Thursday, March 28, 2013

Good Friday Bento

I've been looking at all these fabulous Easter-themed bentos made by my friends for their children, but although my heart wants to, my body and brain are just too out of juice to make anything classy (心有余而力不足). So at the last minute, I came up with a very simple design for Roast Meat that brings us back to the bare meaning of Good Friday - the death and resurrection of Christ.

Very basic Good Friday sandwich bento

Just a simple cross made of nori strips on a triangular PB and Nutella sandwich. Says it all, doesn't it?

I managed to put more effort into Takoyaki's lunch bento since I had all morning to prepare it (but didn't till the last half an hour *gulp*) and deliver it to her at midday.


Market-bought roast crispy pork and char siew with rice, topped with stir-fried pea sprouts, and sides of kimchi and fruits.

I am looking forward to the long weekend.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Noritama Recipe - my standard fallback

I make it a point to always have eggs in the refrigerator, because it takes only a few minutes to make tamagoyaki when I'm out of protein stash. Noritama is a variation that has small bits of nori (seaweed laver) in it.

Recipe for Noritama (using a 6" X 4" tamagoyaki pan)
Ingredients:
3 eggs (55-60g each)
2 tbsps mirin
1 pinch salt
Nori, torn into small bits about 2-3cm wide (here's a great chance to use up those leftover nori cutouts)

Method:
Beat all ingredients, except nori, well in a small mixing bowl.
Put the tamagoyaki pan on medium-low heat and lightly oil it.
Spread the oil all over, either with a paper towel or a turner.
Turn the fire down to low and drip one drop of egg mixture into the pan. The egg should start sizzling immediately, if it doesn't, turn the heat up a little, but not too high because the layers should not be burnt or even brown.
Pour enough egg mixture into the pan to form only a very thin layer, tilting to spread out.
Quickly drop a few pieces of the nori in a single layer over the egg, making sure to leave lots of egg exposed.
When the top of the egg sheet is almost set (but not yet!) quickly use the turner to flip and roll the further end towards you to form a tight log. Push the log back to the further end.
Repeat pouring, adding nori and rolling till all the egg mixture is used up, adding a few drops of oil into the pan after every 2 layers. With 3 eggs I got about 4-5 sheets, all stuck and rolled up into a log.
After the final layer is done, turn off the heat and let the log sit on the pan for 30 secs on each side before removing and slicing into the desired thickness. 
Here's the noritama in today's bentos. Roast Meat has his with some little cakes, cucumber strips, fruits and a chocolate.


Takoyaki has hers with a kaya pocket sandwich (what RM had yesterday), fruits, cucumber and also the chocolate.


Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Bento Mojo returning bit by bit

Lots of yummy food today for Roast Meat, who had a long school day.

Recess was a very ugly bear pocket sandwich filled with kaya (coconut jam), more weird weenies, some popcorn chicken, some chocolate covered raisins and longans.


Lunch was one of his favouries - macaroni aglio olio, topped with sauteed shrimps and edamame. The cucumber strips are just speed-peeled and not dressed. He loves that.

I finally learnt why aglio olio is usually done with spaghetti - because it's smooth and doesn't "collect" the pasta water. My macaroni was all watery when I mixed it with the olive oil! The flavour was diluted somewhat. I could have drained it better first. Perfect sight, hindsight.


Monday, March 25, 2013

More Variety (and Themeless) Bentos

And Term Two is on us! I'm not rested enough! (But who cares?)

Takoyaki has received some kungfu training in the bento martial art of sausage carving. I taught her a few basics and left the whole package of cocktail sausages to her. So on display today are some of her creations, together with some absolutely scrumptious kiwi berries, strawberries and a bottle of yogurt drink.


It's pretty much the same for Roast Meat, except for the fruits.


And tomorrow is another day.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

March Holiday Bentos

Although it's the one week March school hols, Bbth Takoyaki and Roast Meat had some activities in school today, so each brought something to eat during the short break they were given.

RM's was just thrown together in 15 mins (because I overslept AND forgot about the bento), and I was thankful that the fuzhou fishballs (fishballs with minced chicken in the centre) I bought yesterday were not frozen. And I didn't even have any bread on hand! Sheesh.


And surprise, surprise! Takoyaki decided to pack her own bento today, wow... It's just some fruits and vegetables but I think she enjoyed the process, from choosing her box and silicone cup to deciding how to arrange everything (without me around - I was busy nursing the tot). Yes, I've been trying to get her to pack her own occasionally, without much success, till now.

Picture taken by Takoyaki
Just some tomato wedges, grapes and a piece of konnyaku jelly.

Friday, March 15, 2013

How To Make Kawaii Mini Buns Using Egg Moulds

Some of my earlier posts featured some moulded little buns in the shape of animals or vehicles. These are an easy way to provide cute, kid-sized portions of mini buns for bentos, especially if Mum is not in the mood nor skillful enough to bake her own little buns, which is me pretty much 100% of the time d:P I learnt this from a Bento Daddy on a bento Facebook group. Thank you Jedi Master Peter!

You will need:
One slice of sandwich bread, as fresh as possible for the best results.
Egg mould (any shape, but not for quail eggs).
Some pasty filling for the bread eg. Nutella, peanut butter, cream cheese spread, jam, or just butter.

Start by slicing the crust off the bread slice, taking away as little of the white part as you can. Spread some filling on one side, leaving at least a 1.5cm border all around. Resist the urge to pile on the filling, or it will leak out of your final product and look yucky. I also prefer not to use dry fillings such as pork floss, because the whole thing is just... dry.

Bread with Nutella spread in the middle

Next, gather up all four corners of the bread, overlapping slightly.


With the flat side facing down, press the bread into one side of the egg mould. 


Use clean dry fingers to squeeze all the bread in. Leave nothing sticking out around the edges. If you don't press it all in, the features will not be clear.


With the tip of a thin knife or with your fingers, gently and carefully ease the bread out.


Ta-da! You can use many ingredients to mark out the features and make them more prominent. I don't do that because... I am just plain lazy d:P

Experiment! Try different fillings and moulds. I've also been successful with a certain set of vehicle sandwich cutters, which I will post another time.

I've put these in Takoyaki and Roast Meat's bentos today, together with some ham/cheese/veg rolls, and assorted fruits.

RM's bento
Takoyaki's bento

We are all very happy today because it's the last day of Term 1 and we will have a short one week break. See you the week after!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

New Barans! (Again!)

I am totally enamoured of my bento gear. Bento boxes, picks, and barans. The first two require space to store (I need my picks to be sorted according to type), but barans, oh barans, they are thin, light, crumple-able and crushable (the silicone ones) and so easy to store! Ok, I have a box with dividers for them, but that's because I happen to have an extra box. The simplest way to store barans is to tie them up in a bundle with a silicone band, or rubber band.



I found this great find yesterday at Daiso. There are three of each colour in the pack:


So it's $2 for a dozen lovely, useful, reusable, environmentally friendly, barans! Great deal, doncha think? These are a little softer than the previous batch of barans that I bought last year, also from Daiso. I've just used them today in this bento.

There's another design that's like a semicircle, but I already have something like that. And my friend Nancy said she's got the fruit ones, so there should be one more, which was not available at Rivervale Mall.


Happy shopping!

Rice is always enough

And handy if there're leftovers. I didn't plan at all last night (too tired after Sports Day and Daiso-shopping), so this morning I was glad to find some leftover rice from last night, sausages and stuff.


The snack featured is Caramel Corn, a Japanese-made crispy, light corn junk food thingy. Once in a long while.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Sports Day = Snacks Day

It's our primary school's annual Sports Meet, and both RM and Takoyaki asked to bring JUNK FOOD to eat. Ok, said Mum, but you must still bring a bento each with some protein and fruits/veg.

What RM had for Sports Day
 He came back with yet ANOTHER crack in the lid! Right in the middle, the poor frog. I am going to throw it away, with a heavy heart.

What Takoyaki had for Sports Day

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Spaghetti aglio olio

Two boxes for Roast Meat today as he has enrichment classes after school. 

I tried something new which he loved - veggie ham rolls. Just take a slice of honey baked ham (because over here it's bigger than the other hams, and it's round), wrap it around some raw carrot and cucumber sticks in spring roll fashion, then use a thin strip of cucumber (use a peeler to obtain long thin strips) to secure it. If you're gentle and careful, you won't need any picks to secure the cuke strip.


And lunch is the spaghetti aglio olio which we first had for Takoyaki's birthday 3 days ago. He liked it so much he asked me to make it for his bento, and Mum is only too happy to oblige, yes? The recipe is from Laura Vitale, I think the addition of pine nuts makes all the difference.


Spaghetti aglio olio with strips of roast chicken, some cuke rolls, a cocktail sausage and some red capsicum.

Everyone's counting down to the March school hols next week. I completely forgot.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Subway

I was still recuperating after the weekend, so I got some ciabatta loaves from the supermarket (no energy to bake), cut up some veggies and leftover roast chicken and stuffed them in.

Thankfully, both kids like this. It's not obvious but there are three little heart shapes carved into the top crust. I hadn't expected it to be so easy to peel the crust off. Perhaps I should have stuck to my original plan of making Totoro... Nah...


Sunday, March 10, 2013

Birthday Delivery Bentos

Takoyaki celebrated her 12th birthday yesterday, but her best friend and two ittle sisters were quarantined, so we brought them some of the food we had at the playdate. Packed, of course, as appetisingly as we could into some disposable boxes.


There were three boxes, two rectangular, each filled with some spaghetti aglio olio, a roast chicken rice ball, some roast chicken, broccoli and a cocktail sausage, and of course, a slice of the birthday cake.

I am ever thankful for my bento know-how, because if we had packed the food in the traditional after-party way, with everything just thrown in together, I seriously doubt the girls would have even felt like eating. I know I wouldn't.

Friday, March 8, 2013

All leftovers again, oh yeah!

So all I had to do was heat up whatever needed reheating eg. rice, salmon, chicken. Convenient, quick, fuss-free. Makes things simpler for when you need to cater to the very different tastes of two children.


RM's comes with sauteed prawns, pan-fried salmon and grapes.


Takoyaki's has salmon, a chicken wing, some kimchi and watermelon.

I should have trained them to eat the same things, or better still, EVERYTHING. Not that I didn't try, though.

Workflow:
Steam rice and toast chicken and salmon (7 min).
Meantime, take out bento boxes, then wash and cut fruits.
Place rice, chook and salmon in front of fan to cool (5 min).
Meantime, have a cup of tea while deciding how to pack everything else in to look its best.
Pack. Remember to provide cutlery (sheesh to self).
Take photos!
Total time taken = 20 min

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Reincarnated Totoro

On Monday, My Neighbour and I made a batch of Totoro cookies (haha), so Takoyaki and Roast Meat brought one each of the nicer ones to school today. Each Totoro is lying on a ham and cheese sandwich wrapped in foil for a background.

Takoyaki's bento also includes some cherry blossoms cookies to share with her friends. Oops, I just realised I forgot to pack in a spoon for her to eat her edamame *gulp*

Takoyaki's Totoro

RM's is almost the same, just minus the flower cookies. Maybe it's a boy thing, or his classmates are just not into sharing, although he does offer from time to time.

Roast meat's Totoro

Earlier last year, before I started this blog, I carved a Totoro on an apple for Takoyaki. Here it is below, the medium-sized blue one, Chu Totoro.

Chu Totoro apple carving 2 May 2012

Monday, March 4, 2013

Just Another Monday

Well, ok, this was planned beforehand actually. The kids say they really do like the chicken pies and hotdog puffs from this bakery near our place, so I bought some over the weekend for bentoing as well as for breakfast. So in retrospect, I planned to be lazy, haha!



Friday, March 1, 2013

Cut corners bentos

It's the end of the week. I cut corners by getting the kids to buy the buns they liked from Four Leaves last evening, so I could just pack them in with some fruits.


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...