Bento 203 & 204

It was Good Friday yesterday, a day of universal fast and abstinence. The bento was plain whole meal bread and an un-peeled banana each.

There has been continuous heavy downpour over the last one week. The cool weather has been a great relief but the destruction to the garden has been drastic. My herbs has literally drowned to death and some pots blown off their pedestals and broken. *sniff, sniff* My gardener will have a very busy weekend ahead.

Cool evenings call for warming food, ideally Oden. When my eldest daughter saw me cooking Oden for dinner last night, she was trilled! Must have been missing this delicious soupy dish for a long while.

This morning #2 got another over-ripe Kiwi (I've frozen the rest for smoothies because they taste a tad too soft now!). There were some marshmallows in the same top box too.

I packed the Oden without soup for fear of spillage. Clockwise: Hanpen, fish cake, chikuwa, konnyaku and an egg. To complete the box are two pieces of chicken nuggets in a silicon cup.

#1 begins her final semester examinations today. It's five hours back to back today and last night she asked me to pack a bento for her. *Hurray*

I fed her a hearty lunch before she got to college and packed her a tonkatsu sandwich. I placed some rollo rosa salad on a slice of whole meal bread and topped it with a piece of tonkatsu. On it, I squeezed lots of Wasabi mayo and covered it with more rollo rosa salad and another slice of whole meal bread. This method ensures that the bread will not get soggy. I used a food pick to hold each of the sandwich together before putting it into the collapsible sandwich box. You can't see the food picks, they are hidden in the middle.

I try to use this collapsible sandwich box for my eldest girl because she doesn't like to bring with her the 'bulky' bento box. Every time she asks for a bento, I will use this box so that when she finishes her food, she can just fold the top portion and it ends up less than a quarter of it's original size!


In the bottom box, there are some cut up oranges and apples. I packed a giraffe fork into the box so that I don't need to pack any cutlery for her. I had to use an extra LONG bento strap for this and it did look very STRETCHED!

#1 would have to eat her sandwich with her hands so I packed an oshibori for her and tied them up in a furoshiki. I didn't want to give her a 'childish' bento bag, I thought that this looked better for a young adult. I didn't take a picture of the oshibori box, it's like a huge anti-biotic, half red and half white. Not kiddish and suitable for her (I hope).


The handkerchief I bought was far too large and bulky for this collapsible sandwich box. Will probably have to re-size it.

Bento 202

I'm just back from a short break to a nearby mountain destination. I'll blog about it in another post when I can.

Right now, it's back to bento business. There wasn't much fresh food in the refrigerator because we were away for almost a week and I had to make do this morning for a quick fix.

There were two pieces of store bought cherry tart and raspberry custard tarts. I cut them in half and stuffed them into the top box. The over ripe kiwi got stuck into a square silicon cup.


I chopped up some salad and tossed them into a store bought vinaigrette onion dressing. I also filled half a silicon cup full of mackerel in oil (canned).

The salad and mackerel would go well mixed up but I'm not sure how #2 likes the combination, so I packed them separately in two silicon cups. I thought that she could just toss them together into the box and mix them up for a more delicious flavor!

Bento 201

This is the last bento post for this week. I will be taking a short break and be back on Wednesday, posting bento again.

Thank you everyone who posted congratulatory messages for my 200th bento post. Will respond to comments as soon as I can. Been very busy lately.

This morning's bento was a quick one. There were plump cherry tomatoes and cinnamon bananas in the top box.


The bottom box had a slice of Salmon which I marinated last night. Fried it this morning and sliced it in half for packing purposes. There were some slices of tamagoyaki and some blanched lady fingers.

Very fast and very efficient, 10 minutes!

Bento 200

My 200th bento is quite nondescript! I wanted it to pass as quietly as possible.

I had a competition to commemorate my 100th! I contemplated on my purpose of bento and decided that my core reason is still about packing healthy and generally good tasting food for my kids.

Traffic, if it occurs then great, otherwise no issues either.

So, today like any other school day, I present to you "just another bento"!!

It's spaghetti with tomato sauce topped with some Parmesan cheese. Some onion alfalfa with some salad cream.

There are two pieces of Meiji Macadamia chocolates for treat and two sardine rolls in puff pastry which I made last night.

I had some young guests (#1's friends) come over to my house last night and I made these sardine rolls in a jiffy.

I used two pieces of ready made puff pastry.

Recipe for the sardine filling:
1 (large) can of sardines
1 yellow onion (chopped)
3 tbsp of chilly sauce
1 tbsp of fish curry powder
Juice from lemon - to taste
pepper and salt to taste

1. Cook the onions in some oil till soft and translucent.
2. Drain half the sardine sauce and pour the rest with the sardines into the pot.
3. Mash up the sardines and cook with the onions.
4. Add chilly sauce and curry powder, lemon juice, pepper and salt to taste.
5. Cook till it becomes thick and dry.

Cut up the ready made puff pastry into 9 pieces.
Spoon the cooked sardine onto the center of the cut up puff pastry and roll up, sealing with some egg wash.
Spread some egg wash on top of the sardine puff.
Use a fork and pierce some holes on top of the puff pastry.
Bake according to instructions on the back of the puff pastry package.
Enjoy!

Note: You can also use short crust pastry and it's just as delicious!

Bento 199

There was a lot of cutting involved this morning. The lower box had cut vegetables with a drizzle of sesame dressing topped with some carrot strips. There was a piece of fried fish for protein.


The top box had cut crab sticks, simmered shitake mushrooms and cut tamagoyaki. Lately, I've been packing bentos under 10 minutes! That gives me more time to sleep. Hehehe!


If you recognize the ingredients in the top box then you know that we had sushi over the weekend! *grins*

Bento 198

There was no need for any cooking this morning. It took me less than 5 minutes to put this together. #2's favorite Kiwi and some Malaysian tea-time favorite 'kuih dadar'.



I made a fresh batch of Ratatouille yesterday alongside cooking dinner and the whole pot went into the fridge.

I was grocery shopping yesterday with #3 and we found "Hainan bread" the ones they serve at coffee shops. It's being sold at Jusco now. #3 exclaimed loudly "Mummy, that's the bread I used to eat when I was younger right?" Yeah! I used to buy them at the wet market and so I bought a large loaf of it to reminiscence old times.....


The snack bento below was prepared for #1 yesterday for college. Her classes were in the afternoon and in a good mood and said yes to a snack bento. It's a promising beginning.


Some skinned grapes, home made chocolate chip cookies and 'kuih lapis'.

Ratatouille re-visited

When I wrote about bento 193, I also mentioned about cooking Ratatouille. I had used the recipe from the "Cooks Bible" which I bought for #2. Some people asked for the recipe but I couldn't publicly provide the recipe because of copyright issues.

I felt bad because I didn't want my readers to think that I was 'selfish' and didn't want to share the recipe. It wasn't 'my' recipe in the first place. Anyway to cut the long story short, I chanced on "Tartelette's Blog". She had just posted about her mum's Ratatouille recipe.

I just had to try it because it looked even better because of the Provencel herbs. If you don't already know, I love, love herbs! It's almost the same in terms of the ingredients except that I added some celery.

The herbs in her mum's recipe engulfed the whole kitchen and for a moment I thought I was in culinary nirvana. Honestly, the first time I cooked Ratatouille here, it was very good but when I tried Tartllette's recipe, it was more than AWESOME!

Below: My pot of fresh Ratatouille simmering to reduce the liquids.


Delicious! Delicious! Delicious!

I've signed up already, have you?

I'm casting my vote by turning off my switches on Saturday, 28th March 2009, 8.30p.m.-9.30p.m. Join me!

Bento 197

Last night I made Japchae. I've been wanting to experiment with this Korean dish for the longest time! I discovered Maangchi's Korean cooking blog late last year and have often visited and drooled over her cooking methods in YouTube.

I've watched Maangchi's Japchae's YouTube video so many times that I don't even need the recipe, it's all in my head and so is the way it's done!

The only reason why it took me so long to experiment was because I didn't have time to go search for Korean ingredients.

Last weekend when #2 and I were at 1U shopping for our ravioli ingredients at Cold Storage, we chanced upon the newly opened Lotte Malaysia. I read in the papers about it opening in 1U but didn't expect to see the Lotte shop itself already open for business.

In our excitement, we rushed in and picked up a couple of ingredients which I could remember from all the YouTube videos from Maangchi's Korean cooking blog. #2 picked up some biscuits, flavored seaweed and some deliciously sweet Fuji apples.

Today, I used the 700ml metal box to pack bento. There is a piece of sardine in tomato sauce (from the can) in a humongous silicon cup. In the other silicon cup is some Japchae which I put aside last night for today's bento.

I finally found a use for the 'insert'. I packed it with chocolate chip cookies (extra to share) and as a filler, I sliced some kyuri.

I had to use the humongous silicon cups so that when I close the lid, there will be less chances of leakage from the sardine in tomato sauce. The food isn't packed to the brim so it's really not packed to it's full capacity of 700 ml.

I did however, pack an overdose of Japchae!


This is #2's comment about the Japchae last night. "I have eaten this before in Korea. Tastes the same!" Whoot! *scores*

Maangchi's recipe is so easy to replicate and absolutely delicious! I left out the green onions and pepper because #2 doesn't like to eat it (the beef too) but it still was very delicious! Try it out, you will not regret it!


Disclaimer: I do not have any affiliations with any of the names mentioned above. Opinions are solely mine.

Bento 196

This new school year sees #3 staying back for extra-curricular activities on Wednesdays. That means I have to pack an extra box for lunch and it's often just spaghetti Aglio Olio.

Lately, #2 has asked not to have noodles in her box but in situations like these, there's no choice because I cannot be cooking so many different things to accommodate the different taste buds!

Today's box has fried fish again. There is some corn kernels (no dressing) and a twist of spaghetti Aglio Olio.


The two elder girls and I were craving for dessert last night so we took a quick drive down to Bangsar buy some Tiramisu, Pavlova and Cheese cake from "Alexis". This place sells awesome desserts and there was a piece of Cheese cake left over so I froze it in the freezer. I packed it into this morning's bento. Completed the box with some RED strawberries which I got from Curve.



Come to think of it, paying RM11 for three boxes of Cameron Highland strawberries just beats paying Rm11++ for ONE box of Korean strawberries!

Bento 195

This morning's bento was a quick-fix. I was dazzed by all the medicine and antibiotics I had consumed and forgot to plan bento last night.

I only remembered that I have frozen ravioli in the freezer.

Everybody was sleeping when I awoke and there was a frantic rush to hastily knock doors to awaken those who were supposed to be ready for school!

I had wanted to make a cheese sauce for the ravioli but there was no time so it was just cooked in salted boiling water and tossed in a dash of olive oil to avoid them sticking together. There was a quarter of a piece of fried fish and a tub of tatare sauce.

Fruits of the day was watermelon and there were asparagus spears to munch on.



Not much to say about a hastily put together bento! *Yawns*

Bento 194

Today's bento was packed at mid day because #2 and I went to see the doctors in the morning.

We're down with sore throats, flu and cough. #3 had it, but recovered, looks like #1 is also experiencing some tightness in the throat. Everyone in the house is having signs of a cough or something now!

I made a pledge to add a non plastic bento box before my 200th post and so here it is. It's a huge 700 ml box.

#2 requested for more fruits and ideally, this metal box packed in enough fruits. It was a good size for lots of fruits!

In it was persimmons and kiwi fruits - there was more than one in each silicon cup.

I finally found a box huge enough to use these humongous silicon cups which has been in my bento drawers since I opened them from their package. One contains alfalfa and some thinned down sesame seed dressing (added some plain yogurt). The other contained couscous and my freezer stash of Ratatouille.



The same things packed in a 480 ml box.



The Ratatouille tastes just as good if not better today! A couple of days back, #2's friends came over for group study and since all of them were abstaining from meat for Lent, I served them Ratatouille. Surprisingly enough they enjoyed it very much and one of the boys said that he was going to suggest to his mum to make it since it's meatless. Yummilicious!

Ravioli update

Saturday night was a busy night for #2 and I. We worked till past 11p.m. making ravioli. We've been talking and dreaming about making our own ravioli for a long while already but we've never had the time or the enthusiasm. After #2 found a ravioli recipe in her "Recipe keeper" which I bought her, she couldn't stop talking about it and so we went grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon.

I spent quite a tidy sum on the cheeses and ingredients! At one point I wondered if it was worth the effort to make rather than buy them from the supermarket? But this was an interesting experience!

We made the dough with freshly steamed spinach, strong flour, olive oil and eggs.


Rolled out the 'be-speckled' dough.

Putting the Ricotta and spinach filling onto the dough.


Covered the filling with another piece of dough.


The 'roughly' cut ravioli, waiting to dry out before putting into a container and into the freezer.


We boiled a few in salt water to try. The filling was excellent but I thought that the texture of the dough had a little too much 'bite' to it. It wasn't hard but what I have tasted in restaurants are more 'tender'. I was thinking that maybe I should use ordinary flour rather than strong flour? #2 said that maybe we should have rolled the dough even thinner. Honestly, it was already threatening to tear apart so I can't see how much thinner it could get. I think we'll give it another try and see how the dough turns out. The filling is just too good and I'm thinking that it probably makes a great dip too!!

Random

Yesterday, I browsed Pikkopots post on her 330th post on Goldilocks and the Three bears Bento. She's challenged bento packers to pledge a change, I quote - "Simply post a comment here with a pledge to replace one of the plastic items you use". You stand a chance to win a similar box which she used in her same post.

I left a comment on her blog and made a pledge, to add at least one non-plastic bento box before my 200th bento post!

I rummaged my store and found this shinning baby which has been sitting on the shelf for years waiting to be discovered! Finally thanks to Pikkopots and Life Without Plastic it will soon be filled with bento styled food.

This is a 700 ml box.


I was surprised when I saw the insert. It measured 200 ml. I thought that the box was empty! What a pleasant surprise.


It's only during the holidays that I have a chance to enjoy my garden. I saw this bloom and wanted to share it with you. I bought this plant at a Church jumble sale.



Another 3 blooms!


Isn't this just lovely?





#2 and I are making Ravioli from her "Recipe Keeper". Look out for my next post on Ravioli!

Bento 193

I made Ratatouille last night. I've only had this dish once and I liked it. The recipe in the "Cooks Bible" which I bought for #2 looked easy. I had all the ingredients and I started cooking after dinner.

All the vegetables were basically 'hard' vegetables and had to be cut into bite sizes. The brinjal or aubergines went under the knife first because it had to be sprinkled with salt and left aside for a while to allow it to soften.



Part of the time was spent cooking down the onions, garlic, aubergines and pepper, the rest of the vegetables, thyme and tomatoes were added halfway through. In total, preparation and cooking time, I took about one hour.

This was the result.


The Ratatouille was further flavored with salt and pepper. It's really got a wide mix of flavors and textures. The courgettes added a crunch to the Ratatouille, the peppers and celery gave it a pungent flavor, the aubergines were smoothly soft and the tomatoes added a tinge of sweet and sour taste. Quite a mouth full really.

The whole pot went into the fridge last night. I made Couscous to eat with the Ratatouille and it tasted so good. I know in Malaysia, many people don't know what Couscous is because our staple is rice and there's really no need for an alternative.

I think Couscous and Ratatouille is a perfect match for each other. One bland, and the other bursting with a wide mix of flavors! This was my lunch!

Some seedless grapes and a silicon cup of strawberry yogurt and a box of Couscous topped with Ratatouille.


Normally, I wouldn't pack yogurt with bentos to go but I ate this at home as soon as I packed it so it was still cool.