Hahaha!

I visited Emily, I was bored and I impulsively took this test! Hahaha!

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

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No bento day!

Friday's class ends at 9.30a.m. Shuttling continues to music class, choir practices, music practices and a non-stop preparation for competitions and weekend programs.

I baked 6 of these babies yesterday in between runs.

Bento 257

This morning was easy because #3 took a box of cookies to school and I'm sending her a pizza for lunch afterwards. The two elder girls class begin at 10.00a.m and I had time to go back to sleep and wake up again to pack a bento for #2 and breakfast for #1.

I made a meat loaf last night so it's meat loaf sandwich this morning. The capsicum and onions gave the meat loaf a sweet and flavorful taste. Yum Yum.

There is also a pear and some lady fingers in the bottom box.



Yesterday, mum and I baked orange cookies using a cookie press.

Meat loaf

I was bored last night and tried my hand at making meat loaf. I browsed through several recipe websites and finally figured that I had to improvise on the recipe because I didn't want to shop for the unavailable stuff.

This is a good reference for the cooking method although I didn't follow the ingredients to the tee. As you can see the picture below, the ingredients I used was minimal and available at home.

My recipe:
250 ground beef
250 ground pork
1/2 cup cream
1 tbsp Lea & Perrins
2 tbsp tomato sauce
3 heap tbsp bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Celery
1 large yellow onion (chopped)
1 red capsicum (chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste.


Method:
Saute the onions and capsicum in some EVOO. Allow to cool. Set aside.
Use hands and mix the meats and the rest of the ingredients together well.
Mix the onion and capsicum mix with the meat mix last.


I didn't have a small loaf tin so I used this round glass container.
I set the oven for 180 C and baked for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Below was the outcome.



Not only looks nice but tasted absolutely delicious!! First time and a great success too! Love the taste and texture.

Bento 256

#3 has been giving me hard time by refusing to sleep early and thus have a harder time waking up in the morning for school! When I have to struggle with her in the morning then I will also struggle with packing the bentos.

Most mornings I pack three bentos. Two for #3 and one for #2. I also prepare breakfast for #1, so everything has to be complete in half an hour at the max. Then we rush off to school.

This morning was a frenzy because all three kids were running late and I had to choose today to have steam fish and Korean roll-ups!



If you notice, I've changed the bento box because #2 complained that the other one leaks so be ready for more change.

The color is inclined to too much orange today - blame it on poor planning! *sigh*




Mum and I baked Chocolate chip cookies yesterday.

Bento 255

#2 has been talking about adopting a vegetarian diet during the upcoming Lent which begins on 17th February (during the Chinese New Year celebrations). Traditionally, we abstain from meat and maintain a seafood and vegetable diet over the 40 days. One year we tried to be a little more ambitious and thus tried to be completely vegetarian. Hahaha! I think, we didn't even last one week!

This morning's bento is bare of protein. There is spaghetti topped with furikake and some freezer stash of Ratatouille.



The right box has a mixed chopped veggie and a small box of frozen passion fruit pulp as dressing. Trying to keep the salad dressings healthy and thus resorting to fruits now.



Mum and I were busy baking yesterday.

Bento 254

I made some roast chicken sandwich in croissant and salad this morning. The roast chicken was left over from here and was flavored with lemon and Rosemary, I added a dash of mayo.


The left box had a Kiwi, a box of mashed potatoes (from the roast chicken) to which I added a clove of roasted garlic, salt and pepper. Two strawberries for added color.

New 100 Yen Store

I bought this at the new 100 Yen store in Aman Suria. It's been open for about one month already and it's our favorite SNOW ICE store. I love the Mango flavor and lately they've added two new flavors.

This store carries a variety of bento boxes and some bento accessories. It's nothing to cry out loud about but it does carry the standard variety of (US) Japanese Dollar store items.

Sometimes when I pack food for #2, I'm not only constrained by flavors and allergies but also food which has gravy. Sometimes the bento box tilts in her bag and gravy or sauce spills and #2 would get all flurried.

I've been eying on this for a while and finally succumbed to the temptation and necessity.

I have the smaller size ones, which are really small and not quite suitable. These are 30ml and hopefully be more useful.


There are lots of sushi helpers, food cutters, molds and food picks if you are interested.

The address is as follows:
100 Yen
Aman Suria
12A-BG, Jalan PJU 1/43
Aman Suria Damansara
47301 PJ, Selangor.

Note: It's facing the main road from Dataran Prima towards Tropicana/Bandar Utama.
Same row as KAYU.

Bento 253

It's Saturday and #2 has replacement class for a forth coming public holiday. She attended the College orientation night, last night and had fun. The food was another story.

This morning I packed some ladies fingers, fried pork and bankuang (Jicama) and some fried ngar ku (Arrowroot), leek and prawns in the left box.




There was some rice mixed with sesame seeds, topped with furikake and some strawberries. She loved today's bento!

Bento 252

Today, #2 finishes after lunch because there is a meeting for the SASA scholars at HELP. I packed her some Onigiri so it should last her till then.

The rice was cooked this morning and basically mixed with toasted sesame seeds, salt and some furikake. The center was filled with tuna. (I had two for breakfast):)


The left box has a corner silicon cup of toasted almonds tossed in sugar. A mixed salad, in salad cream and some strawberries which I picked up from Tesco yesterday.

Roast Chicken Yum! Yum! on Smilebox

I made this for a potluck last night. Received some raving reviews. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Bento 251

Classes for both the elder girls begin mid morning today. I slept in and had time in my hands to think of making some vegetable rolls. I used the Vietnamese paper rolls to roll julienned kyuri, carrots, courgette and alfalfa sprouts. For the sauce, I simply used some sesame seed dressing.


For Carbohydrates and Protein, there was spaghetti aglio olio topped with last night's left over Roast Chicken. There was some Milanese Pennetone for dessert.

Bento 250

I'm back at planning my bentos so the mornings are organized and quite a breeze. No rush, no stress and best of all no need to wake up 30 minutes earlier!

There is a mixed veggie and tomato salad in one side of the box and a mini Laugen on the other side.


In the top box, there is steamed sole fillet with salt, pepper and ginger strips (removed) and some ham rolls with bread in it's middle.

Easy peasy bento today!

Bento 249

I cooked a fresh batch of Ratatouille yesterday. It not only smelled heavenly, it also tasted heavenly. I'd forgotten how delicious it was!

My children asked for Ham and so, when I went grocery shopping yesterday I bought a batch of Honey baked ham. Actually, ham is a rare commodity in this household. It is normally bought during festive seasons and when there are occasional requests. There is a long list of reasons why I shy away from it and because I've ranted about it in previous posts so it's not going to appear here today.

Anyway, I cut the ham sandwich into nine pieces to fit this bento box. It could take four slices of bread and it would serve to fill #2's stomach well today.


Ratatouille and sliced kyuri was in the smaller (right) box. I refrained from topping the Ratatouille with Parmesan cheese for #2.

Happy 101 Award

Thank you Kashmirkat for the Happy 101 award

The award comes with a couple rules:

Copy the award image into a post. List 10 things that make you happy. Tag 10 bloggers who brighten your day. Put in a link to their blog. Notify the award receivers. Recipients should link back to the sender's blog.

************************

Here's 10 things that make me HAPPY!

My family - keeps the love real!
My religion - keeps me in check!
Being able to bento - this passion has grown on me.
Shuttling my kids to and fro school - provides personal time for 'heart' discussions.
Sleeping - unfortunately this is much lacking.
My church community - the activities, fellowship and parties are a choice we made.
Music - most of it makes me happy.
Reading - with a cup of hot coffee beside me.
Korean movies - lately, this has been keeping me busy.
Sashimi - God's gift to (Wo)man!!

I'm passing it on to only five people although the rule says ten. *grins guiltily* (sorry!)
I know some of you would already have received this award and perhaps some don't do tags or pass on awards (like me, sometimes) but that's okay, the ball is in your court. Enjoy!

A Daily Obsession
Bento babe aka Flying Lily
Bento Concept
Javapot
Viggies Veggies

Note to self: I need to update on Awards!

Bento 248

The weekend was busy as usual. The two elder girls were involved with some last minute request to lead an activity which finished on a high note. LC Thank you for the invitation.

I haven't had time to replenish bento stocks yet. I also didn't plan this morning's menu so I had to make sure my alarm clock gave me a one hour head start this morning! *Aggghhhh...hate it when this happens*

Woke up at 6.00a.m. and began cooking the spaghetti. Chopped some white onions and mashed them with canned Tuna and mayo (this seems to be a staple).

I rummaged the fridge for fruits and found some frozen tangerines, Kiwi and mini pears. I figured the lack of color would be resolved if I used all three fruits. Finally I still had to add the tomatoes for a splash of red.


This was really a "think on the spot menu" and felt quite chaotic trying to put it together. I'm going grocery shopping TODAY!

Bento 247

Friday classes for #2 is only an hour. Technically there's no need for a bento and that gives me a break. I welcome that, thank you!

But...being passionate as I am about packing bento, I can't stay away. I'm happy packing bento and it gives me a great sense of satisfaction, so I packed one for myself today. *grins widely*

We're normally on a seafood diet on Fridays, so today's bento is basically fried (pepper and salted) sole fish fillet coated in corn flour, beaten egg and pounded cream crackers.

There was a mixed salad in EVOO and lemon juice, salt and pepper, some freezer stock of Ratatouille and baby tomatoes as fillers.

It was quite a hearty meal and I enjoyed my treat! *grins again*

Oh brother!

Ok! So I'm a dud when it comes to photography. I hear people talk about shutter speed, light, settings, exposure, aperture, etc, etc. It makes no sense to me and I'm not interested to know.



In my world, "the simpler the better". I told my husband "please buy me something which I only need to press a button and the process is complete and over". Well, I've learnt over the years that it's not as simple as I wished it to be. *rolls eyes*



This was my first 'personal' camera. It died on me after a couple of years. We got it repaired at the Olympus centre in Hartamas. It finally gave way anyway. The flip lock for the batteries broke and from my unprofessional observation and point of view, it looks like the entire camera frame needs to be replaced. *shakes head*

So, we got this baby. One week later we found that it 'sucks the energy DRY from my poor batteries. It was giving me about a dozen or less pictures everytime I used FULLY charged batteries. I thought at first that my rechargeables were getting old and so I replaced new ones but the result was the same.

The first time it went bonkers (something wrong with the shutters), I got it repaired at the Olympus center and complained to the technician. Guess what! It's a common complaint and that's what you get if you don't know how to ask before you buy! *I felt so smart* (sarcasm meant here).

So, this baby died too at the end of last year.

For a time, I had to try make do with #1's toy. I don't know why she calls it a 'toy' because I'm absolutely NOT amused by it. Neither either by it's weight nor size! Hmmmphhh...couldn't handle the monster.

Too many buttons and issues to deal with.

I finally settled with this little retard. This belongs to #2.

No! Those colorful crystals didn't come with the camera. She bought them and bedazzled the camera. She had to add them one by one - so much patience!

I think I like this little retard because it's really easy to use. Just press 'food' on the menu and snap my bento. No hassle, no problem and no stress! Yippeeee!!!!

Bento 246

It's getting more and more difficult to pack #2 Bento. There are so many restrictions because of allergy reasons, a need to nurture and preserve supple vocal chords.

No cheese, no milk, no chocolates, no spicy or fiery flavors, no chicken, no rice (except when it's sushi time), no fried stuff, no food with sauces (sometimes it spills), no, no, no!

It's a challenge twice over to pack bento and sometimes I ignore signals of warning when I pack a certain type of "NO" food. Problem is, #2 would also ignore it and it'll be left in the box! Aggghhhhh!!!

Today's bento is as plain as it can get. Plain spaghetti Aglio Olio with some furikake and a box of peas in between apple slices and some plump baby tomatoes.

Bento 245

#2 was sick yesterday. All the bad air and weather resulted in a day of rest at home.

Nonetheless, we had sushi last night. I fried some Chicken Katsu and it tasted delicious in the sushi.




This was #2's bento for today. One sliced up mini pear and a mix of sushi rice, Chicken Katsu, carrots, kyuri, kewpie mayo and sakura denbu. A yummylicious mix!

Bento 244

All three girls had morning classes and it was all hurry burry!

I made Onigiri and it took longer than usual to pack this bento. Cooking the rice over the stove (as I commonly do now) and allowing time for the steam dry process took about 12 minutes in total.

Check an old blog post for the method to make Onigiri.


The top bento had a box of apples and vegetables in a mix of passion fruit pulp. I packed an energy bar for snack.

Cha Soba

Friday classes at college for #2 is only an hour and a half. Breakfast is a healthy rolled oats so there is no bento required.

Tonight's dinner below:


Cold Cha Soba! Yums!

Bento 243

Today we had noodles for lunch and #2 had a fruit bento to go. College begins at 2.oop.m. and she didn't want to bring a bento with her. I offered a fruit bento and she welcomed it.

I froze some tangerines last night and at noon today I cut some apples into cubes and mixed them all together with the pulp from a passion fruit.

It's a simple and refreshing fruit bento for a quick snack.
If you notice, I used the bento box with the cold pack from the freezer.

Bento 242

I am relishing this wonderful 'drive' for packing bentos. I was exhausted this morning because friends came by last night and we were up till past midnight. My wake up call for 2010 is at 6.15a.m but I couldn't drag myself up till 6.40a.m.

Whoa! So late! Thank goodness for my paranoid planning ahead habit. I already had a menu and layout sketched out for this morning's bento and I just had to put it together.

Yesterday's leftover spaghetti Aglio Olio from lunch came in handy and luckily I had the good sense to pull out a box of Bolognaise sauce from the freezer for use this morning.

I took fifteen minutes to put this bento together. There's chopped baby corn with some rollo rosa and julienne carrots, all tossed in some sesame seed dressing.


There is left over fruit cake from Christmas for dessert today and a mix of Spaghetti and Bolognaise sauce for a hearty lunch. Mmmm....college lasts for seven hours today with three back to back classes and a short break in between. I hope #2 has time to eat.

Bento 241

It's a wonderful, fulfilling emotion to be able to pack bento again! I have begun planning and clearing my freezer for future stock purchases. I've always been passionate about packing bento despite the time and commitment constraints.

I'm just too happy that #2 still wants her food packed even though she's already off to college.
#2 obtained a one year full scholarship of her choice from HELP University College under its annual School Achiever Scholarships Awards (SASA). Orientation was yesterday and today classes begin.
There is music in the air, everywhere! There are University auditions, competitions, multiple choir practices, camps, music exams, college exams and the entire works for another busy year ahead.

For energy and passion, surely there must be bento! LOL!
This morning I packed two mini Laugen sandwiches stuffed with tuna mayo. There was some leftover teriyaki chikuwa from last night's dinner. It's quite delicious and simple to cook. Just toss the sliced chikuwa into some oil in a pan and fry lightly. Then add some mirin, sake, shoyu and sugar, cook down the sauce till it gets a little sticky. Yummy!

I blanched some peas and mixed them with some corn and salad cream. Simple and delicious.

Bento 240

Happy New Year everyone! It's been an overdrive of camps, short trips and an overload of activities and caroling. All in all, it's been tiring but exhilarating!

I think it's been almost three months since my last bento post. Sorry people, end year activities needed critical attention and erratic exam schedules pushed bento packing to the bottom on the priority list.

But...I'm back and this is my first bento for 2010!
It's basically blanched broccoli and carrots with a drizzled top of sesame seed dressing. Today's main meal is a roasted chicken and ham sandwich in a cluster of rollo rosa.


Both meats were leftovers from Christmas. #2 was sweet to help me cut up all the roasted chicken shreds and a small block of pineapple ham. Mixed them together with some Kewpie mayo and pepper and viola a delicious gourmet spread.