Simply Onigiri

Tomorrow we are flying back to visit my in-laws in Petani for the Chinese New Year celebrations. Not much food left and I prepared a simple onigiri and marmite pork together with some mixed greens and strawberries.  I love the marmite chicken at the Tampines Round Market and just could not get the right taste when I cooked it. Whenever I am in the kitchen, my son will ask if he can try or taste some.  He had a sip of marmite sauce and immediately, he shrugs his shoulders!  Oh dear, I guess he didn't like it though.  Yet, he said 'I like it' attempting to please his Mommy.  I do hope he could eat his lunch, or at least some, to fill up his stomach. 


Bento No. 36



Inside Out Sushi and Mouse Bun



Bento No. 34

  Another Sushi lunchbox with baked salmon and avocado yesterday!  I managed to place the edamame onto the satay skewer. You need a sharp skewer to do the job otherwise these beans will break easily.

I am so busy yesterdady from cutting my hair (at S$10 shop) to shopping for my hubby's shirt. Lately, I have been craving for fast food that I ordered a swiss mushroom burger setmeal from Burger King!  Sinful but yummy! 

Today, my son is going to have fun making Pumpkin and Veggie fritters at school.  So I prepared a light lunch for him which include a mouse bun (with fried egg, tomatoes, cheddar cheese and cucumber), some strawberries and steamed Japanese green pumpkin.  It is all packed into this lovely yellow box.  It's actually a popcorn box which we purchased from the Zoo.


Bento No. 35



Salmon Pink Rabbit

I made another Rabbit bento today.  This time, I decided not to use the rice mould but shape the onigiri by hand!  The onigiri is mixed with baked salmon.  When I look at my finished product, I felt so happy and cheerful.  Do you?  My son has simmered Kabocha Squash (Japanese Green Pumpkin) and two strawberries for his lunch today.  I just discovered the dark green skin of Kabocha can be eaten and it is so soft after simmered with stock. 

Bento No. 33

 My son's new clothes has not arrived todate.  I am getting a bit anxious if the parcel I ordered online would reach me on time before I depart for Penang this Friday.  Oh no, cross my finger though!  I got myself a Mandarin collar dress yesterday at TampinesOne...hehe but it's a bit steep on the price tag.  Honestly, I never really think of the significance of CNY until I had my son.  And I would like him to learn about the Chinese customs and traditions.  Dressing up for the occasion is one way to teach him I guess :)



Lion



Bento No. 32

I have been making animal shapes out of cheese lately.  With the handy vegetable mould and some free hand draw, I managed to do a decent one like this lion above.  It is made of orange and yellow Cheddar and Emmental cheese slices sitting on a bed of bowtie and spiral pasta.  I blanched some french beans and placed it in the lunchbox for the greens and added some carrot flowers.  The perfect natural environment for this amicable looking lion! Accompanied with tomato meat sauce and some Navel oranges in a separate container.

My boy was in his 'another' mood today. Not willing to walk but requested Mommy to carry.  Crying and whining on the way to the carpark.  I picked him up just before a few steps from the car and he stopped his tantrum. Oh boy!  I have a close shave with a car driving home that makes me thinking if displaying triangle/p-plate would avoid such incident.  Worst thing, I have forgotten to switch off my gas stove and my soup was cooking!  How careless!  It is really an eventful day for me.

Assorted Bentos and Sushi

I have been so busy shopping online for my boy's new clothes that I'm not blogging his bento timely.  I finally got him a Baby Gap pyjamas, a pair of Thomas and friends sock and a Nissen long pants. It's Chinese tradition to buy new clothes for the new year. 

On Monday, I made some meatballs and attempting to shape a 'mouse'.  But I forgot about the whiskers..haha!  Their ears is made of cereal flakes. He has carrots, corn, broccolli and some cheeries.  I sprinkled some mixed seaweed porkfloss on the bed of the white rice for flavour.
  

Bento No. 29


On Tuesday, Papa said he had a dinner appointment with my son's godma and I decided to cook steamed kechi chicken and a caixin soup both for lunch and dinner.  And I packed it in my boy's bento. 



Bento No. 30

 

Today, I made sushi with crabstick, japanese cucumber and tamagoyaki.  I think my son has not been seeing any cute animals in his bento that he asked me to made giraffe and elephant for his bento.  So I put 2 cute foodpicks on the tamagoyaki.  To prove that I did it, he actually requested me to show it to him first.  



Bento No. 31



Baby Giraffe



Bento No. 28

Giraffe, giraffe more giraffe!  My son's favourite animal for now.  If we go shopping at the mall with soft toys, he will grab a giraffe first.  Luckily, he does not throw tantrum when we told him that we are not going to buy it. 
Well, I made a baby giraffe from emmental and cheddar cheese and his facial is from black seasame.  Previously, I used a bone foodpick as the horn and my boy said it looks like a caterpillar.  I decided to omit this time.  I think it looks adorable without it! He had baked salmon in teriyake sauce with sliced japanese cucumber and steamed pumpkin with some black and white seasame sprinkle on it.

Sushi and a Sheep Bento

Yesterday I made baked salmon sushi for my boy's bento.  Not much different from the usual one I made. Probably more colourful because I throw in a strawberry, Apricot and edamame.  It was so cold yesterday that one parent commented "Winter has arrived in Singapore.".




Bento No. 26

   This morning, I saw a glimpse of sunshine from my house and I guess, it will be warmer today :)  Nevertheless, I'm still quite tired due to my son's interrupted sleep at night.  He refused to nap in the afternoon since he started school probably due to his growth spurt.  And he objected strongly with a 'No' and 'I'm not tired' when I asked him to nap. I felt that his quality of sleep has compromised.  I think I'm going to try tired him out physically at the playground.  Hope, he could get back to his normal routine naptime!

Have you seen the cartoon - Timmy the Sheep? I don't know why but whenever I cooked cauliflower, it always remind me of a sheep.  Yap, this cheeky sheep looks a bit of abstract. Don't you think so? Hahah..



Bento No. 27



French Toast with Ham and Cheese

Bento No. 25

I am not a fan of fried food and seldom make it on the lunch or dinner tables.  However, occasionally, I will make an exception to provide different type of food.  Here, my son has french toast with ham and emmental cheese which I pan fried it with olive oil (although the receipe calls for butter).  A cute pink rabbit foodpick on apricot together with a strawberry, sliced japananese cucumber and a cherry tomatoes. My son usually has two slices of wholemeal bread for his lunch.  After placing all the fruits and vegetables, I realise there is no room to put the rest of the bread!  He will have second round when he come home from school. 

The weather in Singapore has turned cold and rained everyday.  Therefore, I packed some pumpkin soup for his lunch today too.

Sandwich

Bento No. 24

 Not much food left in the refrigerator.  So I opened a can of tuna and made sandwich for my son using sandwich cutter.  I tried to stuff two slice of wholemeal bread into his lunchbox and ended up not able to see the shapes (an elephant, a dog, a whale and a car).  He loves these shapes!  When I am lazy, I just spread some jam or peanut butter on his bread.  After a few bites, he will tell me what kind of animals he created!   Quite imaginative too!

For variety, I put in emmental and cheddar cheese on two of each bread and the rest is tuna spread together with sliced tomatoes.  I also throw in some japanese cucumber in his favourite foodpicks. 

Giraffe

Bento No. 23

Yesterday my boy was asking if I can made a giraffe for his lunchbox.  I promised him I will try.  Afterwards, I was wondering if he can understand the meaning of 'try'.

I did it today. I mashed the egg tofu and mixed it with white rice to create a yellow colour and dotted it with orange carrot.  Then, I inserted the bone food pick and twisted it around to make it look like a pair horns visually. Alongside, he also has sugar bean stir-fried with pork and his favourite grapes.  My creation appears like a 'crossbreed' or should I say a 'hybrid'.  Because my boy told me it looks like a caterpillar when I showed him the first time.  And I asked him the second time, he seems unconvinced that it is a giraffe.

Rabbits

I can't believe it is year 2011 and the school holiday is over.  But we had a great time over the festive season because we had Companies!  Yeah,  his favourites 'Jie Jie' was here and his 'San Ku', an excellent cook who whipped up delicious meal for all of us (not forgetting to learn more from her).  They even bought clothes for my boy. This is the privillege of being the little ones. So envy! He really loves them and keeps telling me he wants to take an aeroplane to'Ah Ma' house in Malaysia.  Not really in good sentence, but I think he is putting an effort to speak more and incessantly asking "what is this?" and "what is that?" in other days. 

Bento No. 22

I made a simple bento today using my brand new seaweed puncher I bought from Daiso.  I had been searching from outlets to outlets and finally got these two which completes my collection :) Hesitated, my son said one is a hamster and the other is a rabbit.  Haha, what do you think?  He has broccoli, carrots, black grapes and steamed minced meat with egg (hidden underneath).