Bento # 84 - Stomping Elephants

This bento was from two weeks ago. As it was the last bento for Girlet to bring to Kindergarten, I thought to make a themed bento which she has always enjoyed. I looked at my bento stuff and having found some elephant mould, cutter and sauce container, decided to make a elephant themed bento. This took some planning as I had to make elephant shaped chicken nuggets ahead (see previous post).

Top : Jelly, Elephant container with tomato sauce, edamame and filament stick on elephant picks

Bottom : Elephant nugget, elephant onigiri, with carrots separating them, and coral lettuce to make it look like a jungle. And of course elephant fork and spoon too.

I tried to make the eye and ear for the nugget too, but the seaweed would not adhere as the nugget were not smooth. Couldn't think of how to improve the looks of the elephant nugget, any thoughts?

Baked Chicken Nuggets

Oh my, time has flown. I made this two weeks ago. I don't usually follow recipes exactly. Just put bits together according to what I have on hand or thought interesting. For this, I combined the recipes from allrecipes, here and youtube, forgot link.

I used chicken breast meat, because too lazy to debone the drumstick. However, I did pound (or whatever the correct word is) on the breast meat to tenderize it. Then I used metal cookie cutters to mark the outline (weren't sharp enough to cut through the meat) and cut with kitchen scissors. The leftover bits were left as strips and cooked the same way. (Not pictured here cos not pretty *_*)

I mixed plain flour with powdered parmesan cheese and pepper. Then put the flour mixture, beaten egg and crushed cornflakes onto their respective plates, arranging them in an assembly line. First the meat was rolled in the flour mixture, then dipped into egg, and covered with the crushed cornflakes. Then baked in the oven at 190*C for 15 minutes. And the results were healthful, crunchy chicken nuggets. The meat was tender but a tad dry. But the crunchiness made up for it.

The older kids had a few pieces each. Fussy babylet came to admire the results but refused to try. She ended up with milk for dinner again. She's already 27 months - old enough for "If you don't eat dinner, you can jolly well starve" routine yet?

Another question. Besides dinosaur nuggets from NTUC on my Singapore shopping list, what other nuggets to add?

Bento Swap

Recently I had a Bento Swap with Our Story. It didn't occur to me to take a photo of what I got for YL. Duh!! But there were a Doraemon bento box, 2 teddy bear silicon cups, a pack of spiderman pasta, and some 100 yen shop stuff - quail egg moulds and several bento boxes. YL's post is here.

And YL got so many things for me that I feel so paiseh. What I requested were some things from Daiso and the Disney pasta. She added so many extras, including things from her recent trip to Hokkaido. And knowing that I 'collect' pasta, she has sent not one, but five different packs of various pasta shapes. We're so spoilt with choice now. Thank you very much, YL. And Muak, Muak, Muak from the 3 kiddos.

Cutters, picks, sauce bottles and lunch cloth. *swoon* Babylet immediately claimed the Hello Kitty cutter as hers.

Organic wholewheat animal pasta and Organic teddy bears pasta. *drool*

Brown Rice Assorted Shapes Pasta. *more drool*

Halloween pasta and Winnie the Pooh pasta. *add kid's drool too*

Also thanks to my sister, Biblo, who made arrangement for the delivery and collection of the packages. Why sound like accepting some award liddat... hehe...

YL, you're the BEST!! And thanks to your SIL too.

Guess what I bought today?

I have ordered some FreezerMate Tupperware through Laundryamah, and when I got the items from her, guess what else I bought?

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Tadah! Another bento box!

More specifically, a Madagascar Bento Box from Tupperware. I know that we've got plenty of boxes (and some not yet used). But this box is different from all the other boxes we have as it is wide and shallow. It has a capacity of 560 ml, and the divider is removable. It comes in a set with a tumbler and a small airtight container.

Boylet is absolutely delighted with the new bento set. He loves Madagascar, and I'll be bringing him to see the movie, as soon as he completes his kindy's holiday program.

Bonus photo - Babylet wanted to follow her koko and pose for a picture too. Just in case anyone thinks that Babylet has an extra large right ear, that ear belongs to Boylet who is otherwise obscure behind Babylet. *_*

Boylet's School Concert

D'hubby brought Boylet to his kindy for his Year End Concert while I was in Girlet kindy for her graduation ceremony. Fortunately, Girlet's event ended on time, so we were able to rush to Boylet's concert to catch his performance.

Boylet was supposed to wear sunglasses but due to a miscommunication (his teacher and I thought he left his sunnies in the school so he won't forget to bring, but he actually tucked them into a side pocket of his bag which he left at home). And d'hubby didn't have the presence of mind to take out the spare sunnies from his car for boylet to wear. Haiyah... how like a man.

Anyway, after seeing his concert, it's clear Boylet can never be a dancer. He's as stiff as...uhm... wood?... haha...

Puppet Shows @ BSC

There are two puppet shows showing @ The Actors Studio in Bangsar Shopping Centre these two months. So parents with kids, don't miss them!

Currently showing is A-tishoo! : Advertised as a Visual Fantasy for children, the performers are from UK, and the write up sounds really good. For children between age 3 - 6.

Date : Nov 12 - Nov 23, 2008
Weekdays at 10 am / Weekends at 4 pm

Ticket Price : RM35/- for child (up to age 12) RM50/- for adult + RM2/- AXCESS fee

Family Special RM35/- off every 4 tickets to same show - must be 2 adults and 2 children

For more info, check this link : http://www.act3international.com/currentprod.htm

We've been to two shows this year brought in by Act3 International, 'Circo Koriak' and 'Stories to Grow'and enjoyed both tremendously.

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The second show is Aesop's Fables 2 : Already booked the tickets to this show for early December. Last year's show Aesop's Fables 1 was a sold out show, and the expectation is high this year.

Date : Nov 28 - Dec 14, 2008
Weekdays at 10 am / Weekends at 11am + 2pm

Ticket Price : RM42, RM53, RM64 + ticketing fees.
Schools and Groups can get reduced rates. And have online specials too.

Link : http://www.gardnerandwife.com/08_jimwest.asp

We've been to only one show brought in by Gardner&Wife, being 'The Selfish Crocodile'. We had the tickets for 'The Man Who Planted Trees', but didn't go - story here. Kicking myself again. Must, must not forget this time around.

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To book the tickets for both shows,
By Phone: Call The Actors Studio @ BSC at 03 2094 0400 / 1400
By Email: tickets@theactorsstudio.com.my
At the Venue: The Actors Studio @ Level 3, Bangsar Shopping Complex

While you're at BSC, try out the new roller skating rink. It's very fun!

Girlet's Kindergarten Graduation

This is a backdated post going back to two Saturdays ago. It was a most busy day. First Girlet had her graduation at 8 am, followed by Boylet's school concert at 10 am, then Girlet's Mandarin tuition right after lunch at 1 pm-2.30 pm and a friend's birthday party at 3 pm and then dinner with in-laws. Phew! Got tired just typing that.

Girlet's Graduation was a big event, with about 250 kids graduating from K2. I didn't get many pictures of her, since there were so many parents and kids around and so many restricted areas to control the crowd. So I was too far away to get clear photos of her receiving her 'diploma' and her trophy. Yup! She went to the stage twice, the second to receive a trophy for good attendance. Good thing as she wouldn't have gotten it for academic excellence. The top students probably scored 100% for all subjects.

The kindergarten is part of an Chinese education group celebrating its Centennial (100 years) anniversary. The kindy itself is 93 years old. Hence, the graduation ceremony was filled with speeches and patriotic songs. There were many secondary school girls helping out at the event, and it was clear the they and the teachers are very proud of the school. A 6 year old girl gave a long and eloquent speech, which impressed many parents as she is better than an adult. Girlet enjoyed the graduation so much that she asked if she's having another one next year. But she didn't seem to understand any of the speeches, just sense the overall excitement in the atmosphere. Well, she has the next 6 years to learn the language.

Edit : Finally got around to figuring out how to upload videos. This is Girlet's Graduation Ceremony.


Also uploaded a more interesting video on Girlet's Piano mini-concert here.

Bento # 83 - Hot & Spicy Bento

I just realised that my bentos for myself are all rather reddish because I pack a lot of spicy food. This bento was from last week, which contained rice, otak-otak, cherry tomatoes, coral lettuce, sambal ikan bilis, stirfried french beans with minced meat&wolfberries, and fried chilli tempeh. Didn't put any furikake on the rice as they were already too many flavours. Loved the flavours and texture of the food, though while eating, I had to add more lettuce to tone down the spiciness.

Pink Sisterhood Tag

I got this tag from Blessed Mom, who incidentally is pregnant with #4. Congrats!

Thank you for sharing this tag with me. And to all my fellow bloggers who read this message, please feel free to grab this tag, help spreading the breast cancer awareness. Thanks!

This one is all about breast cancer, which everyone knows is one of the most life-threatening diseases today. I’m doing my part in spreading awareness on breast cancer by sharing some scary yet so very true facts on breast cancer. Ladies, do take note!

* One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.

* Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk.

* Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.

* Seventy-seven percent of women with breast cancer are over 50.

* Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.

* Risks for breast cancer include a family history, atypical hyperplasia, early menstruation (before age 12), late menopause (after age 55), current use or use in the last ten years of oral contraceptives, and daily consumption of alcohol.

* Early detection of breast cancer, through monthly breast self-exam and particularly yearly mammography after age 40, offers the best chance for survival.

Facts taken from Women’s Health

And now here is the tag and the rules:

1. Put the logo in your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who shared it with you.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Add your link to the list of participants below

5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

Now my turn to tag…

biblo, emily, family first, icfamily5, kel, laundryamah, physiomom

DAISO is coming to KL

Hurrah! I heard from allthingspurple a few weeks ago that Daiso is coming. Now it is confirmed in Bentopet's latest post. Daiso is now under renovation at The Curve. Check out this link. Now, isn't that the most fantastic news for bento fans? No more travelling to Singapore just to feed bento tools mania. *_*

Bento # 81 & # 82 - Pasta

These are the last of Girlet's backdated bentos from last week, both containing pasta.

Bento # 81 comprised of bowtie pasta with cheese sauce and mixed vegie. Girlet also requested for bread with meatfloss, so I added a slice for her. Also had a lotus paste bun, and hardboiled egg, which turned out better than previous post's quail eggs.
Bento # 82 had some leafy looking pasta, this time with salmon cream cheese and parsley, in a Wilton flower silicone cup. Love the cup, it's so pretty. Made the pasta look yummier somehow *_*. Also had omelette with a gourd my mum called 'Kak Kue' in Hokkien. I dyed the quail egg but didn't have any time to do anything else with it. Tsk, tsk, bad time management. I couldn't fit a round corn into the box, so cut it into half and cover up the ugly parts with more corn. Girlet says it looks like a sun, and complained that the cherry tomato spoiled the effect. Haha... very clever to look for excuses to avoid eating the tomato. Too bad for her I wasn't so easily fooled. Hence, in went the tomato, with the condition if she finished her food, she would get a treat. The verdict, the bribery worked. *_^

Bento # 80 - adult bento

Didn't pack a bento for Girlet last Wed because we're totally out of greens and fruits. After she left for school, I dropped the maid off at the wet market to buy the groceries. Babylet and I had to wait in the car as I didn't want to aggravate my sprained ankle. Then the maid cooked tempeh with tauchu / black bean paste, instead of sambal. She also cooked porridge for herself and babylet as she had sore throat, while I had leftover rice and other spicy dishes from the fridge.

Right : Yellow cherry tomatoes, strawberries, papaya, salted duck egg swiped from maid's lunch

Left : Acar, Fish Kimchi, rice with salmon furikake, tauchu tempeh

Sorry, Girlet. Mummy had a better lunch than you.

Bento # 78 and # 79 - Out of fresh produce

I twisted my ankle last week while running down the stairs. I was carrying Babylet then. Thank God I fell back on the bum, so I didn't drop her. Though it did give her a big scare. I managed to turn it into a teaching session - "Don't run on the stairs or you'll fall down like mummy" *_* Can joke about it now that the pain is over. It wasn't so pleasant last week, hobbling around with a swollen and bruised ankle. As a result, I didn't manage to go shopping for groceries. And had to made do with staples in the fridge.


These two bentos were from early last week. Was contemplating not to post because not-up-to- standard. Haha... but they were among Girlet's favourites... I think it was the lack of vegies... LOL!

Bento # 78 had white bread with ham and two types of cheese - cheddar and gouda. Tried to roll into heart shapes, but not too successful. Quail eggs, which were too big for the various moulds, were fashioned into a hamster and chick. And pears were cut into simple rectangles. The next day, things got worse when we ran out of fruits too. Fortunately the breadman came right to the house so we had enough bread. Bento # 79 had white and wholemeal bread with cheese, Nutella and chicken floss/seaweed/sesame seed, respectively. I left the crusts intact since Girlet don't mind them. I then tried to cut the too-big quail eggs into a nice shape but ended up in a mess!

The positive note was: Girlet loved the bentos!

Backdated post - What Hubby Bought in USA

D'hubby came back from his trip to USA two weeks ago. I had whined about being left behind with the 3 kiddos (I also missed out when he went to Europe earlier this year), because although on working trip, he extended his stay to include some sightseeing. So he had very obediently? guiltily? bought me ..er... us.. lots of stuff. Something I learnt from the kids... whining works.. hehe... An overview of the things here. After the food scare in China, I had second thoughts about using the silicone cups from Daiso for baking since they are 'Made in China'. So got hubby to buy drop by Michaels to buy some cute silicone cups. Hey, I had to google the store and get the exact address for him first, ok? Unfortunately, these Wilton cups are also 'Made in China'!! Erm, safe or not? Would you use them for baking after all the negative news in China?

Silly Feet and Silly Critters silicone cups. So cute right? Yes, I'm aware they are sold in KL (at a bakery equipment shop 'Pavilion' in Gardens, Midvalley), but of course more expensive compared to US. If hubby didn't go to US, I would not have bought them 'cos I'm just calculative that way.

Flower cups that comes in pink and yellow, and bear cups in beige and brown. And some picks too. I totally heart this Puzzle Cakes! Build-A-Cake Set. Comes with 6 round cups, 6 half moon cups, 6 diamond cups and 6 pie shapes cups. And have instructions for three cake designs. Of course creative people can create more fun shapes, but I'm not one of those people. *_* Very cool huh? And best of all, the cups can be used individually for other purposes too.

Then Hubby decided to buy these two car and butterfly cake mould too. Erm.. not something I would have bought myself, being expensive and can only use for one purpose only.... Better don't say too much or he won't buy any more things next time. So, good job, darling!

He got some cookie cutters too - Mini Noah's Ark. That's because he doesn't know how many cookie cutters I actually have. I'm quite sure this set is also available in KL.

Moving on to the foodstuff. I gave hubby a broad instruction to buy anything cute, colourful and not available in KL.

Kookyculinary very kindly posted a photo of the pasta shapes that she usually uses, and I printed the pic for hubby as a reference. He had very dutifully followed the picture and bought the same items! Cookies!

We snack a lot on dried fruits, so Hubby got these, among others. Since they are non-organic, boylet and I will have to pass those yellow coloured ones which is preserved with sulfur dioxide or risk aggravating our asthma/eczema. The two girls can have those without sharing. The cherries are super yum! The kids love Nutella, and d'hubby's friend recommended Noisella, a Belgian chocolate and hazelnut spread which is supposed to taste even better. Haha... what a name! Let's hope the taste is nicer than that. Unfortunately some leaked during the flight.

Hubby also bought a two-tier Barbie lunchbox from KLIA. It's too big for Girlet to bring to school, but will be perfect for our yet-to-happen-if-ever picnic. *_*

I've always commented that he's not good at buying things. But this time, he has done pretty well. *Muak!*

Bento # 77 - chicken rice

I haven't been posting this week's bentos. Have been lazy as it's almost school hols, and the bentos are most uninspired. Monday's bento was leftover chicken rice, moulded with a bear mould, with chicken stuffed inside. Was struggling with the darn seaweed cutter which got stuck, and ran out of time, just simply stick some seaweed on for eyes, and no mouth. I left space for carrots, but also no time to cut as Girlet's ride to school had arrived. So she ended up with a rather colourless bento.

Content: chicken rice bear, chicken rice + seaweed ball, fishpaste/egg/seaweed spiral, porkball and orange, on top of iceberg lettuce.

Girlet's K2 Tests Results

Girlet's Test Results are back........ with some surprises. She did well in those subjects that I was worried about, namely Mandarin, Moral and Science. Was concerned as those papers were in mandarin and she might not know how to read the questions. In fact, I took a look at the papers and could barely read a quarter of them. She has really exceeded my expectations.


On the other hand, I thought she would have aced Maths. But with some genuine ignorance (didn't know about coins as had never handled before and I didn't revise with her) and some carelessness (adding instead of subtrating), it turned out to be the lowest scoring subject. Hopefully she would be more careful next time.

English : 100 %

Malay : 100 %

Mandarin : 97 %

Moral : 96 %

Science : 98 %

Maths : 84 %

Distressing - Babylet's bald patch

Babylet had a high fever recently which lasted a few days. After her fever broke, I found this...........A bald patch right on top of her head!!! It is just completely smooth and hairless. There isn't any red marks, scratches or anything. And I didn't see any clumps of hair dropping off. To say that I'm UPSET is an understatement. Of course that warranted another trip to the paediatrition. Apparently it was her immune system that mistakenly attacked her hair follicles thinking of them as foreign particles. And it may take some time before her hair grows back. Aargh!!!

After the fever, babylet came down with flu and cough to the point of losing her voice. And she passed her germs to the rest of us. Now, her voice is still husky and her appetite is next to nothing. Poor girl. Losing hair, losing voice, losing appetite and losing weight..... It's been a tough two weeks for her.