Bento Fun

Now I understood why Lia always have to make 3 onigiri for her double tiers  bento boxes. Well, it seems that 3 onigiri fits just nicely into those boxes, that’s why! Right Lia? We can’t make too big and not too small and I can bet with you, controlling the size of onigiri is a huge challenge if you are  doing it free hand! Unlike Lia, I don’t own those rounded rice balls moulds which will be a great tool to use if I want all my rice balls to be of equal size. I made a few in the past too which coincidentally, there are always 3 rice balls in these double tiers box!

I still have plenty of pumpkin (because I bought the whole pumpkin) so I must make something of that color. Wanted to make some chicks but I can’t find my mould so have to do the regular round onigiri freehand. The only thing is, I flatten them a bit to look like tangerines. Was tempted to go pick the lime leaf for deco but killed the idea coz I saw some strangers sitting at the back of our house.

So, here is today’s lunch bento…

The color of the pumpkin is not as strong as I thought. It looked rather orangey to the naked eyes but after I download the photos, they looked rather pale. Anyway, will slowly go fix that (maybe I need a new camera!) The details of the little tangerines are nori and I dabbed some strawberry jam on their cheeks coz I ran out of ketchup!

On the other tier, I packed a soy sauce drummet which was left over from last night dinner. There are some broccoli, pan fried prawns, a cherry tomato, some stir fried French beans with carrot slices in flower shape, a small section of corn on the cob and grapes.

Today is Friday and the kitchen is closed for dinner! Gonna go for a bite of burger tonight at Chilis. Hope you’ll have a wonderful weekend ahead!

I asked Darrius before dinner time, what he would like to have in his bento and he told me ‘Moon and Stars!’. I was a little puzzled initially coz I was expecting him to tell me Mickey Mouse or Teddy Bear. I questioned him back, ‘You don’t want any bear?’ and he shook his head.

Ok, moon and stars… what can I do?

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Hey diddle diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon…

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Recognize this nursery rhyme? This is among the few nursery rhymes that I really like coz there’s a cow involved! Yes, I have a soft spot for any thing that is a moo-moo cow!

And here is the bento…

I made some soy sauce chicken drummets for dinner but did not have anything in mind earlier but the ‘Moon & Stars’ theme don’t really affects what’s the side dish actually! I did not make any hard boiled egg so I can’t add the yolk to the rice to make it yellowish instead I used the balanced pumpkin from Baby G’s porridge and add into Darrius’s rice and made a moon onigiri out of it! The moon is moulded freehand… too bad the yellow color on the moon was not that visible.

There are some broccoli, strawberries, some waxed meat (lap-cheong) and a small corn on the cob with some carrot slices in star shaped. Not much intricate work to do… nori details are punched out so easy-peasy! I have this cow cupcake topper which I bought long time ago fits really well into this theme!

He finished in 45 mins which is still better than his usual 2.5 hours! He even cleaned up a bowl of soup which was not in the photo. Looks like bento meal is a sure winner this time!

I had wanted to make a lunch bento for Darrius yesterday as he told me he wanted to have his bento at home after he had the bear onigiri the other day. He finished everything in record time! It seemed that he eat much or way faster when he had bento than his regular bowl of rice! This is good news for me as I can save my breath for better use! Each meal time he drives me up the wall as I have to keep checking on him on his status… sometimes he takes more than 2 hours to finish that half bowl of rice! Gggrrrr!!!

Actually I was amazed that a small onigiri contained the same amount of rice I fed Darrius each time if not more. Since onigiri is rice being compacted into shapes, they appeared less. Guess this is a good trick to make kids eat more without realizing!

Yesterday, the weather was amazing… cloudy and windy so after dropping Darrius off I brought Baby G to the wet market. After which I drifted to my regular baking supplies shop and visited the lady boss. Ended up I bought a whole bag of stuff! Found some cutters which I hope I can use soon when inpiration comes!

Ok, back to bento. Since I lingered at the shop I did not have enough time to pack bento so I just gave him some rice with soup. I went out this morning so I did not cook either instead I bought something back and packed them into bento box for him.

Walked passed the bakery and saw some really fresh cheese sticks so bought some home. Then I walked passed the deli shop and saw some yakitori so bought some back as well. Enough goodies to be in the bento box! Added some Golden Globe grapes which I bought during the weekend and some cherry tomatoes as well. Easy job!

And it was another record time! He finished in less than 30 mins and asked for extra cheese stick too! Gave him the remaining and he gobbled that down with a bottle of Vitagen (yogurt drink). Looks like, lunch bento is in and snack bento for school will have to be shelved!

If time permits, there might be a dinner bento tonight!

This morning I did not pack any bento for Darrius as he told me the night before he don’t want any bento. Well, I have been receiving complains from some of his teachers (yes, AGAIN!!!!) that he is not keen with his food during break time. All he wants to do is to PLAY, PLAY, PLAY! This boy… haiyo… he is getting skinnier each day. He ate his dinner so slow (I forced him to self feed else he will want me to feed him!) that it lapsed into his milk time and so he skipped it altogether!

Therefore, I decided to pack him a lunch bento instead. Pack something that he will like… something with a BEAR in it! Yes, he is still in the ‘cute-bear-bear’ stage where he simply adores bears. That’s why you can see lots of bears in his bentos!

And here is today’s lunch…

Finally there’s an onigiri in the box! I decided to make a bear rice ball mixed with some soy sauce so that it has 2 colors for the bear. The bear’s muzzle is plain rice and details for eyes and nose are dried blueberries. The bear’s ears are smaller rice balls that are slightly flatten which I attached using some spaghetti stripe to hold them in place. The ears are somehow varied in size… There are 2 teriyaki chicken skewers, some broiled broccoli, golden cherry tomatoes, a half corn on the cob and some strawberries to fill up the box.

This is my first time using this rectangular white box which was a prize I won last year from a contest organized by Susan Yuen. I love the size of the box as it is perfect for a kid’s bento meal.

Probably I will be doing more bento meals from now on since Darrius prefers to have his bento at home and not in school! Anyhow, I will still pack once or twice a week for him depending on my mood!

That’s all for today and I hope you have a pleasant day! Happy Bento-ing!

p/s: I’ve added this bento to What’s for Lunch Wednesday so maybe you want to add yours too!

Good Monday everyone!

Can’t believe it is the start of another week! Time passes just too quickly… How I wish I could have more time so that I can do more things!

To start off the week, I packed a bento for Darrius. This boy has not been eating much the past couple of days as he was complaining about those ugly ulcers erupted on his lower lip. He has been refusing lots of food and taking hell of a long time to finish them. He spent 2.5 hours to finish a small bowl of porridge last Friday! I cooked the porridge courtesy of him since he can’t take harder food. However, when he felt hungry, he requested for cereal bites which are so much harder than all the food I have been giving him! Kids!

So, what’s in the box today?

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