Ox themed bentos for CNY

I'm jumping into the fray by making ox-themed bentos in conjunction with Ox Year this Chinese New Year.

Bento #105 is an ox onigiri for Girlet, with salmon sausage and corn. Thanks to shoppingmum for the idea of using the bone pick for the ox's horn. Saved me lots of time. I made the ox from a Pikachu (pokemon) rice mould and moved the ears down to resemble an ox. Was late and didn't have time to shell edamame, so the middle portion of the bento was left empty. Bento # 106 - A simple cow made of cheese on top of sandwiches, with salmon sausage, broccoli and corn. Lastly Bento # 107 was a snack bento for Boylet. It contained an ox made from quail egg, ham and spaghetti strip. Surrounded the ox with various farm animals cut out from bread & cheese. Corn, salmon sausage and a rooster pick completed the bento .

GONG XI FA CAI to everyone.

Of Emily and 100 yen shop

Met up with Emily two days ago at Taman Desa's 100 yen shop to pass her some edamame. She is so familiar with the staff that she store her frozen edamae in their fridge while we go for breakfast. Then the 'si tau poh' came and Emily asked to look at their catalogue. We ended up spending almost an hour going through all the items. The si tau po has agreed to order all the cute bento stuff such as picks, baran, silicon cups, cutters. So exciting!! There'll be about ten different types of picks from clickety click picks, jewelled picks, animal picks etc. And the silicon cups are different from the Daiso ones. Depending on the supply in Japan side, most of the stock should arrive in March. Will let everyone know then. Watch this page.

Edit: The 100 yen shop is a franchise, and each shopowner/branch order their own stock, which accounts for the different items carried in different branches. So only this Taman Desa branch will order the things mentioned above.

In the end, instead of breakfast, we went for lunch at Francais Alliance. Thanks Emily for lunch and for the things you gave the kids. Hope you enjoy the edamame.

Bentos # 102, 103, 104

Bento # 102 - for Girlet. Tried to fashion a small charsiew pau and two pieces of fishpaste/ seaweed roll into a dog, with dismal results *sigh*. How did I pass art exams last time? Anyway, my mum gave me some mini papayas from her tree, and they were the perfect size for bentos. I halved 2 papayas and they just evolved into a man. Added edamame for some green as we're out of lettuce. Babylet had the rest of the papayas for brunch.
Bento #103 was for Boylet. He started classes in a new nursery, and they serve mainly fruits at snack time. It must be insufficient for Boylet as he would gobble down his lunch when he's home. On one hand I'm happy that he's eating lunch unlike last year where I have to either persuade, bribe, threaten or force him to have lunch. On the other I'm afraid he's starving. Am hoping that his appetite is growing as he's getting older. Fortunately many of the kids bring their own snacks, so he's not so adversed to a snack bento for himself. I tried to make a bunny out of the mini pau & grapes, and a flower out of jelly & edamame.

Bento # 103 was a breakfast bento for d'Hubby. Consisted of pancakes with maple syrup and mandarin oranges. The pancakes were just too plain and I couldn't resist adding facial features. A first cutesy bento for d'Hubby. All the container were too small to store the maple syrup, so made do with a silicon cup covered with a clingwrap.

Bentos # 99, 100 & 101

Being very blur, I didn't realised until now that I've reached and passed the 100th bento milestone. *duh*

Bento # 99 - Egg and Filament stick maki, nuggets, kamaboko flower, grapes and sweet peas. The quail eggs were embossed with facial expressions but indistinct, hence used foodwriter to enhance them.
Bento # 100 - Girl & Boy onigiri, prawn fritters, mandarin and grapes.

Bento # 101 - Sweet & sour chicken, My Melody apples, and under the Hello Kitty carrot was Onigiri mixed with Korean seaweed. There were more grapes in front which I removed for the pic as they were blocking Melody's face.

Bento # 98 - Bears Onigiri

I had thought about how to cut down on the preparation time each morning, and decided that freezer staple is the key. Made a batch of onigiri and fried nuggets last week and froze it. It is impractical and time consuming to cook just a small portion each morning. I also cut out nori with various cutters and store in the fridge. Grapes, mandarins and fruits that don't requiring cutting will also be a staple. So those items will be featured rather regularly in the bentos, though I do hope to mix up a little so Girlet does not get bored.

Bento # 98 had bear shaped onigiri. In the morning, I just quickly put the onigiri in the steamer, cut the vegies and porkball, and steam together. Meanwhile, put the nuggets in the toaster oven, and peel the mandarins. Let everything cool down under the fan, while i reshape the onigiri and put the details on the bear. All in took less than 15 minutes including waiting time. I'm happy with the progress.

Girlet's comment? "Why the bears are not smilling, mummy?" A critic in the making, huh?

The bear with the ribbon is a girl and the other boy. Isn't the ribbon gorgeous? Saw it in Arlene's blog and just had to have it. Was very happy to find it at 1 Utama's MPH.

Now I look at this bento again, the boy looked rather naked, huh? Should have cut out a vest or something for it. Too blur/sleepy in the morning to notice earlier *sheepish smile*

Bento # 97 - Potato Salad

This is only the second week of 2009, and I've already broken one of my resolutions of not procrastinating with a few bentos pending posting. *sigh* After seeing what a productive morning Bentopet had yesterday, thought I'd better buck up *hanging head in shame*.

Know what I've been doing? Watching Taiwanese drama! haha... all because Blessedmom said that her favourite series are Meteor Garden 1 & 2. While being bored one day, I checked them out and was hooked (yes, I do realised that I'm very outdated!) . Had a marathon last 6 days and am glad to say that I've finished both series & got them out of my system. I'm NOT going to start her other favourite show (It Started With A Kiss, also with sequel, so 50 episodes!!) - someone kick me if I do. Though I don't mind catching Meteor Rain with only 3 episodes. Anyone have that? *Incorrigible Grin*

Back to bentos, this potato salad was made last Wed. Thanks to YL for the idea. It's a nice solution to early mornings, as most things were prepared the previous night - boiling, cutting, & filling the mayonnaise case. All that was left in the morn was to shell/chop the egg & cube the apple - didn't want them to oxidise /dry up overnight. Everything was cold out from the fridge to prevent the mayonnaise from going bad in this hot weather. Also packed the bento into a thermal bag (cheap one from Daiso) with an ice pack. Initially, I just left the quail eggs bare, and was going to snap a pic when Girlet asked why no faces. Oopsie, I think I created a monster..... so demanding now. But since the bento took very fast to complete, I obliged her with two smiley faces.
As for hubby's bento, it was 'recycled' from the one he forgot to bring the previous day. Original items were the meatfloss sandwich and longans. Added a layer cake, chendol jelly from MIL, mandarins and grapes, to differentiate a bit. But as can be seen, didn't bother to put in much effort. You know where my priorities are.... haha..... *unrepentant grin*

Better wish Happy Belated Anniversary to d'hubby (that was yesterday). Eight years and counting....

Bentos # 96 - Flossy Sandwiches

This was made for the second day of school. I had wanted to make potato salad only to find out that we're out of potatoes *kicking myself*. Asked Girlet what she wanted and she requested for meat floss sandwich. The only thing I could think of to cute-ify it is to make a cheese lion face. Added a sleepy baby quail egg, corn, brocolli & brocolli flower (so pretty rite?), and grapes under the egg and vege. So simple but still took me 30 mins to prepare..... how to be faster?


Also made hubby's breakfast bento, which took another 10 mins. Only he forgot to bring it with him. So I ate up the egg tart as it was already 2 days old and the brocolli flower. Kept the rest in the fridge for the next day.

Girlet's 1st day of Standard 1 & Bento # 95 -

Another milestone - Girlet's first day at primary school. My baby's all grown up in her new uniform. She didn't need me to go with her to school, but I went anyway.... who's the one who can't let go?
I stayed until recess, to make sure she knows where to sit etc. Signed her up for the catered food (although I'd and will be preparing bento for her) as that will ensure her a numbered sitting place at the cafeteria. Kiasu? Wasteful? Read this story first :
During orientation last week, the kids had a go at queueing up to buy food. There were parents queueing up too, and everyone kept cutting into Girlet's queue, even parents! So I told her (loudly for the adults' ears) to say 'excuse me, I was queueing first' and tears started rolling down her face. She didn't dare to cry out loudly though.
After that, I don't think I want to risk her jostling with older kids for a place to sit. And the catered food is only RM40 a month. And I'll have a backup on days I can't (too lazy) to prepare bento, which doesn't entail her queueing up (Break time is only 15 mins. By the time she finish queueing, break would be over). Good enough reasons? *_*

I'm sure she's happy with the decision. Managed to reserve a seat next to a familiar name from kindy. Turned out that on her other side is a friend from kindy too. Too bad they're both not in the same class as her this year. The first meal the cafeteria served was a bun with choc filling and soyabean. But she chose to eat the bento instead. *grin*

For such a momentous occassion, I'd prepared a school-themed bento for her. Brainstormed earlier and came up with 'Books, calculator/abacus, pencil, schoolhouse, alphabet'. Grand plans..... only at 6 am this morning, all that seemed like too much work. *not morning person lah* So quickly thought of Plan B. Failsafe weiners, easy sandwich dressed with 'I love School' and Girlet's face (must make the eyes extra big lah, just because they're not) and fillers - brocolli, brocolli flower, mini mandarin & grapes. Even that took me 45 mins to make. Hope to improve my rhythm soon.

Girlet, Congrats on your first day at school. You're growing way too fast. My wish is for you blossom into a beautiful person. Study hard and play hard. I don't expect perfect scores, but good learning attitude of always striving for improvement. Enjoy your school years. This is the Best Time of your life.