I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
One million visitors and bento contests
1. Milestone
Today is a big milestone day for this blog: One million visitors and three million page views since Lunch in a Box started here at its own domain thirteen months ago, in June 2007 (source: SiteMeter)! Now that’s nowhere near the size of food blog giants like Simply Recipes or 101 Cookbooks, but I’m content with my first blogging foray. A big thanks to everyone for tuning in and sticking around as I worked out the technical kinks over the last year. Bento lunches are becoming more popular and mainstream; it’s an exciting time to be blogging about them. To commemorate my 1,000,000-visitor mark, I’ve created a page for community announcements of packed lunch blog events & contests. Details below.
2. Bento contest and blogging events
For all of you who take photos of your lunches and put them up somewhere on the web, I’ve put together a Lunch Blog Event page where I’ll link to current contests and blogging events specifically focused on packed lunches. Think of it as a miniature version of Is My Blog Burning focused solely on packed lunch events. If you run a contest or blogging event for packed lunches of any kind (bento box, Laptop Lunchbox, thermal lunch jar, Tupperware, brown bag, etc.), let me know via e-mail at lunchinabox (AT) gmail (DOT} com and I’ll update the page. Regular lunch-packers can check this page to stay up to date with the latest lunch blogging events.
We’ve got one new bento contest in addition to the ongoing Wholesome Lunchbox event over at Coffee & Vanilla. To commemorate her 100th bento lunch, “Bento Pet” of On a Bento Frenzy is holding a contest for “regular people packing regular bentos” (not kyaraben food art), and she’s put together a nice stash of bento gear as a prize. The entry deadline is July 29, 2008; check out the contest and prize details for your chance to win free bento supplies. (I’m also attending the BlogHer ‘08 blogging conference in San Francisco this weekend, and attending a restaurant meet-up of food bloggers on Sunday.)
3. BlogHer ‘08
I’ll be attending the BlogHer ‘08 blogging conference here in San Francisco starting this Friday, July 18. If you’re a food blogger attending the Birds of a Feather food session, moderator Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen has assigned some homework and planned opportunities for food bloggers to get together during the conference. This includes a Sunday get-together at a local restaurant for all Bay Area food bloggers who might not necessarily be attending the conference. I should be along for the whole ride, so I look forward to meeting people in person.
I haven’t sat down yet and seriously thought about the homework assignment of a ten-word description for my own blog, but I still have four days, right? Flirting with disaster, I’m initially drawn to: “Lazy mom packs box lunches and freezes stuff for later.” What’s that you say? Still needs polishing? Hmmm… 
July 14th, 2008 | Categories: admin | 
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July 14th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I think that is a very apt description of what you have going… witty too! gratz by the way!
July 14th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Congrats on your million milestone! Looking forward to meeting you at BlogHer.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Congratulations!!! You + your site deserve it!
July 14th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Congratulations on your million hits!
July 14th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Congrats Biggie on your millionth hit +++
Thanks for including me. Appreciate it.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Congratulations, Biggie! Your success is well-deserved. I recommend Lunch in a Box constantly and have gotten so much inspiration from you - my own preschooler and I thank you!
July 14th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Congrats on 1mil! You’re awesome! You know, I’ve always liked the name Biggie for you for my own reason: since your site was the final push into my getting into bento, I kind of look at it like Biggie… like in sororities, you get assigned a “Big [Sister]” and sometimes I hear girls call theirs “Biggie”… well, it just makes me feel more like you’re the biggie to look to for help/guidance when I dunno what to do regarding bento!
Happy 1m!!!
July 14th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Congrats, you are certainly entitled to it :).
And oh, on the broccoli raab pasta dish — sorry for arriving late at the party on this one. It is more like a recipe sketch.
Make a bagna cauda but be careful with the lemon juice at the end. Broccoli raab doesn’t do well with lemon. If you want lemon juice, add it at the end, and add very little at the time.
Throw in broccoli raab in the pot that has the bagna cauda and have it wilt. (there should be more veggies than bagna cauda of course)
Serve with pasta! (obviously)
You can also use fennel in this recipe. If you do I like to mix red fennel and white.
If you find the taste intrusive you might add a diary product, cream or cream fraiche to cut the edge off. Again, sorry it took so long.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Congratulations for this million hits !! You really deserve it
July 15th, 2008 at 3:19 am
Wow! One million in 13 months!! Congratulations.
I don’t think lazy is applicable. “Mom gives gift of health & fun creating bento lunches.” OK that’s not about the blog itself. “A forum for food ideas & tips on creating bento lunches” Boring. I’ll leave you to it, I have my own homework to do …
July 15th, 2008 at 4:38 am
How about “Super-organized mom shares tips for packing delicious, creative, nutritious lunches?”
Naah, that doesn’t begin to do you justice!
July 15th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Many congratulations, Biggie! You deserve much praise and kudos - your loyal readers and fans Salute You!!!
July 15th, 2008 at 9:57 am
First Congratulations! An informative site that I visit often for inspiration.
And I would say “Busy Mom who packs Bento Box Lunches and freezes stuff for later.”
Yes, I know Bento and Box are the same thing, but not to Westerners. The small boxes and yet complete, beautiful, and yummy lunches are what make this site special. It is an art, you know.
And with all you do, you don’t sound lazy to me.
Bug is one lucky kid.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
@8 from Jessika: Thanks for the bagna cauda broccoli rabe recipe, Jessika — it sounds delicious and I’ve been on the lookout for more things to do with broccoli rabe besides the pasta dish with Italian sausage. To my knowledge, I’ve never run across red fennel. Does it taste and behave the same as regular green fennel?
July 15th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
@7 from Yvo: I wasn’t aware of the “Biggie” moniker for sorority mentors — thanks for broadening my horizons!
July 15th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
@5 from Bento Pet: My pleasure to include a link to your contest, Bento Pet! I thought Lunch in a Box readers would be interested in an opportunity to win free bento stuff for doing what they’re already doing.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
@2 from Lydia @ The Perfect Pantry: Thanks for stopping by, Lydia! I’m looking forward to meeting you this weekend as well — it’ll be strange but interesting to meet fellow bloggers in person.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
@14 Biggie, I’ve done it with a combo of red and white fennel. Wilted it looks well, wilted. A fennel au gratin with equal amounts white and red allows the colours to be taken more into consideration. I don’t think red is more flavourful than white.
With the lemon thing. Taste it all with pasta mixed in etc, then see if it needs lemon. They are completely at different sides of the taste span so for me the addition of lemon juice the first times really screwed by tasted buds up.
July 15th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Congrats! Have a great weekend!
July 15th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Congratulations what an amazing accomplishment. Your blog is truly inspiring especially to beginner bento makers like myself! It’s a great resource thanks for sharing it with the world!
July 15th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I am new to bento; thank you for all the great ideas (I particularly like the preparation times and the photos you post)I am going to marinate in all the new info and get started! Congratulations on your milestone
July 17th, 2008 at 4:50 am
Congratulations on the big 1 mil!!!
July 18th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Congratulations! A million hits. WOW! I am so happy for you. Good luck for your 2 million hits. Thanks for all the work you do on your blog
July 19th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Biggie–congrats. And I am such a fan. I hope I can meet you at BlogHer today.