A New Year, a Birthday, and New Stuff at NEB

It’s nearly 10:00 p.m., Sunday, January 3, 2010, and it is taken me all day and part of the night to figure out this post. It’s not that difficult of a post to write, but sometimes, I just can’t quite get the words to jive like I want. And sometimes, it takes a quiet house, a good dinner, a wonderful day, and a bit of thought for things to gel and work out for me.

Today was my birthday, and I had a lovely day with family as I always do. And the during this whole day, Not Exactly Bento, the New Year, and this post were all in the back of my mind. As you are aware, work and a currently too busy life have kept me away from the blog, much to my dismay. I miss sitting down every day with the picture of my lunch and talking to you all about the ups and downs of my cooking adventures.

And it is those ups and downs that are greatly on my mind these days. I have had a really fun and adventurous 2009 on the cooking front. Lots of new dishes were tried. Some were great, some were not. I tried going meat lite and even almost (but not quite) vegetarian. In the course of it all, I discovered a few things about myself.

1. I like the meat lite way. It works well for me.
2. I don’t like the completely vegetarian way. It doesn’t work as well for me.
3. I think I have a good way to combine the two that will hopefully work well for me in 2010.
4. I should never allow my freezer stash to deplete itself. This leads to disaster on the bento front.
5. I must schedule time to cook large batches of food to freeze so that #4 never happens again.
6. I’ve found that while I like my cutesy bento boxes, lately I prefer grabbing a basic Snapware or Lock & Lock box for my lunch packing.
7.  Those sealed type boxes means I can pack several days of bentos at once, and even freeze some if I so desire. This works well, and the freezing part means #4 is less likely to happen again.
8. I miss my original bentos. I miss the spaghetti, and mini meatloafs, and rotisserie chicken. They were quick. They were tasty. They were easy for my still developing cooking abilities.
9. I plan to do more of #8 in 2010.
10. I hope to add in lentil cakes, vegetarian wontons, and other fun veggie stuff with #8 in order to accomplish #3.
11. I hope I can keep all these numbers straight.

I absolutely love starting a new year. It is a mark in the cycle of my life.  In my mind, it isn’t a time to start over, or start again, but to continue the path. To look at what happened in the last year and what I want to happen in the next year. I’m all about plans, and goals, and projects. All of which I enjoy sharing here on Not Exactly Bento. These are the reasons I suppose my blog is a wee bit like reading someone’s cooking diary (so I’ve been told by readers here at NEB). And since reading someone else’s diary can sometimes be fun and funny as well as frustrating and crazy, I feel the need to reward all of you for sticking with me as long as you have. Well, some of it is a reward. Some of it is just because it’s what I want to do. LOL!  After all, it is my blog, right?  (Something I continually remind myself.)

Here’s what you can expect over the course of January 2010 here at Not Exactly Bento:

Back to Bento Basics!

That’s right, I am going to get back to bento making, no matter what. I’m tired of life being so busy and my allowing myself to eat out quickly or stick with sandwiches for supper. Blech. So boring, and it just doesn’t taste good. I worked extra last week so that this week I could take two days off of work. Between the time off for the New Year’s holiday, the weekend, and Monday/Tuesday, I have 5 days all to myself to do what I want. And what I want is to get my house back in order. Ya know, I just realized, I did something very similar last year. Huh. Interesting. Anyhow, these 5 days have been spent cooking. Spaghetti and mini meatloafs are done. I’m going to make lentil cakes tomorrow. My freezer stash will be restocked and ready to rock. A trip to the grocery store to stock up on frozen corn, peas, and green beans should make my quick to pack bento pantry nearly complete. Bentos will be back baby! In all their simple, non-cutesy, NEB glory (Food art is not my forte).

A New Addition to NEB: NEB Prints

Each new year, I try to add something to the website for my readers. This year, it is a little project I’ve been trying to get off the ground for over 8 months but kept running into snags and problems. That is all over with, and I can now say the finalization of the project is well underway. Please welcome NEB Prints to my repetoire. You’ll see the link in the brown navigation bar at the top of the page. NEB Prints is a place for me to share fun stuff with my readers, all based on the photography, recipes, and goodies I share here on Not Exactly Bento. There isn’t much on the site yet, but more is being added everyday. It is what I’m doing while things are baking and simmering during my 5-day vacation. So far, there are 3 January 2010 calendars, a few recipe cards, and several wallpapers. There are lots more to come this month, and more to add during the year. In the coming days, I’m going to have a post all about NEB Prints, a few guidelines to the site, and instructions.

Coming Soon: NEB Photos

I’ve wanted for a long time to have a photo blog. One where I post a photo a day or every few days. While I do post alot of photos here on NEB, I don’t post everything I take. I don’t want to completely overtake Not Exactly Bento with too much of the not exactly. I’m well aware that there hasn’t been enough bento around here to suit my needs. Anyhow, NEB Photos will be a place for me to share photos both old and new and say a few words about what I’m sharing. I’ll link to NEB Photos here on NEB, but it will have a separate subscription. That way, if you don’t wish to receive the photos, you won’t be inundated with them. NEB Photos should be ready by the end of the month (or that’s my goal). I already have pictures waiting. And am debating if the first picture will be one of myself.

Return of the Bento Photo Contest

I had to cancel the 2nd Annual Bento Photo Contest due to computer troubles last fall. I promised to get back to it. My computer hiccups have been just about solved and I’m working on bringing back the photo contest. Another delay to the contest has been a decision I made about how I want it to run. Or I should say what I want to do for you. I am planning a series of posts to help you along your way to photographing your bento for submission. Just little tips and information here on Not Exactly Bento, but gathered into one place for your easy reference. I want this to be a fun experience for everyone that decides to enter.  I am also looking for an easier way to submit photos.  My goal is to announce the contest and have the photography posts run through the month of February with a deadline for submission sometime in early March. We’ll see if I make that deadline. Stay tuned. I’ll give out more information as the weeks come and go.

Well, that’s my Happy New Year and birthday post for 2010. I hope each of you had a wonderful holiday season and are enjoying the beginning to your New Year. I know I certainly am.

Be the bento! You’ll hear from me again quite soon.