Choo Choo Train

Bento No. 54

 I woke up in the morning and saw the beautiful sun rise.  It just brighten up my day.  I made a choo choo train sandwich filled with ham and cheese (which was punched out from the cutter).  Round cucumber for its wheels and seaweed for the window.  Simple! And load it with many animals foodpicks.  Accompanied with green grapes and dragonfruits in my boy's bento.  Of course, his favourite yummy apple yogurt.

Kittens

Bento No. 53


Originally, I want to make a pair of tiger cubs.  Due to limited time and in a hurry, I used CarlaCraft mini panda puncher to print out all the facial expression.  Because the snout is so tiny and turned out looking like a pair of kittens  I used basmatic rice tinted with tumeric powder to yield a yellow colour.  However, basmatic rice is not as sticky like the Australia calrose rice that I always cooked. And it does not hold together after I pressed out the rice from the bear mould. (Oh, I run out of the calrose rice.  Thats why!)

All his favourite food in this lunch today which include baked salmon, yellow rice and strawberries.  Not so to his liking is cauliflower which I hid it under the yellow rice....hehe

Dew Drop

Bento No. 52

I like to call these onigiri 'dew drop' instead of tear drop for a more upbeat mood.  I bought these musical notes foodpicks from Daiso to add to my collection again :-)  One of the dew drop appears to be singing though..... Can you tell which one?

In his lunch, my boy has fried long bean with egg, pan-fried chicken breast with yellow onion, carrots, dragonfruit and USA strawberry.

Dinosaurs Birthday cake

In my latest blog, I have mentioned that my son 3rd Birthday is due on April 8th.  Prior day, he will celebrate in his school. On his actual day,  I am sure he will be overjoyed at the Jungle Breakfast at the Zoo.  I decided to bake a birthday cake myself and decorated it with his favourite dinosaurs  (Oh yes, he requested for a dino cake).  Tata, here it is..  This is my first attempt baking a birthday cake!  I made a chocolate cake (after browsing Soooooo long for the perfect chocolate cake using hershey cocoa powder).  Considering they are all little babies in his preschool, I reduce the amount of sugar in the cake and choose an avocado cream cheese frosting which is not only most appropriate natural green colour for a dino theme cake but it is also nutritious and healthy snack for little tummies   I placed round cookie crisps around the cake and tiny raisin to represent the rocks.  Very 'minimalist', I feel about the appearance of this cake. Perhaps, I should add more colours to the cake.
 
Not really done yet, it is a protype to see how it taste and look before the actual day of preparation..  Wish me luck :D

Blush Lion without hair



Bento No. 51

 Ever wonder why it is a blush lion without hair??  There is a nursery rhyme that goes like this......

"Down by the bay, where the watermelon grows
Back to my home, I dare not go
For if I do, my mother will say
Have you ever see a bear (lion) without any hair
Down by the bay...."

Haha, my improvised version of the song.  It has to do with the cheese.  I bought the laughing cow brand of sandwich cheese and only to discover that it melts quickly under room temperature.  Hence, it is not a good idea to make cute cutouts from this type of cheese.  I should stick to President cheese which is more pricey.

It is a really light sandwich lunch with fried egg and cheese together with some cherry tomatoes and cucumber.  I throw in his favourite yogurt and Australia summer orange plum in his bag.  My boy knows all the goodies are stored in the fridge and his little muscle has become strong enough to open it too.  My fridge literally 'opens and shuts' all the time because of his favourite yogurt!

Teddy Bear



Bento No. 50

It rains the whole night! But I like the cool weather here.  Oh, this is what my boy's request; a teddy bear bento.  Since he did not like white rice, I used brown rice to make the teddy.  The face is pressed from onigiri mould and other parts of the body are shaped by hands. The muzzle, paws and ears are made of cheese that pressed out from different sizes of straws (which I learned it from Yum-Yum bento).  And a star for his little tummy!  Isn't it cute?  I thought so despite my picture did not turn out as good as it should be.  It is hard to please the little ones though... My son suddenly changed his mind instead asking for a goat bento.  OMG!!

Anyway, he has blanced broccolli, stirred fried chicken breast with Shimeji mushroom and carrots. Plus, orange and pumpkin soup in separate containers.  Guess what, the lunchbox came back 'flooded' in its mushy leftover soup and rice.  This is the result of teacher pouring soup over the rice when feeding.

Dinosaurs - Stegosaurus

Bento No. 49

School reopens today after one week holiday!  Not really eventful holiday for my boy because it has been raining in the afternoons last week.  He played with his lego toys and dinosaurs most of the time inside the house.  Except, last Tuesday, Mommy drove all the way to the north to visit Granny for the first time!  It was a smooth ride and on the way home, it was raining cats and dogs. And, I hate driving in the rain :0 

My son's birthday is coming soon in April.  I had made a reservation with the zoo for a 'Jungle Breakfast' and hopefully (of course, cross our fingers) that the orang utan would make an appearance.  My son can't wait till that day and has been nagging at me all day about the orang utan :)  I also made an online purchase with Amazon for a plush soft toy - T-Rex.  He loves dinosaurs ! So much to do...for his birthday celebration .

His bento is a stegosaurus cut out from the steamed egg (with minced meat).  Along with it are blanched broccolli, carrots, cherry tomatoes and oranges.

Bus



Bento No. 48


No Rice! It's pasta day!  Hope, my boy does not 'spill' his lunch again. Yesterday night, his appetite is back again during dinner time and ate a lot.  Plus supper too :)

He has his usual tomatoes sauce but added four meatballs.  (I must confess that I put in five meatballs altogether - kiasu mom).  A mix of bowtie and wholemeal spirals.  The bus is cut out from the seaweed.  Flower carrots for the wheels and cheddar cheese for its windows. And oranges, which I packed in a separate box.

Ham and Cheese Sandwich Roll Up and a 'dirty' Cow



Bento No. 46

 After trying the chicken mayo sandwich roll up for my son previously, I find the presentation is more colourful and appealing (if I am not making any cute animals).  Hence, I used the same method yesterday and made a ham and cheese roll up again.  I added salad in the fillings too!  I mixed a bowl of salad that comprised of purple cabbage, butterhead lettues and golden raisin with honey mustard sauce and placed some inside the bread. Hehe, this is one way to make my boy eats more greens!  In his bento, he also has strawberries (from korea) and blueberries.   Korea strawberries is abundant nowadays in the supermarket and simply just could not resist it :)  A light, fruity and healthy lunch.

The little finger pointing at the mouse foodpick asking "What is that?".  I was surprised that he does not know it was a mouse!


Bento No. 47

I have leftover black sesame powder which I earlier used to make dressing for french bean. So I experimented it by dusting some on the cow and to see the effect.  Needless to say, it looks cheekily 'dirty' :P  I asked my son "what is this animal?".  He paused for a long long time and looked blindly at me.  Then, I hinted "Is it a cow?".  His face suddenly lighted up and happily replied "Ya!". 

He has snow pea stir-fried with chicken breast and carrot, egg tofu and sunkist oranges. Eggs, my son loves any dish wih eggs!  He was just asking last night during our dinner why there was no egg.

Being adventurous backfired today, my boy reported that he was punished (by facing at one corner at school) because he 'spilled' the rice and more :-

"I don't like white rice." 
"I don't like the cow."
"I did not eat the rice."

:(

Sushi Bento

Bento No. 45

When I arrived at school this morning, I am in cloud nine when teacher praised the bento I made was very cute and creative. One of the teacher is so impressed that she took a picture of it :D  Cool!

My son appetite has also increased too and I am glad that he ate the cherry tomato now. Thanks to the cute skewer which make it fun to eat I guess.  Nothing special today, a normal baked salmon sushi bento but I packed a lot more here; edamame, tamagoyaki, a cherry tomato and dragonfruits.