So Very Late...

Hi everyone

It is such a very latepost from Easter bento and my dad’s birthday’s bento.

The Easter bento consists of all simple things. Even the idea came up at the very last minute.

What’s inside

·        Steamed white rice

·        Fried chicken with Indonesian yellow spices

·        Potato salad

·        Green beans

·        Quail eggs

·        Edamame

·        Fish nuggets in shape of yellow and red Angry Birds

·        Papaya

·        Watermelon

Such a yummy lunch and the kids finished it without hesitate :-D

Now lets move on to my dad’s birthday bento.

Frankly speaking, making an adult bento is more challenging –for me- than a kids or charaben bento. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I am not so often in making it. Perhaps also my genuine purpose in bento-making is to provide healthy and nice-looking lunches for my kids. However, I do believe that slowly I shall make more of non-charaben than charaben bento. When the kids are growing up, I’d love to still offer them healthy although not-so-adorably-looking lunches {^,^}

Inside the box

·        White steamed rice

·        Nori and kani on top of rice

·        Mini burgers

·        Tamagoyaki

·        Blanched broccoli

·        Carrots

·        Grapes in cup

As for mini burgers, I refer to this recipe with Japanese sauce. I made a second box (unphotographed) for my kids too. They all love it!

By the way, can you see the theme of this bento? I give you a hint, it is a man’s apparel :b

Until next time.

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A year older

Yeap, that's right

I am a year older today... Thank you, Lord...

So blessed for everything \^,^/

Including the greetings and attention from friends and relatives. God bless you all...

A simple breakfast for myself

> Toast bread, filled with scrambled egg and mayo

> Boiled carrots and edamame

> Grapes and Apples

> Yakult and Reese's peanut buttercup. 

I am genuinely truly sincerely love this miniature chocolate. Thanks Hershey. Too bad it is not available in here. A friend carried this (a party bag 1.13 kg 2LB 8 OZ version!) on his way back from business trip and made me so excited *bless his heart* 

I paid it, of course :D

Oh, and a mini rabbit done from cheese on top of toast.

Aaahh...this box gets all-fave stuff!

I am a happy and hungry person.

Would that be too much if I am dreaming about that chocolate devil cake from local bakery?
I should blame my little sister, whom forwarding their cake-of-the-month advertisement.
Aaarrrgggghhh...

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Happy birthday to you!

Yeaaa...today is his birthday!!
My other half...
Wishing you all the great and wonderful things in life.

Here is a bento for you.

Koi Bento

He loves the fish so much and we have a pool of Koi or Nishikigoi inside our home.

His fondness made him taking well maintenance from designing the pool (yeaa, including those complicated pump and filtration system to keep the water clear...) until caring the health of those fishes. And some Koi's championship trophies are within his possession too.

I do not share the same passion but rather enjoy only for the beauty of the Koi.

One thing amazed me and I quote this from Wikipedia "Koi will recognize the persons feeding them and gather around them at feeding times. They can be trained to take food from one's hand"

Cool, eh..?

 

So for those of you whom are thinking to get this as a hobby (although I do not encourage you to ... Hahaha!) you can talk to my husband. Believe me, he can talk about it for hours and hours {^,^}

Back to my bento, inside the box, he has:

* Koi's onigiri, decorated with kani for red-markings and nori for eyes.

I just made the onigiri by hand, not in bad-shape at all, I guess... :D The tricky part is to do the curved tail.

Put some chicken floss underneath onigiri, just to give some color contrast. 

* Sauteed green beans with toasted white sesame seeds, boiled quail eggs and chopped ham.

* Chocolate pudding

* Chicken teriyaki in separate green bowl. I do not want to "push my luck" by include this into the box and spoil the whole appearance. However, just in case he needs something more fulfilling, he can finish the chicken, of course.

So...what are you waiting for...? Yuuummmm!!

See ya next time

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Bento lately

Aaww...it has been a while since I did the entry posting for blog.

The reason because I was in bento hiatus too.

However, on last week I made some bento due to several occassions :)

I made one Japchae bento in the past 

It composed of japchae with ground beef, red and yellow bell peppers, carrots and zucchini. Added in box are apples and mini mandarin.

Everyone in my house loves japchae :D

This bento was made to celebrate the birthday of one dear friend.
It composed of brown rice (made from mixing white rice with sweet soy sauce). The rice is "tied" with kani ribbon as to resemble a gift. Surrounded the rice, I put blanched broccoli, carrots, boiled egg. In paper cup, I added honey glazed salmon teriyaki. To complete the box, I put some apples and grapes.

Notice from the carrot, you can read the recipient's name.
At first, I wanted to put cheese cut-out for letters. At the very moment, I just realized that I ran out of cheese sheet. My bad habit, not to check all needed ingredients before hand. The cheese was apparently being treated as snack by my kids.
So, as last resort, I punched the letter on carrot and then to slice out a bit of its surface.
Taadaaa...I hope you can read the letters.

This bento was made for twins' school project.

The school asked the students to bring balanced meal. They will be evaluated from content of box, from carb, protein, veggie and fruit. To get more fun, they also be evaluated from their eating manner. In fact, school will see if they can finish the meal during lunch time.

I found this project is quite easy. Kids are accustomed to eat balanced meal and they have well eating manner, I believe.

Once again, I put brown rice (white rice+sweet soy sauce). This is only to give contrast color, since I wanted to put something white on top.

Could you guess what did I put on top of brown rice? 

I made a winged helmet and a hammer of famous Thor :) I created them from meatballs and kani sheet.

On the side is green squash, brocolli, flower-y carrot, pan-fried salmon with salt and black pepper, cherry tomato, apples and mixed frozen berries.

I prepared 3 identical boxes and just as I thought, they all finished their lunches. 

Yay...

See you next time >,<

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Happy Independence Day

Hello...

August 17 is celebrated as Independence Day of Indonesia.

Since it was on last Saturday, kids in school had several games on Friday August 16.

As for me, I made a bento

Inside the box:
* Onigiri beneath kani sheet (red and white, to represent our national flag)
* Boiled sausages
* Flower-y egg sheet
* Star-y carrot
* Chicken in pandan leaves (meat substitute for vegetarian)
* Strawberries

Yummm.... :)

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Long Holiday in August 2013

Hai hai...di bulan Agustus, ada long holiday karena lebaran tgl 8-9 Agustus 2013

Kantor gue uda mulai libur di tgl 5-9 Agustus. Semingguan full lah libur cuti masalnya.

Kantor hubby baru libur hari Rabu 7 Agustus, sama seperti anak-anak yang baru libur sekolah di tanggal itu.

Hubby nanti baru masuk lagi di tgl 19 Agustus (hiks enaknya libur lama) sedangkan anak-anak balik ke kelas hari Kamis 15 Agustus.

Kita engga punya planning keluar kota sih. Kebanyakan memang kita selalu nunggu moment lebaran di dalam kota. Kapan lagi ngerasain Jakarta yang sepi kalo engga saat libur lebaran hahaha. So, kita cuma keliling dari mall ke mall.

Di tanggal 4 Agustus, si kembar Luna and Jovann ulangtahun ke-8

Cepet banget ya rasanya mereka udah umur segitu. Happy birthday, kiddos...mommy and daddy love you so much, always!

 

 

Mereka engga minta dirayain tahun ini. Cuma minta kado ajah...hihihi sama aje ya.

Hubby pilihin kado mainan hot wheels buat Jov and boneka Barbie buat Luna. Sementara gue kasi dompet dan kaos kaki. 

 

Mereka sudah mulai dapat uang saku mingguan sejak 2 minggu yang lalu. Jadi gue pikir, dompet adalah hadiah yang sesuai. Gue kasi uang saku sepuluh ribu per minggu untuk masing-masing anak. Mereka masih dibawain bekal juga koq. Jadi uang saku itu cuma untuk berlatih punya dan atur uang sendiri. Karena gue juga kasi syarat, kalo mereka harus bikin catatan pemasukan dan pengeluaran. Walau catatannya "lucu-lucu" formatnya, engga apa...mereka sambil belajar.

Gara-gara dikasi uang saku, mereka menunggu-nunggu hari Jum'at (harinya uang saku) dan inget banget lagi kalo belum dikasi. hahaha...

Karena mbaknya sudah pulang di tgl 4, jadilah gue yang masak sekaligus siapin dan antar bekal ke sekolah untuk hari Senin dan Selasa nya.

Pakai mbak infal sih 1 orang aja, karena teler rasanya kalau harus nyuci baju dan setrika sekaligus hehehe...

Anyway, sementara juga stop nge-bento, tetap bekalnya menu komplit seimbang tapi engga dihias lucu :) jadi engga difoto juga.

Tapi beberapa hari off nge-bento juga bisa kangen. So, untuk bekal last day, gue hias dikiiit.

Itu untuk bekal siang dan gue antar sekitar jam setengah 12 gitu.

Isinya: onigiri (nasi kepal bentuk segitiga dengan nori), tempura sayuran, tempura jamur, brokoli kukus, chikuwa rebus dengan isi kani.

Diam-diam, gue foto ini

 

Luna selama ini memang suka cerita kalau teman-temannya demen ngeliatin isi kotaknya. Beberapa malah sampai minta nyomot. Dasar Luna keseringan 'diembat' makanannya sama Jov, dia engga keberatan kalo makanannya dicomot temennya :b

Besoknya, Luna gue ajak main ice skating.

Sebelumnya dah pernah sih, trus dia suka

Main ice skating memang enakan pagi sekalian. Jam 9an gitu lah sudah sampai. Kalo siangan, pasti rame. Apalagi udah masuk masa liburan ya. Tiket masuknya 58 ribu untuk 2 jam dan sewa loker 10 ribu. Kalau mau beli sarung tangan 8 ribu. Kelebihan waktu dari 2 jam, dihitung 8 ribu. Luna jadi demen banget skating karena lama-lama dia bisa engga berpegangan. Jatuh-jatuh juga sih, mungkin sekitar 8 kali gitu lah. Tapi 8 kali jatuh dari 4 jam bermain ya not bad deh. 

Selama kita main, Jov dan Bas muter-muter mall sama daddynya. Jov waktu diajakin gak mau. Kata dia, skating kan buat cewek... Jiahhh... :)

three minions

Besok-besoknya keliling mall ajah

 

Sempet pergi berenang juga ...

  

Masak-masak yang sempet kefoto

chicken karaage

tahu crispy

nasi goreng.... penyelamat saat kehabisan ide :)

iseng manfaatin cookies jar yang uda rusak tutupnya

kenapa gak ada yang senyum yak...?? hihi

Happy Eid Mubarak for friends whom celebrate it. 
Mohon maaf lahir dan batin yaaaa... :) 

read more “Long Holiday in August 2013”

Breakfast on birthday

It is simply said, today is my birthday...
Oh it is 29th already? It was yesterday, then.

#249

 

What's inside

Vegetable omelette with bacon, croissant and purple sweet potato pudding.

OK, the breakfast was actually be eaten by kids. They are in Easter holiday right now.

 

Nothing beats a love letter from a daughter as the coolest birthday gift!

She aware for missing the "h" but I simply love it :)

Thank you for all the good wishes received by short messages, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

I feel so blessed

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Ulang tahun mami

Hari Sabtu kemarin, acara makan-makan untuk ulangtahun mami mertua, di resto Angke. Ultahnya sendiri sudah di tgl 1 May (Mayday) hehehe...

Soal makan-makannya engga usah banyak diceritain lah ya.. 

Gue lebih tertarik cerita soal anak-anak kecilnya.

Cucu mami sekarang ada 7 anak. 

5 cowok dan 2 cewek ... kurang balance nih hihi

Dari gue kan 3 anak, trus tiap-tiap keluarga adik-adik hubby, anaknya 2, 1 dan 1.

hihihi..tetep gue donatur terbesar... :) dan Luna Jovann paling gede umurnya.

Kalo udah ngumpul, bisa dibayangin deh...rombongan bocah2 heboh... 

kue nya.... hm, gue termasuk sweet tooth

Luna and Gizel

Lihat nih kelakuan cewek2 jaman sekarang...mainannya smart phones. 

Trus, gue juga geli lihat tampang mereka cengengesan gitu. 

Gayanya orang gede banget yah

Jovann, Nando, Sebastian

Nah...ini cowok2 nya nih

sama ajah...main gadget...lagi gandrung sama AB

Gue foto pun mereka gak noleh

Nah, ini yang sementara ini jadi "primadona"

Adiknya Nando, namanya Moreno.

Duh...gemesnya karena dia bulet banget....

 

Ini dia rombongan cucu mami

Yang di pinggir kiri, ada Kynan, yang lagi dipegangin sama maminya

ada yang cemberut...:D

Okeee...ini rombongan gue....minus daddy nya aja

Segede Luna gitu, dia lagi demen pakai produk perawatan supaya rambut nya halus. Dia gak pake sendiri, tapi demen ngikut mandi di kamar mandi gue, supaya bisa pake conditioner atau leave-in conditioner atau (yang terbaru) bahan creambath. Haisss...

Jovann juga gak kalah "ganjen" nya

Mereka bertiga itu, kalo jalan-jalan maunya gandengan semuanya sama gue...Lah gimana...

Trus gue masih suka cium pipi Jov, dan dia suka bilang ke Luna dan Bas "eh eh..lihat! mommy abis cium aku lho..." suaranya mirip seperti orang ngomong "eh lihat! gue dibeliin mainan baru lho..." that kind of sound..

Yang genit banget sekarang Sebastian nih.

Dia cuma inget satu nama anak cewek di kelasnya dan bilang "aku suka banget lho sama dia.."

Luna suka nambahin "iya, anaknya cantik.."

Bapaknya suka godain "dia suka juga gak sama dede..?"

Bas "suka suka suka banget banget banget sama aku..." *kepedean gak sih*

Bapaknya "koq bisa...?"

Bas "ya udah sewajarnya lah.."

*gubraaaakkkk

.....dan penasaran tu temen cewek kaya gimana mukanya*

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Bento 195 Birthday Bunny

Hoy es mi cumpleaños... read as: today is my birthday...

I am so grateful for the countless blessings that I have in my life.

Both L and J have their holidays after exams.

Thus I made this for little B's lunch.

Birthday bunny

Using Kokeshi box, the meal fit perfectly. I tried not to stuff in too much.

He had bunny onigiri -stuffed with chicken floss- with carrot 'birthday cake'. Most body parts were decorated with cheese sheet. Added kani and nori also jelly ball for facial expression. 

In another tier, he had sauteed asparagus with cubed carrot and silken tofu. In blue cup was halved sausage and edamame. White panda cup filled with fruit jelly.

Whew...hope he will not be too full :D

Why bunny?

Well, I was born in Chinese year of rabbit. 

You can count by yourself for how old I am now {^.^}

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Bento 192

Happy Monday

Here is the bento for last weekend.

for hubby

He had white steamed rice, sausages, edamame, martabak, broccoli, carrots and strawberries. The yellow chick cup contained bird's eye chili

Hubby gave me just half an hour to prepare this from scratch, before we went out. Thus, I didn't have any specific idea. Also, I took this with my phone's camera. Notice the shadow of my fingers in the picture *ouch* Nevertheless, I was happy to see he finished it.

Pssttt... he is having his birthday today... :)

I postponed the idea of having birthday bento for him by this morning. Little B has been ill since three days ago, with sneezing, coughing and up-down fever. He didn't have sound sleep since then. Neither did I.

I need to take him to see a doctor this afternoon. Hope it is nothing but a common cold.

See ya later

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Bento #144 Chicken and Fish

Hello...I am back from one week-holiday for Moslem New Year. The office was closed and also the school. Today is the first day everyone returns to their routine. Some are still in off-days but mostly have come back. I guess so are the traffic jam in usual places.

We didn't go to any specific get-away place. We are trying to enjoy the less crowded city as much as possible. It only happens once a year! I made some simple snack bento during holidays but didn't post it yet since my computer were in off mode too for a week. LOL

Thus, during off days, I read some more books that were waiting for me by bedside. One of them was The Just Bento Cookbook by Makiko Itoh

I have had this book for ages. I quickly flipped the pages and admired the fine photography inside during it's arrival. Not until recently that I carefully read one fabulous page to another. One time is not enough. The recipes look easy to follow. Each bento was given a timeline. The book simply makes me want to cook something.

I gave it a try for Chicken Kijiyaki Bento

for them

Inside the box: white steamed rice underneath of sliced-chicken, steamed broccoli, sausages, strawberry, cherry tomato and lemon wedges

for little man

for little lady

for their dad

Inside the box: same as above but I add two fish-sausages and double up for almost every contents.

It cooked and tasted like chicken terriyaki. One thing make me curious. The skin is not crispy at all while the recipe said it should be.

Days ago, the kids received a birthday gift from their aunt

The adorable Kokeshi Bento (Momotaro, Hanako and Ichiro) from Bento & Co

I should call this a sweet belated birthday-gift. Although was meant for my kids, I am excited about it, since I am the one who will pack some food inside :) She was right when saying this gift was a surprise for me too.

The kids are thrilled to accept those and used them for breakfast at home! Whew.. :D 

The top part, served as eating bowl, the middle part has inner dome leak-resistant lid able to put soup into and rice was put in the bottom compartment.

I will surely use Kokeshi Bento later on for their lunch *wink wink*

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