Are we there yet?

Hello all..

Christmas is coming...!
Well, we need to first pass the Thanksgiving :)
Since we do not have a Thanksgiving day in here, I can skip that and jump to Christmas :)

Inside the box:
* white steamed rice, topped with chicken floss and green trees
* flower-y carrots
* chicken meatballs
* edamame
* apples and manggoes
* jellyballs in cups

The green trees were made from egg sheet, with the help of a drop green food colorant.

Inside the box:
* white steamed rice, topped with kani (crab stick)
* sweet tamago (rolled eggs)
* boiled broccoli
* chicken lemon
* apples

The "HO" letters were made from cut-out cheese.
I was meant to make a "ho..ho..." but realised that it would be too crowded :D

Wish you all a great weekend.

= With Love =

read more “Are we there yet?”

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... {^,^}

read more “Bento again”

So I have time for a bento

Hello,

School holiday is coming...!

Kids will have approximately one month of school break.

Hm..is it comparatively shorter than your summer break? hehehehe.

So, since they are happily to lie longer on the couch *I limit their TV watching session during school days* I find myself to get more of my bento lunches :D

Here is one for breakfast 

Inside the first tier:

Fresh salad from lettuce, orange pepper bell, cherry tomatoes and edamame.

Just sprinkled them with salt, pepper, a splash of lemon and olive oil.

Inside the second tier:

Pan fried Japanese tofu and boiled purple sweet potato

Sprinkled with furikake

Strawberries

Soft boiled egg

I love love love soft boiled egg

I can have it for breakfast and dinner. When I do not feel like to cook, I can eat it with a toast and whatever jam available in my fridge. 

I usually put the egg in a pan full of cold water, before to put them onto fire.

I once let the water boils before dropping the egg. Hm...the egg cracked and I got a hard boiled egg then. I realized the mistake, the egg wasn't in a room temperature. It came straight from the fridge. No wonder it cracked! Now I let the egg to rest a while before to put it into a pan.

When the water boils, I use a timer (or a smartphone!) to wait for 3 minutes. Switch off. Empty the hot water in the pan and re-fill with cold tap water to cool off the egg for a few seconds. I will still get the runny yolk :) yummm..

Happy summer break for everyone... {^,^}

read more “So I have time for a bento”

Happy Easter, Olaf..

That greeting is for you, too...

Yeap, all of you..

Happy Easter!
Hope you had a great Easter holidays :)

On the Easter day, kids wanted to go swimming.

Knowing by heart that they must be very pretty hungry when coming out from the pool :b

So, I made this bento.

Inside the box:

* Inarizushi

some of them, formed as in a brown bunny while some others as rice-bags stuffed with different kind of toppings such as chicken floss, chopped ham and edamame.

His cute brown face, completed with color-matching long ears :) Well, I just stuffed everything with white rice. Yes, including the both ears.

* Pink Kamaboko. Love the bright color and I just feeling playful with the cutting.

* Pan-fried ham, store-bought frozen ham

* Onion rings, store-bought too, just deep fried them

* Edamame

* Blanched broccoli

* Strawberries

* Kani 

* Mini tamagoyaki

* White bunny, from white rice onigiri, with her partly-pinkish-long-ears thanks to Kani sheet, of course. She is smiling pretty with blue ribbon foodpick and holding a "decorated Easter egg" This egg was actually a furikake-sprinkled-onigiri.

I spent an hour making this bento from scratch, from blanching the inari pouches bla-bla-bla I do not have to mention all the cooking, right?..yawn :D.... until assembling them into the box. 

Three kids finished them in less than 15 minutes. 

Straight. 

Hm.....lucky me *wide grin*

Everyone...... meet Olaf..

He is made from rounded white bread filled with strawberry jam.

The button is from halved chocolate chips, this is store bought.

I used Pokky as his hands 

The eyes are from cheese and nori sheets

The nose comes from a steamed carrot

The hair and mouth are from nori sheet

Again, I use cheese sheet for his single teeth.

He has two cheese-rolled bread, edamame, blanched broccoli, strawberries and steamed egg mixture with frozen vegetables inside a paper cup.

My daughter excitedly imagining the comments from her classmates.

...Kids... {^,^}
She loves Frozen the movie. All of my kids do.

Until next time.

read more “Happy Easter, Olaf..”

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...

read more “A year older”

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 ”

Bento for Hinamatsuri

Happy girl's day!

Hinamatsuri is celebrated each year on March 3
We do not celebrate it in here, but I was tickled to make one bento for it.

The bento has an emperor doll and an empress doll.

I made them from onigiri. 

The emperor onigiri is wrapped with nori while empress onigiri is wrapped with egg sheet.

I put many decorations in empress onigiri with fan (carrot) and clothing details (kani in white and red colors)

Surround them, I put boiled sausages, white kani flower, carrot "sakura" flower and some strawberries.

I kinda limit myself in food preparation, by boil only, since I shall need more time to decorate the onigiri.

I prepared this bento for miss L and made just one box.
So the other two boys were asking "will tomorrow be our turn to have cute foods?"
Well, we'll see ^,^

read more “Bento for Hinamatsuri”

The excitement continues

Hello hello...

This is the post about latest bento making.

In welcoming Christmas, my bento theme is simply about the festive season

If you have Instagram account and follow mine (yennyhandoko) you will be aware that these bento-es had been uploaded to my account earlier.

The Christmas tree

The content of box:

* Blanched brocolli, formed in a tree, decorated with frozen-bought carrot, corn and peas, also from sliced zucchini and cheese star.

It put that brocolli tree unto bed of white rice, for sturdy position

* Kamaboko rose with green bean leaves

* Santa sausages

* snowman from quail eggs

* Sauteed green beans and champignon mushroom

* Strawberries

I ate this as my lunch

The snack bento

Kids like to swim in public swimming pool nearby our house.

I imagined they will be hungry, thus I made this snack bento.

Mister J helped me in preparing the sandwiches. He filled them all with lettuce, egg sheet, cheese sheet and fried ham. Completed with mayo and ketchup. 

I already prepared the ingredients while he just smeared the bread and stacked them. He is so proud that he can help out.

Aside from sandwiches, I put some fried sausages, few blanched broccoli, flower-y egg sheet and kani sheet (in white and red color). Lastly, I put some strawberries.

I intentionally did both snow man and santa from quail eggs - to get the touch of a Christmas-y box - I used the left-over kani sticks and decorated the faces with nori and ketchup.

Some friends asked me about the cute snowman
Here is a closer look

To combine two boiled eggs, I used raw angel-hair (or spaghetti) pasta.

Later on, I wrapped red kani sheet as to perform a scarf. Again, I used raw pasta to tie-in the two parts of scarf. As to make sure, the snowman will be shaken-proof, the kani sheet was secured in several points with the egg.

For facial expression, I put nori punched-out and dab few ketchup using toothpick for his rosy cheek.

For final touch, I inserted the food pics as his arms and blue hat.

Voila....does he look comfy and adorable? >,<

read more “The excitement continues”

Is it near Christmas yet?

Hello everyone....

Without hesitation ... yes, Christmas is near... very near...

It won't feel the spirit without making one Christmas-themed bento or two ..

Thank you so much Cookpad ^,^ for the idea.

Lately they are being one of my sources of inspiration.

If you do love Japanese cooking, the web is very recommended :) to visit.

So.... what's cooking?

Here is one for miss L

Here is another one for mister J

Lastly, mister B got his box too

Inside all boxes:

* Santa onigiri, wrapped in white and red kani, decorated with nori and carrot or ham for facial expression

* Snowman onigiri, wrapped in lettuce, decorated with nori and carrot or ham for facial expression. None of this onigiri in mister B's box. I just concerned the portion might be too much for him to finish.

* Sauteed bean sprout with red pepper bell

* Halved boiled chikuwa, filled with zucchini

* Yellow-mayonaised tamagoyaki, I refer to this recipe

* Flower-y ham

* Some grapes and mini mandarin pieces

Care to see all of them in one shoot?

I managed to keep simple side dishes since I intended to make the onigiri as center of attention. Besides, as for many details needed in making the onigiri, I was kinda prevent myself to get overwhelmed in preparing the boxes.

Hope the kids will enjoy it.

Today would be their last day to school before Christmas and end of year holidays.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... \>o</

read more “Is it near Christmas yet?”

Mid-Autumn Festival

Dear friends and relatives,

Happy mid-autumn festival !

快樂的中秋節

 

Here is a bento to celebrate the event

 

Inside the box:

* White steamed rice beneath the nori and egg sheet

* Sauteed vegetables, mushroom and sausage

* Apple pieces

 

The bento is suprisingly easy to make.

I got the picture as an idea from somewhere in internet. 

At first, I was thinking to make egg-yolk sheet in resembling the full moon. Then to put cutting rabbit image (made from nori sheet) on top of the egg.

Later on, I found the easier way...

I just covered white rice with nori sheet and cut the rabbit from the egg sheet.

The whole picture gives the rabbit silhouette by the full moon without much effort.

 

One thing that gave me an "aha...ah!" moment

Nori sheet quickly to corrugated upon touching with wet or steamy food.

I instantly surprised since I had cut the sheet in precision with the size of steamy rice and nori got wrinkled immediately! In panic, I cut another piece of nori to cover up the whitish appearance haha! I should remember to fill the rest in the box in prior to work with nori sheet. I will have in mind about its wrinkled effect as well.

 

I have enjoyed my mooncake few days earlier, but I am more than happy to receive some more deliveries right now \>o</

Hubby enjoyed this very much.

read more “Mid-Autumn Festival ”

Compilation

Hello...

I am so so busy lately (it is a lame excuse, I know...) but it was genuinely tricky to find some time for me to sit down and update this blog.

About a week ago, all 3 of our angels fell ill at the same time. They got stomach flu. A kind of disease that many kids have recently. They slowly get well now, while one kid has faster recovery speed than another. However, I find bento-making is really help me to ease the tension. 

So, here they are

I being told about a bakery that sells white bread in cute form aside from regular bread and cakes. They have in form of Mickey Mouse's face, Winnie the Pooh's (the one that I bought) and Hello Kitty's. That's what I saw. I don't know if they are making something else. The shop is nearby my house so I just looked around and purchased one pack. 

I just smeared one piece with mayonnaise after buttered-pan-fried for few minutes, then to put chicken floss, before to sandwiched it with the second piece. Kids just love it. I am not sure if they love the shape of bread or my choice for bread's filling. I hope it is both :)

 

The plan to do bibimbap was stored quite some time in my agenda, I meant for adult. Because in previous time, I made bento bibimbap for kids.

So, my hubby is lucky enough to get this for his lunch.

I made it with all quick sauteed of beef minced, bean sprout, string beans, carrots, baby corn and red bell pepper on top of white rice. They are nicely covered with sunny side up fried egg. He definitely love it and to eat it with gochujang.

I just forgot to sprinkle sesame seed for final touch >,<

Another bakery that I found in my house's area, is selling purple and green toast bread. They are made from purple sweet potato and pandan leaves.

Whenever, I passed it by, I like to buy them. During one hot afternoon, while everyone is taking a nap, I made this for my big boy. 

The bread is stuffed with chicken floss. From purple bread, I made a cute bear, while from green one, I made a silly frog. The rest of the facial expressions are using cheese sheet and nori. On their side is a couple of gyoza and halved of quail egg.

Get well soon, my angel *kiss kiss*

--I blame my shaky hand for the blurred picture--

It is time to return to school after the sick leave.

Since I still have some purple and green bread left, I just add some tamagoyaki (I love making tamagoyaki, don't know why..), cherry tomatoes and grapes.

Wish you a nice day in school.

read more “Compilation”

Minion and Agnes

Weeks had passed without any posting (ouch...) I am concentrating on projects in hand.

During the past weeks, my big boy asked me "mommy, could you do a Minion bento for my lunchbox by tomorrow? because my friends said they wanna see it" I just said yes to him.

Previously, I did a Minion bento once, in here. I was thinking to do a different way.

Inside the box:

* Yellow egg sheet and purple egg sheet (made from white egg colored with one drop of food coloring) on top of white steamed rice

* For facial expression, decorated with cheese sheet and nori sheet

* Green squash, steamed

* Lap cheong

* Mini tomato

Too bad, I was running out of blue food coloring and use purple instead. 

I guess it is a sign that I need to do it one more time with blue color!

 

By the other day, it was my girl whom requested Agnes bento

So, here it is

Inside the box:

* Brown onigiri, with facial expression resembling Agnes, using cheese sheet and nori sheet. For cheek blushes, I used ketchup. For brownish face color, I mixed white rice with few drops of sweet soy sauce.

I also stuffed some chicken floss inside the onigiri, since I did not plan to stuff some more meat inside the box.

* The hair was done with halved-chikuwa wrapped with nori and red-kani, resulting in her hair to stand-up. I just had an easy cuts on nori, to create hair's natural look. I pinned the chikuwa to onigiri in using some pieces of angel hair pasta. I expect the ponytail will stay-put until miss L opens her lunch! 

* The rest of box's filler are tamagoyaki, green squash, kani sticks, red and orange bell pepper, also two mini tomatoes.

I got the comments already.

"mommy, it is so cute...my friends also love it...!"

~~> Mission accomplished  \^,^/

read more “Minion and Agnes”

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”

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”

Bread lately

Hello ^,^

Lately, I like to make bento with bread.

What's inside:

French toast dusted with fine sugar, potato croquet, edamame, mandarin and strawberries

What's inside:

Wheat bread filled with tuna mayo, added with heart-ham on top; rolled egg and mixed berries.

Starting today, the twins will have final exams for a week.
Hope they do well :)

Also, today is my last day in my detox program he he he
I will make a celebration bento for myself on tomorrow *wide grin*

read more “Bread lately ”

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...!

read more “His latest menu”

Low carb story continues

Hello...

I am still supporting hubby in his low-carb meal

#250

Just realized the appropriate term is low-carb -instead of carb-free- I will use it from now on. So, another thing to realize, the key to have tasty meal is to use many herbs.

What's inside:

* Gindara Fish (I do not know English name for this kind, feel free to let me know)

 pan fried, with salt, black pepper, grated ginger. Fried under splash of canola oil.

* Steamed egg white in glass-cup

Whisked 3 eggs (I got two cups) mixed with button mushrooms, ground lean beef, cubed yellow and red bell pepper, minced leek and some basil. Salt and pepper of course.

* White tofu

Steamed (once again) soaked with few drops of olive oil, grated garlic, minced leek and minced red chili pepper, aside from salt and pepper.

* Blanched broccoli and button mushroom for garnish.

I would love to eat it by myself

Happy Passover {^.^}

read more “Low carb story continues”