PMS-ing

You have probably noticed that my recent posts were short and Bentos were 'simple' without much effort or cooking.

I've been tip-toe-ing on thin ice lately. Monday morning, PMR commenced and #2 declared that she only wanted one layer of Bento. "I can manage that, sure!" I packed a usual Bento for #1.

MONDAY
When I went to pick her up after her BM papers at 11.55p.m., she came running into the car and started crying! Ouch!! She refused to respond and asked to be left alone. She refused all forms of bribery including ice-cream and Japanese food. She flinched when I tried to hold her hands! I was very hurt! Not because she flinched but because she was feeling hurt. I decided to keep quiet and drove straight home. My husband came home almost immediately when I told him what had happened.

With swollen eyes she told her dad that she was okay and locked her room door again. Hubs said she'd be okay and left for work again. I didn't see her until dinner time. It was a very quiet dinner.

TUESDAY
She was going though some notes when I got downstairs to prepare the Bentos. "Mum, I only want fruits today." (She didn't have much dinner last night). She refused all food offered for breakfast...I was upset but I kept silent. I kept reminding myself that the 'dumb' exams were causing her stress and she had lost her appetite.

In the end, she left her fruit Bento at home and down-ed two Onigiri for breakfast when I was busy packing her sister's Bento. I only realized it when I got home and saw the container had one Onigiri left instead of three.

I picked her up at 1.10p.m. and her spirits seemed to be more jovial. Easy papers she quipped. She'd just finished English paper 1 and 2 and Science paper 1. I felt a lot happier seeing her smile. She was ready for PHOP (Paddington's House of Pancakes) in 1U.

She decided to order something new, loaded with ice-cream and fruits. Not something I enjoyed but she seemed to enjoy it, that was important because it put her in a better mood. Food always put her in a good mood.

While she was back to school to sit for her second Science paper, I had to take #1 for lunch at Italiannies. I was stuffed and almost had pasta and tomatoes spewing out of my nose and ears!!
Conclusion: Exam period is bad for health, both physical and mental!

WEDNESDAY (TODAY)
"Mum, I don't want any food tomorrow," she said before she went to sleep last night. We had a simple western meal last night and she finished all her food. I noticed that her appetite was better.

I picked her up at 11.55a.m. this morning and rushed home to send #3 to school. Today's paper was Maths and I think it must have been a breeze because she was talking non-stop! She was her usual self. In the car she decided she wanted to have Japanese food for lunch before going back at 2.15p.m. for the History paper.

When we got home to send #3 to school, she was still trying to finish some homework. #2 was hurrying #3 and there was some cross-fire! #2 came charging downstairs and declared that it was too late to go for lunch and that I should send her back to school. She is very sensitive to #3 and they are often at logger heads. Sigh!

There was only a ten minute delay and #2 was all frazzled. I just rounded them both into the car and dropped #3 off to school. #2 face was still black when we reached the Japanese restaurant and made our orders.

When her meal came, she looked at me and said "Ma, saik" (read in Cantonese, meaning "Mum, eat") and as she ate, her mood improved and started chatting with me. She updated me on the papers she had sat for and for the upcoming ones tomorrow and Friday. After we ate, we spent another half an hour at the restaurant with her running through her work sheets.

I sent her back to school and picked her up at 3.30p.m. and she was still smiling. Good sign. She seemed happy with the History paper, which happens to be her worst subject.

I'm looking forward to the end of PMR because right now, I have to be extra sensitive to all the kids and try to manage them without stressing any of them out or allowing them to stress each other out. Otherwise, when one or the other gets stressed then all hell will break loose.

#1 is also having her exams. The Bento came back half finished so I need to check if it's the food or she's starting to loose her appetite because of exam stress. Sigh!

#3 exams start tomorrow, this one is cool as a cucumber. Everyday just talking about Christmas and presents. *shakes head in despair*

Note: Hubs and I don't pressure our children to score straight A's. We are happy that they average their results. If the A's fall in, we're ecstatic otherwise B's are still acceptable. We want them to enjoy their school life like we did and go through a well rounded and exposed study, social and spiritual journey.

As a result we have three different characters in our children.
#1 - happy go lucky, I'll deal with whatever comes my way attitude.
#2 - perfectionist to the extent of 'kiasu', want to excel in everything attitude.
#3 - happy go lucky, the sky can come down for all I care attitude.

All I can do is get on my knees and pray harder for better days to come?!!
*shakes head again*

Bento #38

#2 is getting #1 to help her with some last minute revision on her Maths.

I'm waiting to send #2 to school that's why I have some time in my hands to upload a new post so early.

I made a batch of Japanese potato salad yesterday and packed a blob into the bento box. There were fruits as usual, honey stars and two mini croissants.

Swift and easy bento!!

Bento #37

I went fruit shopping over the weekend. I don't buy watermelon often because I always get the bland tasting ones but this was very sweet. Cut them up with cookie cutters.

Toasted a 'roti chanai' (Pratta) and dusted some castor sugar on top. Filled the remaining space with an Onigiri and a chocolate treat. #2 doesn't like rice during exam periods but Onigiri is fine, she said.




I mixed salt and sesame seeds into the rice and filled with some fried salmon which I added Kewpie mayo and freshly cracked black pepper. It was heavenly!! Look at this picture!
Sorry about the shadow, couldn't be rid of it no matter which position I shifted and I didn't have time to Photoshop or crop it!

Bento #36

Wow! I can't believe I'm into my 3rd dozen Bento already. Since the two girls are still into salad and fruits, I shall be packing one layer with it for a while to come.

This morning's dressing was very simple, light and nice. I had a whole bowl of mixed salad with tomatoes and grapes. Drizzled some cold pressed Olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a generous amount of salt and freshly ground pepper and mix well.

Since PMR commences today, #2 asked for sandwiches to pack. I just made a cheese and Spam triple decker of white and wholemeal bread. This can be quite filling. Added a box of honey stars for #1 to snack on.

Takoyaki

Takoyaki is my one of my favorites too. It's made of a flour batter with Tako, Tenkasu (Tempura or rice crispies), Green onions, chopped cabbage and benishoga (red ginger).
The making of Takoyaki is a complicated process if one has never seen it. Terri asked for this recipe and I had wanted to take some photographs and post it onto my blog.

I asked #2 to help me take the photos and she quipped "Mum! There are loads of "how to's" on You Tube, why do you have to do this?" *Ting! - light bulb lights up - rings a bell!*
"You are right! I said." I'll just take shots of the ingredients and the utensils required for making Takoyaki. For the actual process, please view the You Tube link above. It's much easier than if I write it down.

One of the main ingredients is the Tako. However, you can also replace with prawns if you wish.

Pictures below shows ready mix takoyaki flour. Left one from 100 Yen shop and right one from Jaya Jusco under the Top Value brand.












Batter:

• 4/5 cup (100g) prepackaged takoyaki mix.
• 340cc cold water
• 1 large egg

This is beni shoga.


For the filling:

• 1/4 lb (120g) boiled octopus (Japanese prefer the tentacles), cut into 1/2″or bite-sized dice.
  
• 1/2 cup (18g) tenkasu
• 1 Tb (6g) beni shoga (red pickled ginger), chopped (optional)
  
• half green onion, chopped

Takoyaki sauce on the left.

Aonori flakes on the right.

Katsuobushi below.

For the topping:

• takoyaki sauce
  
• aonori (seaweed flakes)
• katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
• Kewpie mayonnaise
  
• Make the batter by whisking together the mix and water well, then beating in the egg. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the tenkasu, benishoga and green onion. Keep octopus at hand.
• If using a nonstick takoyaki pan, heat the pan first, then oil the surface with cooking oil spray, an oil brush or a folded paper towel dipped in vegetable oil. (If using cast iron, oil the pan first, then heat over medium heat.)
  

Follow the steps in the You Tube link (above) to cook. There itself is a recipe provided. I haven't tried that recipe yet, if you try it please let me know how it turned out.

You need either a cast iron takoyaki pan (like mine below) or a non-stick, electric one as shown in the You Tube link. You also need a pair of long satay sticks to pick and roll the takoyaki. It's really very simple so don't be put off by the thought that it looks difficult, it's not.
















After the takoyaki balls are ready, place on a plate and drizzle generously, the Takoyaki sauce, Kewpie Mayo, Aonori and Katsuobushi on top and serve warm.

Bento #35

This morning I made a vegetable and fruit tortilla wrap. There were two slices of Bega cheese, some greens, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes and grapes. Topped it with a mixture of thousand island and salad cream.

I toyed with the idea of packing a mixed salad but looking at the size of the box, I had second thoughts. The salad and fruits wrapped in a tortilla seemed like a more fulfilling meal.

I also packed some Japanese seaweed for her to snack on.

Yesterday #1 went to a Ramadan bazaar and bought back 'ayam percik, roti jala, ayam rendang' and lots of other treats.

#1 likes 'roti jala' very much so I reserved some so that I could pack her some today. Doesn't the rendang look delicious? Indeed, it was delicious!

Before I closed the Bento box, I wrapped a cling wrap around the rendang foil cup because I didn't want it to mess up the 'roti jala'.

Recipe for ODEN

Sometimes I don't know if my blog readers want the recipes to the dishes that I post up and I usually wait until someone asks for it. It takes some effort to put the recipe down and it's a waste to post something up that people may not use.

Anyway, I'm glad Terri asked for this recipe. This is my favorite Japanese dish! Love it, love it love it!!

I've improvised this from the original recipe because it's flavored to suite our palette. The basic recipe is the same except that I've used some local ingredients, otherwise it can get very expensive to eat this on a regular basis. This is quite a big pot of Oden, you may want to half the recipe.
I like my Oden with lots of soup so you need to get ready a big enough pot to contain all these:

Ingredients:
"A"
5 hard boiled eggs, shell removed (number of eggs according to number of people)
1 whole Japanese Daikon (white raddish)
1 piece of lotus root (lin gau cut into rounds)
2 carrots
4 US potatoes
2 packets of chikuwa (the local ones come in about 1" lengths)
2 packets of Konnyaku(cut lengthwise and then cut into twelve pieces)
2 packets of local fish balls (fried or otherwise)
1 piece Kamaboko (optional if you have enough local fish balls)
2 packets of fish sausages
6 pieces of atsuagé or I prefer to use Abura-age (fried tofu used in Miso soup)
12 pcs of dried Shitake (rinse and soak in hot water for 20 minutes - cut off the stems)
3 packets hanpen (cut into two triangles)


For broth:
12 cups of Dashi
1/4 cup of sake
2 tbsp of sugar
1/2 cup Japanese "light shoyu" - to taste (Usukuchi)
2 soup spoons of fish sauce (optional)

Method:

• Prepare all the ingredients in "A":
• Hard boil the eggs and remove shell.
• Skin and cut daikon, carrots, potatoes and lotus root.
• Soak and cut off the stalks of shitake.
• Wash all the fish balls and other ingredients.
• Blanch Abura-age with hot water and cut into half.
• Konnyaku has to be blanched in hot water for 1-2 minutes before use.

Once all the ingredients are prepared and ready:

• Prepare a BIG pot
• Pour the dashi into the pot and add the rest of sake, sugar, shoyu and fish sauce.
• Leave on medium fire and bring to boil.

• Meanwhile, put daikon, carrots and lotus root into a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes. Then add US potatoes (they cook quite fast) in and continue boiling for 2 minutes.
• Pour away the water and add all the 'root' vegetables into the big pot of stock and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.
• Taste the stock and add shoyu and/or fish sauce to taste.
• Add in all the rest of the ingredients and allow to simmer for 45 minutes. Don't over-boil, allow to simmer all the time.

Serve hot or cold with prepared Japanese mustard or Dijon Mustard.

Note: You can add seasonal vegetables, chicken or pork into your pot of Oden. Serve with rice or Udon noodles.

I hope I've covered everything. The links are from the ever reliable Wikipedia.

Bento #34

Yesterday, after school, I asked #1 to pump petrol for my car and take #2 to buy some more work books.

After they got back, they came into the house giggling and laughing (must have had a great bonding session). #2 said "Mum!, I'm putting on weight, can I please have more fruits and vegetables in my Bento box?" Before I could respond, she continued, "Look at che-che's belly" (pointing at #1's belly). "Yeah! Mum! Look at my belly!" exclaims #1, especially when I sit down, I have to shift all the excess into my jeans!"
Eh! Go to the gym lah! say I. "I only can go after my PMR! exclaims #2!" "Mum! I am having exams too, exclaims #1!"

"Okay, okay! Got it! I say". More fruits and vegetables you'll get. Surely you're not putting on weight because of my Bento box meals! It must be from all the teas and supper you have with your friends when you go out with them!

Sheepishly #1 says "no mum, I only drink when I go out, I normally don't eat anything". Huh! Don't I know you? All this 'mamak culture' with all the greasy foods. Starbucks and Secret Recipe doesn't help either.

We'll see how to change your menus. *scratches head* Another task ahead....

Bento #33

When I packed Bento #32, it was very easy and quick because everything was ready, just needed to put into the Bento.

I try not to do that too often because the kids don't exactly enjoy 'left overs'.


This morning, I got up earlier by 15 minutes because I wanted to prepare Onigiri for them. I cooked the two cups of rice this morning because Onigiri must be prepared with fresh, hot rice.

I made mini Onigiri's in two flavours, one with furikake and the other with tuna mayo filling. Dropped in some cherry tomatoes for color.

The other box had a 'cheezy ham melt' bun and some cut oranges and apples. Simple and filling Bento.

Quick fix lunch!

Sorry there was no Bento post yesterday. Yours truly was coughing the whole night and only slept at 3a.m. By the time it was day break and the alarm rang, yours truly just slept through like a baby.

My poor kids, no Bento yesterday, came home ravenous. I prepared them a decent lunch to make up for oversleeping. They were very sweet, didn't even try to wake mummy up!!

On the top left is Japanese spinach with sesame seed dressing.

Also prepared their all time favourite Tonkatsu! Four of us finished the whole plate. Tonkatsu "Bulldog" sauce was on the side because #1 doesn't like it.



Served the 'evergreen' miso soup with mussels, wakame and abura-age.





Lastly I made a pot of my favourite Oden (eaten with mustard) for dinner, but also served some for lunch. Mmmm...delicious!!

I tried to upload this post last night but it was impossible. The traffic must have been very high at blogger.com because I couldn't upload my photos until this morning.

"Ham Chim Peng"

Occasionally, our Church Parent's group would organize activities such as talks, craft and cooking demonstrations to get the parents to gather and get to know each other.

The cooking demonstrations are normally done by volunteers and organized once a month. Yesterday, I went for the "Ham Chim Peng" demo. Actually they also showed how to make "Kap Choong" - the one with the pulut rice in the middle.

I got home and tried it because I had made a batch of red beans for the Daifuku that I wanted to make. It turned out pretty good. Taste wise was very much like "ham chim peng", visually it looked very much like "ham chim peng" too. I thought I'd share this recipe with you because it's so easy except that the poofing time is quite long.

Here goes:
Recipe:
Flour Dough
150 gms Flour
1 tsp Sugar
1 pkt Instant Yeast
150 ml Lukewarm water
Mix all the above and keep covered for one hour.

A. 600 gm Flour
Flour Dough (the above)
250 gm Sugar

B. 200 ml Water
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
2 tbsp Melted butter or softened butter

C. 2 tbsp Fine salt
1 tbsp Five Spice powder


D. 1/2 'Kati' Pulut rice (Pls don't ask why they are using such measurements, I also don't know!)
2 tbsp Sugar

Method:
1. Mix "A" evenly and slowly stir in "B" and knead to for a soft dough for about ten minutes. Cover with a piece of cloth until it doubles in size in about one and a half to two hours.

2. Meanwhile, cook the pulut rice "D" as you would normal rice except you need to add the sugar in. After cooked, spoon out to make two rolls (like sushi rolls) of pulut. You need to roll it tightly to firm up otherwise it will break down. My mum said she'd prefer to put salt in than sugar, I think that's a personal choice so up to you.

3. When dough is ready, roll it out into a rectangle (like a swiss roll). Brush the top with water and sprinkle "C" generously and evenly and roll it up like a swiss roll. You can wet the edge to seal it.

4. Cut the rolled dough into 1 inch thick pieces, brush with water on the top and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Leave it for ten minutes to rise a little. Take a rolling pin and roll it a little flat and deep fry.

OPTIONS:

With Red bean paste filling:
You can divide the 'poofed' dough into small pieces and fill it with red bean paste. Do it just like making 'pau'. Flatten the dough around in a bowl shape and drop a 'ball' of red bean paste and seal. Use flour to prevent sticking. Leave it aside for ten minutes and use rolling pin to flatten before frying.

With pulut rice filling:
Just roll out 1/3 the dough like a swiss roll. Put the cooked pulut 'roll' onto the dough and roll up. Seal the edge with water and cut in 1 inch slices. Roll them flat and leave for ten minutes for it to rise and deep fry.

Note: This recipe for the dough is enough to make all three types of the above if you like. Just divide into three portions and fill with the different filling.

Bento #32

On Sunday School days, local parishioners of our Church would organize food sale for various purposes. Some to be donated to charitable organizations or the Church itself, some go to financing the local BECs (Basic Ecclesial Communities - similar to Cell Group) activities and outreach, others for other specific purposes.



Yesterday one of the BECs organized a food sale a.k.a. cafeteria. There were tons of food! Sarawak Laksa was delicious, so was the 'kwai lin kao', everyone selling behind the counter was a friend or acquaintance, so what do you think happend? "Ta Pau lah"!
I came home with lots of 'ta pau'. In the left Bento box are fish balls and 'siew mai' with a tub of chilli sauce (I still have 8 packets of 'loh mai kai' in my freezer). In the right Bento box is a piece of home made 'ham chim peng'. The best thing about the Ramadan period is we get really fresh and juicy dates that flood the market. Two cherry tomatoes to 'color' the Bento box! Today's Bento boxes took me 15 minutes to complete! "What a wonderful world..."

Bento Maniac in a "Hyakuen" shop aka 100 Yen shop

I was at the 100 Yen shop today. As always, I'm like a bull in a China shop only I don't break things, I can't stop buying!

I was trilled by the bento boxes that they had. When I looked at the bottom of the boxes I found that some of them were made in CHINA! I immediately called one of their Managers whom I got to know since my frantic, manic shopping sprees in the 100 Yen shops.

I asked about the lead scare on CHINA produced plastics and he assured me that the bento boxes produced in China under the licensee of their Japanese brand was safe and lead free.

See the blue and pink Clikety Click boxes, I bought two of each because they come in single bentos. You can buy many and stack multiple bentos.

The rectangle pink ones in the back attracted me because they had a movable divider. This allows a lot of flexibility. The white one in the back is quite standard, just wanted to add another color to my collection.

I loved the chopsticks they had on display. I pick up some for hubs and I. The 'fun' chopsticks in their cases are for the girls bentos.

The three cylindrical containers are for tea leaves. They only had three colors, I got them all. Coincidently, I am brewing three different types of tea (by rotation) daily.

The plastic box is to contain some of the Onigiri molds as they are bulky and difficult to contain.

The rest of the non-bento stuff, you don't want to see - too many of them! Hehehehe!!!

Bento #31

My Bento experience tells me one thing for sure. If you want your food to stand out in your bento, you need to use a box which is black inside.

Every time I pack bread, the bento looks too 'yellow'. #1 is adverse to 'red' food e.g. tomatoes, peppers in all three colors, including red, pumpkins, etc, etc.

Besides it's nutritional value and recommended portions, bento's are supposed to look yummy - a feast to the eyes. With limited choices of food and fussy eaters in tow, one has to work doubly hard at a bento.
This morning, I had to think fun as well as practical. I sandwiched the last batch of Focaccia bread (the practical food) with mushroom, ham and cheese on one side and a portion of banana topped with Cinnamon sugar.

In the other side of the bento box are some more sandwich in white bread cut into flowers (this is the fun food). The silver foil cake cup is filled with cucumbers, fishcake, crab sticks and corn. In the Hello Kitty tub is Thousand Island dressing. In the silicon cups are three slices of tamagoyaki. I threw in a Keroppi candy to cheer up the bento.

My first Blogger Award!!

Sue from Cooking Momster Corner awarded me my first Blogger award!! I am honored and humbled at the same time. Thank you very, very much.

The Cooking Momster Corner blog was the blog that triggered the birth of Bento Pet. I had just started surfing the net and discovered blogging. I visited many Bento sites all over the world and Sue's site was the only local site which had some indication of a Bento collection (which she bought from the US). It was enough to get my adrenaline running wild and Bento Pet sprung into action.

Thank you, Sue, from the bottom of my heart. *gives a bow*

If I may, I would like to share this with fellow bloggers whom I've recently met and whose sites I enjoy visiting.

Terri of A Daily Obsession - Truly an awesome site. Full of interesting recipes and intelligent rantings from a lady who takes pride in her cooking, presentation and her family.

Rita Ho of I'm making notes - A blogger friend whom I have an affinity with. Loved her Merdeka post and t-shirt. Jim Reeves, Cliff Richard and Bing Crosby fan!!! Yeah!!

Tia*Ungil (Tee Ya Ooh Ng Eel) of Bek el Tekoi ma Rokui el Tekoi - A Palaun woman who currently lives in Hawaii and has got into the Bento obsession. This award is to encourage and compel you to keep going with your Bento-ing.

There are so many creative and fantastic sites out there who deserve this award. All of you deserve it and you have received some awesome and deserving ones too.

These 3 people are close to my heart and has lent meaning to my blogging and so to you - Terri, Rita and Tia*Ungil, I Bento Pet humbly award you with this:



Thank you for having made a difference to my blogging days!!

May you have more creative juices to share!! God bless!