Bento Party Part 3

I spent the whole evening sorting and uploading these photos from the Bento Party. Suddenly I'm insanely BUSY!! There are so many things to do and upcoming training camps to attend to.

#2 has exams and upcoming events to keep busy for a while to come. Just spent a small fortune on buying new gowns for upcoming events. *faints* Went to the laundry to get the gowns dry cleaned and the girl at the counter was swooning away about how lovely the gowns were. Obviously lah! Cost me an arm and a leg! *faints some more*

I'd like to say here that I'm sorry I haven't replied any of your comments, e-mail, SMS'es and calls because I'm running around like a headless chicken right now!

Please don't stop commenting because this blog author appreciates every one of them!!!! It's just that there are other more pressing issues (e.g. posting more pictures from the Bento Party) and priorities to take care of at this point in time!


Anyway, here are the pictures from the Bento Party competition. The first set of pictures are from the Beginner Bento competition section - no accessories. You can see the numbers on the sticker at the side of the Bento Box. The judges did not know who the Bento box belonged to when they judged it.
















Emily chose number 18 and it belonged to Evelyn! Congratulations Evelyn (Edit) AMY!

Coincidently the lucky number that I chose was also number 18 and AMY also got a prize from the lucky draw! Congratulations again!!





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These Bento boxes were for the Bento competition with accessories.










I judged this event and I chose number 7! I loved the animal theme and the little bear cup cake made by Su Yin matched the theme so well! I'm no Hello Kitty fanatic but I was awed with the soy sauce bottle and animal forks!

Congratulations Sharon of 3lilangels!!!

This long awaited prize was for Kelly of Kel's place, who won the Bento Competition commemorating my 100th Bento post and Blog anniversary.



There are still random pictures from the Bento Party. I will post them all soon!

BENTO #128

Yesterday, we had Ramadan food for dinner. I went to KJ to buy rendang, stuffed fish, 'tulang' soup, balitong and some vegetables. It was a refreshing change and surprisingly the food was not chilli hot even though everything looked so 'red'.

#2 says that she want to stay off carbo for a week. How to make bento for a week without carbo? *sweats-wipes forehead*


This morning I made a tortilla sandwich for the bento. This is how it looked before being rolled up. Butter the base, lay vegetables and salad sprouts, carrot sticks and tomatoes. Drizzle with tomato sauce and kewpie mayo on top of honey cured ham.



Roll them and pin them up with food picks and viola! Bon Appetite!
Added a bottle of Japanese 'Energy' drink - tastes like 100plus in jelly form.



This box is mine to bring to a ladies fellowship this morning. A friend invited me to a meeting of mothers who get together to pray for their children. It's my first time and everyone is supposed to bring some food - so typically Malaysian!



My Jyubako all packed and ready to go!



I'll try to update more pictures on the Bento Party. Blogger is just so SLOW!! Today is a busy day, I'll try my best!

Bento Party Part 2

I think pictures speak a thousand words. This is the second installment to the Bento Party. Unfortunately the yellow lights influenced the color of the pictures and they turned out too yellow!

Bento gear awesomeness!

Evelyn and Christene busy planning and packing.

Mashimaro anyone?

Eeeekkkk! What to do?

Yeah! I'm enjoying this!!

Gently does it...SueSue.

SueSue with the lovely Su Yin

Kelly from Kel's place during intro time.

Two sisters in a frenzy - Biblo and 3lilangels.

May, Jasmine, Hannah & Yatie

Hijack Queen!

Emily and I wish to thank all the following sponsors and supporters for their contribution in one way or another to the success of the Bento Party:

Mr. Kenny Tay - OSRAM
Ms. Pat Yam - Cosmetics and all non-bento items
SueSue of Cooking Momster
Su Yin of The Journal of a Girl who loves to cook
Ms. Veronica of NST
Aunty Loh
Ms. Joy Khoo
Ms. Dena Maxmillan
Ms. Michelle
Ms. Rachel
Mr. Ming and Mr. Tong of Onsen Japanese Restaurant
Mr. Saymond of 100 Yen Store
and
Especially all of you ladies who attended the Bento party!!!!

Thank You!
Gracias!
Terima Kasih!
Xie Xie!
Danke Schon!
Arigato Gozaimashita!
Do je!
Salamat!
Merci!
Mahalo!
Grazie!
Khop Khun Krab!
Kamsa Hamnida!

BENTO #127

I'm still working on my post on the Bento Party. I thought that I better update this morning's bento post first.

Today is a long day because #2 begins her Piano Theory classes to complete her Grade 8 early of 2009 before she finishes her final high school year. Her practical piano Diploma is in December of 2008 (edited). So she has double music class - first session from 1.30p.m. - 2.30p.m. and the second session from 4.30p.m. - 5.30p.m. and Add maths tuition @ 8.00p.m. - 10.00p.m. - all happening on Monday!!! AGgggghhhh......!!!

She had a performance on the night of the Bento Party last Saturday and I was really pleased that she delivered her piece beautifully.

This morning's bento is a 'quick fix'. Over the weekend I was so busy and didn't stock up on vegetables for this week's bento. (I'm going to the supermarket afterwards).

I've been 'instructed' to go GREEN this week. Unfortunately nothing is green other than the silicon cup and accessories! LOL!

You can see a side box of crinkle cut apples on the top left corner. In the left box, is some duck meat fried with fresh shitake mushrooms and some tomatoes in Oyster sauce. There is a piece of Korean rice cake for snack. The Korean rice cake is filled with sweet azuki beans and is very delicious.

Over in the right box is some crinkle cut carrots, cherry tomatoes and a tub of Thousand Island salad sauce.






p/s: Roast duck + Shitake mushrooms + tomatoes + oyster sauce = awesome taste!

Bento Party Part 1

I am lost for words! Today 6th September 2008, marked a historical day for us local bento enthusiasts/bloggers/stalkers and packers. We blogged about it, we commented about it, we discussed about it and finally we met about it - All about BENTO! Was it awesome, ladies?

I think I had a whale of a time meeting and trying to put a face to the blog name that I so often visit. Sharon of 3lilangels, SueSue of Cooking Momster, Christene of allthingspurple, Wendy of Biblo, Kelly of Kel's place, Jessie of Hijack Queen, Sue of Stargal, Diyana of This is me, Molly of undeniably jinxed and all the other ladies who silently blog or are beginning to blog and some, even thinking about how to start to blog?

One heart, one interest, one Bento!
That's what brought us together. Well, ladies, we came, we conquered and we all went home with overflowing bags!!! *The downside was that our wallets went home a little lighter,
the upside is, we have lots more Kawaii stuff to experiment with!!!*

The Bento party began with registration for 22 people and 3 able assistants in Saymond from 100 Yen shop taking care of the sale of Bento boxes and some other Bento gear, my two daughters Michelle and Rachel who looked after photography and sales of Bento accessories.

Jessie of Hijack Queen was the first to arrive and registration rolled on after that. Our program started at 12 noon and I think we kept time quite well!

This was basically the program of the day:

Programme:
11.45 noon: Arrival of participants Registration and seating
12.00 pm: Welcome speech by Bento Pet ~ outlining the day's programme
~ Ice-breaker introduction

**Powerpoint slide presentation:
How-to’s on bento

12.30pm Bento packing contest/Photography
Judging for two categories Lunch

** 1.30pm •

Emily shares her personal beginner Bento journey
• Presentation of prize to previous Bento contest winner - Kelly
• Presentation of prizes to current Bento contest winner
Open category – with accessories
Beginner category – without accessories
• Lucky draw

2.15 - 2.30pm Bento Goodies Sale! Sayonara! **

The Bento Party venue: Onsen Japanese Restaurant

The food: Chicken Kara-age and mixed Tempura

A variety of mixed maki





The lovely Su Yin
From L-R: Rachel (#2), Emily, Su Yin, Pat (Bento Pet) & Michelle (#1)

Tamagoyaki and sake sushi?

Onigiri cup cake anyone?

I almost didn't want to eat my cup cake!


Introduction session!


Lovely ladies all in a row, Stargal, Hijack Queen and Terri!

Emily sharing her beginner Bento experience!

This is 'moi' giving a short pep talk on Bento "how to".


Bento gear stalkers!!!

No pressure, No pressure!!! First of a series of updates from the Bento party!!

Vote for No. 9

Many of you may not know this but my entry into Bento world was an inspiration I got from SueSue of Cooking Momster.

If you have read my very first post archived in my blog, I mentioned about encountering her bento posts and her bento gear and it set me on full speed to the stage that I have reached today - past my 100th bento post!

I read yesterday that she had entered the USD$100 competition and is currently in first place. Let's give her our support to maintain her in that position. I've voted for her because I think she deserves it. Sue is unconditional where it comes to sharing her recipes and takes the trouble to make it simple and understandable. Not only her recipes are popular, her rantings are exciting too and I like her honest and comfortable-in-her-own-skin type of attitude.

Please help maintain SueSue of Cooking Momster in first place by voting for her @ No. 9 here!

Thank you all in advance!!

Update on Bento Party

I'm sorry that there are no Bento posts lately.
Emily and I have been busy as bees co-ordinating the final details of the Bento Party.

This is our checklist:

Final registration list - DONE
Booking of Restaurant and confirmation of numbers - DONE
Collect Bento boxes, etc, for Goodie bags - DONE
Final e-mail to be sent by 2nd Sept 2008 - DONE
Prizes - DONE
Co-ordinate and confirm Bento gear sales - DONE
Photography - DONE
Finalize Program - DONE

Goodie bags (waiting for several other items) - By Friday
Wash Bento boxes - By Friday
Meeting with Emily - By Friday


Bento Party, here we come!!

Bento Party registration closed!

Thank you everybody! I am awed by the support and would like to announce to you that the registration and payment for the Bento Party is officially closed.

We have already reached our target number and our preparations are almost finalized.


Bento Party participants please take note:

The Bento party will commence with:

Registrations @ 11.45a.m. and the program will commence sharp at noon -12.00p.m. and end @ 2.30p.m.

Bento boxes, egg moulds, bento accessories and lots of stuff will be available for you to purchase.

There will be two categories of competition:
Bento presentation with accessories.
Participants need to bring their own Kawaii accessories e.g. barans, sauce containers, food picks, etc, etc, to make your Bento more attractive.

Bento presentation without accessories.
This is a beginner category where the participant just require to pack the ready food into the Bento box without any accessories and to present it as aesthetic as possible.

Please click here for directions to the Japanese restaurant.

I will send an e-mail to you by Tuesday just to confirm your participation and if you do not receive the e-mail, please contact me @ japanesehomestylecooking@gmail.com

Looking forward to meeting all you Bento enthusiasts and bloggers!!!

BENTO #126

Fish balls and plump cherry tomatoes! I think #2 can live on these everyday and not get bored! She commented last night after dinner at the "Pork knuckle restaurant" that it's the multi eating sessions and food that's making her put on weight!

"In Korea, there are only 3 main meals and no tea time in between" she says. "We are all so busy practicing the piano that we don't have time to think of eating".

Well sweetheart, this is NOT Korea and mum's around and don't like to see your protruding cheek bones and sunken cheeks! I'll just feed you until you look 'right' again.

Lot's of proteins in today's bento. In the left box there are 2 types of fish balls, one fried and one boiled (notice the different texture and color). Sliced them into half and sandwiched a slice of tomato in between.

In the right bento box is a heart shaped hard boiled egg with a pink flower bottle containing shoyu, some Korean seeded delicacies and some sliced oranges.



NOTE:

3 more days to register and pay up for the Bento Party!!

BENTO #125

This is #2's first Bento since coming back from Korea. She's still sleeping in and will find this waiting for her when she wakes up.

In the left box, a cheese tart from The Loaf. Four rice balls rolled in some Korean seaweed mixed with sesame seeds.

In the right box are some skewered Tamagoyaki, carrots, crabsticks, cucumber and simmered mushrooms (all left over from a meal of sushi) and the ever green Kiwi, for fruit.



p/s
An update on the Bento Party

We're 4 days away from the dateline of the Bento Party. We have another 5 more places left. Those of you who intend to come but have not banked in your participating fee, please do so immediately so that we can finalize the numbers with the restaurant and the goodie bags.

Meanwhile, just to let you know, we have lots of Bento gear on the way and will be sold at the Bento Party!

Looking forward to meeting all of you!!

Some Eye candy and more rambling!

#2 brought back lots of food stuff and souvenirs from Korea. This is a pack of caramelized sugar mixed with delicious grains, nuts and seeds. There was flavored seaweed, rice cakes, candies, Korean noodles, everything except Kim Chee!


#2 said that Miss Mezzaforte (her music teacher) told her not to buy from Seoul because it's more expensive than buying from a Korean outlet in Sri Hartamas. So, no Kim Chee for mummy. Mummy has to buy her own Kim Chee.

She made many friends from the competition and has lots of beautiful memories. This was an amazing exposure for her.

This guy got the Gold award! Awesome!

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I copied a post #1 did on #2's competition.

"The sister flew to Korea last week for a piano competition.
Honestly, the family and I weren't expecting much, 'cept for her to gain experience.

Few days into the trip when mom called her, she went on and on ranting about how the 10 and 12 year old Indonesian kids could play well and what not. Mom and I made this bet with dad that she would come back a changed woman. She'd forget her quaintly planned music career and become a scientist of some sort. Yeah. And we bet on it with freaking German pork knuckles (which my hairdresser introduced to us, btw).

Today was the big day. The competition day. It was THE day.

Mom tried calling her the whole day but only managed to get her answering machine.

Mom was like "aiyo. Habis la. Dunno what happened already. Aiyo. She off her phone la. Aiyo how la..." *moans groan boans and every sighing in every language*

Suddenly, there was a message.


MY SISTER GOT SILVER FOR THE SOLO CATEGORY MANNNN.


Congrats laaaaa..


Omgosh. =_= wasted all the aiyos.


Like she said, all glory goes to God who has blessed her/us so abundantly.


Anyway Sis, I lost the bet. *bah

haha.

Oh and if you think we're proud of the sister, think twice.


There's more than just us who're proud of her. There's a whole lot of us. :)


The baby's growing up. :)



Ps: I think the fact that a whole bunch of priests coming over to our house for the annual or semi-annual luncheon brought all the grace and blessings of change. :)"

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This picture, I took from my garden. Didn't even realize that the tree was fruiting until I saw jambu all over the path leading to the garage!

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!!!

More Updates on Bento Party

The registration for the upcoming Bento Party is quite encouraging. E-mail was sent out yesterday in regard to the mode of payment and we had an almost immediate response of the first credit to secure a place for the Bento Party from Terri.

SueSue of Cooking Momster has offered to contribute some items to our goodie bag and I'm awaiting for one more confirmation. If any of you readers would like to sponsor some items for the goodie bag or prizes for the two categories of competition, please contact me at: japanesehomestylecooking@gmail.com. We would be most grateful for any support!


Allow me to let you in to a secret. On top of a brand new Bento box, one other item in the goodie bag will be a wiener cutter (sausage cutter). There is a mixed number of shapes and one goes into each bag so let's hope you get the one you want or just swap around till you are happy! The rest of the items is a surprise, can't be spoiling the fun for you!


You can be sure that you are getting more than your RM50/= worth in terms of food, fun, fellowship and Bento toys! So, make your payment and send me the details before it's too late!

The deadline is 31 August 2008 but if we reach our target number, we will close registration because we want to keep this Bento party as cosy and personal as possible.

Cross your fingers because I'm also trying to arrange for accessories like sauce bottles, cutters, food picks, silicon cups, egg moulds, etc, to be sold at the Bento Party.



These items are not from the 100 Yen shop and are very limited. Sales will be on first come first serve basis.

Emily and I are looking forward to meeting all of you!


For more details, check these links:

Bento enthusiasts/bloggers meet

Bento Party updates