Archive for January, 2009

Poll: Where are your lunches eaten?

Where do your bentos or packed lunches get eaten?

When I started packing bentos, they were for my husband to eat at the office when he was eating gluten-free (misdiagnosed with celiac disease). Later on, I mainly made bentos for my toddler son and me to eat when we were out and about at the playground, the zoo, or other outings. Now, I mostly pack lunches for Bug to eat at preschool, although I occasionally pack bentos when we’re traveling or going on an outing. How about you?

Where are your bento lunches usually eaten? (check all that apply)

Office (55%, 511 Votes)
School (47%, 440 Votes)
Trips or outings (23%, 217 Votes)
Home (15%, 145 Votes)
Work (outdoors) (14%, 134 Votes)
In commute (6%, 56 Votes)
Other (describe in comments) (2%, 16 Votes)

Total Voters: 937

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Poll voting closes at midnight Pacific on Sunday, February 8, 2009.

FURTHER READING:

Published by Biggie on January 30th, 2009 tagged poll | 25 Comments »

Burger lunches two ways

Making extra food at dinner and saving it for packed lunches is a handy way to speed up lunch prep. Think about the size of what you’re making; can you make miniature versions that would fit nicely into a bento box, like shepherd’s pie?

Today’s lunches both use leftover mini-hamburgers that I had my husband grill at the same time as he grilled the rest of our burgers for dinner. You can take the same burger leftovers in different directions: a traditional cheeseburger, or a lower-carb version with cut-up burgers. I’ve also had tiny appetizer burgers on golf ball-sized buns, secured with a toothpick, that would be the perfect size for a bento lunch. Get creative!

Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Mini cheeseburger with cheddar cheese in pita bread, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, kiwifruit, and cherry tomatoes.

Morning prep time: 5 minutes, using a leftover mini-burger, onions and mushrooms. In the morning I briefly warmed the burger in the microwave to revive the texture, cut the kiwi, and packed the lunch. A quickie. If you don’t have entire cooked burgers already made up, break off a square of ground meat that you’ve frozen in individual portions, thaw it out, and quickly pan-fry it. (Read on for packing details and an additional burger lunch with inarizushi stuffed sushi.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Published by Biggie on January 29th, 2009 tagged bento, for kids, meat, onigiri or sushi, sandwich or wrap | 8 Comments »

Food Blog Award & newspaper cover for Lunch in a Box

Gong Hay Fat Choy and what a wild week this has been! The Well Fed Network announced the winners of the 2008 Food Blog Awards this morning, and amazingly, Lunch in a Box won the Best Theme category! To top that off, the site was also splashed across the front page of a local Japanese-American newspaper. A great way to start off the Chinese New Year. Read the rest of this entry »

Published by Biggie on January 26th, 2009 tagged admin | 35 Comments »

Last day to vote in the Food Blog Awards

[Jan. 24 Update: Polls have closed and it was looking good for Lunch in a Box when they did. Thanks to everyone who voted! Stay tuned for the official announcement of the winners by Well Fed Network on Monday, Jan. 26; I'm going to go have a drink now...]

A quick reminder that today is the last day of voting in the 2008 Food Blog Awards. It’s been an eventful ride so far: Lunch in a Box has been jockeying for first place in the Best Theme category, the most competitive, voted-in category of the whole shebang. I’ve just dropped into second place and need your help to recover; if we win it would be the first time a bento blog ever took Best Theme.

Could you lend a hand? You can help decide this race without even breaking a sweat by casting a vote for Lunch in a Box by 8:00 pm EST today (Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009) at: http://wellfed.net/2009/01/20/best-food-blog-theme-3/

Every vote counts at this point; yours could be the deciding one!

Published by Biggie on January 24th, 2009 tagged admin | 4 Comments »

Winner of Bento Blog Search logo contest

I’m pleased to announce the winner of the logo contest for the new Bento Blog Search engine. First off, I’d like to sincerely thank everyone who spent time working on their submissions. It was difficult to choose just one out of all of the excellent designs, but in the end the honor goes to Robyn Klopp of Nondairy Dreamer. Robyn’s graphics struck a chord with me, playfully capturing elements of a Laptop Lunchbox, a Mr. Bento thermal lunch jar, and a traditional bento box.

In February 2009, I’ll launch the separate Bento Blog Search engine web page and a separate widget that brings up results only from bento and packed lunch blogs, similar to the Food Blog Search and Veg Blog Search engines. Read the rest of this entry »