Bento #23

Today's bento is so boring! Just Cha Soba with frozen dipping sauce on the side in one box and an egg croissant and freshly baked brownies in the other. One frozen bottle of juice!

Matching colors of bento box and juice bag on the right!

Mountain of brownies - won't last long!

Dinner - Udon in broth

As usual, I cannot remember to take photos of the food I cook other than the morning bento!

Suddenly it dawned on me that I could upload tonight's dinner even though no bento!

Since there were a few more strands of Udon and some broth, I put them into a small bowl (actually I served this in a huge bowl). Topped the Udon with kakiage.

Kakiage is a mixture of seafood and vegetables in tempura batter, deep fried.

Here, I had large onions, cabbage, french beans, carrots, daikon, potatoes and prawns. The broth is very simple, just dashi, mirin, shoyu and salt to taste. Fast and easy. Hubs complimented tonight's dinner. *Smiling* Read this: Find Your Favorite World's Noodles -Japan-
"Soba & Udon"

Sad Week!

It's been ten days since I sent my maid back to Indonesia. After one year with me, we continued to have differences and many times I spoke to the agency to report "employer abuse"! Anyway, the issue is over. Mum and I have been trying to manage on our own and three girls have been very cooperative. I hope to survive until my new maid arrives in ten days time.

In the midst of all this, my good friend Deanna called early Tuesday morning and asked to meet up to have breakfast. I already had something planned but I rescheduled because she was leaving Wednesday afternoon for Abu Dhabi. We met, finished up some of her errands and had breakfast. When I dropped her off at another friend's house, she said a prayer and tears welled up in my eyes as we parted.

I could sense her excitement to meet up with her husband whom she's not seen for three whole months. She hugged me as she said "goodbye my best friend"! Till we meet again! Keep in touch! And so we shall...I sent her an e-mail yesterday so that when she reaches Abu Dhabi and logs on to the PC, I might be the first to greet her!

Yesterday mum had to rush off to Penang because her sister (my aunt) passed away on Wednesday morning! I couldn't go because of 1001 reasons - you don't want to know anyway!

Then on the news I hear that LUCIANO PAVAROTTI (link: "Pavarotti & Friends for War Child with Bon Jovi." )the Maestro a.k.a. "The King of the high C's' "has died (1935 - 2007)! It's a sad, sad day for many of his Operatic fans, including me! I remember reading in his autobiography one of his favorite quotes: "Every day I remind myself of all that I have been given. ... With singing, you never know when you are going to lose the voice, and that makes you appreciate the time that you have when you are still singing well. I am always thanking God for another season, another month, another performance."

Life is so unpredictable and so unexpected. Perhaps Pavarotti expected to die because he knew he had another type of "C" the big "C". Perhaps he even expected a miracle cure. I'm not trying to be philosophical here. I'm just 'mourning' in my own way - just blabbering along trying to make myself feel better to get out of this melancholy mood. I've linked Pavarotti to some of his memorable (may not be his best but my favorites) You Tube uploads for view. Enjoy!

Daigaku Imo (Candied sweet potatoes)

I'm sorry, there is no bento post this morning because the two girls didn't go to school.

I made this for tea yesterday - "Daigaku Imo" a.k.a candied sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:
Japanese sweet potatoes - 300 g - wash clean with skin intact.
Sugar - 4 tbsp
Water - 2 tbsp
Shoyu - 1 tsp
Black sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp - toasted

Method:
1. Dig out the 'eyes' from the cleaned sweet potatoes.
2. Cut sweet potatoes like 'fries', in long strips.
3. Steam for 5-10 minutes in steamer - check for 'done-ness' using a skewer.
4. When ready, pat dry the sweet potatoes and deep fry in hot oil until brown.
5. Drain on kitchen paper towels.
6. In a shallow non stick skillet, cook sugar, water and shoyu over medium heat.
7. Stir until sugar has dissolved and cook until bubbles appear.
8. Once the sugared sauce turns thick and has a glaze or gloss (caramelize) , turn off the fire.
9. Toss the deep fried sweet potatoes into the caramelized sugar and mix gently.
10. Quickly toss the toasted black sesame seed on top before the the caramelized sugar sets.

This is a very nice Japanese desert. Please try it.

[Daigaku Imo]

Bento #22

I was at Isetan, KLCC yesterday. It was a very busy day and I knew that I would not have time to prepare much for today's bento.

I got a pack of daifukumochi and a chocolate swiss roll filled with cream and raspberry from the Japanese cheese cake shop.

I managed to get some buns from Sun Moulin and filled it with salad and leftover SPAM. A tangy orange to complete the meal!

Bento #21

I normally post the morning's bento after my girls leave for school but today is really, really late - 11.20p.m. Sorry to those of you who came by but there was no update earlier.

The left bento contains mini pancakes with strawberry jam sandwiched in between. There is a 'bear' shaped egg and fried spring rolls - this was a request again.

In the right box are sandwiches I prepared last night. I try to 'sneak' in whole meal bread into their bento whenever I can so I made a triple decker with either wholemeal bread on the outside or the slice in between two white slices. For filling, I fried slices of SPAM lightly and laid on buttered bread. Between the next two pieces of bread I added a slice of cheese. So it was "bread - cheese - bread - spam - bread". I wrapped it up in cling wrap and left it in the fridge last night. The kids loved it!

I skewered some edamame beans to fill up the space. Added some 'energy' food - banana dusted with cinnamon sugar!

Bento #20

I prepared the pork for Tonkatsu last night. Tonkatsu is basically a fillet of pork which is tenderized by using a mallet to hammer down.

It is marinated with salt and pepper and coated with flour, egg and bread crumbs, and deep fried. Just like that! This is a popular deep fried (furai category) dish and complimented with a Worcester type sauce.

On the back bento is blanched vegetables and 4 pieces of 'siew mai'.

The one in front contains a bun bought from a nearby deli and tonkatsu. The two sauce containers has tonkatsu sauce and chili sauce for the 'siew mai'.

In another bento, I put some Japanese rice crackers, marshmallows and Panda biscuits for her to snack on. There was also a bottle of frozen orange juice.

Surprise! Eye Candy

One of my friends got back from Japan and brought me these bento accessories. I was elated at the new stash especially the bento straps, it's really difficult to obtain them. See the orange and green silicon cups on the right, these are re-usable and takes the shape of any space left in the bento. It's very pliable. Look at the cute chopsticks and spoons with it's own 'caps'. I love the little Hello Kitty sauce containers. I'm not really a fan of Hello Kitty but it came in handy this morning to contain the sauces for the bento.

I liked the Hello Kitty templates too. Just dust some furikake onto sushi rice and when removed, it leaves the famous kitty's face embossed on your rice! In front on the right corner are sauce bottles to contain soy sauce. The food cups come in various colors, shapes and sizes. There was even a star punch. I was on a 'high' the whole weekend when I received this stash.

My friend met my kids and I at Onsen, the Japanese restaurant which I posted about earlier. They were having a special Merdeka celebration and offered 50% discount of a selected menu. This is what we had:















I forgot to take the pictures of the Salmon dish and the Saba shioyaki that we ordered but all in all for six main courses the bill came up to RM120/=. I thought it was a steal!






[Japanese food]

Bento #19

More proteins this morning. PMR trials lasts' till the end of the week! Daughter #1 is asking for noodles and rice, Daughter #2 insists on proteins. Well sweethearts, mum is only going to pack the same contents into your bento. You'll have to learn to survive for a while.

On the left is more fried chicken and some spring rolls. The filling is made out of left over roast duck, carrots, fishcake, enoki mushrooms and simmered shitake mushrooms from leftover sushi, all tossed together and fried in oyster sauce.

On the right is home made gyoza and two containers of sauce. Chili sauce for the spring rolls and vinegar dip for the gyoza.


[Gyoza]

Bento #18

Daughter #2 is a food connoisseur. She enjoys eating. Her dream is to operate a music school and a cafe side by side. That's a tall order because she wants to both teach music and cook! I just allow her to rattle on as she shares her hopes and aspirations with me. Who knows what is in store for the future?

She's been eying the packet of potato tortilla and couldn't resist asking for a tuna roll for this morning. It's very easy to make, just butter the tortilla and spread cream cheese or just lay two slices of cheddar cheese on the buttered tortilla. Top it with some salad/vegetables (whatever you have in the fridge), carrots, cucumber and tuna. Finish with mayonnaise and tomato sauce. If you want to make it a gourmet roll, just fry and omelet and add on the base. This is an all time favorite with my kids. Even my 8 year old picky eater loves this!

Today's bento, I added some freshly steamed corn mixed with a blob of butter. To fill the gaps, I added some brownies and marshmallows.

[tortilla]

Bento #17

Today, Daughter #1 stay back at school up to 3.00p.m. I need to pack some substantial food for her to last half the day.

Clockwise: In the yellow paper 'Glad' bag is a croissant, in the pink box is rice crispies in two colors. The box in front contains a hard boiled egg and some salad and strawberries. A small tub of Thousand Island and Salad cream and a box of last night's 'claypot chicken rice' and fried chicken.

Today is Daughter #2 second day of PMR trials. I was Isetan, KLCC yesterday and I saw more Daifukumochi and it looked much nicer. I bought another two boxes.

Daughter #2 told me that yesterday's bento was 'very nice' when I went to fetch her from school. "Could I have the chicken again?".

Okay, make my life easy and have repeat orders. Makes me happy too because I don't have to think of another item for the bento.

Sometimes when I'm planning their bento I am at wits end what to prepare for them. I want them to enjoy their bento but I don't want to give them too much processed food. At the same time, I don't want to end up slogging in the morning to get their food ready. I marinate the chicken ahead of time and freeze so that's easy!

This morning Daughter #2 was up before me and already revising her books. When she saw her 'shaped egg' she was trilled! I gave her the bear face one and the simpler one for her elder sister.

Her whole bento is packed with most of her 'happy food' so I hope she doesn't get so stressed up with the exams.
[bento box]

Bento #16

Today, is the first day of PMR trials for Daughter #2. Last night, before she went to bed, she asked me not to pack any carbohydrates for her bento this morning. Carbo make me very tired mum, I'd like protein in my bento if it's okay. Of course it's okay! I would have gone to the ends of the earth to prepare what she requested. That's what we mothers tend to do, go beyond our call of duty for the love of our family.

This morning I decided to prepare some 'happy food' for her. Daughter #2 loves Japanese food, so last night I went to Jusco @ 1U to purchase some stock. I saw some Daifukumochi and immediately bought a pack. Daifukumochi is a type of glutinous rice cake stuffed with 'anko' (sweetened red beans made from azuki beans). I was sure she'd love it and I was right, first thing this morning when she opened the fridge she exclaimed "can I have the mochi, please?". Okay, my 'happy food' set her in the right mood already.

In the left box, more happy food and proteins; marshmallow, fried chicken de-boned, two types of fish balls with wholegrain mustard.











In the right box, blanched baby corn, broccoli and heart shaped carrots. I topped it with mayo and Parmesan cheese. To completely fill the box, a Mandarin orange for desert.

[daifuku]

Bento #15

Yawn! Rise and shine! I was looking forward to packing my kid's bento because I've missed the early morning excitement.

Right box - filled with sushi rice mixed with some kewpie mayonnaise. Topped with (from bottom): crabsticks, simmered mushroom, kyuri, tamagoyaki, blanched carrots and kampyo. This is my own concoction and it's delicious. You can just chop up any of your sushi filling left overs and do the same. I dusted some sakura denbu on top before I closed the box.

Left box - Brownies, blanched sawi vegetables and sliced orange.

[Bento Boxes]

Party, party!

Last night, we had a party for some youths from our church. There were about 40-50 guests.

The youth leaders co-ordinated and managed the party themselves. The food was marinated by their mums and it was a huge success.

Remember the cocktail molds I posted on Aug 19? Some people were asking what they were for. Well, it came in real handy at last night's BBQ! One of the youths asked for a knife to 'score' the sausages, I remembered my molds and took out 3 for them to use. It was a hit with them.

See the top picture, you can see my favorite guys 'clamping' the molds on the sausages. It saved them so much time.




Everyone enjoyed themselves. The lamb was 'out of this world', it was marinated by one of the mums and was among the first to finish.














I made 4 packets of spaghetti and my own concoction of beef bolognaise sauce and that went as soon as the 'makan' started. It was supposed to supplement the BBQ but the youths just 'attacked' and by the time the rest who came later, there was nothing left! Next time I'll bring the spaghetti out last!
I was very busy and just managed to make a platter of mixed vegetables, thousand island and salad cream. That finished too!

My maid leaves tomorrow and there were lots of last minute things to deal with so I could hardly whip up anything. We were eating meats and I had to provide 'real' plates and steak knives. Luckily I pre-washed the service in my dish washer, otherwise ah, die!

Once we went for a BBQ and the host used disposable plastic knives and polystyrene plates. I leave you to imagine how the meal went.

It was a long day of preparation for me and I was grateful to the youths who managed the cooking as well. After all the 'makan' there was a time to get to know each other and then there was dancing. Who said youths can't have good, clean fun? God bless them!

[wiener molds]

Entertaining daughter #3 with Amos?

I bought a box of Japanese playdoh for daughter #3 from Isetan, KLCC. There is only one legible word in English - "Amos".

It comes with 7 tubs of playdoh, a catalogue with pictorial instructions and accessories.

I thought it was very good because it was very simple and all she needed to do was to follow the pictures. They even show you how to mix colors in the pictures.

The best thing about this is that my 8 year old needed no supervision, almost no assistance (very minimal) and no 'entertainment' by mummy. This is the best 'present' I've ever bought for her!! The accessories comprised of magnets, springs, glitter, paper clips etc. When the shape is formed, after several hours it hardens. The dough cannot be plied into another shape once it hardens.

This was money well spent because it gave me enough time (without all the whining) to prepare for the party on Saturday night.