin and skewered. Vegetables like enoki mushrooms and bell pepper strips went on the grill, while salad vegetables like cucumbers, baby carrots and celery were easy to dip in ranch dressing. Rice balls are good finger food, so I made a variety with different fillings: grilled salmon, umeboshi sour plum, Gohan Desu Yo! seaweed paste, kimchi, and plain furikake. Seasoned noodles, sliced ripe strawberries, tiny tangerines, beer and a big bottle of Onigoroshi sake rounded out our little feast. (Read on for food details and reviews of the different picnic containers.) Read the rest of this entry »
