Dragon

Bento No. 162

Lately, I talked about things we do traditionally during the Chinese New Year.  For instance, reunion dinner, angbos, lion/dragon dance..etc.  I have also mentioned briefly about the zodiac for this year is Dragon and even bought a pair of chinese dragon decoration for our front door.  Ever since, he has been requesting for a dragon lunchbox.  Hehe, I have put off the idea until today, I finally did it!  It is made of two type of cheese; orange cheddar and yellow emmental.  Nori for its whiskers and claws. 

My son has fried brown rice mee hoon with strips of pork loin, carrots and mushrooms. However, I added some chicken stock and turned out more yummy and flavourful. 

Everything is fine when I reached home, I bathed him with cold water when I realised he developed some rashes over his forehead, arms and legs thinking it could be heat rash.  But the rashes got worse and flared up his entire body.  We brought him to see doctor.  He was diagnosed possible 'food allergy' and have to abstain from seafood.  I was surprised because my son does not have history of food allergy since he was born.  Hopefully, the rashes will heal quickly as we are leaving for Malaysia this Sunday.

Elephant

Bento No. 161

My boy has a tuna mayo green apple sandwich.  Refreshing isn't it?  I recalled that I got the receipe from an old colleague of mine. Simply mix tuna with mayo and a bit of chopped onion (I added some ground black pepper for taste).  Next, mix the green apple with some lemon juice and mayo in a separate bowl.  I spread one layer of tuna over another layer of green apple between the black sesame bread.  Then, I pressed out the circle (burger) shape using a small plastic cup.  Lastly, top with emmental cheese in the shape of an elephant.  I also scored and cut a checkpattern green apple.  To prevent browning, I coated the apple with lemon juice as well.  Surprisingly, it does not taste too sour.  In fact, it bring out some of the sweetness.  In addition, I also throw in some raw carrots for more fibre. 

Today, my son made a snail bread in school (part of the Life skill program) which teacher has packed it in a plastic bag for him to bring home.  He insisted on taking a good look at the bread.  Next thing, he said he wanted to eat it, not one but two (out of three) !!  He began to tear when I only agreed to let him have one piece.  My intention was to show his creation and share it with Papa.  The problem with him is he always wants more and does not know the limit.

Pinwheel

Bento No. 160

This is my son favourite pumpkin rice which I adapted from http://food-4tots.com/2009/06/13/my-recipe-column-featured-in-kwong-wah-yit-poh/.  I arranged the Japanese green pumpkin looking like a pinwheel.  My hubby had handmade a pinwheel for him.  Why pinwheel?  This is my observation below.  First, his playmates has one on their bicycle.  Second, he learned about feng "风" in Mandarin class.  Third, when the weather gets windy, he can associate it with things like kite and pinwheel and therefore, he kept pestering me to make one.  I did made one but does not spin it smoothly so I got the help from my hubby.  He was exhilarated and hopping around the house like a rabbit.  It was a joy to watch him. 

Panda

Bento No. 159

When you have a compartmentalised bento box, it is easy to assemble the lunch and within seconds, you got a speedy nice bento!  I bought this Lock and Lock lunchbox from Isetan some months ago.  It comes with a poka dot lunch bag, two lunch box (only one with compartments) and plastic fork and spoons. Clearly, there are fruits (strawberries and oranges), vegetables (sugar bean/carrot) and meat (homemade roasted char siu) inside each compartment.  His power protein is the macoroni and chicken soup which I packed it separately in a vaccum flask.

Lately, my son does not take our instructions very well.  He wanted to be incharge and do his own way. Especially, when we teached him the correct way of using/doing things, he either ignored us or simply said, "I can do it myself."  meaning "my own way".  The same happened in school too.  We lectured him last night and hopefully, he would understand and listen more.

Teddy Bear

Bento No. 158

This morning on the way to school, I turned on, 最爱97.2 FM and we were listening to Chinese New Year song over the radio.  My boy unexpectedly said he likes it and wanted more.  I was like "really??" and still could not believe my ears.  Reason being, he dislikes Mandarin all the times and always requested me to swtich to English songs when I attempted to turn on to Mandarin.

Above is a teddy bear made with brown rice onigiri with a red bow tie foodpick.  I cooked chicken thigh with potato (which I learned from Sanku who was here last month) and it was well hidden underneath the brown bear.  He also has green Japanese pumpkin (with skin on), blanched broccolli/sugar bean, strawberries and dragonfruits.  In fact, today's lunch has less meat and more vegetables.

This is the time of year, I need to get packing for the trip back to Malaysia for the Chinese New Year festive.  And we are looking forward because we are going to spend a few nights at Colmar Tropicale Berjaya before heading towards Penang.   I am sure my son would love it :)

Rabbit

Bento No. 157

Yesterday was a good start of the school for my boy.  Teachers commented he was so ethusiast in class.  He learned the Chinese character "我" in class and kept saying it when asked to participate.  I am glad he is happy and at the same time, enjoyed his lessons. 

Today, he has fried stick noodles with pork dumplings, Japanese green and blanched carrots.  He requested for brown noodles yesterday night.  Hence, I stirred in some dark soya sauce and pan-fried it.  And his fruits consist of Korea strawberries and oranges. 

Rose and sushi



Bento No. 156

Today is the first day of school and it is brand new year 2012.  The year of dragon according to Chinese zodiac.  We were so busy towards the end of last year.  We had lots of relatives came all the way from Penang/Kedah in November and December.  And we truly enjoyed their company (otherwise, it would be a boring and quiet holiday for us).  My boy had his first trip to Universal studio, gamely ride on Transformer Autobot simulator with his eyes shut all the times.  He decorated his first Christmas tree.  His first Christmas eve dinner at our favourite bistro Foo's House, Upper Changi Road. His first taste of lollipop.  Lots of gifts and presents.  Thanks to his Sanku, Jin Pak Pak, Lilian Pak Leong and all the jie jie. Oh yeah, we ate all the times.  Guess, my boy has put on few kilos and become quite chubby now with a big round belly.  And my resolution this year, get my son started with swimming lessons and trim down his fat belly ;)

He has a simple baked salmon sushi with his usual sides; edamame, tamagoyaki, strawberries and dragonfruits.  A yellow rose made with tamagoyaki and my boy chose his favourite animal foodpicks; lion and giraffe.

 I wish everyone a very rosy dragon year ahead and may all the wishes come true.