Bento 215 & CONGRATULATIONS DJ!

This morning was an early wake up call to reach school by 7.00a.m. because #2 and her school choir had a district level choir competition to compete in. They have in the last few months practiced fervently for this competition.

#2 is the President and also Choir conductor of the DJ Choir. Today, after umpteen years of being unplaced in the District level schools choir competition, DJ emerged the CHAMPIONS!

Credit must be accorded to the Choir teacher in charge, the Choir mistress, all the dedicated choir members and prayers from all quarters! It has been a long, tedious and hard journey to reach this great achievement.

Next up is the State level championships! Good luck DJ!

This morning's bento was quick and simple. Mixed salad with pears in one box and some fish balls skewered with kyuri. There was konnyaku noodles mixed with tuna mayo.

Sake no Nanbantsuke

This smilebox recipe has been long outstanding!

Ingredients:
Sake - 4 pieces
Carrot - 1/3
Onion - 1
Lemon - 1
Plain flour for coating
Salt and pepper

Dressing:
Shoyu - 1 - 1.5 tbsp
Vinegar - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 4 tbsp
Dashi - 1 cup
Salt - a pinch
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Method:
1. Marinate Sake with pepper and salt and coat with flour.
2. Fry Sake till crispy.
3. Slice lemon and onions.
4. Layer sliced lemon in a casserole and then Sake, topped with onions, lemons and carrots.
5. Prepare dressing and pour into casserole to soak Sake.
6. Serve after at least 2 hours or more.
7. Can soak overnight and serve the next day also.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Bento 214

If you have noticed, I've been packing an extra box of mixed salad for #2 over the last week or so. It's because she's had to stay back for extra curricular activities up to 4.00p.m. and that means she needs enough to keep her going till then.

Today, just like the last week, it's chopped mixed salad with slivered ham and fish balls tossed in sesame seed dressing. It's packed in the usual cool gel box.

In the metal bottom box are Lebanese rolls packed with fried chicken shreds, sliced kyuri, baby romaine, sliced fresh button mushrooms and a dash of kewpie mayo.

The plastic top box consists of yellow Kiwi and a small silicon cup of White's toasted oats.


A complete picture of today's bento set!

Bento 213

This bento took 20 minutes to prepare in the morning. On the left box there is leftover roasted Rosemary lemon chicken, fresh mushrooms and rollo rosa drizzled with Kewpie mayo, all wrapped in a freshly pan fried pancake.

In the middle is a box of cut apples.

The right box is currently #2's favorite box. It's packed with lots of cut vegetables and tossed in salad cream. The cooling gel in it's cover maintains the cool temperature in this box of salad.

I was at Daiso @ the Curve last week and bought two more sizes of this type of box with cooling gel.

The oval one below is 380 ml in size.


This square one below is 450ml and is quite large. I am thinking that besides salads, sushi is another good item to pack in these type of boxes.

Gardasil

Bento 212

This morning's bento was simple and tasty. Some fried sprouts and corn and a chocolate cake in the bottom box.

Some left over globe grapes and grilled pork which tastes just delicious.

Yum, Yum!

Cinnamon Banana

There has been requests for, how to make "Cinnamon Banana"? This is very easy!

Slice a banana



and sprinkle cinnamon sugar. I buy this from McCORMICK.


Enjoy!

WOW!

Two days ago, #2 mentioned about "Britains Got Talent" - about an elderly 'dowdy' lady who wowed the entire audience. I happened to check out You Tube and was 'WOWED'!

Check it out if you've not heard.

Click here

Bento 211

#2 loved the box with the cooling gel which I packed her salad into yesterday. She asked to use the same box again. I grilled some chicken breasts and sliced them up and tossed them with some chopped up romaine salad, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. I used sesame dressing today.

In the top box are some cut up pears, apples and raisins tossed in some orange juice.

In the bottom metal box is a cinnamon and raisin cake and some sesame seed stick crackers.

Bento 210

It's been a busy weekend of activities and parties. This morning I didn't hear the alarm clocks and was sound asleep until I heard thumping on my room door. I guess it was #2, I rushed to get ready and downstairs to prepare her bento.

Here is a box of salad mixed with a quarter slice of fried salmon, all mixed up with some salad cream. #2 requested for this box where there is a cooling gel which can keep the salad cool.



In her regular box are some boiled and fried fish balls, skewered together with a slice of carrot. There are some Kundang fruits and tomatoes.

The last batch of de-seeded globe grapes.

Getting to know Bento Pet

I've always had fun with packing my bentos. I do them at my pace and my way. I'm a MAMA with 3 girls I term 'babies'.

This is a last minute submission because I wasn't feeling well this morning and when I did feel better this afternoon, I donned on my apron and began working on the ONE cooking skill which I enjoy most - SUSHI!

So, who am I? Javapot wants to know.


I am a "Tiger" Mama. By depicting you my Chinese Zodiac sign, you should be able to calculate my AGE! Telling you how old I am shows you that I am comfortable in my own skin. I'm always busy with my 3 baby 'cubs'.

I used my single layer Jabuko box to pack the "Tiger" sushi made up of egg soboro, ground black sesame seeds, simmered kampyo, nori, gamaboko, French bean and Japanese sushi rice.

I stuck "my" eyes a little cross eyed because I'm always dazed and amazed at the things my 3 little cubs do and share with me during our 'after-school' chit-chats.


I'm a free and easy person. I love to eat fruits and vegetables although my eldest daughter will tell you that "I'm ALL about carbs!" The size and content of the "Tiger sushi" is relative to how large I am in reality. *sniggers*

I'm always on the prowl to taste and experiment new food and recipes. Notice my skewered kimchi roll, spring onions with tuna mayo roll and "bunga kantan" (Torch ginger flower) veggie roll?

The 3 tomato heads depict the loves of my life. My husband is missing here because I think if he had to say one thing about "Bento" even if to save his life, he'd be dumbfounded! LOL!

Hope you've got to know me better.


Edit: Added a zoom in picture of the "Tiger" sushi.



Go here to vote for your favorite bento!

Lebanese bread roll ups

Not feeling too good today, down with a bad headache. I did a quick fix roll up sandwich today.

The kids and I have been patronizing this place called Desserts Bar nearby. I'm sure if you're in the vicinity of PJ or KL you would have seen it or even tried their ice-creams.

This year they seem to have expanded their menu not only in the area of desserts but also light snacks. Every month or so they have a menu promotion which is very worth eating. One of their sandwiches I noticed, came with cous cous. I thought that it was an interesting ingredient to add to the egg roll up which they served.

This morning, I made Lebanese bread roll ups which consisted of cous cous mixed with mayo, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and chopped tomatoes on a bed of romaine salad.



Then I lay strips of crabsticks on the cous cous combi and topped with freshly cracked pepper.

Folded the Lebanese bread and tucked it under the romaine salad and gave it a tight nip and tuck!



Viola! The whole roll cut into two. It was very filling!

Bento 209

I met #3's best friend yesterday. The first thing she said to me was "Aunty, I ate your fruits today, they tasted very nice!". When #2 got back from school yesterday, she too was raving about this bento too! I'm just glad that their contents were well received!

Today there is cinnamon sugar on bananas AGAIN! It's just a favorite with the girls. They are always asking me to buy bananas! There were two pieces of Malaysian "kuih" (dessert). This was home made by my friend's mum. Delicious beyond description!




The salad is the balance of onion alfalfa and chopped up rollo rosa with a mix of tuna, onions and mayo.

Viola! Another day, another meal!

Bento 207 & 208

#3's bento box

#3 insisted that I posted her bento today. Most days, I don't, because I feel that hers is not really 'bento worthy' to be posted. I relented today because she's trying something new and hope this post encourages her to try different food or cooking methods.

#3 stays back for dancing classes today at school so she gets a double box. There is spaghetti Aglio Olio mixed with kewpie mayo for lunch time.

I chose not to give her a two tier box because it's still a little challenging for my 10 year old to handle opening and re-stacking the bento box.


Then there is some Chipsmore extra chocolate chips biscuits and the 'new' fruit salad. It's basically made of cut bananas, mangoes, oranges, grapes and orange juice. The orange juice flavors the fruits and keeps it from browning.


#2's bento box

#2 gets a grilled chicken salad today. It's just different types of vegetables which I can find in my fridge, all chopped up and tossed in salad cream. I grilled a piece of marinated chicken (pepper and salt) breast this morning and sliced it up and tossed it together with the salad.

I bought some mini cakes from the "Cake Sense" outlet at Taman Megah and cut up three quarters of the pumpkin raisin cake to completely fill the bento box. They come in three flavors, chocolate, orange and pumpkin raisin. They are square and come in individual foil cups. Surprisingly, they are quite delicious. All three flavors are good, my personal favorite is the orange one.

This fruit salad varies, depending on the fruits I have in the fridge. I would have liked to add some apples for the 'crunch' but I ran out. It's a simple and refreshing fruit compote.

Bento 206

Please anticipate a boring week ahead. Bentos are reduced to strictly vegetables and fruits!
I try to slip in some occasional protein or carbo where possible.

Today you see another lot of US red globe grapes. I bought these on Easter Sunday at Jusco @1U. There were dirt cheap at RM0.99/100g (USD 0.28/100g). I got a bag of slightly over 1kg. Often, seeded grapes are not much of a welcome in my home. The older kids don't like the accidental bites into the seeds and the youngest one can't handle the seeds.

Simply said, I had reservations buying too much even though it was cheap. These grapes turned out so honey sweet that even the youngest daughter enjoys it enough to ask for seconds. The seeds are quite large and there are about 2-4 seeds per grape. It was easy to split the grapes and de-seed them with a small and sharp knife.

There's another half a kilo in the fridge so you'll be seeing them often in this week's bentos! I made a quick fix tuna mayo and whole meal bread sandwich this morning. It was just kewpie mayo, chopped onions, gerkins and tuna in olive oil.



I blanched some asparagus spears and stacked them atop some onion alfalfa drenched in sesame seed dressing. Yummilicious!!

PARENT - Job Description

Pauline from Penang sent this to me and it's too good not to share! Thanks Pauline!

POSITION :
Mum, Mummy, Mama, Ma
Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION :

Long term, team players needed, for challenging,
permanent work in an
often chaotic environment.
Candidates must possess excellent communication
and organizational skills and be willing to work
variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends
and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.
Some overnight travel required, including trips to
primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities!
Travel expenses not reimbursed.
Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

The rest of your life
Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily,
until someone needs $5.
Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
Also, must possess the physical stamina of a
pack mule
and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat
in case, this time, the screams from
the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges,
such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets
and stuck zippers.
Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and
coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings
for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
Must be a willing to be indispensable one minute,
an embarrassment the next.
Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a
half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices..
Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Must assume final, complete accountability for
the quality of the end product.
Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and
janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :

None.
Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills,
so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :

None required unfortunately.
On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :

Get this! You pay them!
Offering frequent raises and bonuses.
A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because
of the assumption that college will help them
become financially independent.
When you die, you give them whatever is left.
The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that
you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more..

BENEFITS :

While no health or dental insurance, no pension,
no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and
no stock options are offered;
this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love,
and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.


** AND A FOOTNOTE 'THERE IS NO RETIREMENT -- EVER!!!

The free hugs, kisses and unconditional love has created a meltdown of the Job Description. May I be the first in the line to apply?

Bento 205

This week's bento will be a week of fruits and vegetables because there's an important event upcoming and a pretty dress to fit.

In this bento is a piece of store bought scone and some grapes, de-seeded for easy eating.


The top box is packed tightly with chopped up rollo rosa, corn nibblets, tomatoes, apples, onion alfalfa and some salad cream dressing. It's fruits and vegetables but this can get very filling!

Where does the waste go to?

Sometimes we forget how blessed we are and take life for granted....

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Bento 203 & 204

It was Good Friday yesterday, a day of universal fast and abstinence. The bento was plain whole meal bread and an un-peeled banana each.

There has been continuous heavy downpour over the last one week. The cool weather has been a great relief but the destruction to the garden has been drastic. My herbs has literally drowned to death and some pots blown off their pedestals and broken. *sniff, sniff* My gardener will have a very busy weekend ahead.

Cool evenings call for warming food, ideally Oden. When my eldest daughter saw me cooking Oden for dinner last night, she was trilled! Must have been missing this delicious soupy dish for a long while.

This morning #2 got another over-ripe Kiwi (I've frozen the rest for smoothies because they taste a tad too soft now!). There were some marshmallows in the same top box too.

I packed the Oden without soup for fear of spillage. Clockwise: Hanpen, fish cake, chikuwa, konnyaku and an egg. To complete the box are two pieces of chicken nuggets in a silicon cup.

#1 begins her final semester examinations today. It's five hours back to back today and last night she asked me to pack a bento for her. *Hurray*

I fed her a hearty lunch before she got to college and packed her a tonkatsu sandwich. I placed some rollo rosa salad on a slice of whole meal bread and topped it with a piece of tonkatsu. On it, I squeezed lots of Wasabi mayo and covered it with more rollo rosa salad and another slice of whole meal bread. This method ensures that the bread will not get soggy. I used a food pick to hold each of the sandwich together before putting it into the collapsible sandwich box. You can't see the food picks, they are hidden in the middle.

I try to use this collapsible sandwich box for my eldest girl because she doesn't like to bring with her the 'bulky' bento box. Every time she asks for a bento, I will use this box so that when she finishes her food, she can just fold the top portion and it ends up less than a quarter of it's original size!


In the bottom box, there are some cut up oranges and apples. I packed a giraffe fork into the box so that I don't need to pack any cutlery for her. I had to use an extra LONG bento strap for this and it did look very STRETCHED!

#1 would have to eat her sandwich with her hands so I packed an oshibori for her and tied them up in a furoshiki. I didn't want to give her a 'childish' bento bag, I thought that this looked better for a young adult. I didn't take a picture of the oshibori box, it's like a huge anti-biotic, half red and half white. Not kiddish and suitable for her (I hope).


The handkerchief I bought was far too large and bulky for this collapsible sandwich box. Will probably have to re-size it.

Bento 202

I'm just back from a short break to a nearby mountain destination. I'll blog about it in another post when I can.

Right now, it's back to bento business. There wasn't much fresh food in the refrigerator because we were away for almost a week and I had to make do this morning for a quick fix.

There were two pieces of store bought cherry tart and raspberry custard tarts. I cut them in half and stuffed them into the top box. The over ripe kiwi got stuck into a square silicon cup.


I chopped up some salad and tossed them into a store bought vinaigrette onion dressing. I also filled half a silicon cup full of mackerel in oil (canned).

The salad and mackerel would go well mixed up but I'm not sure how #2 likes the combination, so I packed them separately in two silicon cups. I thought that she could just toss them together into the box and mix them up for a more delicious flavor!

Bento 201

This is the last bento post for this week. I will be taking a short break and be back on Wednesday, posting bento again.

Thank you everyone who posted congratulatory messages for my 200th bento post. Will respond to comments as soon as I can. Been very busy lately.

This morning's bento was a quick one. There were plump cherry tomatoes and cinnamon bananas in the top box.


The bottom box had a slice of Salmon which I marinated last night. Fried it this morning and sliced it in half for packing purposes. There were some slices of tamagoyaki and some blanched lady fingers.

Very fast and very efficient, 10 minutes!