I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
2008: My bento year in review
2008 was a year of big changes for Lunch in a Box, so I thought I’d step back a moment to look back at the highlights. I turned forty last year, so being at my own midway point may have made me more reflective than usual.
We’ll see what 2009 holds: my son’ll be starting regular kindergarten this fall, so I’m interested in seeing how a non-Japanese peer group affects his attitude towards his bento lunches. I’m looking forward to more blog changes in 2009 as well, including more bento community features and a site redesign to clean things up.
KUDOS:
2008 opened with a Food Blog Award for best Family/Kids’ blog, which was surprising but cool. It was also a big year for bento lunches in the news, with a number of back-to-school articles citing the blog, both in print and online. The most interesting for me were a photo shoot of my kitchen with Apartment Therapy, and appearances on live TV and radio.
The photo shoot was scary because it was the first time I allowed cameras into my house and my kitchen was nowhere near presentable when I agreed to it. It did prompt me to write a series of posts about the kitchen reorganization with before and after photos exposing my pre-cleaning jumble, in case anyone mistook me for Martha Stewart. 
Live TV was challenging as I hadn’t done it before, and it was a good exercise in figuring out beforehand which points I wanted to stress on camera. I also lost 25 pounds and got a makeover, lest I scare anyone watching! It’s probably time for a new profile photo…
BlogHer CONFERENCE:
In July I went to the BlogHer ‘08 conference here in San Francisco, an exhilarating learning experience. It was my first opportunity to meet so many bloggers in person, including food bloggers, mommy bloggers, and even sex bloggers! Kalyn and Elise strongly recommended getting a digital SLR camera for photos, which was the push I needed. I took the plunge in September, and have been playing with my new toy since, figuring out how to make the most of it. This is going to keep me busy for years!
Guest Posting:
In 2008 I had my first guest poster step in while our family went on vacation. Well-known bento artist Amorette stepped in with a wonderfully informative series of posts about how she creates her spectacular oekakiben creations, even throwing in a cool speed bento tip of her own. I’m grateful to Amorette for her help and expertise, her knowledge of special-occasion bento lunches complementing my focus on the 10- to 15-minute “speed bento.” Her posts are are showcased on the new Decorative Food page.
SITE CHANGES:
- TOP POSTS: The most popular post of 2008 was my speed tip for making usable portions of ground meat in freezer bags, followed by my posts on how to pack a bento lunch for the airplane and how to make an octodog (octopus-shaped hot dog). Of course, the Recipes and Top Tips pages were more popular than any individual post, but those are organized master lists of other posts.
- BENTO STORE LOCATOR (BSL): I hired a web guy to design a tool that maps out local stores that sell bento gear, using Google Maps. User-generated information and reader feedback drives the tool, complementing the list of online stores for bento gear. I’m grateful to all of you who took the time to input info on your local stores around the world; the tool is only as good as the info that goes into it, and you’ve helped make it a very useful tool!
- BENTO FAQ: After hearing that new readers felt overwhelmed by the amount of information on the website, I got my act together and wrote a detailed FAQ about bento-style lunches. I hope this serves as a solid introduction to bento and saves new visitors time.
- COMMUNITY: I put together a comprehensive listing of packed lunch blogs, lunch blog online events and contests, and am developing a Bento Blog Search engine that delivers results only from packed lunch blogs.
- GIVEAWAYS: As the blog grew, I received more offers to review lunch-packing gear. To minimize conflicts of interest, I set out a Product Reviews Policy on a new Reviews page and started giving away anything over US$40 that I review. So far, I’ve had giveaways for fancy rice cookers, a Mr. Bento lunch jar, a Laptop Lunchbox Set, and the Face Food bento book, with more to come. I don’t want the blog to turn into a constant stream of giveaways, but it’s been a handy outlet for products that I’ve wanted to check out but can’t in good conscience keep for myself.
- POLLS: I’ve started running monthly polls to learn more about your bento habits, which I’m finding interesting. Hope you do too!
I wish everyone a happy and healthy new year, and thank you all for your readership and support!
FURTHER READING:
- How to care for your bento gear
- How to make decorative banana wedges
- How to make thin egg sheets (usuyaki tamago)
- How to cut your food bills
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and reviews
January 4th, 2009 | Categories: admin | 
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January 4th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Happy New Year to you too Biggie! I love your site!
January 4th, 2009 at 5:38 am
As said, Happy New Year 2009!
January 4th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Here’s to another year of great lunches and inspiring posts!
January 4th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Happy New Year, and thanks for doing what you do, and for doing it so well!
January 4th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I’m new to your site, and I just love your lunch ideas. I pack a bento for myself in my attempts to eat healthier and watch my portions. Thanks for all your efforts!
January 4th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Hi Biggie:
Happy New Year!!! I think your son will be ok regarding his lunches in a non-Japanese environment. I started packing lunch for my 10 year old (5th grader) this year and his friends have been curious about his lunches and asking him questions. His teachers are fascinated by the presentation of his lunches and the varieties of foods (many recipes from your blog). Nothing fancy but they keep referring to his food as “gourmet” but believe it is far from it. Thanks so much for ALL your wonderful ideas!
January 4th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Happy New Year Biggie! I have really enjoyed your blog/site ever since I happened upon it. I hope your site redesign isn’t too drastic
as I think the current layout is great…sort of like a well-packed bento, lots of variety and pleasing to the eyes. Best wishes for a fantastic 2008!
January 4th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
been enjoying your posts, keep up the good work in 2009!
January 5th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Thanks for a great year biggie and I would say my favourite post over the last year was for airplane bento prep. I travel a bit and airplane food being what it is, that post was a good reference for bento
I love all your posts though and happy 2009!
January 5th, 2009 at 3:35 am
Is your last name Wikipedia? It should be… you are a wealth of knowledge. I look forward to 2009 and everything you have to write about.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:15 am
Happy new year to you as well. Bring on the lunches!
January 5th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Congrats on a great year! Keep up the great work!!
January 5th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Love the “gangsta” pics of you - rapping I’m guessing to Lunch in a Box! I crack up everytime I even think about the origin of the name of this site
Happy new year… I’m looking forward to this new year!
January 5th, 2009 at 11:09 am
@6 from julia: I hope everything will go as smoothly for Bug after he leaves Japanese immersion preschool. Right now every kid in his class brings a bento, so he doesn’t yet realize that it might be unusual in a different school. Still not sure which grade school he’ll be at, though, so we’ll see!
January 5th, 2009 at 11:13 am
@7 from Fallstar: Thanks for the kind words about the current layout, Fallstar! It’s gotten the job done, but I’d like to tweak navigation and some other functional aspects to improve things for readers.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:26 am
@13 from Yvo: Hee hee, that was fun confessing that I’d actually named the blog Lunch in a Box after the Andy Samberg/Justin Timberlake song “D*** in a Box”! Makes me giggle thinking about it too — glad you’re appreciative! For other folks reading, you can read the full story and a really clever “Lunch in a Box” song parody a reader came up with here: http://lunchinabox.net/2008/04/16/lunch-in-a-box-comes-out-of-the-closet/
January 6th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Happy New year lolla, i love your site very much
January 7th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Hey Biggie -
Your site looks awesome (as always!).
Came across this set of photos on my foodies list at work and thought I’d check to see if you had seen them. TOO COOl.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kickinthehead/
-T4H
January 7th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
@18 from T4H: Hey there L! I totally saw those cool kyaraben, even posted about them last month: http://lunchinabox.net/2008/12/07/interesting-bento-blog-by-anna-the-red/ Aren’t they trippy? WAY too much effort for me, but neat to admire nonetheless.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Hi Biggie,
I wish you a very happy new year!
January 13th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Greetings from Mexico City! Love your site, it’s totally on my faves list. I can’t wait to pack lunches for my toddler who just started school! Sad to say, the 3 japanese supermarkets here do not sell the cutesy plastic dividers. : (
But I’ll keep looking! Keep up the great work! (= ^-^ =)