Snow Leopard

Bento No. 172

I was flattered that my best friend (also my childhood friend) actually read my blog.  I always thought she has no time to check out my blog or rather does not bother at all ;) I was wrong in fact. And we have fixed a playdate on 14th March 2011 at my house.  It has been quite a while since the last time we met up.

Today, my boy has ham and cheese sandwich using black sesame bread Papa bought from Yamazaka Bakery.  I created a snow leopard using a bear sandwich cutter.  The idea comes from this American children TV series "Zooboomafoo" which starts every morning at 10am at okto.  It showcases different type of animals with a talking lemur. Initially, I told my son that it is a 'sloth' but Papa corrected me that it cannot be a sloth if it is jumping all over the place! Indeed I made a mistake but I learnt too.   My boy has only 10 minutes to catch glimpse of the TV before he leaves home for school.  But he is happy even for 10 minutes.  Besides the ham and cheese bread, there are lettues, carrot/cucumber stick, dragonfruit, green grapes and a packet of chocolate milk.  Needless to say, he finished his lunch.


Last two days, I was busy hunting for another preschool for my boy as we have considered at great length and very carefully that it is too expensive and out of our budget.  Notwithstanding the fact that it is a good premium school, with dedicated teachers, great curriculum and environment.  Here are two other bentos I prepared for the last two days; crabstick sushi and gyoza with soba.

Froggies

Bento No. 171

These froggies are made of green carrot that I used to boil soup.  We cannot live without a good wholesome soup every dinner.  It is a must have in my household. And I usually prepared in early in the morning so that my son could pack it for his lunch at school as well.  I also created a little bowtie for each froggies using foodpick.   In his bento, he has fried egg with silverfish and spring onion, stir-fried sugar bean/carrot with chicken breast, brown rice, kiwi and strawberries. 

This year, my son has an extra component at school i.e. Project Approach.  It entails the process of observing, investigating, measuring phenomena, reasoning representing ideas, concepts and results through arts, visual and words.  And his project is all about "Ruler".  They made a trip down to Ikea Alexandra yesterday to measure furniture using rulers.  After he finished school, I brought him to the Jacobs Ballas and Children's garden.  He has been nagging us to bring him there since the start of the term but the unpredictable weather has not permitted us to visit.  And yesterday, was the opportunity! A fine, bright sunny day at last!!  My boy enjoyed most at the Tree House and waterplay. 

Owl burger

Bento No. 170

My child loves burger.  So far, we had brought my son to Mos Burger and Burger King. And I did attempt to make it myself previously.  But my boy did not like it and usually half finished!  So I tried again today using a receipe I saw in one cookbook at Times book store.  The ingredients are egg, panko, onion, chicken breast, salt and black pepper.  But I threw in some french bean as well.  Instead of mix everything together, the receipe calls for pan-fry the onion till fragrant first before adding to the mixture. This is a funny looking owl using just two type of cheese and cucumber for its eyes and a slice of strawberry for its beak.  Then I packed some tomato sauce, strawberries and a tiny corn cob for his lunch.  Well, he finished everything except the lettues that I stuffed together with the meat patty. And he kept saying he likes the ketchup (I guess more than the burger).

My son finally agreed to sleep alone in his own bedroom without resistance yesterday! Normally, he would say he is frightened of the monster in the room.  Knowing his trick, I bought him a cute hedgehog night light and also re-decorated/tidied up his room.  His eyes were beaming when he stepped inside his room and told me he likes his room and the hedgehog night light. Daddy was not pleased with the night light for fear that he would be too dependent on it during bedtime. However, I think I made a good effort and it works. 

Monkey

Bento No. 169

Recently, the idea of what to create for my boy's bento becomes impromptu.  I have no energy to plan ahead what I should prepare for his lunch because I am still nursing my flu and cough.  Taking the medicine made me drowsy and sleep.  Worst of all, body ached!  I was well in previous week and sick this week :(  We were sitting on the dining table and I just popped a question to my boy "What would you want for your lunchbox?"  He looked at his animal lego and shouted "Monkey!".   Alright, so I cut half of the Mediterranean Panini (basically focaccia) from Gardenia.  Using the crust to make the face and its ears.  He has tuna mayo, sliced tomato, lettues for the sandwich fillings as well as papaya on the side.  And I packed a small tub of berries yogurt to complete the meal. 

Seal

Bento No. 168

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.  Papa bought a mango and chocolate mini cakes from Emicakes shop and I got lots of kisses from them (my son and daddy:)  No flowers or expensive gifts but simple and sweet.  I like it!

My boy has a new addition to his animals lego collelction i.e. a brown seal.  And I made one for his bento today with brown rice.  Then, I placed some musical notes and ring foodpicks on the boiled broccolli stem.  It's show time ;)  Besides the red dragonfruit, the rest are leftover food from dinner such as the soya boiled egg is from the pork belly stew I cooked yesterday night, the broccolli stem and arrow roots compliments from my mother (with minced meat) are all leftover vegetables.  My son loves pork belly stew we had yesterday night which I had stewed for 1.5 hours.  I finally got the right taste and the pork belly texture right!  My boy said that he likes the gravy. Even my hubby although kept quiet, he finished up all the gravy too! I still could not stomach the fatty skin and hence, I removed and trashed them before I cooked...Shhhh...

Bumble bee

Bento No. 168

This is not a pretty bumble bee, I must say.   I arranged sushi roll for its body (resemble the strips) and in between, placed tamagoyaki for the parts of the body. Cheese for its wings and face.  Green pea for its antenna. My boy has teriyaki chicken sushi, edamame, tamagoyaki and red dragonfruit. 

Talking about patience and focus, my son lacks both.  He need to be constantly reminded all the times.  For instance, Papa bought him a latest set of Zoo theme lego and my boy was supposedly looked at the instruction manual to build it.  Sound easy or too difficult for an almost 4 years toddler?  I seriously don't know.  However, our dear daddy insisted he can do it.  I think he took probably 1.5 hours to assemble these blocks.  But there have been nagging, reprimanding throughout the whole process from my hubby.  Because, my son will digress a bit here and there, looking at other things, did a lot of talking himself. The end result was amazing, personally :)  Good effort !

Poby (Pororo's bear friend)

Bento No. 167

I baked wholemeal bread yesterday afternoon but failed  The bread turned out with a funny smell of alcohol and taste sour. I guess I have put too much yeast in it.  Anyway, I have to get Papa to buy a loaf of bread from the bakery shop instead. I haven't had any luck baking bread.  The previous receipe given by Sanku seems quite good.  The only cons are too much eggs and butter.  I shall try again with another receipe.  Don't give up!

Poby is the polar bear in the Korea cartoon series, Pororo and friends.  Between, Eddy (the red fox) and Poby (the polar bear), my son chose Poby to be in his bento.  Great! Just nice to use the white sandwich bread Papa bought from Yamakaza.   However, I felt the look is too far from ideal because his nose is not large enough and he should have four toes instead of three. The fillings are ham, cheese, cucumber, tomatoe with mayo/mustard spread. On the sides, my boy has some carrot sticks and black grapes.  And strawberry yogurt!

Sparrow and Fried rice with silverfish

Bento No. 166

Every year, we will bring back some ikan bilis/silverfish from Ng Ku's shop to power up my boy's calcium intake.  Thanks to Ng Ku!  Hence, my son has fried rice with silverfish for his lunch today. On top of it, I have cut out a pair of sparrow from nori and sticked it on cheese.  Gosh! It took me an hour to get it nicely cut. In my previous black cat bento, the nori become wet and wrinkly after a while.  And, my boy did not know there is a black cat I placed it inside because the cheese (eyes)  kind of melted and sticked onto the lid of lunchbox.  So I found a way to avoid it by sticking it on the cheese first after browing the internet last night.  Some blanched cauliflower to resemble the cloud. Carrot flower and green peas both pretending to be the garden.  Got the picture?  Haha, my own imagination!  Lastly, he has his favourite black grapes.

Black cat

Bento No. 165

My boy has fully recovered from his flu/cough and has his single eyelid back!  Haha, when he was sick, he would get double eyelid and watery eyes.  Strange isn't it?

Yesterday was the last day of Lunar New Year i.e. 15th Feb.  We visited my grandmother (my son's great grandma) near Pasir Ris after school.  Last year, we did not pay her a visit because my boy was frightened by a pair of huge reindeer decorative items in the hall.  I felt bad too and according to my mum, my grandma actually asked why we did not go.    My grandmother is as old as my mother-in-laws whom both are in their 80s.  Both are in good health but my grandmother shows obvious signs of senile whereas my monther-in-laws is in better condition.  We had a good time together and my son enjoyed all the cookies. 

I prepared Ee fu mee for his lunchbox that packed with strips of pork loin, carrots, fresh shitake mushroom and spring onion.  And I cut out the shape of black cat from nori, its eyes and muzzle from cheese.  I always got my inspirations from what we see in our surroundings.  We sighted a black cat relaxing on the floor near carpark yesterday morning.  And my boy gets one inside in his bento today! Meow....

Crabstick Sushi

Bento No. 164

Of late, the whole family caught the flu bug and has since been coughing after the trip back from Genting.   It has been a week and we felt much better now.  And I have a lots of pending house chores and spring cleaning to do :(  When can I ever finished it??

Another sushi bento today.  My boy has crabstick sushi, tamagoyaki, edamame, strawberries and black grapes. 

Panda and sushi

Bento No. 163

I am back in Singapore after celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year in Kedah cum holidays too!  But the bad news is both my son and myself are nursing a running nose and cough now. Anyway, we had a fun-filled vacation.  Here is my son usual bento; baked salmon sushi, edamame, tamagoyaki and strawberries.

This roadtrip, we stopped/stayed over at three places to/from Malaysia; the french settlement Tropicale Colmar at Bukit Tinggi KL, Hard Rock Hotel at Batu Ferringi Penang, Awana Golf & Country resort at Genting highlands. 

The worse experience was at Tropicale Colmar resort.  I was literally slept in a 'kitchen' bedroom! Because the smell of food from the restaurant below seeping into our room.  As a result of which, I had a terrible headache and did not sleep well.  The resort was so run down and such a disappointment.  It was not as good as what we saw on the website.  Needless to say, we cut short our stay from three to one night.   My boy, however, enjoyed the acitivities such as horse riding, patting numerous rabbits at the animal farms and visit to Japanese garden. 

We checked into Hard Rock Hotel at Batu Ferringgi Penang next day.  Thank god, Christine Jie Jie helped us to book two nights there.  We were given a refreshing pineapple welcome drink at the reception before proceed to our room.  The first thing my boy did was to check out their swimming area.  They have big waterplay area that comes with three slides for the kids and family.  The kiddie pool was filled with sand at the bottom.  A nice surprise and creative too! They even have activities planned for the day like water volleyball, dancing at the pool.  Not far from the hotel is the beach. The room was aweson!  A picture of beatles hanged above the bed headboard and we have a celebrity in the bathroom.  The portrait of Alvis Presley! It was simple and tastefully furnished. We truly enjoyed our stay.  My boys too (Papa and my son).  And we met up with Sanku and all the jie jies whom kindly treat us for dinner during our stay.  But the cons is smokers are everywhere in the hotel; at the lobby, around the pool and beach.  Luckily, the corridor along our room is non-smoker area. 

Towards the end of our holiday, we stopped over at Awana resort at Genting highlands before we headed straight back home in Singapore.  The weather is cool but not cold.  A bit of windy too.  This was a no-frill resort but with a stunning view overlooking the lushly green golf course and mountains from the 21st storey where we stayed.  It was peaceful and quiet at the resort.  However, it was a nightmare at the Skyway cable car station and Theme park.  Rowdy and crowded with people!  We spent so much time just to queue for the cable car and also for the rides in the Theme park.  I guess it was all well worth it because my son was very happy playing at the indoor theme park.  Not forgetting to mention we also visited the Chin Swee Cave Temple.  My hubby told me that the temple is built to make sure your $$ are wiped out.  Hence, gamblers will not come to the temple.  Superstitious or not.  We spent to our last 1 cent at the end of roadtrip.  This was unintentional.  It happened when we were at the toll station that the lady on duty refused to let us tap the 'touch n go' machine but insist us to pay cash.

Wow, that is the end of our long vacation and the most happy person would be my boy.