Sunday, January 23, 2011

Bento No. 49 - Little Rooster and Little Hen




I have been trying to wake up a wee bit earlier than usual recently, so to have more time to prepare stuffs and get everything ready before leaving house.
As I have been late to work for 2 days due to both E fell sick early this month. So I better not take the chance again.. :)
I have seen cute little chicks made by other bento mums, and I love them. I finally have a try on it, with a little help of my jewel , flower and musical note picks.
I cut sammies by using a heart shape cutter, add a Pink jewel pick for the rooster, yellow flower pick for the hen.
And I found a musical note just perfect for the chicky feet..haha..
On the top layer of the box, i add some grapes, lemon slices and cheese crakers for E.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Bento No. 48 - Sandwich Puff Bunnies


The weather has gone kind of crazy recently, hot and humid during the day and showers in the evenings. Lots of us, especially kids caught the flu bugs.
And we see floods in many parts of the world, like Brisbane in Australia, Brazil, Philippines etc.. And worst cold in decades, sudden change in weathers, extremely cold winter in Taiwan, Korea, Mongolia etc..
Its kind of sad and worrying to see this happen to our earth. Lets Pray for those unfortunates and hope this will end soon.
Both my Es are down with flu and cough too. So I am kind of worn out for the past few days. Thats why I always wish for health for my kids. Its hard to see them suffer, coughing through the night without getting enough sleep. sigh..
Little Miss E has slowly recovered, and Brother E is in recovering stage.
I have taken a day off to be with my boy E, so no school for him yesterday.
Today, I made him a light sandwich bento as I know he won't have a good appetite. And thankfully his school menu of the day is porridge, which is just right for him.
I use the Curry Puff mould I bought sometime ago, try to make some pocket sammies.
There are different sizes of them, we just have to find a right size of round cutter to cut the bread for fitting in the mould.
In my case, i use a round shape plastic container to print the round shape on the bread and cut it out.
Made 2 sandwich puffs, add 2 red jewel picks as their nose, and heart shape cheese as love to my 2 Es who were not well.
I have post the step by step of making the Sandwich Puff Bunnies below :

This is the Curry Puff mould that can be found at most Supermarkets or Bakery shops.





Fold it into half to press on the dough or bread of
your choice.






Cut a round slice of bread with the prefered fillings and place it on the mould.











Fold it into half and press gently.






Open it , trim the unwanted bread or dough if needed.








Tata, my Sandwich puff.







cut 2 bunny ears from the bread crust, use spagetti to secured the bunny ears on the bread.







Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Bento No. 47 - Little Girl and Boy Loves to Sing

My Boy E has started his 2nd year of pre-school early this month. So everything has gone back to the usual momentum now. We get up early every morning, dress him up, getting ready to work and send E to school.

So i thought of making my first back to school bento for E. I use a round cutter to make the face of the little girl and boy from kaya sandwich.

They have dressed up well and hair was nicely done. A pink ribbon pick for the girl and a green bow pick for the boy.

Put a few musical notes pick I got recently on the grapes. It looks like the notes are floating around while the kids are singing their Kindy songs along with the music. I put in a few colourful mini Microphone chocolate i bought from my recent trip as a treat for Ethan. ( I noticed E does not really fancy Chocolate, which is a good thing I guess?)

Monday, January 10, 2011

Bento No. 46 : The Happy Bunny Family


2011 is the Year of Rabbit/Hare in the Chinese Zodiac. And the Chinese New Year is just around the corner..Yipee! we love the New Year atmosphere where we got to eat all the good food, Lion Dance and Firecrackers/Fireworks.

To celebrate the year of rabbit, I will make my first bunny bento.

Use difference type of Rabbit cutter to cut some Chiffon Cake, Cheese and Nori for the eyes, nose and mouth.

I made a happy family with a papa, mama and baby bunny. Nothing is better than to have a healthy and happy family.

Add in some Starfruits, mini honey Mandarin orange (its very sweet and juicy, we got plenty of them during period of Chinese New Year) and grapes to fill up the box. Two orange gummies camouflage as Carrots as a treat for E.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Bento No. 45 - Ghibli Collection : My Neighbour Totoro


My version of Totoro ><
The famous Cat Bus and Totoro



Little sister Mei was sick, Totoro was accompanying queitly beside them waiting for bus.

I made a Ghibli Themed bento - My neighbour Totoro.
Since I have some Banana cake, I can use it as the body of Totoro, use the smaller round cutter to cute some bread for the chest. Cheese and Nori for the eyes, nose, mouth and details on Totoro's chest.
Studio Ghibli was created by Japanese Animator - Hayao Miyazaki. He has created many famous anime that was released in movie. " My Neighbour Totoro" was a classic, other anime that i like are " Spirited Away ", " Laputa- Castle in the sky" and recently the " Ponyo".
I love his anime for the amazing storyline with some morals and real issue we face daily (like global warming, family relationship etc). Especially there is always a little girl charater in the anime who is so cute and innocent that touches our heart. Oh and the beautiful soundtrack too.
I have watched almost every anime in Ghibli collection. So I am one of those die hard fans of Ghibli/ Miyazaki.
This story is about two young sisters' adventure after moving to the countryside with the father due to the bed-riden mother. In the forest is where they meet the giant Totoro (Cat/Owl) creature which only can be seen by young children. And also they meet the Cat bus who help them travel back to visit their mother. Oh, and the little black dust bunnies only be seen by the baby sister Mei.
oops..I think i got carried away....
So today's bento is actually a recap of my favourite childhood movie. So E has not much idea of what is Totoro, he had only watched part of it when he was very young. Maybe i should let him watch again as he would understand the story more now.
Have added this bento to Shannon's WFLW week 33, have you added yours?

Monday, January 3, 2011

Bento No. 44 - City Mouse and Country Mouse




E requested for a Mouse bento from the Story book - " The City Mouse and Country Mouse."
I have been reading him night time story since he was 2. I just bought a batch of books recently. And I have finished reading all of them to him, some of them repeated not twice but many times. :)


Hmm.. think its time to replenish the books again. Last night,E requested a Country Mouse bento, so I happily obliged.

I use the newly added Mickey Mouse cutter to cut Strawberry sammies and Banana cake into 2 different colour Mouse.

So there is a White city mouse and a Brown country mouse.

I use 2 different tones of cheese as their ears and nose for contrast. Nori for eyes and whiskers.

Added skewers of grapes and some Cheese crackers. Though they look different , they both love Cheese for sure. :)

Have added this to Shannon's WFLW week 32.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Bento No. 43 - Ben 10 series - Echo Echo


Today E starts school again, and its time i pull out my bento gadgets (after blowing away the dust after setting aside for a month. haha).
I finally make my first Ben 10 Alien force bento for E, as promised for ages. Made the easiest one first - Echo Echo (used to be his favourite toy, you can see how the toys was handled.. boys will be boys).
Made strawberry jam sandwich, cut out the face of the Echo Echo, Cheese for the eyes and mouth. Use a round cutter to cut some nori sheets and cheese to make the ben 10 logo on Echo Echo's chest.
Add in a few homemade Jelly too.
Hope my bento cheer him up a bit, he is reluctant to go to school after a long break. When i ask him : " Do you know what did i made you today?" He looked at it, and shake his head.
Oh my, I guess my Echo Echo is not even close to the real one. But he seems happy as i explained to him its Ben 10 bento.
Added this to Shannon's WLFW, have you?