Monday, August 25, 2008

BENTO #124

School begins today after a week of holidays. #1 is back to college for the beginning of her second semester. She did pretty well for her first semester exams despite missing two weeks of it because of her participation in the WYD celebrations in Australia. Hubs and I are very proud of her!

#2 SMS'ed me from the airport in Seoul, Korea. She's boarding the plane back to KLIA in an hour's time and arrive about midnight. We were a little frenzied last night because the phone and internet lines were cranky and we couldn't communicate for very long before the line kept cutting off.

Finally we got her message that she had won the Silver medal for the Solo category which she competed in. I was elated! I didn't expected her to win anything because the week preceding the trip, #2 had been very sick and had 3 different doctor's consultation in 5 days! I am trilled and really praise God for the wonderful things He has blessed upon my family!

It was #3's first day of school after the holidays and she was grumpy that the holidays ended so fast!! I think that she was the only one who had a 'real holiday' because she slept over at her god-brother's house for 2 nights and on the fourth day had a great time enjoying a picnic near a stream in the Taman Tun Park.

Back home, we had a party on Monday night for some of our Church Youth team and then a "luicha" fellowship for some Priests' and one who was back here to visit family. Had a great time enjoying the company and delicious "lui cha". The visiting Priest was the one who initiated my first "lui cha" experience. He taught me the formula and how to cook it. His comment "Well done! You have maintained the standard well!" Hahaha! That made my day!


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My lunch bento today consists of the left over "lui cha". See the black flask on the left? It's got my hot "lui cha" soup in it. The soup is a mixture of basil, mint leaves, peanuts, sesame seeds, pepper corns, tea leaves, salt, some bitter herbs, some 'jambu' leaves and some Thai coriander leaves. It's all blended together into a paste and mixed into hot boiling water to make a wonderful, aromatic herbal soup!

In the left bento box is a bed of vegetables on top of a layer of garlic rice. From top to bottom: Kai Lan, salty Choy Poh (pickled vegetables), Choy Sum, white firm tau foo and long beans.



In the right bento box, from top to bottom: 5 spice tau foo, sweet potato leaves, leek and peanuts. This is an awesome meal. I love the flavor of "lui cha" because of the herbs in the soup and the lovely blend of all flavors from the vegetables and ingredients. Most of the items are fried with garlic and dried prawns so it's very aromatic and sweet.



Yummilicious!!!

13 comments:

Emily said...

I only had Lui Cha once and it did not agree with me! Did not enjoy the soup. But yours is very tempting!

Very cute 'eggplant' containers!

Congratulations to #2!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your girl's achievement..:)

Great stuff.

Please drop by my crip when u have the time.

Nightwing.

3lilangels said...

Congrats to #2. Praise God indeed!

Lui Cha - that's a typical Hakka dish. I remember my late grandmother preparing it. As a kid, I did not enjoy it. But you made it look and sound absolutely delicious. What a variety! Just perfect for bento.

allthingspurple said...

Lui Cha sounds and looks awesome. Bet it taste as awesome as you said.

Congrats on #2 !! You must be so happy that she did so well despite all odds.

Bento Pet said...

emily: There are various concoctions of the soup. Some are nicer that others. But, it really is an acquired taste and a situation of either "love it or hate it"...hahaha!

Thanks! I'm so proud of her.

Bento Pet said...

nightwing: Thanks so much for the award! I'm humbled by your kindness and your unceasing support! *hugs*

Bento Pet said...

3lilangels! Yes, praise God indeed, otherwise it would have been hard to even get placed. She was pitched against some amazing music scholars.

The wonderful thing is #2 herself admits that God had a hand it her success! What a wonderful testimony!

Bento Pet said...

allthingspurple: "lui cha" is really an acquired taste and one either love it or hates it. One friend described the soup as drinking drain water! Aggghhhh...!

Thanks! We didn't expect much except for #2 to get some international exposure from the 8 participating countries. God is good!

Bento Pet said...

3lilangels: You know, for beginners it good to just eat 'dry' without the soup. It's like 'fried rice' and then try the last two spoons full with the soup.

It's then not so intimidating! Hahaha!

nobu said...

I think "LuI cha" is very healthy drink.

I am Princess Misha's Mum said...

very nice lui cha :)

congrats to #2 too!

Bento Pet said...

nobu: It is supposed to be very healthy. I love this but it's so much work.

Bento Pet said...

i am princess misha's mum: Thank you for the congratulatory message!!

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