Winnie the Pooh

Today, while arranging my bento tool box, I stumbled upon my old cookie cutters. It's been sometime since I last used my pooh cutter..... So I decided to make use of it to make tonight's dinner.

Hot dog again?? Actually I did not feel like eating hot dog..... I knew Hubby would not mind.... He is such a hot dog lover.... But I have limited choice because I wanted to use the cookie cutter.....

So sliced the bun, spread the sauce, placed the lettuce and hot dog.... Lastly, cut out the cheese with the cookie cutter and decorate it... Voila.... It's done! 

Oh!! It's so kawaii... 

Who can resist such a cute food...

It's almost too cute to be eaten...

Vrrommm....

Last term, my students learned about transportation..... After much discussion, they showed a great interest about land transportation..... To wrap up the theme about transportation, I decided to have a cookery activity with them to allow them to demonstrate what they had learned.....

The ingredients provided are hot dog buns, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, chicken cocktail, egg salad and wheel crackers. Seaweed and bento picks were also available for decoration.

The children's creations were amazing! They created taxi, racing car, van, bus and many others...... I'm impressed by their creativity...... Their products displays how much they had learned about transportation.

and most importantly...... they had FUN!!!!

Romantic Dinner for Two

 
 

Cheep Cheep....

Hi there.....

After a long wait..... I finally got my first bento cookbook last August..... I am really recommending this book to all bento lovers..... Today’s bento is a remake of one of the bento featured in the book. Chicks......!!

First, I shaped the rice using a small bowl..... If you want a glossy rice, you need to make sushi rice by adding sushi vinegar, salt and sugar once the rice is cooked.... Mix them carefully and fan the rice as you mix them..... But today I just used ordinary rice as I was rushing for time..... 

Second, I cut-out two small circles out of seaweed for the chick's eyes.... The beaks were made out of corn kernel..... I think it was very adorable..... and the rosy cheeks and the comb were made out of chicken wiener..... Btw, does chick have comb??? Hahaha.....

This bento is for hubby...... The portion is of course bigger...... As a result, I couldn't use the corn kernel for the beaks...... They were way too tiny for his chick, so I used carrots instead...... 

Both bentos have chicken wiener flowers..... (I did not really do a good job in cutting..... The knife was too blunt..... I need to buy a good knife......), chicken kaarage, cherry tomatoes and broccoli.....

I also added fish chikuwa filled with carroy stick and asparagus..... They added colour to the bento......

Let's eat!!!

Yakitori Bento

Both, Hubby and I, love to eat Japanese yakitori..... Hubby likes the asparagus rolled with bacon and I like the chicken yakitori.... Whenever Hubby likes something, I always feel challenged to cook the dish..... Hahaha..... My mom also displays the same trait.....

So off I went to supermarket to purchase the ingredients needed..... Bacon, asparagus, boneless chicken thigh and yakitori sauce. I also bought green capsicum and leek..... I think leek and capsicum would make the yakitori tastes better.....

First, I cut the chicken into bite size cubes and marinate them with yakitori sauce. Remember to use yakitori sauce.... Because it creates charcoal-grilled aroma to your yakitori. I left the chicken to absorb the flavour for about 2 hours. While waiting for the chicken, I prepared the asparagus and bacon. I alternated bacon with leek..... The leek would give a nice aroma......

  

 step 1: roll the asparagus with bacon    step 2: use the Japanese yakitori skewer

 

Ahhhh...... I love yakitori!

Back to chicken yakitori.... After marinating, I placed it on the skewer. This time, I added capsicum and leek...... Just look at those yakitori sticks...... Are you hungry??

Ta Daaaa...... This is how I served the yakitori sticks...... The one on the left is of course mine and the other belongs to Hubby....... Hubby's tummy bulged out after he finished his meal..... Phuahahaha........

*satisfied* 

Bee Industrious

My dad named me after an Israelites judge. Truthfully, I do not really like my name. Partly because some people made fun of my name but mostly because people cannot pronounce my name. But my name has a wonderful meaning..... It means industrious bee..... Wow...(^-^) Industrious! A trait which I yearn to have.....

Well..... Hubby often grumble that I am too blasé.... Laid-back....  In fact, Hubby is not the only one who pointed out this character of mine..... My primary school teachers, secondary school teachers, parents, siblings and even friends also agreed with Hubby..... Hiks..... (-_-;) 

I want to change...... I told Hubby that I want to be an industrious wife..... Like a bee..... Just like my name..... Debora = Industrious bee..... So as a promise, I made a bee bento..... 

Indonesian style bento..... Yellow rice bee, cucumber 'lalap', chicken floss in banana leaf, dried tempe, salted fish and cherry tomatoes......

                                        

Prince and Princess Bear

I've been wanting to do a bento burger..... Hubby loves to eat western food..... Burger is one of them. So I went to supermarket and bought all those ingredients needed to make burger... Burger bun, chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion, zucchini  and cheese....

I love to make burger. It is easy and fast to prepare.... First I placed the chicken patties into the oven. I prefer grilling than frying.... It is healthier.... Washing up is also faster because I lined my baking tray with aluminium foil. While waiting for the chicken to be ready,  I washed all the veggies and sliced them thinly.  

A prince bear for hubby

A princess bear for me

The bears' ears were made out of meatballs and cheese. I tried to use spaghetti to secure the ears onto the bun. However, they were kind of heavy, so I replaced spaghetti with toothpicks.

Crowns, eyes and nose were made out of zucchini cut-out. I used my new bento cutter to cut these details.... I was quite happy to see the result..... :) I added red tomato ribbon and black sesame eye lashes for my princess..... Gosh..... She looks dashing..... Xixixixi.....

After everything were stacked..... The burgers were sooooo thick..... Phuahaha..... 

I served the burger with prawn and fruit salad in a glass...

Yummy, yummy food for our tummies!!!!

Smile..... Hot Dog to brighten up Hubby's day

Hubby was kind of down lately...... I wanted to prepare something to cheer him up.... So last week I woke up early and prepared a hot dog for his lunch....

It was a simple yet delicious..... The bun was lined with lettuce and topped with cheese hot dog.... I spread a dollop of light mayo and Thai sweet chilli to add flavour to the hot dog. While waiting for the cheese hot dog to be warmed up, I cut the cheese using my alphabet cutter..... It was a message for hubby: Smile >.< Debbie loves you....

After which I packed it into transparent plastic box. It fitted perfectly..... Hubby was happy to recieve this special lunch.....

Hope this bento brightened up your day, Hubby..... Smile.....

Kintamani rocks

My sister is a dog lover.... She owns a Kintamani kennel.... Few months ago the first pack of puppies joined our family.... The three wonderful puppies are so adorable..... 

Inspired by the cuteness of these puppies.... I made Kintamani bento.....

After filling the lunch box with Japanese rice, I placed seaweed to cover two third of the rice. The other one third is filled with chicken floss.... The floss is used because of its texture and colour that resembles dog's training ground.... For a garden feel, I cut Thai thin asparagus so that it looks like green grass.... To complete the look of a garden, I added two  chicken cocktail in a shape of flowers.

The Kintamani is made out of cheese. I use a special cookie cutter to cut out its shape. It wasn't easy to find the perfect cookie cutter. My sis complimented my choice.... She said it has all the true characteristics of good Kintamani.....

May BalendinTov Kintamani Kennel prosper.......

The mouse steals the cheese

Few months ago, I stumbled upon a great bento site..... It was a blog written by a mom who loves to prepare bento for her son. What I like the most about the blog is the bento tutorial section. One of the tutorial teaches the reader on how to make a mouse. Hence the theme of mouse and cheese....

Recently, Hubby like to take away beef burger from Wendy's.... I don't really like to eat beef burger... Luckily they serve baked potato as well.... It tastes good..... I love their baked potato with brocolli. So, for a change, I would make my own baked potato with cheese and brocolli...... in bento style of course.......

There... there..... My baked potato with brocolli and cheese..... First bake the potato in oven for 20 minutes. If you want to save time and electricity, you can boil it or steam it using microwave zip and steam bag. Boiling will take longer time, the best method is using zip and steam bag. Only 1.5 minute and voilà..... the bake potato is done.....

Then boil the brocolli.... or if you want it to look and taste fresh, you can just blanch it into hot boiling water and let it rest for a while then remove it from the pot. See how fresh and nutritious it looks..... :) 

To make the dish looks even more appetizing, I added flower-shaped carrots.... I used cookie cutter to shape the carrot. If you have a vegetable cutter, it works better. If not, a simple cookie cutter will do the job. Don't forget to slice the carrot thin and shape it with cookie cutter before you boil it. 

Super Mario Birthday Bento

Hubby turned big 30 this year... I wanted to prepare something special for him.... and since I am soooo into bento right now, I planned to make a special bento for him. The idea of making bento in the shape of birthday cake came from my cousin in law.... She made tumpeng cake using Indonesian yellow rice for her son's birthday.

There were plenty ideas on how to decorate the bento, but I finally chose to do a Super Mario theme because Billy is a big game addict.... The cake topper is actually a Mario figurine which I bought from a game shop @ Novena. It was on sale.... so without much deliberation, I paid for it. Billy said if Mario is wearing his white top and red jumper, he is stronger.... Actually I bought another figurine from the same store. Mario's dinosaur friend, Yoshi.... Too bad the cake is too small to put both Mario and Yoshi.

The silver "30" cake topper was purchased from Spotlight. It was very cheap.... Only $1.50... But it was very difficult to place. Initially, I wanted to place it on Mario's hand, but it wouldn't stay... It is heavy I guess....

Toadstools are made using quail eggs, cherry tomatoes. First I slice the mini tomato into half and scooped out the flesh. Then I placed it on top of the hard boiled quail egg. After which I decorated the toad using cheese and nori. I think they looked very cute.... Too bad, they couldn't stand well on the rice cake.... I also made two glowstars out of fishcake and nori. I wish I have a big star cookie cutter. Mine is so tiny that it is barely seen..... Hiks.... :(

Thankfully, Hubby was so happy to see his birthday cake.... Though I slept very little the night before, because I spent sooo many hours to do the cake, I didn't feel tired at all.... Because Hubby loved the surprise I gave him..... Happy 30th Birthday Hubby!!!!