BOO!

Can you see a cat above the words "BOO"?

Can you also see that the cat and the words are sitting on top of a rice skull?

Having a rice skull, complete with sunken eyes is kind of cool, isn't it?

It's not that difficult to do rice skull either. I was only half right. It was not difficult to shape the rice into a skull. But it was kind of time consuming and challenging to put in the eyes and mouth, especially if you want a cool looking skull. Mission aborted after I shaped the rice. Instead, I used my mini halloween cat cutter and cut out the cat from a slice of cheese. That was easy. Then the words "BOO". I don't see a point in "undoing" the rice skull, so I just left the cat and words on top of it. Better cute than cool, right? Lesson learnt ... don't attempt anything "cool" without doing your homework the night before!

Dancing Zombie

A drawing of the Dancing Zombie, in Plants VS Zombies! Yes, my boys are I are playing the game, and instead of requesting for Angry Birds to be included in their lunch, they now ask for .... ZOMBIES!

Since I did the zombie last week, I thought adding a cheese wig to the zombie should not be too much of a problem. It was quite a breeze, except that the cheese kept breaking when I did those glasses!

Check out the broken pair of glasses on the zombie without the eyeballs! Ok, I had fun putting the eyeballs into the pair of cheese glasses =p

Cutting out the cheese wigs was a simple task.

I even had some time left to have the boys pick their food pick for their lunch! My little daring chose the star. Why? He said, "The Dancing Zombie is a Rock Star". Then he suggested, "How about including the other dancers?". Boy, he really thinks that his mom is a magician! With the wave of the wand, the other dancers pop out from under the rice, hahaha!

The elder boy chose the simple musical notes. Dancing and music. Makes sense. In his opinion, the star could be a little too glamorous to his taste. He likes things simple. The little one on the other hand, is game for anything new and interesting, glamorous or not. It doesn't really bother him.

And we will continue fighting the zombies this evening, after they are done with their homework (school and mom's given work).

Puff-Shroom!

Day 4 of "Plants VS Zombies" lunch!

Puff-Shroom made an appearance! When playing the game, I love planting him on the lawn at night, as he doesn't cost anything, but yet wipe out the zombies. Too bad they sleep in the day.

As usual, I cannot remember the expressions on these plants. I had to draw a picture of them and place them in the kitchen so that I could remember how to assemble them.

It's Friday tomorrow, and I think I should include one more "Plants VS Zombies" lunch, to round up the week! The boys will be happy. They are still working very hard on the "Plants" chart. Asked them if they want to stick those little pieces of paper onto a big sheet of paper, they thought about it and said no. They want to make a card game from these papers. Wow! I'm looking forward to it =D

Zombie!

Do you know this guy?

If you don't, then let me introduce him to you.

He is the star in the game "Plants VS Zombies".

A regular Garden-variety Zombie. He loves brains .... all kinds ... be it old and stinky, or rotten. So beware! Don't let him get into your house or it will be a case of "The Zombies ate your brains!".

Transform this drawing onto a sheet of nori, and this is what the boys get for lunch today. Hubby dear said the zombie looked very comical, staring at the flower.

Putting together the lunch was a breeze! It was very easy to cut out the head of the zombie. Attached some cheese eyes and we are all set. I even had some time left to neatly arrange the fish cake! But seriously, I had fun putting together the boys' lunch this morning =)

The boys were so happy on the way to school, as they caught a glimpse of the zombie before I put the lid on. And Darling son KW came home with these drawings!

"Did you do this in class today?", I asked him.

"I drew them during my free time, after I finished my work.", he replied.

And he was such a funny boy! He put all these little pieces of drawings in his helmet, wore his helmet with the pieces under the helmet but on top of his head, and cycled all the way home! He loves putting pieces of paper under his helmet. Sometimes, after school, upon seeing me, he will remove his helmet, take out a small piece of drawing, pass it to me and say "For you, Mama!". I greatly treasure and enjoy receiving these little pieces of drawings from him =D

Here's all the plants he drew in class today! He even added a plant which I didn't pay attention to, as it was for sale in Dave's shop ... the water-melon which throws frozen melons to freeze the zombies. Kids are much more observant than we think! Just look at the expressions drawn on the plants!

And my little boy YW started drawing furiously on little pieces of paper after dinner. He said "I have to help GorGor complete the chart!". And now I understand why my boys say that art lesson in school is boring. There isn't much drawing. Mainly crafts. Oh well, they are free to draw all they want when they are at home! And I'm their number one fan =D

Wall-Nuts and More!

Are you familiar with the game "Plants VS Zombies"?

Let me introduce "Wall-Nut" and friends to you if you are not =)

Meet Mr Potato-Mine, who is sitting on the left, all ready to explode and fight the zombies with a "SPUD".

Next to him is Ms "Wall-Nut". She has a hard shell, which the player can use, to protect the other plants. Darling son YW highlighted to us this morning, "Do you know that the Wall-Nuts shed tears when there is a hole in them?". WOW! Great observation!

I didn't know that!

The tallest one on the right, is none other than Mr Tall-Nut! They are heavy-duty wall plants that cannot be vaulted over.

Why so many nuts and potato? Because one son requested for Wall-Nut, while the other wanted Tall-Nut. So I gave them both, and included a third ... Potato =) That should make them very happy during lunch today!

These patties are not difficult to prepare. The challenging part lies in shaping the nuts and potato, and hoping that the shape stays while it cooks in the hot pan. Take a closer look at the second photo, and you will find that Mr Potato-Mine looks quite different. A little too round.

I was very happy to finished cooking all the patties, in different shapes and sizes by 7.45am. I thought cutting the cheese eyes, and putting them into the lunchbox should be a breeze. Wrong. It had been a while since I prepared food with "eyes" attached, and I panicked when I realised the cheese eyes wouldn't stick to the patties! It took me a while to attach them using short sticks of uncooked angel's hair. Can you see the stick poking out from the eyes in the above photo? So to draw the attention away from the poking through sticks, I added ribbon and cap to Wall-Nut and Tall-Nut. Now they look like they are all ready to have some fun!

Sunflower Vs Zombies?

What do you get when Mom goes shopping, armed with a 40% discount coupon?

Well, I came home, very happy, with a pack of Fun Silicon Cups from Wilton! However, instead of using them for baking, I ended up using them in the boys' bento lunch. I filled the yellow cup with some rice (seasoned with a little low sodium soy sauce), punched out some eyes and cut a smiley mouth from a sheet of nori, and ... Tada!

A Sunflower!

But wait! How about adding some leaves to it? Does it now look like the sunflower in the game Plants VS Zombies? Ready, Set, PLANT!

Not one, but two! The more the merrier!

An oversized sunflower head, sitting on a bed of broccoli florets. Along side sat some pan fried chicken strips, marinated in Korean BBQ sauce. Where's the Zombie?

Well, he may just make an appearance when MOM is not so tired and has time to do her "homework" =D

SPAM Sushi with Tofu

Very often, when you do too much of a certain thing, you probably end up at a bottle-neck at one time or another. Having to cook two meals a day, six and a half days a week, I sometimes run out of ideas as to what to cook. Especially so when I need to cater to everyone's preference and likes.

It is the end of the week, and I desperately need a break from cooking.

So here comes SUSHI to my rescue =D

This is one item which pleases everyone in the house! SPAM is not exactly the healthiest choice, but once in a while consumption should be alright. To feel less guilty about feeding the boys processed food, I included some tofu triangles and lots of broccoli florets. TGIF!

Egg and Chicken Soboro

I prepared meat soboro for Darling son KW when he first started school in the woods three years ago. He didn't like the chicken soboro which I prepared, although he politely ate a portion, and left a portion to be brought home. Neither did his little brother, who stayed home with me the whole day, since I didn't enroll him to any pre-school.

Since it was time to introduce some new dishes into the boys' packed lunch, I thought I could try including this dish. After all, it had been three years since they "Dislike" the dish. As the kids get older, their taste and preference change, don't they? In any way, when you are hungry and need to eat, you eat whatever that is packed. Ok, that's my crazy theory, and I'm putting it to test by including Egg and Chicken Soboro in the boys' packed lunch today!

Recipe adapted from THE JUST BENTO COOKBOOK by Makiko Itoh.

Chicken Soboro (Serves 6-8)

450g Finely Ground Chicken

2 tsp Peeled and Grated Fresh Ginger (I use Ground Ginger, just a dash)

4 tbsp Sake (I replace with Shaoxing)

4 tbsp Mirin

1/2 cup Chicken Stock

1/2 tsp Salt

2 tbsp Sugar

• Put all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Using two pairs of chopsticks held together, stir the meat mixture as it cooks.
• Keep stirring to keep the meat from clumping.
• The liquid will evaporate as the meat continue to cook.
• Remove the pan from the heat when the meat is cooked, and the liquid is almost gone but not totally dry.
• Let cool the meat before packing.

According to the book, extra servings can be kept in the refrigerator, well covered, for a week, and in the freezer for up to a month. I halved the portion as 450g of minced chicken was just too much for us to consume. The boys finished all the chicken soboro in their lunch! No complaints from them. This is one easy dish to prepare, with no oil involved in the cooking!

However, Darling son KW did say that he liked the egg soboro better!

Here's the recipe for the egg soboro, again, adapted from Maki's Just Bento Cookbook.

Egg Soboro (Serves 1)

1 Egg

1/2 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Sake (optional)

• Beat all the ingredients together in a bowl.
• Pour into a small pan over medium heat.
• Using two pairs of chopsticks, stir the egg mixture as it cooks, to form fine granules.
• As soon as the egg mixture has cooked, remove from the heat.
• Let cool before packing.

After packing, I realised the rice portion looked too white. Oops, I didn't prepare well for my nightly homework! So I added a mini cheese-tree, a feeble attempt to wipe out some of the whiteness present. The next time I prepare this bento, I would spread the rice out, and have it under the portions of egg and chicken soboro. That way, there will only be green, yellow and brown colours shown when the lid of the lunch box is removed!

Autumn and Falling Leaves

It's officially Autumn! The leaves from the oak tree outside our apartment have started to turn brown, and some have fallen and covered the ground. Soon, the yard will be covered with piles of brown oak leaves.

I just love these little cookie cookies from Wilton. They make 'dressing up' the bento so easy! This oak leaf cutter is from the Halloween set.

Darling son YW saw the Hanbagu while I was packing the lunch.

He asked, "Do you rotate the dishes?".

I am no super chef, and yes, I do!

Ok son, I get your message.

Hanbagu will take a break from your packed lunch =D

Wooooo ... BOO!

Woooo .... Are you ready for Halloween? Too early?

So here's a ghost coming out of a haunted house .... saying BOO!

Not hello or welcome =p

Added some cauliflower to make it more "ghost white". Included are some strawberries and baked chicken thigh fillet. I cut the piece of fillet into strips after it was baked.

I'm sure the boys will have fun eating up the "ghost" =D

Oh Mummy!

What a busy morning! I was in such a hurry, I managed only a decent shot of the boys' bento! Only one photo was in focused .. the rest turned out blurry.

Got the "Mummy" idea from CuteFoodForKids. Check out how to create the Mummy in her step-by-step tutorial. I replaced the bread with a rice.

Darling sons came home without the Mummy =)

KW told me that his friend came over to him during lunch, but walked away from the lunch table, disappointed. "My mom is doing Halloween bentos, so no more Angry Birds." he told his friend. He was secretly happy that there was no more Angry Birds as he could now "Eat in peace, without anyone disturbing him.", I quote him.

Maybe some day, an Angry Bird will make an appearance again =D

Skulls Attack!

Are you ready for Halloween?

Skulls attack! Scream!

I know, Halloween is at least a month and a half away. But I love Halloween-themed bentos! They are so much fun to create! Even the Angry Birds game on the iPad has a version of "Trick or Treat".

Do you know that for children age 4-8, they need at least 800mg of calcium per day? Kids 9 and above, adults too, need at least 1000mg/day. I'm very sure that with an asian diet, we are not meeting the daily calcium intake. The boys drink a cup of milk every morning. But that is not enough. So I try to include some cheese into their lunch, a smoothie or another cup of milk after school, and a serving of yogurt after dinner. I strongly believe that what you eat as a kid determines your health as an adult. Good eating habits start from young.

And so, I happily cut out 6 skulls from a slice of cheese! And the boys happily finished all =D

Friendly Phantom

I saw this really cute set of Halloween stamps at ThereSheGoes .

You know it's good stuff when it's "Out-of-Stock". Since I couldn't get my hands on this set of stamps, I thought it would be a good idea to "borrow" one of the image and include it in the boys' bento. The original phantom was holding an axe! I don't want to promote violence in school. So I have the phantom holding a leaf instead of an axe! How timely, since some of the leaves had already fallen from the trees.

And so we have, not one but two busy phantoms raking the leaves!

Ok, back to the bento ... the boys have pan fried chicken thigh strips marinated in Korean BBQ sauce. I put too little sauce when marinating the meat, and after pan frying them, I added a little more to taste. I had the leftover for lunch, and it tasted good even though it was cold. Well, the boys were happy with the phantom, and came home with an empty lunch box.

Meet The Zombies!

Meet the zombies! Eight of them in total, and each one is different!

You know, Moms always say "Don't play with your food!".

That's what my mom told me when I was young. But I had a blast creating the faces of these zombies! Guilty, guilty. And Darling son KW told me, during lunch yesterday, his friend G was so taken in by the Red Bird, he decided to create his own using the tortilla from his Hot Lunch!

My mom would say "That's playing with food!". So I asked my boy if his friend finished up his lunch after "creating the bird". He said YES, phew!

I don't want G's mom to come after me for indirectly teaching her son to "play with food".

But it may not be a bad thing after all! I mean, playing with your food.

As long as one remembers to eat it all up. It helps the boys to see things at a different perspective, and encourages them to think out of the box.

At times, when my boys request for a certain character to be included in their lunchbox, I will tell them "Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't have the colour to do that. And I don't want to use food colouring". They will, most of the time, come out with all kinds of ideas and suggestions. Just this afternoon, KW suggested using the Japanese Cheesecake I just baked to create a catapult! He explained to me "See, the top of the cake is brown. Just like the stand. You don't have to worry about the colour. Just cut the stand. Then you cut a nori strip. Put them together and TADA!". They are indeed becoming more aware of the kind of pattern and figures their food can create =D

Well, back to their bento for today. It had to be quick and simple, as Darling son KW had an appointment with the Orthodontist at 815am! I woke up really early to start cooking, hoping to finish packing his lunch by 730am. These Japanese fishcakes were easy to cook. All that was left to do after cooking them was to put the expressions on the faces of the zombies. And KW came home very happy, not because of the zombies, but because the Orthodontist told him he need not wear the retainer at night till his tooth has emerged! I am happy for him too. Adults find it hard to wear it, what more kids. Getting a good night's sleep is very important for growing kids.

I really hope that his tooth come out well. Otherwise, it will be a stressful trip to the orthodontics clinic in six months' time.

"Caw! Caw!"

Watch out! Here comes the Red Bird! Caw! Caw!

Do you know that the Red Bird in the Angry Birds Game is sometimes known as the Cardinal Bird, Normal Bird, or Lame Bird?

My homework last night ... sketching the Red Bird and sticking the sketch onto the kitchen wall for me to refer to in the morning. I did the Yellow Bird sketch as well. When I compared the Yellow Bird I did for the Bento last week, and the one I drew, I flipped! What a difference! If only I had a sketch last week ....

The Red Bird didn't look too bad, huh? Oh well, the vegetables and the meat did looked kind of messy though =( Darling son KW woke up this morning, coughing badly, and I could hear the phlegm when he coughed. At the very last minute, I decided to drop the pan-fried chicken from the list, and replaced it with tofu and sausages instead. Gosh, I thought the rice bird will not take up too much space in the box. How wrong! I had a tough time trying to press the rice and compact it so that I would have enough space for the other items! It didn't help that the rice keep sticking onto my spoon.

Oh well, hope the boys enjoy their lunch as much as I enjoy drawing the birds =D

Maybe we should take a break from the Angry Birds ... Is it too early for Halloween?

Happy Pigs!

The Angry Birds are out of the picture today, and the Pigs are happy!

It's Mid-Autumn Festival today, we don't want any fighting between the Birds and the Pigs =)

With the morning rush, I sometimes tend to forgot how the characters look like. Just to play safe, I sketched a picture of the pigs and stuck the paper on the kitchen wall! There, I know I need to cut circles and ovals from cheese, and I will remember to place the eyes at the sides of the face, instead of above the nose! I love these pigs! I had fun assembling the parts of the pigs, despite the morning rush =D

Why this sketch then? Well, I changed the boys' lunchbox from a Lock&Lock box to a bigger stainless steel box. With the bigger capacity, I need to be sure that I have enough food in the container. Too little, the contents will move and their lunch will end up in a mess when they open their lunchbox. I have learnt that if I do not think about where to place the food the night before, I will end up wasting time, trying arrange the contents here and there.

There you go ... pigs, logs, bushes, and a little mushroom =)

Happy pigs wishing all "中秋节快乐!"!

Angry Birds - Maching/Turbo Bird

We have the white and black birds, and it's now the yellow bird to make an appearance! Do you know that the yellow bird is also known as the Maching or Turbo Bird? I didn't. But my boys knew! I thought they made up those names, until I did a check on the Internet.

Instead of shaping the rice into a triangle, I chose to leave it as it is, that is, a length/square of rice. Less time consuming, and definitely easier when cutting the slice of cheese to fit the block of rice. It was a hectic morning, as I tried a new dish ... Oven-Baked Lotus Root Chips. Since it was my first time trying out the dish, it didn't turn out as I expected. But the boys happily finished all the chips that were packed =) Will try baking these chips again on another not so hectic day.

This was my little boy's dinner plate from last night. He happily took the slices of pan-fried tilapia and arranged them nicely on his place. When satisfied with how it looked, he grabbed his camera and took a shot of his dinner plate. Maybe he did learn something from all his bento lunches =)

Angry Birds - Black Bomber!

The boys were so happy with the Egg Beater Bird yesterday, they requested for all the other birds for today's lunch! After some thought, they finally settled on the Black Bomber =)

Can you spot the pig hiding in the strawberry?

The green pig dyed himself pink!

It's Summer Pig-nic for lunch today!

In the bento, there's blanched cabbage (seasoned with a little sea salt), oven-baked soy sauce chicken thigh fillet, strawberries, and rice wrapped in nori (the bomb).

I used a thin slice of Japanese fishcake for the eyes. Cut out a circle using a cutter. Half the circle and you get two semi-circles. That's a pair of eyes! Punch out some circles from a nori punch, and place the black circles onto the semi-circles. Done! The brows were made from a grape tomato. You can use red pepper or the red part of crabmeat too.

Question: How do I "stick" the eyes to the rice ball wrapped in the nori sheet?

Answer: I used a short length of angel's hair to secure the eyes/brows to the rice ball. Do not use toothpick as you don't want your kid to choke. You can also use some grains of the sticky rice, or a little mayonnaise. For me, the stick of uncooked angel's hair works best =)

I wonder which bird or pig the boys want for lunch tomorrow .....

Angry Birds - White Bird

It's September, and it's Back-To-School for the boys!

And it's Back-To-Bento-Making for mom!

Yeah! It means that I have more time to do things at a slower pace.

Much as I miss having the company of the boys at home, I really need those "Me-Time" to recharge my batteries =)

For the new school term, I bought lunch boxes for the boys. The ones that they were using last school term were in quite bad shape. Plus they are also eating a lot more, especially after a summer of everyday swimming.

The boys were introduced to the Angry Birds Game on the iPad this summer. And so, they were allowed, and had been playing, since they were very disciplined when it was time to do their Math workbooks. I was very pleased with the effort they put into the Math this summer vacation. The elder boy would take out his workbook, set the timer, and start doing his sums. The little one would follow. It was a great improvement from last summer. Last summer, every Math session was filled with their protests and complaints ... It's vacation, why do we have to do work? It's too hard.

I don't know how to do. I don't want to do.

Hopefully, this Angry Bird Bento lunch can help cheer up the little one, since he is alone in a new class this school term. He has been quite miserable for the last two days of school. New teacher, new classroom, new friends, new routine. He has been pushed out of his comfort zone. His new teacher is a very nice lady, who notices some tears in his eyes on the first day of school. I'm sure she will help him settle into his new environment very quickly.

In today's lunch, we have cauliflower and broccoli, and panfried Japanese fishcake. Since the lunchbox is bigger, I put in two strawberries instead of one. The sauce for the fishcake ... 1.5 tbsp soy sauce, mixed with 1/2 tbsp each of sake (or shaoxing), mirin and sugar. Pour the sauce into a heated pan, or the pan that you use to fry the fishcake. When the sauce starts to bubble, return the panfried fishcake to the pan and glazed the slices with the bubbling sauce.

And what's for lunch tomorrow?

Another AngryBird-theme bento =)

An "Easy-On-The-Mouth" Meal

Darling son KW went for his monthly visit to the orthodontist on Tuesday. The crossbite problem had been fixed, a month after wearing his braces! For the visit this month, the orthodontist added springs to his braces. This is to push the two central incisors closer to each other, to create a little more space for the other incisors to emerge.

Needless to say, the soreness and the pain he experienced during the last two days turned him into a cranky young man. Sleep was disrupted due to the soreness. He tried to put on a brave front, refusing pain reliever when offered. Cold sore formed as the braces rubbed against his mouth, since he had to change the way he chewed his food. He prefers food which is soft, and easy to chew. He will still eat whatever that is given to him, but he is not able to finish. Not his usual self. So for lunch today, he asked for something soft, easy-on-the-mouth kind of food.

When I suggested ham and fried egg, he happily agreed.

For once, since adjusting the braces, he brought home an empty lunch box.