Bento 175

"How now brown cow" That should be the title of my bento today!
I was up all night trying to upload and rearrange my bento pictures on Flicker. As usual, yours truly is a little of a computer dinosaur so still at it trying to get them pictures sorted out.

I didn't do my homework last night but this morning was good in the sense that everything was put together very quickly. I had baked Foccacia bread yesterday, cooked a batch of spaghetti and had a comb of bananas. So it was all in sight and all I had to do was skin the last batch of very sweet water chestnuts and add a KitKat for color! LOL!!!

Take a break! Have a KitKat! - my favorite tag line.


Yup! I walked the 2 1/2 km!

Breakfast is half boiled eggs and toast, and of course coffee too!

In support of a Crisis Shelter for women

I received this e-mail from a friend. Please support a worthy cause. I'll be looking out for their handicraft stuff.


"Rose Virginie Good Shepherd Centre, Ipoh (a crisis shelter for women in pregnancy crisis and women and children experiencing domestic violence) will be setting up a booth at One Utama Shopping Centre from 19 (thursday) to 22 (Sunday) Feb09.

We invite you to support RVGSC in its efforts to promote the Centre so that more women who are in need may be assisted.

RVGSC will be selling its famous London Almond Cookies, Mixed Nuts and Melting Moments. Besides these, there will also be handicraft made by our women in Sabah.

Look out for Homemade Salt Fish Pickle and Homemade Ikan Bilis Sambal.

Pass the word to all your friends... come and support a worthy cause and make a positive difference in the lives of women and children in need.

See you at One Utama! Come and spend the day there....at RVGSC's booth!"

Bento 174

Good news first! I went for my morning walk today after being lazy over the weekend. #1 asked me yesterday if I had gone for my morning walk and I said that I was too tired to do so. She rebuttal me and asked what happened to the "I feel good"?

It is true, I really feel a lot more energetic and so I was determined to walk my 2 1/2 km this morning. It was a brisk sweaty walk. I am looking forward to walking 2 rounds which will make up 5 km. My target is beginning of March.


Back to reality, I packed this for #2 this morning. Blanched French beans and carrots sticks. Home made bread sandwich loaded with lemon and herb roast chicken. It's got lettuce and mayo too.

Kiwi has been missing the scene and has since returned with some splashes of red tomatoes.



#1 has the same except that her sandwich is spread with butter, has wasabi mayo and she goes without the tomatoes.

Hubs and I had coffee and the same sandwich for breakfast, that was the last of the bread. I have a recipe of Focaccia bread proofing in the kitchen now.

You'll probably see Focaccia tomorrow in the bento! LOL!

Real-life bentos

I've been packing bentos for a year and a half and to-date have posted 173 bento posts and over 400 posts in my blog. I am a big time silent lurker of bento blogs. Sometimes, I also browse for bento pictures posted in Flicker.

I have, since my initiation to bento been enthralled by kyaraben and awed by these kyaraben maestros who seem to be able to turn any picture or vision into a piece of edible art.

Lately, whilst browsing through the local Malaysian bento scene, I've noticed lots of kyaraben bentos. Some very ammature, some improving gradually and some very, very talented.

Back in the home ground, I can only look in awe and salute these mummies. To be honest, I've been tempted to jump on the band wagon to be part of this exciting and enticing company.

But....I have to be practical. I have very little time, a limited budget, a limited selection of food that my children will eat and huge commitment to dish out 2-3 bentos each morning whether I feel like it or not.

When I read this, I felt comforted that there were still people like me who packed "real food" simple and practical with a dash of 'cutesy' where time and flavor allows. *sighs a great relief*

Call me old fashioned, I love the flavors that a bento can offer and I think that a great tasting bento is what I like to settle for.

Welcome to my world!

Vinegared Root vegetables

I made this last night and included some into Bento 173. Simple pickled dish!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Bento 173

I did my homework last night and so this morning's bento was a breeze! I boiled a packet of dry Udon and set aside what I needed into the fridge and put the rest into the freezer. The vegetables were also cut last night and I just blanched them in salted hot water this morning.

All I did was assemble everything together and it took me less than 10 minutes to get 2 bentos ready.

#2's bento consisted of some cherry tomatoes, Udon in garlic oil and shoyu and some vinegared root vegetables and abura-age.

In the other box is some blanched cauliflower and broccoli topped with sesame seed dressing and a small box of dried cranberries.


My bento consisted of mostly the same items except that I added some Kimchi. #2 cannot take spicy food and so I didn't pack this for her.

Bento 172

#2 and I are fans of Avocado. But....there are only so many ways one can eat avocado. I'm always on a look out for recipes which includes Avocado.

Whilst browsing some blogs yesterday, I came across this and was immediately tempted. I was at my friendly neighbourhood grocer and noticed over-ripe Avocados! They were selling at RM4.99 per piece. I've often haggled with her over the price of Avocados and this time she let me have 2 for RM5.oo which I thought was a good deal.

I bought two really soft and squishy Avocados. Got home and immediately logged on to look for the recipe. I quote the author of the blog "it's absolutely delish stuff and a real no-brainer to whip up".

Who could resist a challenge like that? I had just baked two fresh loaves of bread which were waiting to be eaten and what more ideal than with this tempting mixture of Avocado and Tuna?

Bummer is, it was a DIY recipe so DIY I did! I mashed two squishy avocados with a can of Tuna in Olive oil (drain the oil), added 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (to keep the color of the avocado), pepper and salt to taste. I dropped the chopped shallots because #2 doesn't like them. It came out delicious, just as what was claimed by it's originator.

I filled part of a croissant with this avocado and tuna paste for today's bento and in the silicon cup, I shredded some very sweet water chestnuts, kyuri, carrots and chopped tomatoes and gave them a good mix around. This deliciously sweet and refreshing mix didn't even need any dressing to go with it! What a healthy discovery!

There was another home made mochi and some more cut jackfruit.


Enjoy!

Bento 171

Had a late night last night. Didn't have a chance to do my 'homework' so I had no clue what to prepare for today's bento!

Woke up half dazed and was extremely grateful for left overs. Put together everything in less that 10 minutes.

There was a jack fruit cut into four pieces, some sliced cherry tomatoes and kyuri and three quarters of a apple strudel.



This box has shredded "salted chicken" (bought from Ipoh) and spaghetti topped with some sliced cherry tomatoes for color, otherwise, visually everything looks a shade of cream!

Exhausted, going back to sleep. Exercise can wait for tomorrow! *sigh*

Daiso - just so you know!

I was at Daiso today to get a replacement for the "magician item" which was 'missing' from it's box when I bought it. They were expecting me and immediately replaced it without questions. If only service from Daiso is so pleasant all the time! Anyway, I'm completely satisfied this time.

They have some new bento boxes, but not many. There are some new accessories such as the not so popular fish sauce bottles, new shapes for onigiri molds, heart and star egg molds, more cookie/veggie cutters, some other non-bento related stuff.

I managed to get some very pretty bento straps. This purchase itself made my trip to Daiso absolutely worth it! Only this morning I was miserably looking at my collection of worn, beaten and soiled bento straps. I was going to rummage my store for the bento straps which I bought from 100 Yen to replace them, but now I can use some of the prettier ones!

Picture below are some of my soiled bento straps, some have even lost it's elasticity!


The new bento strap which I acquired (on the left side of picture) against part of my collection (on right side of picture).



Close up on some bento straps!

Bento 170

A quick lunch bento for #2, sent to school. A colorful mixed salad drenched in her favorite dressing.


A croissant filled with herb Salmon and two pieces of juicy dates from Royal Dates.

There was also a side box (not shown) of chocolate chip cookies just in case this bento wasn't enough to last her for the rest of the afternoon.

I had the same for lunch and it was delicious.

Bento 169

I'm sending lunch to #2 so this morning's bento is light and easy.

In the left box is a nest of Cha Soba and a tupperware of frozen dipping sauce from the freezer. In the right box is a piece of homemade daifuku mochi made last night and some peas. Some carrot flowers for color.

Doesn't the two boxes look like mirror images?


I completed my 2 1/2 km walk this morning. It was a brisk walk and I sweated and felt more energetic after that. "I feel good".

Mochi, Mochi, Mochi

I made Moffles for tea today. I love this simple snack which I can just pop into my waffle machine and top with any flavor topping, sweet or savory.

I read about moffles in Obachan's Kitchen & Balcony Garden for the first time and I was curious. So happen I had mochi in the fridge and a waffle machine.

I popped this into the waffle machine and.....



... this was the result .... it was toasted crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside...



Topped it with home made anko and it was absolutely delicious!!



Later in the night, I decided to make daifuku mochi because I had left over anko.

This recipe yielded eleven pieces of daifuku mochi. I've tweaked the recipe a little and provided more details so it should be a lot easier to handle now. Here is the homemade anko recipe.

Bento 168

It was Thaipusam yesterday and a public holiday in Malaysia so there was no bento. Instead, we had the most coveted Malaysian breakfast ever - Nasi Lemak (store bought)! Hubs and I also enjoyed an aromatic Nasi Ulam. Nothing beats family bonding time while enjoying good food!

Anyway, this morning's bento consisted to two Inari tofu pockets filled with Hijiki.
#2 doesn't like Inari sushi (sushi rice in flavored tofu pockets) so I filled it with Hijiki instead. She's a big fan of Hijiki. There are also three sticks of skewered 'loong yoke' (barbequed pork) and kyuri.

#2 has to stay back again and I've provided a little extra food. A box full of gyoza and another side box of mixed veggies topped with sesame seed dressing.




There was no exercise this morning because hubs and I had to meet some people for a meeting early this morning. Perhaps tomorrow!

Bento 167

It's Friday again! There is no fish today for the bento. I decided on something simple because there is no extra curricular activities today and for the first time this week we can have lunch together.

There is Sawi sauted in garlic and topped with some corn. There was a silicon cup full of preserved figs.



Last night I prepared some macaroni and mushroom white sauce. This white sauce is delicious, packed with mushrooms, cream, milk, salt and pepper. It was easy this morning just to dish them out into the bento box.

An update on my exercise regime. Managed to clock the 2 1/2 km walk after dropping the kids at school. I was tired and was tempted not to walk but I encouraged myself by remembering how good and energetic I felt after walking and with my eyes half closed I pushed myself to walk with hubs.

Hubs has been very supportive and a great source of encouragement. I am baking (frozen) croissants accompanied with chopped shallots with canned mackerel in oil for breakfast. Hubs loves this and as usual there is coffee. Mmmmmm....can smell the wonderful smell of freshly baked bread!

Much ado about Bento

This is so funneeeeee! Click on picture to see a bigger image.