One very early morning, can’t remember if it rains the night before, the garden smells so fresh from the morning dew.

They say early bird catch the early worms. Even the ants was seen collecting the pollen. (Huh? You mean ants eat pollen too? Aiyah, nevermind.)

Ah then…. don’t know what to crap now.

You know, in certain country for example Harbin, during their freezing winter season when the temperature drop below 40C, what greeted you in the morning is not dew. Everything was frozen up.

(Picture source from internet)

Isn’t this a beautiful sight? One day I will make sure I have this picture taken by yours truly punya Canon 400D. You just watch this space la. Dunno when is the day. haha!

If you think the checkered apple is tedious, you should try making this sunflower sausage (just simply name them. 😳 ). This is how you do it:

Step one is like this…

The pressure you put on the knife while cutting has to be even. If not, you will get this result:

Can you imagine how frustrated I am when out of 12 pcs of frankfurt only one is perfect? The rest kept on breaking when I curl them. Step 2 should look like this:

Fasten both end with toothpick.

Step 3 – Heat a little olive oil in frying pan. Brown one side of the sausage, flip them over and break a quail egg on the centre. Reduce flame if you want a well-done egg. The finishing product looks like this:

Using a fork (in my case, I used my hand!), remove gently the excessed egg at the surrounding.

The Princess bento. I filled up the empty space with a cup of cornflakes.

This is how I shaped the rice.

Sprinkle a little furikake on the top or dab all over the rice.

The Prince bento looks like this (without the cornflakes as everything fit in nicely):

The sunflower sausage is a bit cacat because it is faulty. On the right is sun-dried pineapple. They are very delicious! Wuching courier them to me all the way from Melbourne.

Itu je. Too lazy to have lengthy post today. Maybe I will experiment with Weiner the next time. The frankfurter seems to be a bit soft and too fragile.

This is how I carved the checkered apple.

Step 1

Cut your apple into quarter or any bite size that you prefer. Core them too. In a bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt into cold water. For my case, I’d prefer to used ice-cubes as I like my apple really chilled. Place apple into salt water.

Step 2

Using a carving or any knife that you are most comfortable with, lightly cut criss-cross line on the apple’s skin.

Step 3

This is the most tedious part. Skin the apple’s skin using the knife’s tip. Working alternately around the apple to form a chess board.

Step 4

Once you have finished, return the apple to the salt water. Start working on the next piece by repeating step 1 to step 4.

Some curious readers is worried that the apple might turn brown. To kill the curiosity, I did an experiment by leaving the apple in a bento box outside room temperature for 24 hours. Want to know the result? Experimented them yourself 😉

For us, our Saturday is usually spent lazying in bed till late morning where we only managed to catch our brunch at 11.00am. Last Saturday being a schooling days for most schools to replace the upcoming Hari Raya break, I prepared hot porridge for daughter’s bento – something that I don’t get to prepare for her on a weekdays.

We have here ABC dry scallops porridge which consist of diced carrot, potatoes, onion, dry scallops and some fish balls. I season them with concentrated chicken stock and written here on the labels is a bold “NO MSG”. How true can that be? For dessert, we have red dragon fruits and checkered apple.

We manged to fit everything nicely into a insulation bag. I was moved when Daughter blurted this, “Mummy, you don’t go to work so that I have hot and nice lunch to bring to school.” I also wish lor.

According to Daughter, she took a longer time to finish the porridge as it is still hot (but not piping hot). The poor girl only managed to finish half of her apple as the “Prefect-Has-Blew-The-Whistle” and “We-Must-Stop-Eating”. *sigh… Talking about which, I have prepared a tutorial on how to craft the checkered apple. Stay tune for my next post.

The Bread Story

When come to preparation of bread, I tried to keep them as simple as possible preferably without using the cookie cutter if I can. One will have to be very creative and imaginative in presentation to impress the child.

Bento Mania #23

My usual way will be cutting up criss-cross forming triangle shape. You will be thinking that I’ve threw away the crust from the bread. But you are wrong. In this photoshoot, the one with crust was hidden under the first layer. Nothing go to waste this way as the kids doesn’t mind eating the crust too.

The kids heart peanut butter jelly sandwich very much. My usual brand is always Smuckers Gobber but the price has shot up lately. To stick to my frugal living list, I bought a different brand instead. Wanna take a guess? They tasted the same anyway.

Bento Mania #24

I make a big omelet with sausages tho scramble would taste better but knowing kids can’t handle scramble egg very well as the eggs will tend to drop off while eating. Messy, messy! Come to think of it, I shouldn’t have pack Milo and a choco bar since both of them are choco. *pfft* Nevermind. Anyway, there is some rice puff in the choco bar.

That’s all for the bread story.

Bento Mania #25

When I was too tired to wake up early, kids will have non-homecook meal but was prepared as home. So who say that is not counted *sticking out tongue*

Clock wise from top:

• Mini tarts with orange jam, strawberry jam and blueberry
• Mix nuts consist of almond, macadamia and pecan.
• Marshmallow
• Checkered apple again.

I have been told that bringing up a girl and boy is totally different. Girls are so much easier and they tend to does thing without being told and of course…. smarter! I have never compare both my kids (Kharsyn 8y/o and Carlgene 6y/o). They are special in their own way. Being smart or not is not important as I was born intelligent but studies ruin me.

Now, the thing that I always need to nag on my boy is his lack of enthusiasm in his studies. He has got my bad gene. He is exactly like me when I was little – very playful and lost concentration easily. Getting him to do his homework without being told is like buying a lottery ticket. And if he really finished up his homework without being told, it is like me, hitting the 4 million jackpot! (This is how from the original title “Of Homework and Exam” was changed to I Won a 4 Million Jackpot! Haha!)

Last Sunday night I kept on nagging him to finished up his mental arithmetic homework. As usual, most of the time he will be playing with his toes and gawd knows what. 30 minutes when I came back to check on him, he is no where to be seen on his desk but pangsai in the toilet. But where is his homework? How come they are not on the table? As I approached the toilet, my anger was held back when I saw him continue doing his homework by using a stool as a table.

Of course I quickly get my camera and shot my winning lottery ticket. 4 million dollar wor! When he look up at me, he goes, “Oh, Man!” <~~ please insert the most macho slang. Of course the little boy need lots of praising to keep him motivated 😉 .

On an unrelated issue but still pertaining to kids, this week is exam week again especially for Chinese school. Whenever daughter came home, the first thing I ask would be her exam:

Mummy: How’s your exam today? Can do or not?
Dotter: Can!
Mummy: Everytime also say can but never bring home 100 for Mummy. You don’t know meh Mummy like the two zeros. Mummy like to eat eggs.
Dotter: Oh, so you mean you like to eat sausage and eggs issit!

Kids nowadays!!!

When I first started to write for advertiser (all post title start with an ‘*’ asterisk on it), one of my kolig actually came and clarify with me if I really take those diet pills. I have to explain to her that I was paid by advertiser to introduce their product and not to believe anything that I wrote in there as many of them are just fiction. And I have to remind my readers again, never ever take my words seriously in paid post. Than Q belly much. I have my own principal. If I am fat If I think I am fat or put on weight, all I need to do is control what I eat i.e. less carbo and more protein or reduce the food intake. No way that I am going to buy what-what diet pills. That way you don’t burnt your pocket too. You can rest assured that this is not a paid post. *scout swear*

Two years ago, I did consume Kenko Diet Plum. After purchasing the 2nd box, finally I realized my own principal. Why spent money on food, yet spending more money to get rid of foods. If you understand how Kenko Diet Plum works. The diet plum help create bowel movement, and perform internal cleansing by excreting toxins and faeces. Therefore, you might find yourself visiting the toilet more often after consuming the plums. What you eat will flush out the next day. It also claims to gave you a slimmer waist line. What I totally love about the plum is the way they create bowel movement especially for someone like me with irregular toilet trip.

With the remaining plums I had, I just kept them in the fridge to be consumed when I had constipation. I think I left them lying there for more than 8 months when lately, Hubby had constipation too and has been asking me for the plum. I restricted him to one plum a day and remind him to discontinue once his bowel came back as usual. If you still don’t understand the plum, the more you continue them, the slimmer you are going to be cos the plum just flush out everything you eat the next day. aitelyu, it is very very effective. Further more, Hubby is already very slim. I do not want him to look like a tong sampah (waste paper basket). Three years ago, MIL passed away from colon cancer and Hubby being the eldest son vowed that he must shit once a day. If he don’t, he will sit on the toilet bowl till the cow comes home! Another word, ‘kiasi’. Finally, he finished the last packet of plum and asked me to replenish the stock again.

This is my 3rd box of Kenko Diet Plum. The new price is RM139.00 for 30 plums ($$$!). Previously, plums are divided into 2 small packaging like this:

I pick up this empty bag from the bin again just to show you guys how it looks like. Siao.

The new packaging came in a bigger box and the plum are pack individually. This way, the plum stays fresh longer.

I can’t say that I only eat the plums when I have constipation. Sometimes when I over indulged (especially during CNY) or ate too much unhealthy food like char kwey tiao or red meat, I will pop one plum after dinner and the next day, you will expect some very soft almost runny stool.  Nowadays, pangsai also need money. Siao!

If you look at Bento Mania #20, that morning, I woke up superbly early so that I have enough time to prepare 5 bentos. No major cooking required except for the rice and the rest I just pop them into the microwave. Putting them together is the one consuming most time. I am sure you will agree with me on this.

The King’s Bento

I bought the unagi from Jaya Jusco Japanese food section. The small fish is a take-away when we dined at one of the Japanese restaurant. It is no ordinary fish. I tried to take a shot of the name with my iPhone but that crappy phone (like I told you guys long time ago) is just an ordinary phone. It has got no flash, no macro and no zoom. So the wordings is all blurred out and left me with a no-name-fish.

Now, what make the fish special is the roe. The whole fish is filled with nothing but roe. Not much flesh, no bones. Just simply roe! I even eat the head as they are so crispy.

The Queen’s Bento

After distributing all the unagis (Bento Mania #20), I left one last piece for myself. Being a Mummy we always have to sacrifice for the family. *sob, sob* The furikaki (triangle) is just nice to go with the fried boneless chicken drummet (top left). The only extra things on the King’s bento is the shreaded zucchini with mayonnaise that was included last minute as when I was arranging the food, there seem to be a extra space in the bento. Instead of leaving them empty, good thing I have always stock up greens in my fridge. And with the help from the silicon dish cup, I can include anything I like be it wet or dry.

So colourful! So nice!

I know the food is nothing to shout about. Simple stuff consist of animal biscuits that BIL bought for the kids from Singapore. Do you remember during your younger days we used to munch on the colourful sugar topping biscuits. This is exactly the same version but of animal shape this time (psst.. actually the animal doesn’t looks like an animal at all. Don’t know what creature. Of course we can tell a rabbit by looking at it’s ear.) Then we have some triangle oranges and sunflower seed chocolates for the sweet tooth.

I have ran out of small bento boxes hence the one in the picture is just some shallow container from Tupperware. I can assured you that there won’t be any room left after I put on the lid so you don’t have to worry if the sunflower seed will roll out from the dish cup. This is also another reason why I have so many different sizes of bento boxes to fit the quantity food I have. Just squeeze everybody in there, use a baran aka separator or side dish cup to separate your food from the dry and the wet. I find the silicon cup is very useful and I love using them so much. They can be bent and shaped anyway you like to make place for the others unlike those plastic dish cup.

I remember quite sometime ago, Eldest Princess told me her sunflower seed chocolates has turned soggy and sticks together because of the warm weather in the afternoon (her lunch break is at 3pm). This time, I had her bento box wrapped with insulating wrap. This is how they looks like:

The insulating wrap can be used for cold or hot food. This item is available in my Market Hall if you are interested to purchase them.

Another bento accessories that I love is the food pick. Beside using them as decorations, a food pick is nothing but a food pick. Cut your food into bite size pieces and the kids happily comping down their food.

Backdated post.

We had a marvelous time staying in Pangkor Island Beach Resort (formerly known as Pan Pacific Pangkor).

Upon arrival at the resort, a warm welcome comprising of some hula-hula singer greeted us. The adult was served some cordial drinks and the kids had grapes fondue. Lucky kids!

Kids was squirming the moment they saw the beach and pool from their hotel room. I took the kids out right after we drop off the luggages in our room since Daddy need to have a quiet time to finish up his ‘homework’. Furthermore, Daddy is supposed to be working. We are the one tagging along 😉 .

Every beaches has it’s own specialty. In Pan Pac, the beach is filled with lots of tiny crab. And I mean really a lot! It is quite entertaining watching the crab pushing out the round sand and soon it formed some star like thingy.

Whenever we go near, the crab will hide themselves in the hole. Seconds later, they will resurface again. Baby Princess refused to walk on the beach because of this so I have to carry her into the water. And at the sea shore, we could easily gather lots of lala (clam) by just digging our hands into the sand and came out with a fist full of lala.

We truly enjoy ourself – the white sandy beaches, clear water even though it is not crystal clear, the buffet spread is so scrumptious and the kids never had enough of the pool. Me, on the other hand was not happy hiding under the shades playing ‘baywatch babe’ (aka lifeguard!). Boohoo!

Natural Body scrub

One minute he is relaxing. Another minute…..

Must be something that he saw in the water. I was yelling, “Wei, watch out my camera!”

He scares me with that stare! I could easily fallen in love with him.

A few photographs here showing off the beauty around the resort. I am still trying to figure out why does the foot prints seem like bulging instead of cave-in. Crappy!

While waiting for dinner, the sun starts to set. I took this at 6.45pm from my hotel room’s window.

I was quite lazy to go down to the beach again. But the more I look at the sky, the more I beh tahan. So I drag Daddy to be my photographer even though he was a bit reluctant at first. I really drag him! This should be a great opportunity to have myself shot in some yoga poses in silhouette.

But then…gawd knows what happen. My mind went totally blank. I can’t think of anything that comes out nice in silhouette. While I stand there scratching my head, he lost patient and shot the kids pulak. I’ve previously posted all the silhouette shots. Check them out. They are awesome!

Ok. No more pictures already. I shall cut my long winded story short. If you are looking for a place to just relax, this is the right place. We will be back to Pan Pac Pangkor more often cos we have fallen in love with the resort.