Doggie & sushi

Bento No. 153

Bento No. 154

Yesterday, I made a doggie out of cheese and place it on the spaghetti.  Unfortunately, my son did not eat his lunch but he finished all the fruits.  When I opened the lunchbox, I discovered the cheese was sticked on the lid of the cover.  Back home, he kept asking for food knowing Grandma has bought some char siu bao for him.  I told him he has to eat at least half of the spaghetti before he can have his bao.  Well, he did so.  Gosh, I cannot believe he can stomach so much food at one go. 

The spaghetti is infused with garlic oil and I packed his favourite tomato sauce (which was the leftover previously and it was kept in the freezer for use) on a separate container.  And he passed gas all the times yesterday.  Is it the effect of garlic oil or the tomato sauce?

Today,  it is baked salmon sushi and his usual side dishes! The addition of red strawberries made the bento look so tempting and colourful.  Put a few of his favourite safari animals foodpicks for cuteness.

Last week, I requested my Mom to post a letter to my son for fun.  It was a silly idea but my boy would ask whether he got any letter every time, I opened our letterbox.  Well, he was so thrilled and surprised (from his expression) that he actually got a mail.  Not an electronic one but via the conventional method.  Inside the envelope, there were a bookmark from NLB, a doremon sticker and a cartoon printout by his cousin, Dexter.

Pinwheel

Bento No. 152

Does it look like pinwheel or flower to you?  It is made of crabstick and blueberry. The rest of his lunch consists of tuna mayo sushi, edamame and kiwi.

My boy has a wonderful time with his cousins from Penang.  It is fun watching three kids aged seven, five and three years playing together.  On the other hand, it can get quite rowdy when they are out of control. I just cannot imagine how the parents cope in the old days where they have six or more children.  When the kids are in bed, we finally has some peace and sat down comfortably to relax.  One topic we discussed is hyperactive child.  My son is also super-active.  That is why I am very particular with what I fed him because the type of diet would affect his behaviour according to experts.  I would love him to take all the natural food but occasionally, I will allow processed food.  But caffeine/soda drinks are absolutely prohibited for him now.  The main reason is my boy always fights with me over his bedtime.  This also explained why I constantly looked out for labels with preservative, colourings, sugars level, sodium and etc.

Below are some excerpts from http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/807819/calming-foods-for-hyperactive-kids.
“Food additives and colors plus artificial sweeteners make the nervous system overactive. That's in addition to what too much sugar can do,” explains Dr. Jennifer Greenfield, Center for Chiropractic Wellness.

“Foods that have calcium and magnesium, like vegetables, nuts and seeds, can be calming,” adds Greenfield.

In any case, it was a good discussion where we shared our thoughts and parenting skills.  And the best?  We have a great time together! :)

Tractor

Bento No. 151

The tractor is made of cheddar cheese, honey baked ham, cucumber, oatmeal bread and nori. Well, my son's preference is the train sandwich cutter.  Unfortunately, the oatmeal bread is too small to make a train.  Therefore, he selected his next favourite i.e. tractor.  Then I rolled up a small piece of ham and put a leaf foodpick.  Plus some Hawaii papaya to go along with it. 

Thanks to Sanku who got my boy a dinosaur coin bank with his name painted on it.  My boy was so delighted and kept asking for more coins to fill up his round transparent tummy. 

On Friday, I picked up Sanku from Tanjong Pagar market after I dropped my son in school.  I managed to find my way with the help of GPS.  For one moment, I thought I was lost ;)  In the afternoon, we went to the Flower Dome at the Gardens by the Bay which opened for viewing from 14 to 20 November 2011 only.  Afterwhich, it will close and officially, open in June 2012.  The Dome housed all sorts of plants and is huge!.  The highlight is the thousand years old Olive Tree. In the evening, we went to the airport and picked up the rest of Sanku's family members whom we have been waiting to meet them. 

It was a busy and eventful day for me :) 

California roll and Panda

Bento No. 150

Yesterday, we finally picked up our first guest, 'Sanku' around Jurong where she has been working as a confinement lady.  Thereafter, we visited Pak Pak who lived at Pandan Garden.  He has since been recuperated at home after his discharge from hospital.  Pak Pak has a bad fall from his bicycle during the Hospice Bike Ride.  It is a blessing that he is fine now.

This morning, I was quite nervous when I prepared the sushi bento for my son especially with Sanku around in the kitchen.  When she asked me what I am going to make, I actually has no idea.  So I just arranged the food in the bento box and put two panda foodpicks on the tamagoyaki.

We look forward to seeing the rest of our relatives this Friday.  It will be a lot of fun :)  My son is also delighted to have companies to play with. 

Seahorse

Bento No. 149

Recently, we bought two Seahorse brand single mattress.  These are for our relatives from Malaysia who will be visiting us in a few days.  Needless to say, I made a pair of seahorse from nori and sticked it on a piece of steamed minced meat with egg.   And my son was so quick to point out the difference.  Its prehensile tails are pointing outwards instead of inwards.  I did not realise it until he showed me a picture from a book.  He was right afterall!  Besides steamed minced meat with egg, he has strawberries, grapes, blanched carrot/shanghai greens and brown rice for his lunch.

Panda

Bento No. 148

I made these two pandas from mantou using a bear shape cutter for his lunch yesterday.  I told my son that the boy is Kai Kai and the girl is Jia Jia.  But he objected! He told me they are Papa and Mama ;) I stuffed some grilled chicken breast spread with tomato sauce and some cucumbers.  I also packed his favourite blueberry yogurt.  He finished all except the meat and tomatoes.  Raw tomato is not his favourite anyway.  Laoshi Chunyang told me he also has some toast at the school.  Probably that explained why he could not finish his lunch.

We also began to train him to sleep on own bed.  He is progressing very well except that there are a few occasion he would still find his way onto our bed.  Haha, the secret is we bride him by buying him a new bedsheet with all his favourite vehicles on it.  It is a good start anyway. ;)

Butterfly and Turtle

Bento No. 146

It was a long weekend over the Hari Raya Haji holiday and we spent some quality time together as a happy family.  On Saturday, we had oily and sinful prata, thosai at Casaurina.  Then, we headed towards the Lower Pierce Reservoir for a short and easy hike.  Sighted lots of squirrels and monkeys along the way.  Two monkeys were actually mating.  I like the quiet, relax and peaceful surrondings there.  Recently, I struggle to remember what we did and eat over weekends.  Is it a sign of aging??

I tried a different way to make a pair of butterfly with tamagoyaki.  Usually, I used two eggs for tamagoyaki but this time, just one egg. I sliced it diagonally and used a foodpick to hold the wings together. In this bento, he has his inside-out baked salmon sushi, edamame, grapes and dragonfruit.

Bento No. 147

It is pasta today with tomato sauce.  But I cooked the sauce with minced meat and a bit of yellow pepper.  Then I decorated the bowtie pasta with some boiled green peas and a Turtle!  This turtle idea was conceived yesterday night when my son is watching his favourite TV show in Okto.  Not so adorable...yeah ;) 

I have never showed affection towards my partner openly in front of our son (being a conservative Chinese).  It is that moment and also the unbelievable expression on my boy's face led us to realise this boy is uncomfortable with hugs/kisses between Papa and Mommy. I felt we have a duty to educate him to accept that it is natural and alright for parents to do so.

Sponge Bob and Dragonfly



Bento No. 144



Bento No. 145

 The first bento was a Sponge Bob created from corn loaf.  I had this idea when I saw his tootbrush with the image on it.  I think it looks a bit spooky here.... that he said he don't want the Sponge Bob lunch. Haha. But he finished his lunch anyway!  He has egg mayo spread in his sandwich, some carrot stick, cucumber, strawberries and kiwi.  

The second bento is made with brown rice.  I suddenly thought it is a perfect colour to make bugs!  Its eyes are made of carrot flowers and the wings are snow pea.  The only problem I have is how to pin the wings down firmly.  After struggling for a while, I inserted two leaf foodpicks through it.  It works! My son loves eggs very much which is evident from the bento above. Here, he has stirred fried snow pea/carrots with chicken breast, hard-boiled soya egg, strawberries and kiwi.

Coincidentally, my blog is also named "Dragonfly bento box".  I chose it because the most luxury and expensive jewellery I owned is from Tiffany; a dragonfly pendant necklace and a pair of dragonfly earrings.  It was a birthday gift from my hubby many years ago.  Why dragonfly and not butterfly?  One is beautiful, always in the limelight and relax.  Whilst the other is not so glamorous, hardly anyone would notice it and busy.  Well, I guess the latter kind of resembles me. ;)

Froggie

Bento No. 143

The bento was prepared on Tuesday which I did not manage to blog it due to internet connection failure.  Being a not IT-savy person, this is not something I can fix it and always depend on my hubby to resolve it for me.  I felt helpless and useless :(  At last, I can post my blog today.

This froggie is made from Yong Tau Foo.  I cut into half from a piece of beacurd and sliced it.  Crabmeat for its rosy cheek, nori/cheese for the eyes amd mouth.  As my son has fishball and kuay teow for his lunch, I placed two piece of flower shape carrot behind its eyes for contrast.  The effect is good and came out a cute-looking froggie.  Hidden underneath the carrots are some blanched caixin. 

My boy has been associated animals with rhymes like horsie, piggy, ducky, froggies, sheepy?? cowdy??  I was amused but I must admit that, definitely, it is not a good language.  He also picked up expression very quickly such as 'actually', 'ai ya ya', 'oh man', 'oh my goodness', 'oh my god'.  Children just absorbed like a sponge.