Mothering Corner

I’ve obviously slowed down a lot in kyaraben!!! LOL! As you know, my life has been pretty busy lately, and I’ve started going back to yoga this month. This means I would have to prepare dinner (yeap I do in the morning), breakfast (occasionally), pack bentos (mostly plain looking ones) and get myself ready for yoga class in the morning before heading to the office. If hubby is away, I would have to send the kids to school too. So, how’s that to kick start my hectic morning?

But this morning, I managed to fix something simple for the kids, just to let them know that I still want to do kyaraben if I may.

My gal’s hotdog bun bento

Oh no, I didn’t bake the bread, I bought the buns. I just cut out part of the crust and decorated it as a little girl dressed up in Rilakkuma costume.

Of course, I did one for my boy too.

Anyway, my kids will have a term break soon so there will be less kyaraben for the coming month. Besides that, work is piling up, and condo renovation is still on going, and the office routers are giving me a problem uploading photos!!! I shall just do my best for the next 2 weeks ya!

Here’s something simple and quick for a busy Monday morning. All I did was punched some nori and added a smiley face on each of the egg tarts and voila, it’s done!

Don’t you know that I’m not a Monday person? LOL!

It’s the first week of the new school year, and both kids are doing well at their new school. In fact, they love it. There are a few playgrounds at the school, so both kids like to spend some time playing at the playground after school, even if I am already there to pick them up. Thus, we go home later and I don’t have much time to get dinner ready in time.

On the first day, my boy came home very hungry and he was looking all around the house for biscuits and snacks to keep himself stuffed,while I was busy preparing dinner. By the time dinner was done, he had lost his appetite for a proper meal. So, I’m back to packing after school bentos, but I will keep the bentos at the office with me.

He’s so happy to be given pocket money which he uses during lunch break. Lunch is provided but kids can still buy some junks after that. So, he’s enjoying his new freedom in paying on his own, and he only uses half of his pocket money so far. He said he wants to save up. Of course, he is buying junks just like his friends. That’s why I’m reluctant to let him have too much snacks after school while waiting for dinner. That explains why I’m back to packing his after school bento, which he will have on the way home.

Nonetheless, I won’t decorate his bento as much as I did previously, he’s a BIG boy now. LOL!

As for my gal, this is what I packed for her yesterday. A simple back to school bento!

Have fun at school kids.

Have I mentioned that the weather is great? I guess I did! The kids are wearing jackets to school these days, and some times, just a vest. I saw some cute scarfs the other day, so maybe I will get some for my kids but not for school though. Just in case their friends might pull their scarfs! You know, when kids play, they can be out of control some times.

To signify how great the weather is this week, I made a simple “winter” in Thailand bento consisted of 2 quail eggs, mini pizzas and some fruits. Here are the bentos:

My boy’s bento, with a boy wearing a scarf to represent the change of weather.

If you are wondering why the quail eggs looked round, that’s because I used the “bottom” round part as the front and the oblong part as the part before pinning them up with food pick. Alternately, you can try to shape the quail egg when it’s still hot.

This is for my gal.

Yippie! My kids are back to school for the new term today, and my office is back to being an OFFICE, instead of looking more like a daycare center. No more pillows and matouk or blankets scattering on my office sofa, no more toys and iPad lying around on the floor, and no more nuisance and noise! I admit that I miss them being around but I can work in peace now with them being back to school.

Both kids took a while to get up early this morning, but they didn’t fuss much at breakfast and getting ready for school. Actually, they are excited to meet with their friends again and they packed some jelly for their friends too.

I was running out of idea and time again this Monday morning, so I came out with 2 simple and speedy bentos, which took me less than 15 minutes in packing and decorating.

My gal’s back to school bento with quail eggs, chicken nuggets, apple, rambutan and strawberries.

This bento belongs to my boy.

Have a great time at school, kids!

Today’s bentos are slightly time consuming. I spent some time fixing some French toasts for breakfast, and packed some for the kids. I cut the French toasts with the dividers in the bento boxes, and then cut them into smaller bites before spreading some honey on the toasts. My kids love to have French toasts with honey or maple syrup.

Then, I proceeded to preparing the little fairies with quail eggs, picks, some cheese and kamaboko. Here’s how I did the fairies:

I gently shaped the quail eggs when they were hot.

Then, I joined the quail eggs with spaghetti strips.

I added picks as wings and some deco on their heads.

Punch nori with these Carl’s punchers and add them as eyes and lips.

Cut the flower nori into halves and add them as fringes.

Cut some cheese and add as arms.

Add kamaboko as rosy cheese.

So, there you have it! Here are the little fairies in today’s bentos:

My gal’s little fairy and French toasts bento

I left some gap in the bento so that I could just lie back the fairy within the fruits. I would hate myself if I smash such a cute detail.

Here’s my boy’s fairy.

Actually, it won’t take much of my time, if I don’t fix French toasts. So, give it a try.

I know that it’s way too early for Qixi festival, but I felt like fixing a Qixi bento after watching Karate Kid. I really like the movie, especially the breathtaking scenes and the kungfu actions. My boy likes it too but he felt asleep before it’s over, while my gal basically closed her eyes as soon as the fighting scene started in the very beginning. *slap head* She doesn’t like any movie with fighting scene, so she preferred not to watch and felt asleep shortly after. LOL!

FYI, Qixi festival is celebrated as Chinese Valentine’s Day. It falls on the 7th day of the 7th month in Chinese lunar calendar, so it should be in August this year.

Actually, I wanted to dress up Niu Lang and Zhi Nu but I was running out of time. So, these lovely couples (made from quail eggs) are kind of under decorated in the bentos.

My gal’s Qixi bento.

This is for my boy. I should have filled up the gap with lettuce but I don’t have any.

Besides quail eggs, there are butter toasts, some apple, kiwi and rambutans in the bento too. I cut a mini wiener diagonally and joined them up as a heart.

A close up of my boy’s Niu Lang and Zhi Nu

I think some Japanese bento blogs, such as Ssmama and Mari Miyazawa, have started this theme too. Do hop around…

For todays’ bentos, I’m repeating something similar as I did with triangular origiri mold, but I cut the bread with these chicken triangle bentos, instead of an origiri mold. The bread fits well in the bento, and I love the cute chicken design on the covers!

I decorated the sandwich as if a boy is wearing a chicken costume. The fruits are packed separately in another bento box.

This bento belongs to my gal.

The Chick Family Bento Cases came in a set of 3. Do check them out at J-Mama.

Before I start blogging about today’s lunch bentos, I would like to let some of my friends know that we are doing fine here, despite the bombing incidents, and chaotic situation in Bangkok. Things are not getting any better, and I believe more violence might be going on soon if the protesters refuse to leave the most populated commercial area of the city. Anyway, we are hardly affected as we stay in the outskirt of Bangkok, and we don’t use the trains.

I really feel sorry and bad for the victims of the bombing incident that happened days ago because they are just normal civilians. On all the clashes that happened in Bangkok, I think this is the first time civilians were targeted, ever since our stay here.  The Majesties would pay for the medical fees and funeral costs of the victims, but still, a great loss is still a great loss.

My worrying parents even asked us to move back. And by us, I mean my kids and I, but not hubby who has a job and business here. Of course, it’s a big decision, but we haven’t made up our minds yet. I still think Bangkok is a good place to stay, but a lot of other reasons might have changed our lives, besides the unstable political issue. Oh well, let’s see how things go. I haven’t paid for my kids’ new school fees, and the local insurance quote, so I guess we still have an option.

Ok, let’s get back to today’s bento.

I still have some B-herbs Herbal Coated Rice left on the shelf, so I steamed some for today’s bentos. I used this rice mold to form the shape by stacking different colored of rice layer by layer.

Square Rice Mold

I added 2 pieces of chicken nuggets, a piece of teriyako salmon and some blanched broccoli in the bentos too. The gap was filled with some lettuce, which I doubt my kids will eat because it’s kind of bitter. So, here are their lunch bentos:

My boy’s multi-colored rice bento. Nothing special about the decoration except some cute picks.

My gal has something slightly different. I added smiley faces on the rice.

My kids summer holiday ended last week, so they are tagging with me to the office, and everywhere I go. I might pack lunch for them daily this week, and then I’ll have a long Songkran break. We haven’t registered them to the new school term, so if they are not going for any new summer camp, they will be following mommy around.

I packed a simple lunch for them today. Just rice, blanched broccoli, deep fried buffalo wings, and some seafood tofu. To make their bentos more attractive, I decorated the tofu as toy soldiers. Here’s how I do it:

I prepared a blanched carrot, 2 artificial crab meat, and 4 tofu.

Hard tofu will be a better choice, or alternately, you can also use seafood tofu.

Cut the tofu into thinner slices.

Top some nori as hats and red artificial crab meat on the tofu as their red uniform.

Add stars and buttons on the hats and uniform.

Add cheeks (carrot), nose, and a thin strap of white artificial crab meat.

Punch some nori as eyes and lips, and that’s it! Here are my kids’ toy soldiers bento.

My gal’s toy soldiers, topped on her rice.

Here’s my boy’s bento.

Both kids polished the bentos clean. Yippie!