Mothering Corner

We don’t have to rush on Saturdays mostly, so I have more time to prepare 2 sets of bentos for my children. The first set is for lunch, while the other set is for tea, after their nap. Since I have more time to kill, I decided to fulfill my boy’s wish and give him a Power Ranger bento.

He wanted a red Power Ranger, and I have no idea what’s his name. I searched around for his photos and some bento blogs with that ranger, and got some idea on how to fix it. I used the red part of the artificial crab meat as the base, or if you have red color rice, it will be easier. Just form a rice ball, cover the top part with artificial crab meat and add in the details with cheese and seaweed. Since the rice ball is quite small for my boy, I added in an ultraman (but not lookalike though), which is much easier to fix. LOL!

Besides that 2 character rice balls, my boy’s bento has blanched broccoli, some ginger pork, edamame and 2 cherries.

My girl’s U*SA*HA*NA is pretty easy as I have the rice mold from Sanrio, but the only problem is, you can’t take out the rice mold from the base, so I just left it there to hold the shape. Apparently, she likes the pink kamaboko, and I added some for Melody.

My gal’s U*SA*HA*NA rice with ginger pork, broccoli and some carrots.

For afternoon tea, my kiddos will have sushi, edamame, mango and kiwi.

My kids’s bentos for tea

 So, that’s all for today. Have a nice weekend everyone.

I was a bit kelam kabut this morning as I overslept again. LOL! At first, I thought of packing pancakes, but then, a “fruity basket” came across my mind. I’ve tried fruity tarts previously, but this time, I just cut the white bread like shown, stuffed it in the ceramic cup, placed the cup on a baking tray (with water) and toast it in the oven at 180deg for about 15 minutes.

Cutting lines are shown in pink.

I didn’t toast it long enough, so only the top part is harden, but the bottom layer is still soft. So, you may try a higher temperature or toast it longer. I was running out of time! Then, just cut some kiwi and cherries into smaller pieces and place them in the toasted bread cup.

Today’s bento with lots of kiwis, cherries, sapodillas, tangerines, some animal pasta, and sausages cut in fish shape (with a sausage cutter) for my gal and elephant shape for my boy.

Part of the reason why I tend to pack more fruits these days is it’s advisable to have 5:7:9 times of your fist size of fruits and veggies for kid: woman: man. For example, for a child, it’s best for him to eat fruits and veggies 5 times of his fist size in a day. I found out about this from a health program, and the doctor said it’s best to eat fresh fruits and vegetables instead of relying on those veggie drinks. He said some nutrients like vitamins are destroyed in the powder making process, so just eat more fruits and greens.

The ratio sounds like a lot, but I think if I slot in more fruits into my kids’ lunch boxes for tea, and combining with their veggie intake in a day, that should be enough. It’s hubby and I who can’t reach the ratio yet! So, I packed lots of chikus for ourselves today. LOL!

My boy likes Melody, due to the influence of his sister. But hubby is not happy about it as he thinks Melody is very girlie. LOL! I guess to my boy, Melody is just another cute rabbit and nothing much. He wants me to fix him the red Power Ranger, not sure what’s his name though, but it’s too hard for me! Thus, both kids will have to settle for Melody today….and Power Ranger will be placed in my waiting list. Seriously, I’m  not sure if I can do it though.

I saw a few Japanese bento blogs with nice sandwiches like this, and I wanted to give it a try.

If you have the Molody (or any cute) cookie cutter, you can try this too. It will look better if you have bread in different colors, for example white bread and wholemeal bread. In my case, I used the assorted white bread by S&P, and they come in light pink, yellow, green and white in the same pack. Just cut out the center piece of the bread or toast with Melody cookie cutter, and set “Melody” aside. Use the cookie cutter again on another piece of bread in different color and replace the first “Melody” into the “hole”. You may add in the details if time permits, and I did so with cheese, seaweed, and kamaboko.

 Each of them will have a piece of blueberry jam sandwiches with Melody, some edamames and blueberries

I try to pack more fruits for the kids these days. Since the rectangular lunch boxes are too small to fit more, I packed the fruits in different lunch boxes.

 Two smaller lunch boxes for sapodilla, tangerine (not for my boy), rose apple and a little bunny for my girl. I didn’t slot in the bunny for my boy because hubby said it’s too much! (He meant too much girlie stuffs. LOL!) So, he will have a cherry, some cheese and kamaboko without details.

It’s my first attempt in kamaboko, not sure if my kids will eat it, but we shall see. I always check their lunch boxes after they are done with their tea.

BTW, I found this from Sahomama’s lunch, not sure what’s the URL though.

How I wish that I can find these in our stores! Don’t you think they will make things easier for us?

It’s a simple bento today because I don’t have the mood to add in any cutie details. Sien with the politics la…

I have some leftover chopped ham and burger buns, so I fixed my kids “burgers” today. Chopped ham is luncheon meat, am I right? I used to eat a lot until they banned the brand from China years ago (got this case right?). I bought this can of chopped ham by Tulip, which is a product from Denmark. Don’t mention about the price though, I think it’s more expensive than the China brand.

My gals’ Hello Kitty bento with jackfruit, blueberries, rose apple, a quarter of chopped ham and cheese burger and a lollipop ham roll. I think my gal will dig out the lettuce again, but I won’t give up trying.

A different arrangement and half a burger in my boy’s Tomica bento. He is a bigger eater than his sister.

I slanted and pressed the flag picks further down before closing the lunch box covers. They are needed to keep the layers together when my kids eat their burgers, if not, everything will fall apart. But then, my girl might take them separately if she removes the lettuce!

I love staying in Bangkok, and I know that my kids feel the same. Besides that politics, I don’t have much to complain about. But lately, the political scene in Thailand has gone from bad to worse. Even if our lives are not affected, but I can’t help thinking about the uncertainties ahead. We have just started our business in less than a year, and we haven’t seen any profit yet. So, hubby and I have to work harder on our business as there is no turning back.

But I wonder if Bangkok is a good place for my kids to grow up in? I mean they will surely know about politics when they are older. All these bombing and turning down the airport operation might sound scary to them, if they know about it. I am thinking about how to explain to them, if they raise the questions one day.

My kids have PE today, and both of them were very cheerful when we dropped them at school. They are clueless about my worries and doubts about this place where they will stay for years to come. All they know is going to school, having some fun, messing up the NFL Jerseys and sports wears, and coming home happily. Maybe I’ve been thinking too much today, after following the latest news around the clock…

A cheesy teddy with lots of hugs

My boy coughed and vomited last night, so he’s not getting better today. But since he has an excursion to Bangkok Aquarium and he is very excited about it, we didn’t want him to miss the trip. I know that most kids will pack junks as snack, but I reminded him not to take junk food because he’s not fully recovered yet. We have a few trips in December and he has to get well soon. So, I packed him a cute teddy cheese with lots of hugs in his sandwich today.

You can’t see the teddy by top view huh? There is a ham sandwich with teddy cheese and lettuce. My boy likes lettuce these days. And there are some blueberries, jackfruit, a cherry, and a dwarf apple in his Pooh Bear bento box. *I slipped in the cheese after showing him the teddy bear*

My little gal asked for corn in her bento, so I obliged. My kids really love eating corns.

Some corn, pastas, blueberries, kiwis, cherries and a quail egg for each of them. The only different is my girl will have the tangerine but not my boy.

 Some said tangerine promotes coughing, so I told my boy not to have them first. He likes dwarf apples, so they will be in his lunch boxes for days to come.

P/S: The seeds are removed from the cherries, but I closed them up nicely to make them look as good as new. LOL!

I found some Japanese bento books at Kinokuniya Central World yesterday and grabbed a few.

I must say that I was excited to get the books, but then I can’t read Japanese, so I can only look at the pictures. Not all the books show step by step instructions, and if you are looking for charaben books, you can only go for this one from akinoichigo as it’s the nicest of all the books I got.

But if you are regular reader to her blog, I guess you have seen all her creations there. Since I can’t read Jap, I really can’t tell how to do the bento meals like hers.

I can’t find any books from Mari miyazawa, so I guess I will have to order online.

My boy is down with running nose, but not too serious. I decided to pack the kids more fruits than usual to boast their immunity due to the weather change. It was pretty windy 2 weeks ago, then it was more sunny for the past few days, especially in the afternoon. But this morning, it’s chilly and windy again. Maybe it’s the first experience in a place where the weather changes more significantly than Ipoh, so my kids are still adjusting to it.

 For my boy, there are strawberries, cherries, kiwi, broccoli, jackfruit, and 2 pieces of roasted buffalo wings.

A Different arrangement for my gal

I told my kids that they are going to Chiangmai soon, so it’s going to be colder there. They have to eat more veggies and fruits to keep themselves away from flu bugs. Let’s see if they are “listening to mommy”.

I have a number of rice molds but I don’t use much of them. If I manage to prepare dinner fast enough, I will mold the rice for my kids. If not, the rice molds will be collecting dust soon. LOL!

Today’s bentos come in 2 sets, one for lunch and another one for tea. Ya, my kids are spending the day at the office again. But we arrived at office late as we went for cake at S&P first. It’s my birthday and we had cakes there. When we arrived at the office, my boy asked for his lunch while my gal took her milk. She was too full to eat, so I gao tim the leftover for her.

 Hello Kitty for my gal (there are roast chicken, blanched broccoli with mini flower carrots, 2 pieces of deep fried prawns and a HK mini container with ketchup. I brought along some herbal chicken soup, but it’s not shown.

I didn’t use the HK seaweed puncher that comes with the HK and Melody rice molds. It’s not easy to punch unless you have crispy hard seaweed. So, I just use one of the smiley seaweed punchers for the eyes and cut the whiskers with scissors. It’s much easier this way.

 Shinkansen for my boy.

My boy is a bigger eat so I used Shinkansen rice mold for him. He finished everything except that piece of broccoli! He said carrots are veggies already…

BTW, I wonder how to make the details in blue for Shinkansen, like those Japanese bento blogs? Any idea?

For the afternoon, my kids will have these simple bentos.

 There are garlic toast, chicken roll, sapodilla, cherry tomatoes (praying that girlie will eat them) and some edamames.

Anyway, happy bento-ing and have a nice weekend everyone.

It’s been a busy day for me, but I started the day earlier than usual, and this morning cool breeze was great. I had such a good feeling when I opened the door and windows to get some fresh air, like I do every morning, and I decided to make some snowmen for my kids. Both of them haven’t seen a real snowman before as we haven’t brought them to colder countries with snowing, so they were puzzled with the snowmen. LOL!

My boy’s bento with a little snowman

I saw some Japanese blogs with snowman from quail eggs and it’s really not hard to make one. Instead of using toothpick to join the eggs together, I used tiny carrot stick as I’m afraid of choking my kids. The scarf was cut from the top part of artificial crab meat and wrapped around the “neck”. The nose was actually carrot stick again and the details were punched with seaweed.

 There are 2 pieces of garlic toasts with cheese and LOVE spelled with ham, a snowman, some kamcort oranges, grapes and a piece of sapodilla. The lettuce is used to “cushion” the sapodilla so that it won’t smash easily. No cherry tomatoes in my gal’s HK though…

I’ve gone through my photos in the flash memory and I found that my bento creations have improved. It’s really something good as I can see some progress over the past 3 months. Most importantly, my kids enjoy having their bentos, and that’s my greatest reward.