楽しいなハウス

2nd try at Banana choc muffins & pandan chiffon cake

2011-03-07T11:47:00.012+08:00

I was supposed to make these together with maid yesterday but she started first while i put the 2 terrors to nap. They took 1.5hrs to eventually fall asleep and by the time i was out, she was already done with the preps and they were already baking in the oven. She also did pandan cake which sank yet again. Really dont know why chiffon is so hard to bake.

We used 10 bananas and the muffins turned out bit sticky but still alright.
Taste was good as before.

I packed and brought one of these to office this morning.

See? It still sank but the texture this time was less kueh-like. Spongier but still far from chiffon-quality! Why??
I should just drop by bengawan solo and ask them what the trick is.

This time, the little girl asked to eat the cake. I think this means it looks like a "cake" to her at least.

Ks had 1 muffin but didnt want the pandan.

New food plates!

2011-02-14T11:48:00.001+08:00

Bought these for the kids for their meals. It's rather big and space-consuming but fun for them.

Banana choc chip cupcake & an attempt at baked rice

2011-02-14T11:39:00.006+08:00

Baked the yummiest banana choc chip cupcakes yesterday. Total of 24. This recipe is for keeps. Cupcakes turned out moist, banana taste is sufficient and choc chips added flavour. The size was just great for kids, though wasnt quite enough for me. I had total of 4 just in the afternoon and Ks had 2. Nana prob didnt like the look of it, so didnt even try. Chie had 1. By the end of last night, just 11 were left.

The pink cups from Phoon Huat.

He enjoyed them a lot. Not usually a cake person but he took to these very well.

And we tried baked rice - mozarella cheese, sausage, chicken fillet, mushroom & broccoli.

This was before popping it into the oven. Was a tad bland for me and i found it very nee after a while.

Only ks liked it. Nana and chie didnt fancy it very much. Oh well, now we know.

New items from jjmamababy

2011-02-01T09:53:00.005+08:00

Bought some new cookie/bread cutters last week and the package arrived yesterday!
I couldn't resist getting the cute car foodplates for the kids.

Cutters: Doraemon, Miffy, Anpanman & Rilakkuma.
I'm not quite a fan of doraemon but the cookies made from these cutters looked really nice.
I can't wait to start making cookies with them. Which should i start with??

You can't get these stuff from any of the kitty or sanrio outlets over here. I searched high and low on google to find these finally.
I'm still looking for shinkansen and melody cutters to complete the collection.
Can't wait.

Chocolate chip cookie

2011-01-31T10:42:00.007+08:00

Decided to be adventurous and after sending the pandan to the oven, we prepared the batter to make chocolate chip cookies. My first attempt. It was pretty easy and fuss free. Didnt have to cut out the shapes or anything, so just had to drop spoonfuls onto the tray. I didnt really bother adjusting the shapes of the cookie batter or anything, they seemed to turn out alright in shapes, just that sizes not really standardised.

I got the recipe online, cant remember which website. Cos i had it printed out and filed into my recipe folder.

The first batter that went into the oven. I reduced the sugar by 30g so it wasnt too sweet.

The 2nd tray. Each tray could fill about 16 cookies. I did a total of 4 and a half trays.

Means about 70 cookies?

Recipe stated 10mins in the oven, but mine took about 20mins or so. Batter still looked wet after 10mins. Each time i peered into the oven to check on them, they just keep growing and growing in size! I must have added too much baking powder? They were like close to touching each other. The batter was like 50cents coin size when prepared..but they grew more than double.

The was the last tray. Some looked like squares, some circles. haha.

In 2hrs, me and maid finished baking pandan and cookies. I can't wait to bake a proper pandan chiffon cake again. Feel very bu gan yuan about it... Am gonna try till I can churn out one.

Pandan chiffon that didn't happen

2011-01-31T09:52:00.015+08:00

For some reason, I'm unable to cut and copy the photos and texts so the photos are bit out of sequence here. The below pic was of the cake, after leaving to cool for an hour or so. It sank, sadly.

Finally the weekend is here and I can bake the pandan i've been wanting to. Unfortunately, the pandan chiffon cake turned out to be pandan kueh! What a joke. I guess it must have been the wrong flour used. Recipe stated top flour and i used plain flour. Should have used cake flour instead. However the texture of the pandan kueh was really nice and the pandan fragrance filled the house. We blended the pandan leaves to get the juice. Was a dark green colour.

I used the recipe from Happy Home Baker again.

The batter of pandan before popping it into the oven. The colour looks bit artificial here.

After 50mins, the cake (or so i thought...) turned out a nice brown at the top.

The toothpick turned out clean after pricking it into the cake. Felt soft and moist at the top.

Pandan fragrance was filling the entire house and kitchen. Really nice.. I love pandan!

Removing the cake from the pan. I burst out laughing when i saw how thin it was and realised

my chiffon was a flop! hahaha. When cut, it was not fluffy at all, it was like springy texture, like kueh lapis.

There you have it. My first attempt at pandan and pandan kueh.

My parents and brother loved it though. The taste was truly pandan. Not sure if it was due to the leaves or the pandan paste/essence that I added.

Miffy, Mickey & Kitty cookies

2011-01-24T09:37:00.008+08:00

Finally had time to bake at parents' place over on Saturday. I bought these cookie cutters from kai kai and was delighted that they were pretty easy to use and cut out. The miffy cutters were old ones i ordered online previously. I got the recipe from happyhomebaking.blogspot.com - from her cinamoroll cookie cut out recipe. Don't know how to link it to her website so anyway her blog is the above address.

Chie who didnt nap that afternoon and she was keen to help me cut out the shapes.

This is how they looked after cutting out.

On to the pan..didnt have parchment paper so just greased the pan.

Fresh from the oven and left to cool.

Packed the cookies onto the lock&lock container. Made about total of 6 batches. Total of 80 cookies or so i think? Used van houten cocoa powder for the brown cookies and normal butter for the plain ones. Also added in some maple syrup cos I like the smell of it.

Gave some to niece yesterday and also brought some to 4 colleagues this morning. Didn't quite have enough so next time will definitely bake more. The kids love them too, cos been asking to eat every now and then. More popular than the cupcakes or muffins. Guess cos it's easy to eat and great for tiny fingers.

Thoughts.

2011-01-05T11:30:00.002+08:00

Looking through my past bento posts. I can't believe i made them.
Kinda glad i diligently took pics of them cos at least have some keepsake now.
I still remember how stressful it was cutting the tiny bits of nori and parts for the faces.
Then when i see the pics of kids happily eating what i made, i have a sudden urge to pick it up again.

But lazy.

And also, am no longer staying on our own now so it's not my kitchen anymore where i can make anything i want anytime or peer into the fridge freely. But hey, i may still be able to do something during weekends at parents' place!

Ok.. will be sitting on this thought for now.

New Year 2011 cupcakes

2011-01-05T11:05:00.008+08:00

And so, another year is going...as we welcome 2011. Supposed to be a good year for dragons so let's just hope it is really that way. The past 2.5yrs has been really shitty for me, filled with much uncertainty & resentment. We'll see if this new year brings forth more happiness & good health for me & everyone at home. I never was or liked being a sad person so give me some light! As i age, i realise how important health is. Without it, no amount of wealth or anything else in this world matters cos you're not even in the physical good state to enjoy and bask in it.

So, abundance of good health to everybody! Happy new year!

おせち料理 (Osechi) that we had on 1 Jan. This time, my dad didnt over-buy like last year. Can't stomach too much of these sweet stuff u know. The sashimi & sushi were refreshing sides and complimented the osechi very well.

Close-up of the warm molten choc cupcake. The inside is supposed to be slightly sticky and soft.

Uncooked cupcake batter before popping it into the oven.

First batch. Cracked at the top after i left it in there for 5 more mins cos it wasnt "crowning" very nicely.

Total cupcakes baked: 23

Only made a couple with green frosting (which failed miserably cos didnt know had to use buttercream/butter to stiffen the icing+water mixture) The green just kaput flat onto the cupcake.

Overall taste: i found it bit too sweet for my liking. Super rich cos of the choc melting inside too. After just having 1, you literally can feel your waistline expanding by 2 inches. They didnt "sell" so well too..i think cookies, though they require more time & effort, are easier to eat, cos they are small bites, great for kids' tea time snacks, goes well with coffee/tea and not too filling. And you can have like a few at one time without feeling irky.

So.
I'm sticking with cookies. Thinking of trying out the hello kitty and pooh cutters next.

X'mas 2010 cookies

2011-01-05T10:56:00.005+08:00

Suddenly felt like baking some cookies after seeing some gingerbread man cookies on some blogs. So i rummaged thru my cobweb covered box of bento tools and selected a random few.
Ok not exactly a few, quite a lot.

Kids helping to cut the shapes out (at the beginning) and then i shooed them away cos they were just making too big a mess & starting to fight (as always)

Done cookies. Bit too thick my dad said. The dough wasnt very easy to cut as they seem to soften very quickly once removed from the fridge.

Made total of about 8 batches of cookies, that took 4hrs (with a dinner break in between). The shapes get better as we make cos there's a way to press down the cutter onto the dough and lifting it up gently so as not to break it. The cookies were a hit. Both at home with parents, kids, maid and also i brought a box with me to the X'mas party at lyne's and they loved it too. Was great with freshly brewed nespresso coffee.

My daily breakfasts

2010-11-02T09:17:00.004+08:00

Cant believe it's been close to a year since my last post.
Not that I've picked up bento-ing again, but since I've started using my bento boxes for breakfast nowadays, thought I'd post some pics.
The kids have, however, been asking for bento, onigiri with seaweed, when they saw the bento boxes. Am in the midst of moving back with inlaws at the moment, so everything is kind of in a big mess. Not exactly convenient too to make bentos there, so maybe when I'm at my parents place, I may make for the kids.
Recently, I've been thinking about baking too, just that I've got neither baking tools nor any idea how to begin. Have compiled some recipes though.

My breakfast yesterday made by mil. Ham, egg & cucumber sandwich with Shinkansen.

What I had this morning.
From some famous charsiew bread shop & eggtarts for mid-morning snack. With pikachu.
Yup, just the charsiew bread isnt quite enough to sustain me through till lunch.

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T13:50:00.002+08:00

I've stopped making bentos for the past month or so, due to illness.
So fast..it's a month now since the last bento.
Actually wanted to make a birthday one for Rn and also Xmas ones for the kids but didnt get down to it eventually.
Maybe next year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010!

Wishing for 2010 to be a happier & healthier year for myself and my loved ones.
2009 was a bad one for me.

Bento #50 Robotic Trio

2009-11-16T13:03:00.005+08:00

Finally I hit my 50 bento target! Too long... especially since i have not been making much the past 2 months. I do enjoy making them, just that sometimes really need to have the mood and idea as to wat to make. Another problem is that I find it taxing that when I'm preparing the ingredients and cutting or watever, the kids would be "disturbing" at the side and it gets disruptive for me. Like having to run to the toilet for Ks or clean up watever Rn spat out or spilled on the sofa. In fact, i get quite annoyed.

Anyway i made these 3 bentos for Sat's dinner at inlaws. Since we were making fried rice so decided to make something.

Rn's bento

Ws's bento

Ks's bento

So here they are. I call them the robotic trio cos of the way their arms are placed & the squarish faces...look like robots?

Bento #49 Ugly piggy

2009-11-12T14:11:00.005+08:00

Made these simple buns for breakfast on 11 Nov. Had no idea wat to make so since i bought some butter buns, I just decor the bun with ham & cheese to make 2 ugly pigs!

Also made 2 ham filling buns for papa to take away to office for his breakfast.

Bento #48 Kitty again & bunny

2009-11-05T11:03:00.007+08:00

Made something for little ws & the kids on Sunday 1 Nov.
(upon her request)
Decided to do spaghetti since it was easier to eat.
Was quite a rush as we were out at Gymboree class at Vivo before that and only got home like 4.30pm. No preps made so couldnt come up with anything fanciful.
Had to use cheese since it was easiest.

Ks's bento

Ws's bento. I wanted to use Elmo for her but she chose Stitch for herself.

Made kitty for her this time.

Nana's bento.

Hmm...photos turn out bit dark and yellowish...

Bento #47 Bunny, Bear, Flower sandwich

2009-10-28T15:52:00.002+08:00

Something simple for breakfast for Nana.

Elmo lunchbox!

2009-10-21T16:15:00.002+08:00

New addition to my bursting cabinet of character lunchboxes!
I think it's time I stop...

Oh but wait...i just ordered another from kaikai.
Cinnamoroll.
Then I think I've kinda completed the collection.

Ouch...the damage.

Bento #46 Triangle Twinsおむすび

2009-10-21T16:14:00.004+08:00

Made this for their lunch.
Triangle twins onigiri with fish fillets & fish/crabmeat siewmai.
They finished everything!

Ks has twins but smaller ones.

Nana has 1 bigger one...and see her new Elmo lunchbox?

It's pretty big.

And of cos, she didnt eat the grapes...I did!

It was just to fill up space and also decoration...

Bento #45 Simple Mickey sandwich

2009-10-21T16:13:00.004+08:00

Been a week since last I made something.
Wanted to try out the new bread sandwich cutter I got some time ago.
Mickey...but where're his ears?!
oops...no space to press them in.

Nana's breakfast : egg mayo filling..she didnt really like the centre bits cos too much mayo i think.

Bento #44 Butterfly flying high

2009-10-14T12:56:00.004+08:00

Rn had this for her breakfast this morning. She didnt know what it was though...
I had wanted to add in some flowers at the side but ran out of smoked cheese.

Bento #43 Anpanman & Kitty again

2009-10-07T13:25:00.006+08:00

Actually I made Panda bear for Rn's breakfast this morning but by the time I woke up, she already devoured it so didnt have time for pics. But they dont look quite like pandas anyway so..

I dont know why this pic turns out this way when I upload it...
Here are their lunch bentos for today: Anpanman & kitty again.
Fried udon by my dad and beef patty that we made the other day which i froze.

Nana's bento

Ks's bento

Bento #42 Miffy

2009-10-06T15:05:00.003+08:00

Mil brought porridge for breakfast this morning so Rn had these Miffy rabbits for her morning snack while out for her daily morning stroll at the clubhouse. Just simple jam-filled sandwiches.
She gobbled down the crabmeat and cheese first and then the 'bare' rabbits.
I've always liked Miffy but unfortunately its hard to get Miffy stuff here. Only in Japan or maybe Ebay or something.

Her features are so simple, just 2 small eyes and a cross for her mouth.

But she's so cute, dont you think?

New tools from Bento Market

2009-09-27T19:55:00.003+08:00

I ordered this some time ago from Bento Market, for the Shinkansen lunchbox.

Finally arrived on 2 weeks ago on Thursday.

Shinkansen lunchbox, alphabet picks, leaf picks and Miffy cutters.

Realised that it's been a week since my last bento made.

Been tired and also having early nights with Ks (so that I can watch my fav Korean dvd) so havent been making anything.

Also need to get more ideas to use different ingredients for the side dishes.

Have yet to try out the Panda breadmaker and miffy cutters.

Will see if I can come up with something on Wed...

Banto #41 Bunny beehoon

2009-09-27T19:48:00.004+08:00

We stayed home today so since maid was frying some beehoon for lunch, I decided to do something simple as I was quite tired.

Bunny on beehoon with fish nuggets.
Their cheeks were a touch of ketchup each.

Ks finished most of it.

Rn who had been very fussy lately with meals, hardly touched it. Only ate up one nugget and 1/4 of the beehoon.

Bento #40 Batman for 4th Birthday & one for papa

2009-09-27T19:39:00.008+08:00

24 Sept: Ks went for his school excursion to the veg farm with papa.
I made Batman bento and another simple bento for papa to bring along.
This was his first excursion with papa.

With Shoya, his best friend in class.

Batman bento with Hapy Bday words. (not spelling error ah...no space to fit in!)

Papa's bento

Bento #39 Boy & girl

2009-09-27T19:09:00.004+08:00

I've slowed down in making bentos cos not in much of a mood lately.
Also didnt want to feed the kids too much processed food.
Here are some bentos I made few days back.

21 Sept 09:

Bento #38 Little lions

2009-09-16T14:28:00.002+08:00

Ks wasnt around this morning so I made some lions with carrot chicken ham filling in wholemeal bread for Rn.

She finished almost everything!

Bento #37 New tools & Currypanman

2009-09-16T14:16:00.006+08:00

Finally my order from jstuff of ebay arrived on Saturday. I got some moulds and quail egg moulds, bread mould & barans.

13 Sept 09 Sunday

Since we had no plans in the morning, I decided to make something more proper for the kids' lunch.
Didnt have any ideas so since i bought some jap brown fishcake, I tried Currypanman (another character in Anpanman series. Again...)
I fried some ketchup rice together with silverfish, boiled broccoli, carrots. I realised that Currypanman kind of blended in with the ketchup rice colour so he didnt stand out that much.
Maybe I should have made some plain whitish fried rice instead.

Ks's bento

Rn's bento

He loved the rice and fed himself happily. (i really hope he will always stay a happy boy, not grouchy so mama wont be so tired and stressed all the time!)

He didnt finish all the rice..only had slightly more than half of it.

It's always easier to capture him eating and though i'd love to take more pics of the little princess eating, it's difficult cos she's usually very restless walking up and down so the photos turn out blurry.

Bento #36 Bear & bunny

2009-09-16T14:13:00.003+08:00

13 Sept 09

Last week was a really bad week for me. Breathlessness, heart racing like mad, anxiety.
Wasnt quite in the mood or state to make anything fancy.

Another simple bear & bunny jam sandwich.

Bento #35 Cars

2009-09-16T14:10:00.002+08:00

11 Sept 09

Ks and his car breakfast.

Bento #34 Froggie

2009-09-14T13:06:00.003+08:00

9 Sept 09

A simple froggie breakfast for the kids.

Bento #33 Mickey & Minnie mouse for the 2nd time

2009-09-07T14:09:00.005+08:00

My 1st bento customer - niece!
Bil & family came over for dinner on Sun and I wanted to make something nice for little Ws since it's my first time making for her & for someone other than the kids! *nervous nervous*
So i thought Minnie Mouse would be good since she likes that character. (the mum too)

After reaching home at about 2pm from parents place, since Rn was asleep, i put the big one on TV and got to work. Used egg white & egg yolks for the face base. Maid fried the yee mee noodles so it wasnt that much work. She did a great job cutting out the seaweed face parts too. Initially wanted to use cheese for the base but since was gonna heat up the face before eating, the cheese would melt so cant have that.

3 bentos for the kids

Love the minnie mouse's face. Probably its the pink...

Ws's bento. She has some stewed black mushrooms & quail eggs for her sides since she likes them. Finished the ingredients, ate about 3/4 of the noodles?

Rn's bento. Just as we were saying how "reluctant" it is to eat up minnie's face, Rn promptly picked up the pink ribbon and stuffed into her mouth.

Ks's bento. I didnt like this, cos of the wallow look on mickey, unbalanced eye size and the eggsheet also curled up due to too much flour while frying it.

Ks again, made a fuss and had a hard time finishing it, despite being his favorite type of carbo.

Guess he was also feeling uncomfortable with the cough, phelgm and blocked nose.

Bento #32 Square bear sandwich

2009-09-07T14:01:00.006+08:00

Since it was sat and fridge was almost empty, thought just make a simple lunch for the kids.
Filling was pork floss. They ate this after we reached SG... Ks made a fuss as always, cos he wanted his mian mian. After much coaxing from my mum (I gave up on him), he managed to finish it.

I still dunno why sometimes the pic turns out like that after uploading...
It's straight when i view the actual pic.

Gingerbread man just for fun. Jam inside

Bento #31 Little boy & little girl

2009-09-04T13:14:00.005+08:00

This week's been pretty hectic. Didnt have time to fix any proper lunch bentos for them. Took a break for morning so while out sending Ks to school, instructed maid wat to prepare: cook rice, panfry salmon and shred it, steam spinach, fry scrambled egg, toast salmon fishcakes & ebi fry.
Everything was mostly ready by time it was 10am so I started.
Wasnt as smooth cos it was first time trying out with a face shape with surrounding salmon flakes. Salmon bits were falling into the rice and I think it's due to the small bento box. No space! Managed to press and push to tighten the rice. Oh the spinach was chopped finely and i squeezed them in between the rice and salmon/egg, so they cant be seen. So at least they get their dose of greens. When i finished, called dad to come over to see and he said the face didnt stand out cos the salmon/egg were too much and also higher than the rice face.
Below was after "amendment". I added in more rice to the faces so it protrudes out more.

Ks's bento. His is simpler and I dont like it so much cos i thought could've done something more with his hair. Looks kinda pathetic huh..

Rn's bento. If u see carefully, the forehead and eye areas are like sunken, cos I didnt add in more rice on that part. Didnt want to touch the eyes/lashes cos they were so stubborn and took some time to stay in place! *sweat* So i only added in the lower portion, thats why it looks somewhat weird huh? LOL! No time no time...had to rush to get myself ready for work!

I'm still wondering wat i can use for the side dishes cos it's always fried stuff. I wanted to make meatballs but think they'll be spat out, unless they taste like ikea's swedish meat balls! But cant have anything too wet in the bento either.

Bento #30 Ladybirds...with much unhappiness

2009-09-03T12:53:00.005+08:00

I prepared this the night before since had to send Ks to school early this morning. Only had to reheat the croissants.

After finishing the preparations last night and preparing for bedtime with Ks, he went into his (countless) temperaments when i switched off the tv. I've had it with him there and then. Flew into a mad rage and decided had enough of his shouting & rude behaviour.
Finally caned him with the feather duster.
Maybe its due to stress from various factors, my tolerance level was very low and I could no longer hold back. Think it was more than 5 times on the butt area. Dont know, dont care.

Left maid to clean him up.
This morning, maid asked for hirudoid & i saw 3 red angry whip marks on his buttocks.
But u know wat, nothing changed. Still gave me a bloody hard time in the morning.
How do i go about discplining? I really dont know anymore. And am just too tired.
If there is terrible twos, is this fearless fours for me??
help.

I think it was bit too dry and I only knew after i tried their leftovers. So they didnt quite like it. Finished about 3/4 of 1 croissant only but ate up the bits of eyes, crabmeats and eggs.

Bento #29 Panda, kitty & froggie

2009-09-02T13:57:00.012+08:00

What a start to the 1st day of September.
It reminds me of how fragile life can be and how accidents take place totally unexpectedly.
Till now, I'm quite traumatised by the incident.
It's especially so when 1 min the person is perfectly well yet the next second she isn't.
Yesterday morning at 9am, mil had a bad fall just downstairs, 2 mins after leaving home with Ks.
She was so looking forward to spending a day out with Ks alone, bringing him to the polyclinic by bus, with plans to take a double decker bus with him, since school was closed.
Yet instead of that, she had to be whisked off in an ambulance and spent the next few hours in the hospital. She was in a bit of a shock and so am I. I've never sat in an ambulance before, i dread hearing the siren now. really.
Sometimes because of her amazing stamina, I forget that she is already an elderly so in a way, I should've insisted on letting the maid go along to at least help out with carrying stuff etc.
Am thankful that she is on the road to recovery and Ks is fine too.
Also hope that the next few months of 2009 will be peaceful and 'healthy'. I've kind of had it with all the falling sick and unfortunate incidents.

I dont know why I'm so affected but to distract myself..i made something though wasnt quite in the mood. I got the idea from shoppingmum.

Sorry pics are not in order..here are of the kids eating.

Panda & Kitty

I know there are no white froggies..but I have yet to find green pao..

Ks didnt want to eat it though...so I downed it.

Guess he didnt quite like the huge eyes. ha ha..

Rn's bento. She ate abt more than half of it.

Ks's bento.
Hmm...i think the pao was a bit oversteamed so the skin was flaking...

I didnt expect the pork floss/jam rolls to turn out so small (3 pcs of bread u know)

thats why i added in the pao.

Bento #28 3 little pigs

2009-08-31T14:36:00.004+08:00

Prepared this the night before. Wanted to do froggie but the grouchy fella didnt want it. So i just made something simple. Only required the cutting of ham and seaweed.

In Ks's bento, the last piggy had an unhappy face. Cos he was so grouchy at home! LOL
He only had 2 pigs..guess he's really not feeling too well.

2 little pigs for Rn since she could eat that much. And she finished all of it.

I didnt have time to make anything for their lunch today and also cos was kinda out of ideas. So they just had some fried noodles cooked by dad.

Bento #27 Shokupanman

2009-08-31T14:18:00.007+08:00

Finally after more than 10 days, my 2 new bento boxes arrived on friday. Now these 2 were extremely hard to get, even online cos they were always OOS. Showed Rn the minnie one and she knew it was 'mimi mouse'. I also got hold of the 2 bento mags from kino. The right one was ordered in from japan cos kino didnt have it so I placed an order. It's the No. 1 bento blogbook!

So, anyway, I couldnt wait to use the new boxes. And being Sat since i was stuck at home (Ks was down with high fever), I spent about 1.5hrs fixing their lunch. Most of the time was spent on the faces and seaweed again. I also tried out quail eggs with them, which were totally unpopular with them. How can they not like quail eggs?? so yummy..dont know how to enjoy, hmmph.
The problem with having bentos for the kids is that they dont get to have their dose of green. So this time, I made sure they got it by chopping broccoli finely and mixing in together with the pork mince patty. I think i went kinda overboard with the seasoning of patty: soyasauce, mirin, miso, ikan bilis powder, dashi powder, that it turned out a wee bit salty. But its fine to go with plain rice i guess.

This is Rn's bento. Sadly, she didnt finish much of it, either not hungry or just didnt like it. She left almost half of it. Recently, she's been really restless at mealtimes. Hard to feed and also hard to put her to sleep too. She can't seem to keep her butt onto the seat and likes to wander around fiddling with toys or just taking a stroll to the master room etc. I sure hope it's another one of those unpleasant phases that all kids go thru!

Ks's bento. He ate up almost everything and I'm surprised as I thot he would have a hard time swallowing, maybe a lil dry for him since he was also coughing. Added in his fav mayo too.

Oh, forgot to mention that shokupanman is another one of the many characters in Anpanman series. 食パンマン actually means toast bread man. See the lil figurine at the top of the bento? He looks like a toast, right?

Hmm...now that I think about it, I've tried Anpanman, Baikinman, Horaman & now Shokupanman. The next quite popular one is Currypanman...his mouth is a killer though..all twirly. Next time maybe.

Bento #26 My daughter reina

2009-08-28T13:14:00.004+08:00

Ks stayed over with ils since he had school the next morning again so I only fixed breakfast for Rn. Did this last night since there was no one...in fact i was not quite used to the silence in the house after Rn went to bed and Ks was not around. Did a simple face for Rn with chocolate bread and crispy pork floss filling. Does the hairstyle look like her?

Again, seaweed eyes were sooo stubborn and simply refused to be stuck onto the bread properly. When I placed the lashes (thank gdness only 2 for each eye!), they shifted the eye bits. So for a few mins there, I was fiddling with the eyes/lashes countless times cos each part would move the other!

I used 2 slices of choc bread and it was thicker than the usual white bread. This morning, maid just cut the bread into half and Rn had one half while i had the other.

Of course she ate her own face too. :)

I didnt make any lunch bento today cos of a lunch appt with a friend so had to leave home early. It's sat tomorrow and since we shld b staying home in the morning, i probably can fix something for lunch...

Bento #25 Mickey & Minnie

2009-08-26T17:28:00.007+08:00

Had no idea what to make for lunch so decided to try out Mickey & Minnie mouse.
Rice filling was nori paste and I think i put in too much so poor mickey had a black left eye.
Did some ebi fry and tofu fishcake for the sides. No vegetables again. It's hard to pack in broccoli and greens for them since they dont even like to eat them, unless they're chopped fine and hardly visible. So I cant use those for bento. Guess its ok huh..just a meal a day without greens.

Minnie's eyelashes almost killed me..they were punched but the challenge was on placing them delicately on the top of the eyes. Kept shifting and dropping till I was at my wits end!

Bento #24 Bear & bunny chocolate sandwich

2009-08-26T16:55:00.005+08:00

This was today's breakfast. Of course I cut the bread and bear & bunny facial parts the night before. Also tried to use up the stripe cheese which i made previously for the nose area. And the pawprints which almost killed me and left me sweating buckets. Tricky becos once they get stuck on the cheese & if they were in the wrong place and u try to remove it, it leaves a mark on the cheese. Then the cheese wont look as flawless as it is anymore. so.. *sweat sweat*

Also did penguin weiners (turned out wee bit soft cos of over-boiling) and tamagoyaki (eggroll)
The chocolate bread had blackberry filling but actually it already tastes quite nice without the jam cos it's sweet enough.

Poor teddy looks oily here cos of the camera's lighting. He's actually quite matte-looking!

The bunny before I store her away in the fridge.

And the response from the kids?

Ks said his was a pig while Rn said hers was a cow. *kua kua..*

Ok watever you make of it...

They cleaned up everything. :)

Bento #23 Yam teddy bao

2009-08-26T16:52:00.003+08:00

I wasnt supposed to make anything on Tuesdays but I did this for breakfast yesterday. Figured Rn might not like to eat lor mai kai that mil brought since she preferred sweet stuff.
Didnt really take me too long except for pinning the ears on.
This is the 2nd time I bought this yam bao. It's really yummy and fluffy when steamed.

Bento #22 Up up & away & Home sweet home

2009-08-24T14:41:00.004+08:00

Not quite in the mood today, for some reason. Totally had no idea what to make. Didnt have any reference book too, so today's bento turned out pretty odd-looking.

Ks's airplane or space shuttle bento. Dad brought yaki-udon for them so just nice.
(am sure the carrots will be untouched cos they were so prominent)

From a train to a yacht to a house. I just kept cutting and cutting the bits till I dont know what this is anymore. LOL. The egg part is supposed to be a door btw...

I need to get more reference books from Kino soon. Charaben and normal bento ones.

Oh yes, forgot to update that last friday's pig/doggie bento were walloped clean by them! Ks ate up the extra bento which parents brought for him too. Hmm..i'm beginning to wonder if the school actually feeds him properly. tsk tsk...

Bento #21 Smiley Pikachu & Teary Pikachu

2009-08-24T14:40:00.005+08:00

This was what we had for Sat's breakfast. Bit miserable-looking. Woke up late so didnt quite have time to make anything fancy and being Sat, bugger was super cranky as he always is on weekends. Pancakes were not as tasty cos I had to get some local brand pancake mix instead of Jap Meiji ones. So they were rather dry for me. Raw flour taste too.

Sunday night's dinner for Ks. Didnt know wat to cook so just made some mixed rice in the rice cooker: broccoli, cabbage, chinese sausage, sliced pork, pumpkin, onion & mushroom. Unfortunately, turned out bit too mushy and gooey cos of the water from the veg I think. Perfect for the kids but not for me lah.

This was Ks's plate. His pikachu looked happier (but he woke up cranky from nap on the contrary...)

This was Rn's plate and I realised cos of the lips, pikachu didnt look too happy there, eyes seem to be teary, dont you think? She got up all clingy and whiney, so it suited her. haha.

They loved it and finished everything (except the green bits of course)

Bento #20 Lil doggie & Piggy fried rice

2009-08-21T13:12:00.004+08:00

I usually make bentos on Mon, Wed & Fri cos those are the days that parents come over to take care of the kids. Tues & Thurs is mil's turn so I dont make anything since she would normally pop in with breakfast for us and a sumptious dinner. In a way, its good so I can take a break off the 2 days.

Rn started rummaging thru the toy basket for a brown doggie toy (the kind that barks incessantly and drives you crazy when you switch it on). So I got the idea to make this for her.

I hope she can tell its a doggie.
It's made of japanese fishcake and the jap silverfish fried rice below was prepared by dad.

Qn: Does this one look like a pig or cow?? Good thing parents thought it was a buta. So I didnt fail lah. Eyes were cut freehand so they look somewhat distorted/cock-eyed. ha ha...

This is for the kids lunch/after school tea bento.I threw in egg rolls since they had no sides today.

I'm absolutely pooped after this...good thing weekend is here so I can take some time off bento!

Bento #19 Mr & Mrs Gingerbread Man on a car ride

2009-08-21T12:52:00.013+08:00

Since we had some leftover chicken karaage from dinner last night, I prepared a sandwich for papa to bring to work in the morning.
This was his brekkie today.

Here is Ks eating the car breakfast I prepared this morning. He finished every bit of it!
Called the flower ham "octopus feelers".

Cos he was moving, picture was blurry...

And finally took a shot of the lil girl having her bento.

She quite liked the jam heart sandwich too surprisingly.

Left about a quarter of the bento.

Cos of time constraint, I made the parts for the car bread last night and stored them in the fridge. Showed them to papa and asked him to guess wat they were. He said Crocs? *faint*

This idea was taken from shoppingmum and the bread was cut from hotdog buns.

I used spaghetti strips to pin the fish sausage wheels to the bread. 1st time using strips and it was pretty easy to do. Of course, I used my new carla punchers so it saved me the hassle of cutting the smiley mouths.

Rn's car had her R initial on the car. Can you see that Mrs Gingerbread Man has longer hair?

Ks's bento has his K on the car and I had to quickly snap this photo before gingerbread man's sad-looking hair falls off for the umpteenth time! grrr...

Without drivers... Mr & Mrs Gingerbread Man were still being fried in the pan when I took this.

And this was the kids breakfast bento for today.

It's worth waking at 6am for this since they liked it!

Bento #17 Ham rolls & Bento #18 Horaman omusubi

2009-08-19T13:16:00.010+08:00

Used ham instead of the usual jam this time. Colour turned out nice but kids didnt really like ham. Only had abt 2 rolls each.So I cleaned up after them, as usual...
As you can see, I couldnt wait but use the new baran & placemats from Daiso.

Lunch bento:

My 1st attempt (and last too!) at Horaman. Horaman is a skeleton man, one of the many characters in Anpanman series. I think he's the scariest looking one cos the rest are all cute-faced characters. I made him today cos for some strange reason, Nana loves him! She keeps looking for him and holding him in her palm. You think Horaman is cute? Ks knows him as well, so I made 2 Horaman (with grateful help from maid). I spent the most time on this bento so far..almost 2 freakin hours this morning! You know wat killed me...the freehand nori cutting of course! Making the onigiri riceball is also rather challenging cos I had to squeeze it really tight in the palm, and even then you can see that it's almost falling apart. Looks like even aussie rice cant work as well as Jap sticky rice.

This is Ks's bento.

I used nori paste as the onigiri filling inside, so you can see that the rice is not totally white but a lil blackish. As for the other smiley face with crabmeat head, it's not any character, just a sweet faced onigiri.

This is Nana's bento. I sure hope she recognises Horaman or else all the effort is wasted!

So there you are.

Probably the 1st and last time I'm making Horaman.

New bento tools again!

2009-08-19T13:09:00.002+08:00

My Carla Craft nori punchers have finally arrived. Thanks Arlene.
Now I can perhaps save some time struggling with cutting out nori freehand.

Another speedy dash to Daiso yesterday.
Here's the damage...

Miffy was a hit!

2009-08-18T16:49:00.003+08:00

Got home yesterday and parents told me that Ks walloped everything in his bento and wasnt enough for him! I think I didnt pack in the fried rice tighter to fit more. He was at Jap club and so shared a bowl of udon with his sis, who also finished everything in her bento during her lunchtime. Well well wat a surprise...I'm really glad they liked it.

Bento #16 Yellow Miffy

2009-08-17T14:04:00.004+08:00

Suddenly decided to do a simple character this morning...but when I finished, realised it wasnt that easy after all. Still took me abt 45 mins with the moulding and cutting of miffy's eyes and face.

Nana's bento with 2 nuggets.

Ken's bento with more nuggets. Miffy is bit girlish for him but oh well.

At the end, I realised Miffy's face is bit too big for her ears. Almost didnt have enough space to place the ears. Seaweed eyes and nose cut freehand so were kind of tricky. Stuck to fingers easily too. Anyway..hope the kids like them. Wont know till I get home later today...

Bento #15 Jam rolls for saturday tea

2009-08-17T13:49:00.005+08:00

Finally got the bento tools organised.

2nd attempt at jam rolls. This time with pandan bread, for colour variation.
Strawberry & blackberry jam.

Ks had 2 rolls in the car while Rn who disliked jam (no idea why) finished a stick of the plain star ones.

Bento #14 Winnie the pooh & green airplanes for brekkie

2009-08-14T13:16:00.013+08:00

Hmm..wat's for breakfast today?

Mmm...poohbear's eyebrow & mouth are tasty!

Aaargh...I'm coming to get you!

Yumyumyum....

(And Nana watches in horror at the sight of her barbaric brother)

Actually the sequence of the photos are wrong. If you notice that I put the eaten eyebrow parts first. But from his facial expressions, they're quite apt, aren't they? *wink*

Anyway...Ken has smoked cheese poohbear with porkfloss filling (again, since they loved them the 1st time) and also green airplanes with dolphin cheese with strawberry jam filling. I used pandan bread for some colour variation. Squeezed in quite a bit of mayo too cos he loves mayo so much. He ate about 3/4 of it while I finished up the last bit just to see how it tasted like. I must say, mayo, pork floss and smoked cheese go pretty well together! Rather rich in taste & slightly sticky too.

Nana has normal cheese and I realise the smoked one somehow looked more like poohbear eh? Also made mini stars and cheese for her. She's been really fussy and restless at mealtimes lately. Getting her to sit down properly is really hard. She's always running around all over the place after just 1 mouthful or sometimes refusing to open her mouth too.

Nonetheless, after much chasing around and a good 30mins or so, (goodness why is eating so difficult, you wonder), she more or less cleaned out more than half of the bento.

So well, I'm quite happy about that.

Preps and cutting etc were done the night before, maid helped me yet again with the seaweed eyes, brows & nose. It's been really warm & humid lately and by the time we were done, we were drenched in sweat. Kids' hair were completely wet too, as if they just showered!

Actually, now that I'm taking a closer look at the pooh's faces...their mouths are like grossly big, no? Look rather like a clown's to me!!

Bento #13 Smiley spaghetti with siewmai

2009-08-12T14:35:00.006+08:00

The bentos didnt have a theme today. I used the new pooh/piglet moulds but of course you cant tell eh? I made them into smiley faces instead with kamaboko. Flower carrots (frozen from the last time), on the siewmai, pressed out a few round striped cheese. Good thing dad brought the spaghetti for me, otherwise I would've been late for work. Again.

Nana has ribbon carrots.

Ken has flower carrots. (doubt he will touch them though...)

Bento #12 Pork floss circle sandwich with striped stars

2009-08-12T14:26:00.011+08:00

I was tired out last night so didnt do anything. So I decided to set the alarm at 7am deliberately so I could prepare breakfast (in peace) while kids were still asleep. How wrong I was... Rn woke just 5 mins after I started, while Ks started his usual morning wailing immediately after.
(I totally can't stand his loud wailing the min he opens his eyes in the morning! When will this ever end, I wonder? Is it that difficult to like give his mum a cheery morning greeting?) I didnt attend to his wails (bad mummy) and continued on the preps.

I had to do a couple of things: prepare & cut the cheese & pile them to make striped cheese.
This time, I used chesdale cheese. And the results are better than my 1st attempt. Cheese stuck rather well together and was easy to cut, although the cheese still tend to get stuck in the mould.

I used up 4 plain cheese & 4 smoked cheese to make about 4 'lapis'.

I used pork floss for the sandwich filling and it was the kids' 1st try. Rn loved it! She finished up the 4 circle sandwiches quite fast and also asked for more cheese & chicken sausage.

Ks's sandwiches were slightly larger than Rn's. He ate 3 and left 1 untouched.

Rn's lovely melody lunchbox... Hee.

I only did 1 melody shaped cheese as it was super tricky trying to get it out of the mould. Almost destroyed but I managed to salvage it and pressed it firmly back.

I do enjoy making bento a lot but if only it's less rushed and more time for me, I would be able to enjoy it more. But guess it's hard, cos when kids are awake, they will be fussing and asking for things that will disrupt me. By the time they are in bed, I would be tired by then too.

Oh well, I'll just have to learn to multi-task I guess... like last night, I was half testing out the circle sandwiches, juggling Rn standing & dancing on the chair on my right, and yelling out in response to the big one who was pooping in the toilet.

New tools from Kaikai

2009-08-12T14:23:00.004+08:00

Thanks to the new lobang by the girls I met at Daiso last week, I dropped by Kaikai at chinatown point to check out the stuff. They didnt really have a huge variety of bento tools or lunch boxes (they had tomica, kitty & melody) and also some mickey & pooh moulds.
I placed an order for elmo & cinnamoroll lunch boxes, shinkansen lunchbag & mickey seaweed moulds.

This is my damage for the day:
MY My Melody bento box at last! I've been looking at it for too long online and it was just too expensive on Ebay cos of shipping etc. It's mine now...MINE!!

Those little hands belong to Rn. She just couldnt wait to mess up everything while I was trying so hard to take a snap!! Grrr...

Sumptious sushi spread for my birthday!

2009-08-12T14:15:00.007+08:00

Time flies. Much as I dread it, I turned 33 on Sat 8th Aug.

A day before, inlaws gave me an unexpected & pleasant surprise as they turned up at the door with much yummy food: nuo mi fan, fried noodles, herbal chicken, cereal prawns. Mil had already told maid not to cook anything the day before & I didnt know anything about it! Am really quite touched by their gesture.

The surprise mini cakes Mil got for me. Ks held the doraemon one while the Melody one was balancing dangerously (and got a bit smashed too) on both of Rn's little palms. Sang the birthday song to me too. Mil also did a handmade birthday card with Ks which he did some colouring and writing. How sweet...

Dinner on 8 Aug at parents place:
Mum made sushi, inari zushi, miso soup, karaage chicken. Dad & I did a quick stop at Meidiya to pick up 3 sashimi platters to 加料.

Ks's 1st try at sushi & inari zushi (sweetened beancurd skin with stuffed vinegar rice)

and he loved it! He whacked about 4 sushi & 1 inari.

Bento #11 A pinky Anpanman

2009-08-07T23:08:00.009+08:00

This is actually my 2nd time at Anpanman. The 1st done 1 mth back is too ugly to be posted cos its just bread and ham & cheese. Photograph turned out badly blurred too. This took me an hr still ( i had hoped that I could cut down on time since I only had to prepare Anpanman's face). Fried noodles & sausages by my dad was at the bottom, star-shaped carrots prepared and stored in freezer last night & leftover chicken katsu fillets stored in freezer. Anpanman was made of egg, seaweed eyes & brows (maid did a great job cutting them out for me), ham cheeks, kamaboko nose & mouth. What 'dya think? I was quite pleased with myself actually, hee..cos it does resemble Anpanman, doesnt it??
I had no round-shaped moulds yet so I used an ikea plastic cup base to cut out the egg face. And for the nose & cheeks, I didnt have any moulds again, so I used a little round-based medicine container belonging to Ks to press out the shape. Thoroughly washed prior to using it, not to worry about hygiene ya...

This is Nana's bento, she's got 2 flower carrots. The eyes & brows are nicer & more even here cos this was the 2nd one made.

This is Ks's bento, he's got 3 star carrots and more chicken katsu as he's a bigger eater than meimei.

Hmm...at the end if it, I realised there are no greens in this bento so I threw in the cherry tomatoes (and of cos they were left untouched!) for decor purpose & just to fill in the gaps.

Next time I'll steam some broccoli or something.

Bento #10 Jam bread rolls

2009-08-07T23:01:00.004+08:00

Well, actually this isn't quite a bento. I made it last night in fact while the kids were still prancing around like monkeys and it was tough having to roll the breads with the pin, spread the jam, while keeping the other eye on them climbing and dancing on the dining chairs. My heart skipped many beats in fact! The princess was even caught putting 1 leg up on the table! Gosh, these 2 sure are a handful.
Anyway...this is my 1st try at making jam breadrolls using strawberry & blackberry (I only eat those from Beerenberg cos they're the best!), and again, I got the idea from talented shoppingmum but well, it didnt quite turn out as nice and even, cos the sizes are all kinda different. I find it great for kids cos it's bite size and good for tiny fingers to grasp. Ks came to wallop a few as I was still making them. I cling-wrapped them and stored them into the Tomica box for their breakfast this morning. So it wouldnt be a mad rush for me.

Here it is.

New tools from Daiso & new friends made!

2009-08-05T13:19:00.007+08:00

My new bento tools from Daiso! 2nd trip there in 2 weeks...ohh gosh. I kinda swept thru every single corner of Daiso, hunting for luncheon mats, cake moulds, punchers, rolling pin (intend to make a swissroll bread with jam filling with this). Also got a coupla rice bowls with cute car, bunny cartoons for the kids and a bigger kid (myself), hee. Splurged $42...2 weeks ago was $40. See, thing is I'm really a lover of beautiful cute stuff and a sucker for lovely packaging. Not too sure about how Daiso's quality is like but anyhow so far so good.

The lil gangster insisted on having his sharkie in the pic as I was taking this photo, so his hand got in as well.

It's also uncanny how bento-making (or should I give the credit to the wonderful creation of Internet) brings people together. I started my browsing at Daiso looking out for those stuff I mentioned earlier, skipping those I didnt need..and I noticed how 2 other young ladies were always near me and looking at the same stuff. I must say we have the same taste too! Esp in the choice of lunch mats, barans, moulds etc. I mean, Daiso is rather big there right..so why am I like always bumping into them?? I finally decided to open my mouth at the craft cutter area with one of them. I said," are you like into bento-making or something? Cos i noticed the things u are buying are same as mine!" And thereafter, a brief and pleasant conversation was exchanged and yes guess what, they're also following the same bento blog that I had been reading the past 1 month! Now how coincidental is that? So there we are, all starting out in bento-making and they were gonna do something on thursday night. I noted down their email addresses and hopefully will be able to keep in touch. It's nice how friendships are formed just like that. My very rare visit to Daiso at Vivo landed me with some new friends when it's least expected!

Good luck with your 1st bento, girls!

Bento #9 Cheesy car with salmon mayo

2009-08-05T13:15:00.006+08:00

After getting some new tools from Daiso, I was eager to use them so since i bought some ciabatta bread from Giant at Vivo, I decided to make a simple sandwich for breakfast for the family.
Now, I have no idea why this photo is tilted cos it appears normal when I didnt attach it here. Anyway, this is hubb's take-away breakfast which I prepared and kept in the fridge last night.

Ciabatta bread with luncheon meat & lettuce filling. Heart-shaped smoked cheese with bear-shaped seaweed (too eager to use my new daiso puncher!)
Also threw in a not-so-hardboiled egg moulded with bear shape. Not quite visible due to bad lighting and also it turned out soft-boiled and not hard-boiled..oops!

This was for the kids. Their filling was salmon mayo. Did a cheese car with 2 types of cheese, ham and seaweed. Can you see the bunny shape from this egg? Sad to say, this set wasn't a hit with them! Nana ate slightly less than half of the sandwich with the cheese untouched. (the fussy princess shook her head adamantly, muttering "Cheese 不要, cheese不要" So I cleaned it up for her.
Ken ate slightly more than half. I figured they're not quite into mushy stuff like egg or mayo with bread. I did a egg mayo few times with them and it got the same response.

See my new luncheon mat? So sweet, dont you think? I only got 2..the other one is also gorgeous..strawberry.

I've been doing too much bread lately..I really should attempt more main dishes such as rice/noodles/pasta etc. But no time..no time!

Bento #8 Simple star sandwiches for tea

2009-08-03T15:42:00.003+08:00

I didnt quite have the time this morning and also no ideas, so I did a quick jam sandwich for Ks.
It's a bear shaped with jam filling (and I moulded a star shape so the jam could be seen) sandwich. The rest were star shapes. Somehow I feel that though its just bread, when it's moulded into shapes like these, it looks so much more appetising and great for tiny fingers to grasp and hold to munch.

Bento #7 Baikinman挑戦！

2009-08-03T15:22:00.007+08:00

The order of the photos are a bit haywired. But anyway...

The gangster looking so fierce, devouring his baikinman. He didnt like the seaweed part so only ate the rest.

Friday night, bugger slept early at about 9.40pm so though i was rather run-down myself, I got up flipped thru the bento book, wondering wat i shld do this time. Sat's lunch/dinner is usually out so I thot it might be nice to do breakfast for the kids. I took abt 1 hr pluswith the ingredients preparation, cutting, moulding etc. What killed me was the seaweed strips for Baikinman's teeth. The strips were like so fragile and curled up so easily that it made me all sweaty trying not to mess them up with my cumbersome fingers. I finished the preps abt 11pm and totally crashed after that. Hey, bento-making does take a lot of concentration ok??

Here is the princess's breakfast bento, which had no theme whatsoever. Just a bunny, since she doesnt really know anyway.

And presenting...Baikinman for the lil gangster!
Ingredients: Seaweed for head, ears, eyes and teeth, fish sausage for eyes, star cheese for nose, crabmeat for nose (it should've been slightly more tilted downwards for this part)
Filling: strawberry jam again...

In the morning, I spent another hour decorating and laying out the ingredients on the bread, arranging etc. So the kids finally ate about 8+ am. I feel like I'm really so slow... I really REALLY need those dam seaweed cutters to save me all the hassle. And also more bento boxes! Still waiting for Shinkansen, Melody and Elmo ones to come in stock. hehe...

Bento #6 Hello Kitty with polkadot!

2009-07-30T14:06:00.008+08:00

It's Hello Kitty Time again!

It's another mad rush for me this morning after putting Rn to sleep at 10.15am. Had an hour or so, so quickly got to work. Realised I am still very slow and waste a lot of thinking about what tools to use or how to cut etc. Parents made fried beehoon for the big one already so I fried rice for our own lunch and Rn's.

I was actually planning to make Anpanman for him, a nicer one this time. But again, lack of round-shaped tool so dropped the idea. Decided to make life easier for myself, so made same as meimei. Cheese as the face, kamaboko for ribbon and eyes and whiskers were seaweed.

I made this first. This is Ks's new Tomika bento: notice the whiskers are grossly thicker. haha.

This is Rn's bento. I learnt from my mistake and this time, I thinned the whiskers and it turned out nicer, dont you think? But then I lost 1 of the seaweed eye, so had to ask maid to help cut out one (I had to rush to shower for work) for me, and she did, but a tad smaller. so this poor kitty looked like she has 大小眼. haha... I really need to get my hands on some seaweed cutter or else cutting with scissors are really tricky and time-consuming, and just dont do a good job. I also threw in some fish sausage, the kids' favorite, just for decor. And the butterhead lettuce at the bottom were for decor purpose too, they wouldnt touch it I think.

Bento #5 Ham buns for hubby's breakfast

2009-07-30T13:29:00.003+08:00

Nothing special actually as I didnt really have time to put in cutesy details. I made these last night, with ham, shredded cheese & butterhead lettuce as the filling. Also threw in 2 cherry tomatoes. Wrapped them in clingwrap so they dont harden overnight, then stored them in the fridge. I had to prepare everything the night before cos he leaves for work like 6am (!) And since he's so pampered and dislikes hassles, he only needs to open the fridge, grab his lunchbox and off he goes.

Bento #4 Breakfast for the Princess

2009-07-28T15:42:00.003+08:00

As grandma had porridge for Ks, I prepared the sandwiches for Reina's brekkie last night.
Just cutting out the shapes from the mould from the bread took a good 30mins or so, amidst having to stuff a greedy Ks who was loitering around the dinner table. He had some of the remnant cheese, fish sausage and also asked for his usual rabbit jam sandwiches.

Here is what I had in Reina's new Poohbear bento box:
1. 2 rabbit-shaped bread - 1 raisin, 1 plain white (with ribbons of cheese and fish sausage)
2. a couple of flower shaped breads with cheese and fish sausage in the centre.
3. some honey star cereals in the little silicon container since she likes sweet stuff.

I didnt put anything in between the breads, like strawberry jam as she will spit them out, saying "spee out" as she sticks out her tongue. She prefers her breads plain I figured. She didnt quite finish her entire bento, left half of the rabbit raisin bread and a couple of honey stars. She loved the small flowers though. And oh yes, she could even tell they were rabbits as she said "wabbi", so not too bad eh?

I need to start being more adventurous soon and try to attempt other ingredients like egg sheets or quail eggs, spaghetti even to make a nicer bento, instead of having ham and cheese all the time.

Arrival of 2nd bento tools & boxes!

2009-07-28T15:39:00.003+08:00

I think I've gone mad ordering from NST. This is my 2nd order, just 10 days after I did the 1st order. This time I got Poohbear bento box, Pikachu bento box, Tomika bento box, ABC alphabet moulds & Poohbear sauce containers.
I managed to sort and tidy them up in a pink big container which was previously used as Reina's storage container for milk bottles. Hee.

Bento #3 Fried kway teow

2009-07-22T15:51:00.002+08:00

I think this is one of the nicest bento so far (not that i made many...) It's actually fried kway teow (by dad) and then I cut out from the mould I received from my 1st NST package last week. I used dolphin, musical note & yacht shapes on kamaboko (for the pink bits), cheese & ham. I realise ham & cheese are what I use so often cos they are easy to cut out. I decorated them around the top of the noodles. Simple eh? Looks rather nice cos of the colours i think. Later on, I added in のりbits to it too, since Ks also likes seaweed. I packed this for him before i left for work, so he can have it as a tea snack in the car when dad picks him from school later.

Arrival of my 1st set of bento tools!

2009-07-22T15:17:00.001+08:00

I received them a day before we went for our Penang getaway.
Here they are.
Got 9 items in total and also ordered a 2nd batch of bento boxes (poohbear & tomica) and other tools. This is starting to become an addiction. I also got a チャラ弁book from Kinokuniya just for reference.
Yesterday i finally had the chance to drop by at Daiso and splurged $40 on some bento stuff like baran, mini fork/spoon, piggy slicing sheet, nice cups and saucers for the kids.
At the moment, I am still finding it hard to find time to properly prepare the ingredients as I need time to think abt how to decor it and also wat to do with wat. Of course, it doesnt help the least when I am trying to do all that amidst the screaming and a wailing Rn by my side.

Bento #2 - Hubby's birthday breakfast

2009-07-22T15:06:00.002+08:00

This was my 1st bento prepared for hubby on 14 July 09. It was his 33rd birthday.

Good thing I prepared the 下準備for the 材料 the night before. Boiled weiners, heart-shaped chocolate & pandan breads with his favourite peanut butter filling then threw in a small cherry tomato. The most challenging was the preparation of the stripe cheese which I had learnt from Shoppingmum's blog. I bought the wrong brand of cheese. Got President instead of Chesdale and P was so soft that it was real hard to cut out the shape cos everything was like sticking together. But hey, not too bad for the 1st time right?? I saved the rest of the "kueh lapis" cheese, cling-wrapped them and stored them in airtight container. I've got not other decoration stuff so this bento looks rather　寂しい to me. Hubby finished everything (including the cherry tomato). :)

Bento #1 - Onigiri

2009-07-22T15:05:00.002+08:00

This was breakfast for the kids.

Onigiri with weiner, ham/nori. Onigiri is supposed to panda eyes but cheese were cut way too thick so they didnt look the least like a freakin panda!

Trial #1 - Hello Kitty & #2 - Anpanman buns

2009-07-22T15:02:00.003+08:00

Presenting my somewhat 'imitation-looking' Hello Kitty sandwiches.
Used the pink bits from kamaboko for the ribbon and a cheese. As I didnt have any tools on hand, I had to cut out the whiskers and eyes from seaweed by bare hands which was really tricky. No standardisation whatsoever thats why it turned out looking like that. I also realised that my position of the eyes/nose/whiskers were all wrong and eyes were too close together, so Kitty looks a tad strange.

Nonetheless, Rn said "Hao Jiji" when she saw the sandwiches...so my kitty ain't that bad after all!

I also made an Anpanman bun. Not difficult at all since it was just cut-out ham & cheese on the round buns.