Cat

Bento No. 100

My bento making has hit 100! Ever since I started this new love, my son has been eating well.  I am blessed that he is not picky over food and like to try new food except spicy stuff.  I also realised involving my boy in the process of preparation also helps him eat better.  Examples, he will break an egg in a bowl (bearing in mind that I have to tolerate some mess in the kitchedn), whisk it, squeeze lemon/orange juice or even cutting soft fruits for me.  The best part he loves is he gets to taste it too and tell me "Mmmmmmm, yummy!".  Other times, I let him choose his favourite shape from my collection of sandwich cutter.   He will be so proud like a peacock announcing the whole world he made this and that! :)  But not for bento making yet. 
To share, his weekly lunch meal typically are sushi, noodles/pasta, sandwich and brown rice or fried rice (other than white rice).  I always tried to make it different from what we usually have in the dinner table.

We have brown rice cat today in his bento.  The facial is made from cheese and nori and its ears are cucumbers.  I actually free hand cut the shape of fishbone from nori and placed it on the pink salmon.  (Not very skillful though as it looked more like an arrow instead..).  My son has blanched broccolli, carrots flowers, apples and strawberries. Then I include a mouse, a dog and a bone foodpicks.

Hotdog pork floss sushi bread

Bento No. 99

My son went go-karting in West Coast Park yesterday which is part of the school curriculum.   These go-karts are not powdered by motor but you have to pedal it.  Sound interesting but I did not accompany him because I am down with cough (which my son passed on to me) and a headache.  Now both of us are coughing.  Hopefully, my son could recover soon in time for him to go to his school's mate, Sean Sean, 4th Birthday bash.  And it is dinosaurs party!  How can he miss it? 

Whilst he was enjoying himself at the West Coast Park, I went to Novena square.  I saw an interesting sandwich cafe named 'Baguette', the Viet inspired deli!  A bespectacled looking young man approached me from the shop and painstakingly introduced all their signatures baguette and famous sushi bread.  After checking on the company's website, I began to think if he is the founder - Chan Wei??  Anyway, I bought the sushi bread which was wrapped with chicken ham, floss, seaweed, cucumber, mayo and tuna at $3.30 for three slices.  Taste yummy and both of us finished all of it although it is on the pricey side.

Today, I made a similar version but using hotdog, wholemeal bread slices, cucumber, seaweed, some tomato sauce inside the roll.  The outer part I spread some mayo so that the pork floss will stick on it.  He also has some emmental cheese (rolled as well) and strawberries in his lunch.

Octopus hot dog and sushi



Bento No. 98



My son is still nursing from his cough and therefore, no tamagoyaki in his sushi bento.  (Why? Chinese old folks does not recommend consuming eggs.)   Usually, I will prepare the tamagoyaki to go along with his sushi because that is his favourite! Even in the Japanese restaurant, he will first attack the egg on the conveyor belt first.  So I replaced it with a pair of octopus hotdogs; a boy and a girl.  My boy never had hotdog for his bento other than the time when we dine outside. And I rarely bought hotdogs for lunch or dinner except for making pizza due to the fact that hotdogs are processed food and of no nutritious value.  I cut the tentacles and throw them into boiling water.  It's eye is made of black sesame seeds and mouth is from cheese.  Then I put on a cap foodpick for the boy and a red ribbon foodpick for the girl.  The rest is the basic stuff; baked salmon and cucumber sushi, edamame, apples and strawberries.

Because it is the first time I packed in his lunch, my son asked "What is that?"  Paused for moment and replied  "It's a octopus!".

Panda with Somen

Bento No. 97

Japanese somen!  Ya, this is the first time I cooked somen.  I happened to pass by a store named 'Brown Rice Paradise' at Trader Hotel.  And I found this Japanese somen.  My son has been coughing quite badly in the night and a running nose too.  I did not have a good night sleep too due to his heavy snoring through his stuffing nose besides his coughing.  Actually, I wanted to cook mee sua but it does not taste good when it is cold.  I understand somen can be eaten cold.  Therefore, I decided to give it a try.  The somen cost me $6!  It is organic and made in Australia.   I like the texture.  However, it is tasteless without sauce.  My boy has gyoza, fishballs, stir-fried snow peas with carrot and white mushroom.  And lastly, apples!  He does not fancy eating apples but I just discovered he actually ate it if I soaked in salt water (to prevent it from browning).

It was another of my usual routine; drove my son to school and fetched him home.  But I accidentally bumped into another car's side mirror and the latter bounced back.  The driver was angry and demanded "How?".  He signalled me to stop at the roadside and exchange particulars.  I was so shakened and scared.  Why? Because he was utterly hostile and rude to me.  Luckily, there was a passersby whom coincidentally is a Claim Consultant for car's accidents.  He took a look at both cars and assured me that it was just a minor issue.  It would not cost me a bomb if the driver wanted to replace his side mirror.  Mine has a little scratch.  Thank God!

Sailboat and panda

Bento No. 95

As part of the school outing, we went to Mana-Mana Beach Club at East Coast Park yesterday. Bright sunny day and a warm sea breeze. It was a perfect day for watersports i.e. Kayak and Boogieboard. My son loves every bit and everything about water and sand.  Prior today, I did showed him some pictures over the internet what he will expect considering he is rather timid child.  And, I encouraged him to try all the activities.  Well, he did all with a little push from Mommy especially on the boogie board.

So, I made a sailboat theme sandwich with cheese under a playful sun today.  He got a packet of chocolate milk, yellow kiwi, red dragonfruits and a sweet.  The sandwich is filled with sardine and onions.

There is one bento box which I adored and  have not been used since I bought it long ago from Amazon.  Tata, the two-tier panda bento box! I packed some dragonfruits and kiwi in the first layer.  At the bottom, my son has bean stick flat noodles and topped with boiled spinach, carrots and gyoza (but look like wanton here..haha)  This was his lunch two days ago. 

Next year, we will be able to see the pair of pandas named Kai Kai and Jia Jia in Singapore.  Each time I mentioned he has the same name as one of the panda, he is not happy about it and corrected me by saying in his own words "that is a person's name".  This little boy has pride too! :)



Bento No. 96



Butterfly and sushi



Bento No. 94

When I did not beat the egg enough, the egg white will appear in the tamagoyaki in this circular manner as shown in the picture.  Hence, I put two umbrella handles as the antennae to make it look like a butterfly.  Does it?  This is his usual sushi bento; baked salmon, Japanese cucumber, tamagoyaki, edamame and fruits.

Papa is on business trip in Mexico city for a week.  Whenever my son sees aeroplane flying past our home, he will say "Look, Papa is flying back home in that plane".  I asked how long it will take for Papa to reach home.  He answered happily "Three days!".  I was really amused by his reply and simply reflects how innocent and pure he is now.

Mommy is trying to get use to the new car which feel so light, quiet and smooth.  Somehow, I missed the old car rough handling and engine noise.  If you know what I means...

Ham and Cheese Sandwich

Bento No. 93

I bought a heart sandwich cutter from J-Mama & Baby a few months ago and today, I used it to make ham and cheese sammies for son and topped with tomatoes, cucumber.  The cutter is not sharp enough to cut the bread and I have to trim off the edges with scissors.  It looks neat and pretty though.  I stuffed a gingerbread man (made from cheddar cheese) in between the sammies.  Does it look mischievous...playing hide and seek??  I also packed some dragonfruits and grapes in his lunchbox plus a vanila flavour yogurt.

While on the way to school, he complained of ear pain.  Upon checking,  I found some redness behind his ear lobe due to excessive scratchng.  My boy began to cry when we reached school even though I applied some ointment behind his ear lobe.  In the end, I have to carry him to the classroom and leave him with the teachers swiftly. Probably I will bring him to see a doctor for a thorough cleaning and check of his ears tomorrow. 

Busy, busy day...We went Jacob Ballas Children Garden with Lilian Pak Leong. Thereafter, I received a message from Papa that we have to collect our new car at 5.30pm and I have to pick him up at his office.  I have never ventured into Orchard Road/CBD area other than sending and fetching my son to/from his preschool. But I managed to drive to his office with Lilian Pak Leong giving me some directions. Thank God!  We are all excited over the new car and we love the new number plate SKB9091L.  Lottery time..hehe

Brown cow - Mooooo

Bento No. 92

Last week, we borrowed a book about farm and havesting from the library.  It is a huge board book with flip flaps and colourful pictures.  My son loves it so much that he even asked Papa to buy a Lego farm for him.  Of course, he got his wish granted.  So Mummy here prepared a brown rice cow bento.  The facial is cut out from crabstick and nori. He has pan-fried toman fish with ginger and scallion, cauliflower, carrots, oranges and grapes.  And I added more friends to accompany the cow i.e. a pig and a chicken foodpicks.

This afternoon, I told my boy that we are getting our new car soon and asked him if he is going to miss our current old car.  His answer is "yes" sadly.  Me too!  I will also miss the current old car because this car has helped me to regain my confidence in driving.  On the other hand, I am quite excited and looked forward to the new car ;)

Rocket

Bento No. 91

I made a rocket with cheese and placed some broccolli and flower carrots over a bed of spaghetti.  It appears like a rocket blast off above giant trees and flowers. And my son has red grapes and his favourite tomato sauce for his spaghetti.  I am worried if he can identify it as rocket instead of aeroplane but he is so clever to point out to me that it is a rocket :)

I have never been so busy for the last two days. Facial on Monday and manicure/pedicure today.  I must confess that I have not been punctual to pick up my son from school.  Let Mummy enjoys a few more days of freedom...hehe since the carpark gantry is still not operative yet while I still can park for free.

California roll

Bento No. 90

I know I have not been posting on my blogs promptly these days. In normal days, I headed straight home after I dropped my son at the preschool.  This is where I have time of my own to do some blogging and homework. Lately, the tenant who managed the school's carpark had moved and as a result, the gantry is not operative at the moment.  It is a good news for me because I can park my car for free and run errands as well as shopping, meeting old friends for lunch.  Yippee! 

Today, I prepared california roll for my son.  Just imitation crabstick and avocado.  Well, crabstick sushi is one of my son favourite besides tamagoyaki.  In addition, there are edamame, dragonfruits and red grapes.