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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Halloween

Hello..

How are you? 

Still can't believe that today is the end of October already.. and it is a Halloween day.

We do not normally celebrate it in our home, but the kids know about this.

Perhaps from movies, books and friends (where else, hm?)

So I did some bento with a touch of Halloween festivity for them

Inside the box:
* Pumpkins made from carrot, on top of white steamed rice and chicken floss
* Steamed baby corn and baby green squash
* Chicken sauteed with teriyaki sauce
* Quail egg
* Grape and strawberry

I made three boxes of the same design.... as usual.. >,<


Day two

 

Inside the box:

* First tier: Hello Kitty white bread, smeared with chocolate paste by the inside

The facial decoration came from nori, kamaboko (for witch's hat) and corn.

* Second tier: two cute mummies, made from boiled cocktail sausages, wrapped with kani and decorated with nori, edamame, grapes and strawberries.

Recently I bought quite a lot of strawberries. They came in 2 boxes for one price. I usually had a "headache" in storing strawberries, but lately I just froze them. Most of times, we just take some from freezer and toss them into a blender with everything else we want to, for a strawberry juice.

My girl loved the bento.

I didn't prepare ones for the boys. It would be too girly for them. LOL

See you around

 

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Bento again

Hi all,

How are you?

We are back to office and school after long holiday due to Moslem New Year 28 July until 1 August.

It was a major holiday in Indonesia and it was a good chance for families to travel out of town. At the same time, most of people were also using this opportunity to go back to their hometown in celebrating new year. Thus the roads were all packed. We have managed to escape for three days only to Lembang, Bandung. We visited some farms and outdoors playing fields. Kids just loved it!

Here are some bento that I have made

Inside the box:

* Furikake sprinkled white rice

* Blanched broccoli

* Ham, to form piggie, hen and bunny

* BBQ chicken wings

* Sauteed green squash with sausage

* Carrots

* Green grapes

* Tamagoyaki

The ham represents the Chinese astrology of our family.

Both of us have Rabbit sign, the twins have Rooster sign and the little boy has Pig sign :)

Last week, we had a playdate with some of the kids' friends.
Again, we visited another farm, Kuntum Nursery. 
Here are the bento that I made for kids and their friends

for mister Nathan

for miss Hilary and Kimmy

for my kiddos

All the bento have the same menu. I just made an adjustment in onigiri. The brown bear was for the boy while the hello kitty was for the girls.

Inside the boxes:

* onigiri brown bear or hello kitty, decorated with chicken floss (bear), nori, cheddar cheese and kani (ribbon)

* blanched broccoli

* chikuwa (under the broccoli)

* tamagoyaki

* fried nuggets (store-bought)

* apple pieces and green grapes

* flower-y carrots

* quail eggs

* edamame

* yellow and white duckies also white sleepy rabbit food picks to add cheerfulness for kids.

I had a hard time in carving the star and love onto the quail eggs ^_^ will try to better do it Haha! Oh yes, I filled chicken floss for the kitty.

Most importantly, they enjoyed togetherness and had a great time ! yaaayyy... {^,^}

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Late post (again)

Hello...

Here is (another) late post for bento that recently made.

Looks yummy? 
Hm...myself is hungry right now

This is my first time to make curry >,<

We have many Japanese restaurants in here. In one weekend, we went to Curry House Coco Ichibanya in Grand Indonesia. We love it! The big J, and of course his dad, finished each a plate of theirs; miss L shared a plate with me while little B choose kid's menu. 

So, what can I do when they want a curry in the middle of week? I went to a supermarket and bought the ingredients! LOL... Well, it turned out fine. Nothing fancy, I just put some diced chicken and carrots for curry, topped it by halved boiled egg. Voila..!

This bento was made specially upon her request :)

She once looked at similar kind of bento in the bento book of mine and suggested me to make it.

It is quite simple actually. I just made an onigiri from mixing white steamed rice with sweet soy sauce. The facial expression are used cheese and nori. Then I sauteed vegetables, such as broccoli, baby corn, carrot. Topped the sauteed veg with thin egg omelette, visualized as a blanket. Kani sheet is added only for color and style of the blanket. Aside the bear, I put ham, for extra protein. Done!

On one nice afternoon in the office, the kids called me from home "mom, we all need to bring a balanced meal as one of school projects by tomorrow morning. Could you do something nice for us?"

Well, who couldn't resist such a command request?

I made a white Ninjago bento from Lego, the Ninja of Ice

Well. the tricky part and time consuming is to make the blocks of Lego from several foods. I used carrot for orange blocks, fish meatball for white blocks and SPAM for pinkish blocks. I done all the blocks by night, patiently punched one hole with another (straw is a great help if you do not own specific puncher) and pushed up each one, as to resemble Lego blocks.

As for Zane, I made from onigiri of white rice. I just put his face using egg sheet and nori. Surround him, I had chikuwa rose, edamame, cherry tomato, melon and apple.

They all love their lunches.

(Another) mission accomplished {^.^}

 

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Bento by choice

Hello...

Within last week, our twins had mid-term examinations. Hope they done well. 

While myself .....errr.... did I ever tell that bento making is actually calm me down during hectic days? There is some weird-soothe-comfort feeling inside every time I arrange for the box. Well, it doesn't necessarily mean my making is only due to that situation :) I can say that this is one of my heaven.

Inside the box:

* Onigiri, covered with chicken floss, decorated with cheese sheet and nori to make ear-less Rilakkuma. Hope they look cute though *,^

* Boiled green beans and baby corn, wrapped in ham

* Flower-y boiled carrot

* Grilled sausage

* Orange

Inside the box:

* White steamed rice, put the cheese cut-out of spoon and fork on top. 

Sprinkled with furikake, just to avoid blunt-color effect

* Blanched broccoli

* Chicken popcorn

Made from boneless chicken thigh, cubed, seasoned with salt, pepper, grated ginger and Kikkoman soy sauce. I love the wonderful salty smell of the mixture. Leave it all night, before to dust some flour and deep fry.

* Tamagoyaki. 

I deliberately made it sweet. Kids love it!

* Angry Bird kamaboko. Store-bought. Just boiled and done with it. 

* Jelly in the cup.

Some friends asked me about what time that I get up in the morning for bento making, since they knew I have fulltime job too.

Well, some cooking should be done by previous evening, such as in making tamagoyaki, boiling stuff and frying chicken. So in the morning, I just fit everything into lunchbox while fix minor decoration. 45 minutes should be enough time for me. However if I leave some things undone, I should be up like 1 to 1.5 hours earlier. 

Bottom line, for me, bento making is a very personal thing. 

It should be an enjoyable {^,^} activity too.

Happy cooking !

read more “Bento by choice ”

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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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.... :)

read more “Happy Independence Day”

Having a friend stay over

Hi...

It is a long school holiday for the kids now. Not so long, actually, about one month. As we do not yet have plan to travel around, we invited their friend to spend night in our house. He is a bit younger than the twins but older than little B. Perfect age to be their playmate :D 

One thing that I noticed, kids are always hungry \>o</

We had breakfast before we went out for Sunday morning mass. But after the mass, they said hungry! So we went to have bowls of noddle. Each of kids have one bowl, except miss L and little B got half-shared a bowl. That's consider lunch for us. 

Pretty much like 2 hours later, they were hungry again and requested fried rice.

I made fried rice with scrambled egg, frozen vegetable and button mushroom mixed. Later on added the crispy bacon bits and sausages. Yummm... all the kids including hubby finished well the rice.

When everyone had full stomach, we strolled along in a shopping mall.

 very sweet, eh..?

Feel like having five four children to attend to. LOL. 

All of them behave nicely and enjoy their togetherness.

Later in the evening, his parents came to pick him up.
I concerned that he will be hungry during the way back home.

Inside the box:

> Hello Kitty wheat bread, filled with cheese sheet and chocolate rice

> Fried sausages wrapped with egg sheet

> Few strawberries and sweet mandarins

It was very nice to have you in our home.

Looking forward to welcome you again.

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Bento 264

Hi there...

This week would be the last week of school before long holidays.

his and hers

What's inside

The boy has white steamed rice with 'yellow duckies' made from egg sheet and chicken floss on top.

The girl has wheat bread, pictured as pretty girl. Facial expressions are using nori, kani and colored bow-farfelle. I used egg sheet too for her hair. There are 3 layers of bread with filling of cheese sheet and chocolate rice.

In separate compartment is baked chicken wings, edamame and apple pieces for each of them.

for him

What's inside

The little boy has white steamed rice with eggs, nori and kani in one compartment.

The other compartment, he has baked chicken wings, edamame and apple pieces too.

I made the wings on the previous night. 

Otherwise, I couldn't handle it with all the hassle happened in the morning ^,^

Yum ... yum... yum....

Happy school holidays \>,</

read more “Bento 264”

Ikutan masak

Hello...

Punya anak-anak melewati usia balita enak juga lho...

Mereka masih pengen deket-deket kita dan pergi bareng. Walau terkadang udah mulai bisa nih janjian sendiri sama temen-temen sekolahnya. 

Intermezzo ajahhh.... dalam minggu ini, sehabis kelar jadwal UKK (Ujian Kenaikan Kelas), Lun telpon gue siang-siang di kantor, cuma untuk tanya: boleh gak pergi nonton bioskop sama temen sekelasnya yang cewek. Katanya, mama nya mau koq anterin dan temenin. Gue sampe speechless. Then, lebih melongo lagi saat Jov bilang, dia juga mau ikut. Hmmm...untung gue uda sempet kenalan sama temen dan mamanya itu. Itu juga gara-garanya karena mereka sempet pergi barengan ke Kidz*nia di bulan lalu. Hadeuh... gimana kelakuannya kalo udah kelas 6 SD atau SMP ya... *hiks...peluk Bas kenceng2 sambil nanya "kamu belum keluyuran kemana-mana, kan...?" lebayyy*

Balik lagi ke cerita utama.

Kalau hari libur, suka puas-puasin deh di dapur. Kalau sehari-hari kayanya merasa dikejar-kejar waktu banget ya. Jadi pelampiasannya di hari libur. Kebetulan kemarin pengen bikin gyoza.

Nah, kalau gue ke dapur, pasti ada aja yang suka nanya "mommy mau bikin apa? kita bantuin bole gak?"

Gue selalu jawab "boleh...."

Tergantung siapa yang nanya. Kalau Lun atau Jov, biasanya suka gue suruh kocok telur (pakai whisker), atau ambil-ambil sesuatu dari kulkas, atau pegangin mixer! haha...  Kalo Bas, biasanya gue suka minta dipegangin mangkoknya, atau suruh dia duduk temenin di dapur ajah.. Pokoknya yang gampang2, biar mereka senang merasa bisa bantu. Selain itu, pas masak daging, karena gue ga makan daging, gue suka tanya "siapa yang mau jadi tester?" Mereka selalu dengan senang hati acungkan jari bilang "saya...!"

Jadilah kemarin Jov bantu masak gyoza :)

Bikin gyoza sebenernya engga sulit lho...

Gue refer ke resep asli di sini ya

Tapi yang kemarin dibikin, modifikasi sedikit deh, menyesuaikan bahan yang ada di kulkas.

Bahan :

* 250 g daging ayam giling

* 1 daun bawang diiris halus

* 1 butir bawang putih cincang halus

* 1 sdm minyak wijen

* 1 sdt kecap asin

* merica secukupnya

Semua bahan ini dicampur rata

Minyak secukupnya untuk menggoreng
Kulit gyoza (beli jadi di supermarket)

Taruh campuran bahan ke tengah kulit gyoza, beri sedikit air matang di tepi kulit dan lipat setengah lingkaran

ada chef kecil yang membantu

 

hasil lipatan Jov, sebelum digoreng... Not bad lah ya..

Panaskan sedikit minyak di wajan, goreng gyoza sampai kecoklatan di kedua sisi dengan api besar.
Kecilkan api, tuang air kira-kira 1/3 tinggi gyoza, tutup wajan hingga matang. Masak hingga air habis.

ada yang kelamaan diangkat  XD

Seneng banget Jov karena bisa bantu masak *mommynya lebih seneng lagi, tinggal foto-foto dan nge-goreng ajah* Waktu udah mateng, dia juga yang jadi tester boy. 

Dalam sekejap, gyoza ludes dimakan mereka dan bapaknya *nyengir lebar*  

Extra photo for the day...

During afternoon, we went to a shopping mall. I was walking behind them while seeing them did this. I couldn't help myself to smile and take a shoot.

They both so cute .... :b

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His latest menu

Last week I was tied up with my son. 

He underwent an appendectomy. Thank God it went very well. I will post the complete story in different post.

However, hubby is still going for his low carb diet. 
I didn't have a choice but to tightly manage my time.

Few of his menu that I've captured

#251

What's inside:

* Halved-boiled eggs, removed the yellow, to fill in the sauteed ground beef with red beans

* Stir-fried green beans with baby corn

* Steamed tofu with salt pepper, basil leaves, red chilli and edamame

* Pan-fried boneless skinless chicken breast with dried herb

#252

What's inside:

* Ratatouille - omit the tomato

I followed the original recipe in here. 

The recipe is in Indonesian, but I am sure the English version will be easy to find

* Mini tempeh burger

I followed the original recipe in here

* Shrimp Scampi - omit the dry white wine and butter

I followed the original recipe in here

#253

This is a combo for our dinner

 

What's inside:

* Stir-fried broccoli with mushrooms and onions

* Steamed chicken (Pepes Ayam) - omit the tomato

I referred to this recipe

* Pan-fried salmon with lemon and dried herb

* Fried rice with egg, vegetarian ham and frozen veggies --> this is mine

* Watermelon, strawberries and blueberries

He will finish Step One very soon

Later, I will have more options of ingredients to cook. Yay...!

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