Bentos # 93 - Christmas Bentos

I finally got around to making Christmas Bentos for the kids.

I've been busy checking out shoppingmom's blog with her beautiful Christmas bentos. Copied lots from her blog, as I don't have any original idea.... hehe.... Love her tutorial on shaping sausages and carrots, as seen in various Japanese blogs. I swapped the sausages with porkball, which of course didn't turn out as nice. The edges are not as sharp because of the difference in texture. But beats a plain porkball anyday. And if you're particular about the nitrite content in sausages, this may be an alternative to consider.


Girlet's bento has a supposedly winter Hello Kitty. Planned to add more details, but the snowman took up too much time, as the filament stick kept unraveling. Sheesh! Anyone can tell that I'm not very patient with meticulous details.

Boylet's bento has a Christmas tree and snowmen. Girlet decorated the tree by herself and seeing how pleased she is, I left it as it is. She had fun punching all the nori too, with a little help with the HK puncher.

Both kids cleaned their bentos and Girlet in fact asked for another onigiri, so I made a round one with seaweed for her. And both also had a lot more grapes. So happy they are regaining their appetite.

In case I don't get a chance later, here's wishing everybody a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

What we've been up to this hols

Since the school hols began, we've been very busy going out. Went to two movies (without Babylet). First was Madagascar 2. Definitely not as good as Madagascar 1, but the kids really enjoyed the nonsensical show anyway. The second show was Bolt in 3D. Girlet, the dog lover, loved this show, but boylet was more interested in playing with the 3D glasses. *_*


Boylet and Girlet also went to the puppet show, Aesop's Fables, which they thoroughly enjoyed. On the feedback card, Girlet wrote: I love the Moral the dog the best because it is very funny and cute. Both of them look so skinny in this pic, huh? That's because they've been having lots of fast food (collecting Madagascar toys at McD's), until all 3 kids had sore throat and fever for one whole week the previous week. In this pic, Babylet saw the camera and automatically tried to smile. But ended up with a pained expression instead. Poor baby..... Thank God, Babylet didn't get any more bald patches, and there are baby hair growing at the existing bald patch.

The kids recovered in time for a round of birthday parties, two of them at the Jungle Gym/ Roller Blading Rink in BSC.

Of the parties had the theme of Madagascar, and the kids dressed up as the various animals. Girlet went as Melmon the Giraffe and Boylet the talking Monkey. Boylet is totally enamoured with the cake. The birthday boy and his numerous cousins are all dressed to the nines with animal costumes and painted faces. Very cool! Boylet now wants a Madagascar birthday party too.

Girlet loves the roller blading rink. She started out very cautiously, staying very near the walls. although she had been roller skating at home. Her friends who are more outgoing just zoomed their way, even those first time there. It's just her personality, very kiasi. At the second time there, she gained confidence and picked up some speed. Hopefully, she'll be able to let loose and zoom around the next time.

Bentos # 92 - Inarizushi

I found tofu pouch /aburaage at a Korean supermarket in Sri Hartamas at 50% discount. It has only 1+ week left until expiry date. But still a good deal, so bought two packets, the other for my sis, Biblo. Those who follow her blog would know this happened beginning of the month, and I'm only posting now. Anyway, the Korean tofu pouches taste the same as Japanese. The only difference is the shape - these are cut diagonally into triangles, unlike the Japanese ones, which are rectangles.

I made some for d'hubby's morning break, stuffed with rice mixed with Korean seaweed; with some dumplings and fishpaste/filament ball. See the empty space in the middle? That was reserved for edamame, only d'hubby couldn't wait another minute for me to take them out from the pot and dry them. He didn't say anything, but turned on his car engine (which is very loud). So I hastily snapped a pic and send it off. Of course with no sauce, but that just serves him right for being so rude! *_*

The kids had the same for lunch, complete with the edamame.
As for me, I had a big brunch of nasi lemak with sotong and kerang after the annoying incident. Felt much better after that... *_*

Bento # 85 - # 91 - Adult bentos for morning break

Since the kids had been eating out or having takeaways, I decided to pack bento for d'hubby instead. He prefers to lunch with colleagues, so these bentos were for his morning break. These bentos went back 1 month ago. I was contemplating not to post this as the bentos were rather boring. But thought my dear sis, Biblo, needed some encouragement to post her bentos which are also not of the kawaii category.

Bento #85 - just simple ham, cheese & lettuce sandwich, swiss roll and Kueh Bahulu.

Bento # 86 - futomaki, unagi maki, curry puff (from Ikea which has less and less fillings), a small piece of brownie and packet soju from the Bento party organised by Bentopet and Emily. Thanks! Those came in handy as I don't think d'hubby will be impressed by cutesy container... hehe..Bento # 87 - Mixed herb pita bread with french garlic ham, lettuce & capsicum, with flower & roll from sandwich ham and cheddar cheese.
The blue bento box is actually a Mickey Mouse box, which d'hubby said didn't suit his image..... haha. So I tried this round black box below for Bento #88. Looked good. In reality, after I took the photo, I couldn't fit the upper container (with fruits) on top of the lower container although the later wasn't filled to the brim. The upper container takes up almost 1/3 of the bottom container's space. I had to rearrange the items to accommodate that. So it's actually pretty small. No wonder my sis had to bring two of these boxes for lunch.

Bento # 89 - Bakchang (made by a SIL's grandmother) cut into half to fit in the box, garnished with capsicum & lettuce, mini mandarin oranges and honeydew.

Bento # 90 - chicken curry puff, longan, peanut angku kueh, and mini mandarins.

Bento # 91 - charsiew pau, siumai, prawn wrap, edamame, grapes and mini mandarin.
So my dear sis, I've posted my boring bentos. Now your turn!! No more excuse that your bento is boring.

Fantastic Four

Blessed Mom and Angeline passed me this tag some time ago. Shame on me for taking so long to do it.... ^_^



Four places I go over and over:-
-Solaris Mont Kiara for kids' classes, various cafe and Cold Storage;
-Toys'R'Us during this hols for free entertainment;
-BookRental shop in Desa Sri Hartamas for my reading fix;
-Mysoju.com for a daily dose of Korean/Taiwan drama.


Four people who email me regularly:-
-My eldest sis (passing on jokes etc, only she got the email address wrong and my hubby who gets a copy at his office email will tell me about it);
-My hubby (more jokes);
-hubby's aunt in Sg (religious / inspirational messages and updates on grandchildren);
-spammers.


Four of my favorite places to eat:-
-Japanese restaurant in Renaissance Hotel for all-you-can-eat buffet on Saturdays;
-Delicious at Bangsar Village;
-Ming Room at BSC for yummy dimsum;
-Any place with good Nasi Lemak


Four places I’d rather be:-
-In Tokyo, buying Bento Accessories;
-In Brisbane, enjoying the holiday Blessed Mom & Family just had ^_*;
-In Paris, because I've not been there and would love to sit at a cafe sipping coffee *hint, hint to d'hubby*;
-In Singapore, for Christmas..... oh wait... I'll be there next week.... *_* ..... I love over-commercialised Christmas, better than oh-so-boring all-shops-are closed Christmas in Western countries.


Four TV shows I could watch over and over:-
Can only think of one - Friends, my all time favourite which I'm still watching on Astro 10 years on. I may watch certain episodes of some Korean/Taiwanese drama a few times... but doubt I'll still watch them for the next 10 years.


Four people I think will respond:-
-Biblo
-Emily
-Kel
-Arlene

Fancy Sushi for dinner

I was bowled over by Kel's fancy sushi here. And she has very kindly translated the tutorial she got from a Mandarin website to English. Thanks again Kel!

When I showed the pic to the kids to show them what they'll be having for dinner, Boylet wasn't keen on the flower. So I googled and managed to find one with a boat instead here.

And my product... not too good, looked more like a flagpole than a boat... haha. But I give myself a pass for a first attempt *thick skin ^_^*. The flag was ebikko mixed with rice with a filament stick in the middle, and the pole and 'boat' was egg. My eldest sis, took one look and said "What for!" What a party pooper.

That's what the kids had for dinner: fancy sushi, ebikko/filament stick maki, baby octopus gunkanmaki, seaweed/tofu soup and fruits - watermelon, rockmelon and honeydew.
Of course, Babylet came running when she saw the camera. And here she is with her current favourite pose.

Hand-me-downs

Periodically, I would look through Girlet's and Boylets outgrown clothings to either give away or let Babylet use. I found this pair of beaded slippers that Girlet used to wear.


Babylet tried on the slippers, and I told her, "wah, your new shoes are so pretty". Babylet was very proud and walked around the house with it, beaming away, like this.

Then came Girlet, who took a look at the slippers and said "Those are my old shoes". Immediately, Babylet's expression changed to this.

She took off the slippers and said "I want MeiMei's new shoes". Oopsie! Kids can be so vain even at the age of 27 months. By the way, I took the angry expression pic after the incident just for this post, and vain Babylet is ever ready to pose for the camera. She can turn on her glaring look very well, huh?