CONGRATULATIONS!

Sometime in January 2010, #2 came home from a SASA meeting and declared that she was among seven others running for the Vice-Presidency position of SASA. My first reaction was...how come not the President? After listening to her reasons and explanation, I was convinced that she had made a correct choice.

Amidst preparation for a Piano competition



pop quizzes and tests,

Church commitments and programs,


choir practices




lots of prayers

and a long list of other commitments, she pursued on.

Last night the elections took place at a fellowship organized by the 2009 SASA seniors. It was located at an apartment block in the middle of the city. The rest of the family was also busy attending another event when we received an SMS from #2 "Omgee! Praise the Lord. Won VP. Highest votes. XD. Got 2vp's". Apparently before the elections took place some people tabled a suggestion to have 2 VP's. Quite unconventional, but I think it was a great idea.

It's an opportunity for the learners to learn and for the experienced to share their gifts. An overall win-win situation. The current board now consists of 3 young ladies who delivered their lines and presented a good first impression enough to secure their places. Congratulations to all the winners!



To #2, I only have this to say "mum and dad are very proud of you and may you enjoy this journey!" Praise God!

Bento 261

Friday is usually a no bento day. However, there is a test in the afternoon and tonight #2 joins the HELP Choir to sing at a Haiti benefit in college.

I packed some futomaki for her dinner tonight so she won't need to come back in between the two hour gap. This is a two layer bento box which is ideal for packing makis.

There are four pieces of futomaki in this top box separated by a baran/divider to contain some tamagoyaki/Japanese egg roll. There is a small fish shape shoyu container for #2 to flavor the makis.

The bottom bento box is deeper and thus able to contain more makis. I filled the balance space with three strawberries from Korea.


An aerial view of the bento box.


#2 has been complaining about leaks and I'm trying out other bento boxes and cutting back on 'wet' food. This is how the bento box looks like after snapping it's sides to lock up.


This bento is for dinner and it's about five hours away. To maintain some freshness, I added two cold packs and wrapped it up with an insulated Furoshiki (below)




I spent 2 hours trying to upload this post. Something wrong with blogger today!!!

Bento 260

It's a busy morning, baking cookies for Chinese New Year resumes. The first batch is all gone and there is more to bake!

When I went out last night to shop for groceries, I came back to the smell of brownies all ready and baked on the table to cool.*shakes head in amazement*

This morning's bento has "long yoke" sandwiches with some brownies which #2 made on an impulse. I think the college tests and other commitments are getting to her and she needed to de-stress.



There are some scones and a mix vegie and fruit salad minus dressing because it tasted sweet enough in it's own natural juices.

Bento 259

Most days you'd see bread in #2's bento, that's because she doesn't like to eat rice. She enjoys most types of bread.

Today's bento has a Focaccia, ham and cucumber bun. There is a sliced Kiwi and a box of mixed veggies with some sliced salami, all tossed in some sesame seed dressing.


Today #2 came back ravenous after college. There was choir practice during the mid-day break and singing had made her very hungry. *grins*

Memories

Sometime in January 2010, we attended a private party at a Japanese Restaurant. It was a small do for about 50 people. The food was delicious and the company, impeccable!

Just wanted to share some pictures and jot down a memory worth remembering.



Delicious sushi, freshly rolled out. Cod fish baked in soy sauce and mirin in foil trays.



Soft and smooth cawan mushi, potato karoke, kakiage, tempura, over abundance of baby octopuses,


A personal weakness!


Hand rolls ...




Love these too ...

Lunch

#1's God sisters came for lunch today. They return to Australia on Monday. One will begin working and the other to complete her degree. They have been friends since lower primary school.

Mum and I cooked lunch and served several simple dishes.

Spicy sweet and sour pork ribs. This was a real hit - everything gone.


Japchae from yesterday.


Curry chicken made from mum's own home made curry powder.




Everyone's favorite Bangkuang fried with pork strips, dried sotong strips and spring onions.



Salad to go with the bangkuang.



There was a tray of freshly baked scones for dessert.



A closer look at the fluffy delicious scone.

Bento 258

It's back to college this morning. Bento packing was easy because I had planned ahead.

The bento box was filled with Salami and melon in one and in another, a meat loaf foccacia bun topped with a squirt of mayo. For vegetables, there was lady fingers with soy sauce and some tomatoes.

The Lunch Box Chef

Australia's Yahoo!7 has been the homepage to my Yahoo mail lately. I find it 'messy' as it's packed all over with all sorts of information and distractions.

I usually ignore the gossip and news busters on the home page but today, The Lunch Box Chef caught my eye.

"Laurent Vancam has worked in some of the world's finest hotels cooked personally for the likes of Sir Paul McCartney but 10 years ago he turned his back on the stars for a far more important job of all things running a school tuckshop."

Chef Laurent has recommended five simple recipes in the link above.

Here's his website link: www.cheflaurent.com.au. He's got more recipes there and the Youtube clips are easy to follow.

Korean Japchae

Today is a public holiday for FT so both the girls are off. I made Japchae. The recipe was taken from here. It's easy and delicious.

This below is for dinner tonight!



Yummilicious!!

Hahaha!

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

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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.