Bento #28 3 little pigs

Prepared this the night before. Wanted to do froggie but the grouchy fella didnt want it. So i just made something simple. Only required the cutting of ham and seaweed.

In Ks's bento, the last piggy had an unhappy face. Cos he was so grouchy at home! LOL
He only had 2 pigs..guess he's really not feeling too well.

2 little pigs for Rn since she could eat that much. And she finished all of it.

I didnt have time to make anything for their lunch today and also cos was kinda out of ideas. So they just had some fried noodles cooked by dad.

Bento #27 Shokupanman

Finally after more than 10 days, my 2 new bento boxes arrived on friday. Now these 2 were extremely hard to get, even online cos they were always OOS. Showed Rn the minnie one and she knew it was 'mimi mouse'. I also got hold of the 2 bento mags from kino. The right one was ordered in from japan cos kino didnt have it so I placed an order. It's the No. 1 bento blogbook!

So, anyway, I couldnt wait to use the new boxes. And being Sat since i was stuck at home (Ks was down with high fever), I spent about 1.5hrs fixing their lunch. Most of the time was spent on the faces and seaweed again. I also tried out quail eggs with them, which were totally unpopular with them. How can they not like quail eggs?? so yummy..dont know how to enjoy, hmmph.
The problem with having bentos for the kids is that they dont get to have their dose of green. So this time, I made sure they got it by chopping broccoli finely and mixing in together with the pork mince patty. I think i went kinda overboard with the seasoning of patty: soyasauce, mirin, miso, ikan bilis powder, dashi powder, that it turned out a wee bit salty. But its fine to go with plain rice i guess.

This is Rn's bento. Sadly, she didnt finish much of it, either not hungry or just didnt like it. She left almost half of it. Recently, she's been really restless at mealtimes. Hard to feed and also hard to put her to sleep too. She can't seem to keep her butt onto the seat and likes to wander around fiddling with toys or just taking a stroll to the master room etc. I sure hope it's another one of those unpleasant phases that all kids go thru!

Ks's bento. He ate up almost everything and I'm surprised as I thot he would have a hard time swallowing, maybe a lil dry for him since he was also coughing. Added in his fav mayo too.

Oh, forgot to mention that shokupanman is another one of the many characters in Anpanman series. 食パンマン actually means toast bread man. See the lil figurine at the top of the bento? He looks like a toast, right?

Hmm...now that I think about it, I've tried Anpanman, Baikinman, Horaman & now Shokupanman. The next quite popular one is Currypanman...his mouth is a killer though..all twirly. Next time maybe.

Bento #26 My daughter reina

Ks stayed over with ils since he had school the next morning again so I only fixed breakfast for Rn. Did this last night since there was no one...in fact i was not quite used to the silence in the house after Rn went to bed and Ks was not around. Did a simple face for Rn with chocolate bread and crispy pork floss filling. Does the hairstyle look like her?


Again, seaweed eyes were sooo stubborn and simply refused to be stuck onto the bread properly. When I placed the lashes (thank gdness only 2 for each eye!), they shifted the eye bits. So for a few mins there, I was fiddling with the eyes/lashes countless times cos each part would move the other!

I used 2 slices of choc bread and it was thicker than the usual white bread. This morning, maid just cut the bread into half and Rn had one half while i had the other.

Of course she ate her own face too. :)

I didnt make any lunch bento today cos of a lunch appt with a friend so had to leave home early. It's sat tomorrow and since we shld b staying home in the morning, i probably can fix something for lunch...

Bento #25 Mickey & Minnie

Had no idea what to make for lunch so decided to try out Mickey & Minnie mouse.
Rice filling was nori paste and I think i put in too much so poor mickey had a black left eye.
Did some ebi fry and tofu fishcake for the sides. No vegetables again. It's hard to pack in broccoli and greens for them since they dont even like to eat them, unless they're chopped fine and hardly visible. So I cant use those for bento. Guess its ok huh..just a meal a day without greens.

Minnie's eyelashes almost killed me..they were punched but the challenge was on placing them delicately on the top of the eyes. Kept shifting and dropping till I was at my wits end!

Bento #24 Bear & bunny chocolate sandwich

This was today's breakfast. Of course I cut the bread and bear & bunny facial parts the night before. Also tried to use up the stripe cheese which i made previously for the nose area. And the pawprints which almost killed me and left me sweating buckets. Tricky becos once they get stuck on the cheese & if they were in the wrong place and u try to remove it, it leaves a mark on the cheese. Then the cheese wont look as flawless as it is anymore. so.. *sweat sweat*

Also did penguin weiners (turned out wee bit soft cos of over-boiling) and tamagoyaki (eggroll)
The chocolate bread had blackberry filling but actually it already tastes quite nice without the jam cos it's sweet enough.

Poor teddy looks oily here cos of the camera's lighting. He's actually quite matte-looking!

The bunny before I store her away in the fridge.

And the response from the kids?

Ks said his was a pig while Rn said hers was a cow. *kua kua..*

Ok watever you make of it...

They cleaned up everything. :)

Bento #23 Yam teddy bao

I wasnt supposed to make anything on Tuesdays but I did this for breakfast yesterday. Figured Rn might not like to eat lor mai kai that mil brought since she preferred sweet stuff.
Didnt really take me too long except for pinning the ears on.
This is the 2nd time I bought this yam bao. It's really yummy and fluffy when steamed.

Bento #22 Up up & away & Home sweet home

Not quite in the mood today, for some reason. Totally had no idea what to make. Didnt have any reference book too, so today's bento turned out pretty odd-looking.


Ks's airplane or space shuttle bento. Dad brought yaki-udon for them so just nice.
(am sure the carrots will be untouched cos they were so prominent)

From a train to a yacht to a house. I just kept cutting and cutting the bits till I dont know what this is anymore. LOL. The egg part is supposed to be a door btw...

I need to get more reference books from Kino soon. Charaben and normal bento ones.

Oh yes, forgot to update that last friday's pig/doggie bento were walloped clean by them! Ks ate up the extra bento which parents brought for him too. Hmm..i'm beginning to wonder if the school actually feeds him properly. tsk tsk...

Bento #21 Smiley Pikachu & Teary Pikachu

This was what we had for Sat's breakfast. Bit miserable-looking. Woke up late so didnt quite have time to make anything fancy and being Sat, bugger was super cranky as he always is on weekends. Pancakes were not as tasty cos I had to get some local brand pancake mix instead of Jap Meiji ones. So they were rather dry for me. Raw flour taste too.


Sunday night's dinner for Ks. Didnt know wat to cook so just made some mixed rice in the rice cooker: broccoli, cabbage, chinese sausage, sliced pork, pumpkin, onion & mushroom. Unfortunately, turned out bit too mushy and gooey cos of the water from the veg I think. Perfect for the kids but not for me lah.


This was Ks's plate. His pikachu looked happier (but he woke up cranky from nap on the contrary...)

This was Rn's plate and I realised cos of the lips, pikachu didnt look too happy there, eyes seem to be teary, dont you think? She got up all clingy and whiney, so it suited her. haha.

They loved it and finished everything (except the green bits of course)

Bento #20 Lil doggie & Piggy fried rice

I usually make bentos on Mon, Wed & Fri cos those are the days that parents come over to take care of the kids. Tues & Thurs is mil's turn so I dont make anything since she would normally pop in with breakfast for us and a sumptious dinner. In a way, its good so I can take a break off the 2 days.

Rn started rummaging thru the toy basket for a brown doggie toy (the kind that barks incessantly and drives you crazy when you switch it on). So I got the idea to make this for her.


I hope she can tell its a doggie.
It's made of japanese fishcake and the jap silverfish fried rice below was prepared by dad.




Qn: Does this one look like a pig or cow?? Good thing parents thought it was a buta. So I didnt fail lah. Eyes were cut freehand so they look somewhat distorted/cock-eyed. ha ha...

This is for the kids lunch/after school tea bento.I threw in egg rolls since they had no sides today.

I'm absolutely pooped after this...good thing weekend is here so I can take some time off bento!

Bento #19 Mr & Mrs Gingerbread Man on a car ride

Since we had some leftover chicken karaage from dinner last night, I prepared a sandwich for papa to bring to work in the morning.
This was his brekkie today.



Here is Ks eating the car breakfast I prepared this morning. He finished every bit of it!
Called the flower ham "octopus feelers".


Cos he was moving, picture was blurry...

And finally took a shot of the lil girl having her bento.

She quite liked the jam heart sandwich too surprisingly.

Left about a quarter of the bento.

Cos of time constraint, I made the parts for the car bread last night and stored them in the fridge. Showed them to papa and asked him to guess wat they were. He said Crocs? *faint*

This idea was taken from shoppingmum and the bread was cut from hotdog buns.

I used spaghetti strips to pin the fish sausage wheels to the bread. 1st time using strips and it was pretty easy to do. Of course, I used my new carla punchers so it saved me the hassle of cutting the smiley mouths.

Rn's car had her R initial on the car. Can you see that Mrs Gingerbread Man has longer hair?

Ks's bento has his K on the car and I had to quickly snap this photo before gingerbread man's sad-looking hair falls off for the umpteenth time! grrr...

Without drivers... Mr & Mrs Gingerbread Man were still being fried in the pan when I took this.

And this was the kids breakfast bento for today.

It's worth waking at 6am for this since they liked it!

Bento #17 Ham rolls & Bento #18 Horaman omusubi

Used ham instead of the usual jam this time. Colour turned out nice but kids didnt really like ham. Only had abt 2 rolls each.So I cleaned up after them, as usual...
As you can see, I couldnt wait but use the new baran & placemats from Daiso.

Lunch bento:

My 1st attempt (and last too!) at Horaman. Horaman is a skeleton man, one of the many characters in Anpanman series. I think he's the scariest looking one cos the rest are all cute-faced characters. I made him today cos for some strange reason, Nana loves him! She keeps looking for him and holding him in her palm. You think Horaman is cute? Ks knows him as well, so I made 2 Horaman (with grateful help from maid). I spent the most time on this bento so far..almost 2 freakin hours this morning! You know wat killed me...the freehand nori cutting of course! Making the onigiri riceball is also rather challenging cos I had to squeeze it really tight in the palm, and even then you can see that it's almost falling apart. Looks like even aussie rice cant work as well as Jap sticky rice.

This is Ks's bento.

I used nori paste as the onigiri filling inside, so you can see that the rice is not totally white but a lil blackish. As for the other smiley face with crabmeat head, it's not any character, just a sweet faced onigiri.

This is Nana's bento. I sure hope she recognises Horaman or else all the effort is wasted!

So there you are.

Probably the 1st and last time I'm making Horaman.

New bento tools again!

My Carla Craft nori punchers have finally arrived. Thanks Arlene.
Now I can perhaps save some time struggling with cutting out nori freehand.


Another speedy dash to Daiso yesterday.
Here's the damage...

Miffy was a hit!

Got home yesterday and parents told me that Ks walloped everything in his bento and wasnt enough for him! I think I didnt pack in the fried rice tighter to fit more. He was at Jap club and so shared a bowl of udon with his sis, who also finished everything in her bento during her lunchtime. Well well wat a surprise...I'm really glad they liked it.

Bento #16 Yellow Miffy

Suddenly decided to do a simple character this morning...but when I finished, realised it wasnt that easy after all. Still took me abt 45 mins with the moulding and cutting of miffy's eyes and face.

Nana's bento with 2 nuggets.

Ken's bento with more nuggets. Miffy is bit girlish for him but oh well.

At the end, I realised Miffy's face is bit too big for her ears. Almost didnt have enough space to place the ears. Seaweed eyes and nose cut freehand so were kind of tricky. Stuck to fingers easily too. Anyway..hope the kids like them. Wont know till I get home later today...

Bento #15 Jam rolls for saturday tea

Finally got the bento tools organised.



2nd attempt at jam rolls. This time with pandan bread, for colour variation.
Strawberry & blackberry jam.

Ks had 2 rolls in the car while Rn who disliked jam (no idea why) finished a stick of the plain star ones.