Top Left to right:  Baby french beans stir fried with sweet raddish, fish ball soup.
Bottom left to right:  Fish Paste Roll.  (You can get the recipe by clicking on the link provided), white steam rice with a dash of seaweed powder

Just a quick update as I’m doing some spring cleaning and need to run down to the store to buy a new plasma mounts. Gong Xi Fah Chai to all!!!

For those with school going kids and especially chinese school students, they have started extra school days on Saturday to replace CNY holiday.  Last week being the first day of school on Saturday (which I usually love), I prepare porridge/congee for the Prince who is in afternoon session.

Nothing fancy as we had the same thing for lunch at home.  We had some steam broccoli & artificial crab claw with REAL! crab claw life insurance.  Further to the back is fried omelet with tomatoes, french beans and shrimps.  And obviously, the one on the further right is porridge.

Not sure about you but I grew up eating porridge for lunch and rice for dinner.  And when I have my own family, the tradition was stuck with me.  We always had porridge for lunch and never, never had rice. lol.  Typical Foochow huh.

Waking up time – 5.30am
Completion time – 6.45am

I realised that Monday is the best time to pack a tricky bento after the body get a full recharged on weekend like catching up with sleep and such.  By hook or by crook, if I keep it up this way, I should be able to go back full swing on my bento.  The thing is, I’ve run out of new idea and today’s was a repeat from what I’ve posted up before.  The new stuff I made is the korean seaweed rice balls.

Top Left to right:  Sweet tamago sushi, korean seaweed rice balls
Bottom Left to right:  Stuffed kamaboko, baby tomatoes

For Him & For Her

Let’s talk a bit about schooling hours and I’ll bitch on the modern furniture they have in the next post.  For people like us who left school almost 18 years ago, we are shock (or rather I am shocked!) to learned that school nowadays start as early as 7.15am. During our time, school starts at 7.45am! LOL!  I didn’t know this as all these while, my children is in the afternoon session and I am still adjusting to my new routine.  Even driving to school in the wee hour of morning is a big challenge to me as the sky is still dark outside and I’m the type that can’t do night driving. Oh, don’t even talk about waking up!  After the 2nd day of school, I started to hit the snooze button.

School has reopen and this year I have a new routine to adapt to, that is being the chauffeur for my 10 years old Princess as she is now in the morning session.  Which also means that I have to get up at 6am (if I am preparing simple food) or 5.30am for bento that required some cooking.  So far this two days, I managed to leave home slightly before 7am (since school starts at 7.15am.  So freaking early!!!!).  It’s a drag!  It seems that I was drug by sleeping pills as my eye can hardly open.

Sadly to say, I have lost my blogging mojo during my hiatus and this is what came to my mind the first thing.  Something simple yet delicious at the same time easy to prepare.  I wouldn’t want my Princess to be late on her first day of school.

Top Left to right:  Cultured drink & cherry tomatoes
Bottom:  Ham Sandwich

At the same time, I prepared identical bento for my 8 y/o boy.  Since he is in the afternoon session, I have to be extra caution to gave him food that won’t go stale by afternoon.

Ben 10 is making a hit among little boys nowadays.  I have one mania at home too.  Not only Carlgene wants everything that is Ben 10 theme, his favourite colour now is G.R.E.E.N.!

O.o

Food from left to right:  Cheese spagetti with a dash of seaweed powder and carrot.  Further to the right:  unknown type of fishcake & octopus sausages.  I’m trying to create a sea creature theme here but they don’t look so nice.  Looks like I need some planning and more pond supplies.

This is his first Ben 10 bento box.  I like them, not because it is Ben 10.  I just like how the cutleries is neatly store on the top compartment.

I happens to be at The Mall the other day and was browsing BIG Bookshop and chance upon this box.  Priced at RM22.90.  A bit pricey but like I say, I was attracted by the cutleries compartment. LOL.

Top to bottom: Onigiri rice, stir fried organic slim lily bud with hae bee (dry prawn), emperor pear & longan, deep fried chicken wings and unagi cawanmushi.

Our fridge is stuffed with so many veges we bought from Cameron!  Time to clear all of them before the once “fresh-vegetables” turned into “no-longer-fresh-vegetables”.

For the soup, we boiled together some anchovies, beetroot and carrot for an hour.

This is how my Son eat his meal.  He discard the carrot and beetroot.  Add in that two pieces of onigiri rice to the soup and finished up the whole thing!  This way, I save my energy forcing them to drink soup.

With kids around, we hardly cook spicy food at home.  What’s more with this nice looking squid?  This is what my Mom used to cook for us when we was younger.

Stuff some minced pork (marinate with soy sauce, papper, sesame oil and tapioca or cornflour) into the squid’s cavity, pour oyster sauce on it then steam them till done.

Top row:  Grilled Taiwan sausage, chives omelette (homegrown!), mangosteens.
Bottom row:  Inarizushi (rice stuff in tofu skin) and stuffed squid.

Good thing this is a back dated bento but looking back, I recalled that night I replied Hubby’s sms that read, “Throw away the damn food if you are not coming home to eat.”  That is because Hubby “suddenly” decided to change his plan for not coming home for dinner.  Good thing I’ve never post my bento on date and that way, I don’t put grouges in the blog.

Close up:

Grilled Taiwan sausage and home grown chives omelette

Inarizushi

Squid stuff with minced pork

Top:  Gardenia Chocolate Bread with ham, quill eggs, sausage man (using a toothpick to fasten the button mushroom as a hat.  Black sesame seed and a little photoshop as facial details *ngek*)

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On the first day of school reopen, I decided to prepared something quick as I was afraid I might got caught up in the morning traffic.  I decided to used the alpha cutters which I bought moons ago.

I hardly get to used the upper tray of this bento box cos they are too shallow and I have been wanting to prepare something like this for the longest time.  For the lower tray, I filled them up  with two slices of bread (again!).

Nothing go to waste in my house. *evil grin*

On another unrelated matter pertaining on Michael Jackson’s death. My 7 years old came home from school and told me this, “I think he put lipstick, then died.” Adoi mak, where on earth did he get that idea.

And for my 9 years old, I showed her some video clips of Michael Jackson and she goes, “HE LOOKS LIKE A GIRL!”…  “HE IS SO UGLY!” Sorry about that MJ.  I did explained to her why he become like ‘that’. Told her about black turning white, about plastic surgery, what is side effect, etc.  But she still goes, “BUT I can’t believe it, HE IS SO UGLY!” I think she doesn’t like how MJ looks like but she love the song “We Are The World” since she was a child.  Then I thought maybe I should show her some ‘nicer’ pictures of MJ in the 80s.  Too bad the video cards on the laptop decided to do the ‘Michael Jackson’ too.  Wrong timing.

Top:  Grilled Teriyaki Salmon, blanched Choi Sum cut flower, soup boiled for 3 hours with  black chicken, lotus root and chinese herbs.
Bottom:  Rice with black sesame seeds, seedless guava with sem buoi (sour plum) and fresh Lychee.

My recipe for the teriyaki marinate – Dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, dash of pepper and honey.  This dish is a big hit among my kids whenever I cook them.  Thin slices of salmon fillet grill on high heat on the pan.  Save the gravy as drizzle for the rice and the kids will go yum, yum, yum!

(Sorry, close up picture was a bit blurry due to tummy growling and kids fighting over who-gets-the-bigger-piece) o.O