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.