Tuna salad sushi

Bento No. 212

When Papa was away for his business trip in Peru for three weeks, we (my son and myself) have been sleeping together in the same room.  Sometime, we slept on the same bed and other times, he felt that a super single mattress placed on the floor was a better option.  Another reason for it was, we saved the cost of switching on just one air-condition in one room.  It was difficult to have good sleep with my son because he rolled, kicked and dreamed quite a bit - very bad bed manners.   Now, Papa was back from his trip, he was reluctant to go back to his own room again.  But with some cajoling, he agreed last night. And this morning, I praised him and he requested me for a 'gummy bear' (PN kids product) for being such a good boy.  I started this reward method for his good behaviour recently and he was witty to be able to relate and respond to it.  My son often asked me for sweets and therefore, I thought giving him PN kids multi-vitamins gummy bears would be a better choice;)  One bird kills two stone!

Simple tuna salad mayo sushi lunch with tamagoyaki, edamame, a cherry and some yellow kiwi for today. 

Peak of the mountain



Bento No. 211

Our dear Papa has finally completed his Salkantay Mt. Llactapata Trek and visited the lost city, 'Machu Picchu'.   And below was the description of the trek.

"I made it through torturing 4 days hiking passing highest pass at 4600m. I had got short of breath (oxygen), sun burn (despite 50+ sun block), purple toes, sore muscles, sleep in -6°C (3800m), smelly body, icy cold night showers and plenty of pains."

So I made towering triangle sandwich with a handmade flags symbolised 'victory' on each peak.  The fillings of the sandwich is a mix of green apple, mayo, tuna, thinly sliced cucumber  and orange cheddar cheese. On top of which, I threw in some yellow kiwi, a cherry tomato and some cheeries.

White Ant in the garden

Bento No. 210

I woke up with a splitting headache this morning.  Feeling lethargic but I still got job to do i.e. prepare lunchbox for my son to bring to school.  I made an ant using fishballs.  Then, I used angel hair pasta to create its legs and antenna, nori and cheese for its eyes.  Blanched caixin/carrot flowers for the garden. 

Speaking of the school holiday program, my boy went for a 5-day Chinese speech and drama class at his school where he learnt about the Chinese word 水.  He also has the opportunity to try his hands at Chinese art and calligraphy after learning about 墨水.  And this was the painting he did it with the help of his teachers, of course!  And today, he told me he wanted to attend more Chinese speech and drama classes.  It is a good start that he showed interest in Chinese :)  But then again, we have to wait for our CFO to approve the cost.

Macaw

Bento No. 209

Wake up, rise and shine! Watch the sunrise amid the contructions going on... It is the start of the new school term.  And I made the face of a macaw using white rice mixed with egg and french bean, cheddar cheese, egg whites and nori.  Actually, I was thinking of Skully, a green parrot that appeared in the 'Jake and the Neverlands Pirates' show.  But I guess it was far far from ideal and my little boy commented "It is not Skully!  Skully is green!!". :P On the sides, he has baked chicken drumstick with red fermented bean, fried egg with french beans, a cherry tomato and some yellow kiwi.

We were at Changi Airport T3 yesterday to catch the last day of Giant Safari play area which was set up at level two.  Admission is free, but I need to spend a minimum spending of $20 (or $15 for Changi Rewards members) in a single same-day receipt, just to redeem one entry into the Play Area or Animal Rides.  As I could not make up my mind what to buy, we went for the SLIDE instead.  My boy who finally reached the height of 110cm played the slide for the first time.  In fact, from what I had observed, toddlers below the minimum height requirement were also in the queue too!  My son was so thrilled about the ride and went for it several times despite the long queues.  I was queuing together with him initially but subsequently left him standing alone in the queue all by himself.  My son could not keep still in the queue and occasionally, 'veered off' from the snakey queue.  I discovered later, the parents behind actually took the advantage to cut the queue and move in front of him.  My first instinct was to tell my son to stick close to the person who stood in front of him.  This is not the end of the story yet.  Whilst he was in the queue for another ride again, a daddy (who stood in the queue on behalf of his kid who was nowhere to be seen!) did attempt to cut the queue too. This time, my boy said it nicely "Mommy, Uncle cut queue." and the uncle stepped backwards.   I was so proud of my son because he was able to speak up for himself.

My son enjoyed his slides irregardless and did some 'superman' stunt which I did not approve.  I also managed to buy some body shampoo from Watson that cost around $20++ which was enough to redeem an entry to the safari play area.  To our dismay, it was so popular that the only sloth available was 4.15pm which meant we have to wait for another 50 minutes just to have a 10 minutes playtime.  However, we did waited.......but at the viewing deck. When it was time for his turn, my son happily scampered through the play area without missing out any (I think so) within the 10 minutes.

Cheese Toastie, crocodile craft

How do you spent your quality time over the school holidays with your kids?  Apart from museums hopping, a visit to the zoo and probably 'cooling-off' at the Changi airport on Saturday (to escape from the heat), I did a crocodile craft together with my son on other days.  Thanks to Justina Tey who shared her beautiful handicraft here http://makingmum.blogspot.sg/2011/09/thinking-thursdays-if-you-see-crocodile.html.  My boy painted all green with very fine paint brush that I did not realise it until he complained of tiredness after completing his 'big' project.  On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised that he did a very meticulous job!  The rest of the details were done by myself and I too made a mistake by painting the mouth red first before affixing its sharp teeth!  Needless to say, we had to paint it over again ;P   The end result was satisfying and my boy was telling me "It is a cross crocodile!".   That is title of storybook which he borrowed from the library not once but many times. 

Today we had a simple lunch - pan-fried emmental cheese toastie, a hardboiled egg, cherry tomatoes and blanched fine french bean.  Since the start of his school holidays, I did not specially prepare a bento similar lunch for him and hence, did not blog about it.

Gingerbread man



Bento No. 208

I took out a gingerbread man cookie cutter and pressed it on a piece of meat patty to create it.  Nori for the facial and emmental cheese for its buttons.  My son has brown rice underneath which I mixed it with a little bit of ketchup for taste.  On top of which, there are also surimi, blanched broccoli/carrots and kiwi in his lunchbox.  I like my steamed meat patty with some fat in it.   But cold storage has very lean minced meat which is not suitable for my palate.  Same for my son ;)

Weekends is just around the corner.  Have you planned anything? 

Surimi sushi

Bento No. 207

A simple surimi sushi with cucumber for his lunch.  Some edamame, leftover fried tofu, bunny apple and kiwi to complete his meal.

My son's preschool celebrated Father's day yesterday at the Labrador Park Coastal Walk with a theme "Walkathon with a Difference".  Unfortunately, Papa was on the flight to Peru and I decided to give it a miss.  Because the principal informed that "Mummies who wish to participate will HAVE TO volunteer with food, drinks, picnic mats and umbrellas".  Honestly, I wanted to be part of the walkathon, navigating the route instead.  Perhaps, its intention was to 'pamper' the fathers and kids for the special day.  Although we missed the adventure trail at Labrador Park, I went for the wildlife theme rooftop waterplay at Tampines 1 together with his cousin and my mom.  First, we had our lunch at the Nihon Mura (Japanese Village) located at the Tampines Swimming Complex.  We ordered three set lunch; one curry pork katsu, two pork yakiniku that comes with a side dish, a desert and a drink each that cost me only $35!  Feeling very full after consuming so much of carbohydrates (rice!) but satisfying though,  we headed for the waterplay.

It was a super hot, bright and sunny afternoon.  However, a good outdoor playground for the children to cool off the heat.  Despite we live so near to the place, this is the first time they 'Played' in the water!

Bunny apple and fried brown mee hoon

Bento No. 206

After I fried the brown mee hoon with cabbage, carrot, sugar bean and chicken fillet, I thought of making a sail using sugar bean for his bento this morning.  So I shared my idea with my son.  Instead, he started to instruct me to 'build' a road saying "can put here...there....".  His finished project above appeared like a zebra crossing, I told my boy.  He happily echoed "Yes, yes!  It is a zebra crossing". And he was very proud of his design!  I cut some bunny apples  and packed into his Panda lunchbox.  Although apple is not his favourite.  He would still eat it if I told him so. 

Times flies.  Papa will be flying to Peru for 3 weeks tomorrow morning.  This is the longest business trip he ever had (wasted on 50 hours flight as well as extension of his stay to hike in Machu Picchu) and also the longest time, we would be spending our school holidays without his Papa :(

Japanese egg salad pocket sandwich

Bento No. 205

I made Japanese egg salad pocket sandwich for my boy's lunch today which I have adapted the receipe from http://food-4tots.com/2010/11/15/japanese-egg-salad-sandwiches/.  However, I did not realise that there is not enough mayonnaise left in the bottle. So, I spread cream cheese on each slice of the wholemeal bread instead of mayo/mustard :P  And the egg mayo mixture is a little dry too :(  He has dragonfruits with some cute animal foodpicks.

Last night, my son has a nightmare and was crying in his sleep.  It was the most pitiful cry I have ever heard.  It was sad and sound like he was hurt very badly.  I woke him up, gave him a hug, rubbed his back hoping he would calm down.  Papa asked him to talk about it. We assured him that it was 'just a bad dream'.  My boy did and told us that his classmate took his toy with his eyes shut.   The soothing last about 3 hours past midnight and yet he did not stop crying.   In fact, he has trouble falling asleep on his own!  In the end, we have no choice but brought him to our bedroom to comfort him.  And there, he was still sobbing and became very clingy.  He kept asking Papa to massage his head because he has a headache till he finally slept through.  The next morning,  I asked him if he could remember his bad dream.  He told me that "T-rex bites me!" and he was in pain.  He could recall he has a headache too.  That may explain why he was crying so pitiful.  But it was an entirely different story from what he told us last night!

We went to Philatelic Museum yesterday for the Children Season Open House on Sunday and he made a dragon puppet.  This reminded me that he is scared of dragon head that look like this.  When we were at the Maritime Museum Sentosa previously, he would cover his eyes with his hands when the moving dragon started the show.  Could this be the reason he had a nightmare? Anyway, the museum offered very educational and informative exhibits which I personally felt that the older kids would enjoy and gain more.  My son, however, likes objects which he can touch and feel as well as the 'The Adventures of Tintin' exhibition.