Bento #11: Assorted Meals

Ok .... I think I have lost some of my bento boxes!!!! Can't find it anywhere :( :( That's the consequences of forever moving houses and maybe I have lost them in the process of our relocation 2 years ago, or the one 4 years ago*I guess*. Oh dear, I hope I didn't loose any of my bento tools or bento books though (aikkks!!).

Anyway, I have started to make some decorated meals for Angel again during our trip back in Shanghai last month. With no bento boxes, I don't know whether it's still considered as Bento, hahahahaha.

Here it goes ....

Hello Kitty Mince Meat with Mui Choi (Hello　Kitty　梅菜猪肉)

Looks simple but took me 1 hour+ to prepare this. I decorated the face and ribbon with beet root.

Lunch was Hello Kitty Mince Meat over some rice, plus Beet Root soup. Ok, needless to say, when I came out from the kitchen, Angel had polished up ALL her food in a lightning speed before I manage to even take any picture! *jaw dropped* I really hoped that she didn't choke that day .....



Tomato-Eye face Rice

This is easier to prepare .... tomato fried rice, broccoli nose and grill chicken for mouth :P This is enough to make Angel happy :)



Disney Clarabelle the Cow

Don't know whether Clarabelle looks like this but Angel is please with it.



This time I did get the camera ready before she starts eating like what happened yesterday ...... smile and say CHEEEESSSS ^_^ I can't wait to eat!!!



Little Monster Egg Noodle

I didn't actually planned to do anything with this Mushroom Egg Noodle that I prepare for Angel breakfast. But then ...... this little girl wope up adn saw me preparing her breakfast in the kitchen then open the kitchen door and said, "Uuuuu .... I wonder what mommy will make for my BENTO this time!! I can't wait!!!!" then skipping away happily while clapping her hands.

*Gulp* How to disappointed her ah ...... so I make this loh with no effort at all :P :P. Raisin monster as bumps on his head, mushroom eyes, veggie nose and ketchup eyebrows and lip.

I told her the monster is still sleepy and luckily, she is happy with it and say, "Wow .... a sleepy monster ~~~, COOL!!!" @_@



Sanrio Shinkansen Train

She suddenly loves tuna bread spread! So I make her a tuna bread Shinkansen train sandwich for breakfast. 2 little quill eggs at the side and some cherries! So lazy to find my bento mould so I just do the train free-handed from memory.

I used some remaining bread crust on the train for decoration purposes and told her not to eat it as it's a bit thick and hard to bite but she is so excited that she ate everything (except those picks and food cups).



Little Penguin Tuna Spread Bread

Ok .... looks simple but Angel actually teach me how to make this penguin. We actually 'discuss' what should we make with a plain piece of bread with tuna spread without having to use any of the bento moulds/tools

Ya bah .... washing them is hard work you know, I got no maid you see, huk huk huk :(


Cut both side of penguin as wings, bread crust for beak, again, raisin for eyes and strawberry jam for cheeks. We used the back of the Teddy Bear Chocolate biscuits which looks actually like a paw to make its feet. Again, cute and very easy to do penguin is done, 100% Mommy and Angel's creation *yippie*

She is so happy with OUR first own creation and insisted to have the same penguin bread for the next few days and want nothing else!! I am more then happy :)



Little Miss Bear and Caterpillar in Garden

Little Miss Bear mince meat in a garden with 2 tiny bear made of quill eggs at the side + 1 busy caterpillar made of steam broccoli. Strawberries heart, carrots sun and a stalk of flower with strawberry and broccolli at the side (that is if you noticed that. Angel say the flower looks ugly, hahahahaha). Again, totally bento mould/ tools free today so no more washing :)

She doesn't eat veggie especially if she can still "identify it's original shape" but this time, she wallop the entire caterpillar in no time!



To put a smile on her face is really that simple! And the consequences since starting to pack these cute little meals for her was ...........

She has gain some weight, add in a small package (i.e.a round belly) and looks chubbier when she return to school :) I think I should stop doing bento for her for awhile now, hehehehehe.



How I wish I could do that same for Annabelle as well before I hear "someone" in the house saying, "You have nothing better to do ah???" :( :( ...... wait lah, till Annabelle is back in Shanghai then I will make the same for her too. Can't wait :)

Bento #10: Little Piggie Bento

This is my 1st attempt using the Hello Kitty egg mould which I have bought more then 2 years ago ...... and guess what, only to found out that the egg is too small for the mould *alamak* That's the largest egg which I could get from the market here, aikkkss! And I couldn't even get a clear fiture of Hello Kitty with missing ears too. When I added an extra pair of external ears using some bread corner, Hello Kitty looks more like a piglet or a cute little cat rather then the cute Hello Kitty itself *laugh* So I asked Angel can I make a Piggie Bento for her instead, luckily she said yes *phew*

This is super duper quick bento almost nothing to be done apart from punching a few eyes and mouth for the 'sausages cat and dog brothers' :) This is also Angel's first trials of having sausages in her bento and she loves it so much! But I told her that eating too much sausages is not good as it was too salty for kids and she told me she would eat them once very other day wor. But I am glad that she haven't been asking for them yet.




While I am fixing her bento, she refused to leave me alone and wanted to see how things was done and 'learn' how to make one as she puts it :P :P But once I leave to get something from the kitchen and return, I would normally found the seaweed or some of the deco has been moved around or missing from where it should be.

Angel doesn't likes seaweed but she just cannot stop herself from licking them off the faces :) If she sees fruits in her bento, normally the fruits would vanished in no time before the bento is done if I were to leave it for a second with her around :P



And was she happy with her little Piggie Bento instead of the Hello Kitty bento? Kids would never hide thier delights from thier little faces ^_^

Mission accomplished ^_^

Bento #10: Frosty The Snowman

Winter will be over soon. Although the weather is still very cold and temperature were still near to zero at most of the nights, but I think it will be unlikely to snow again. Oh .... I start to miss those pretty winter snow now.




Soon, this fountain will melt and the fishes inside the pond will be happily swimming around again. I couldn't believe the gold fishes survived the cold winter days under that thick icy fountain!



Of course, Angel always loved snowy days. I love to Look at her little face all brighten up kicking and catching the snow with her mouth. She have slipped 'hard' several time in the slippery pathway but I am glad that I wrapped her all up in that thick clothing which protected her well.

We can stay in the snow for hours until I realised I haven't got our dinner ready yet! Gosh ..... to much fun for both of us enjoying every bits of the cold winter days. Just the 2 of us :)




She got herself a new small umbrella too just because she saw my umbrella was full of snow, and then she 'taught' me the way of remove them by hitting the umbrella hard on the floor until it was crooked! Not a good idea after all, my dear! Couldn't believe my eyes that she was that rough strong.



Well, that day it snowed so heavily until someone manage to built a huge snowman which is taller then her!




Not only huge snowman. We found some kids around the neighbourhood built a few of very cute little snowman along the sidewalk too! That was really cute!




Angel tried to build her own snowman too which turn out to look like ..... anything but a snowman *smile* But she is having great fun until both of us forgot about the time and rush back home at night after a good 4 hours playing in the snow!



I prepared a snowman bento (in-a-plate coz I'm in a rush preparing other dishes) for little Angel that night which she was totally overwhelmed. I am glad that she likes her Mr. Frosty The Snowman for dinner :)



As you can see, fish balls were hidden underneath those rice balls which she loves so much :)

I guess it's time to say goodbye to Mr. Frosty for the moment being as well as our cold winter days. Hope to see you again soon, Mr. Frosty. But not so soon ya! ^_^

Bento#9: Rabbits For The Year of Rabbit

Oh no! At first, they are blocking blogspot, multiply and facebook etc and now, my VPN starts to fail me and I can't even do comments and not even in my own blog! Urrrggghhhh ...... that's great!!! I can only view others blog but can't leave any comments at all and I wonder how long I can deal with blogspot in China if thing like this continues. Time to move on to some other country I guess??? Hehehehehe :P :P

Anyway, since my VPN seems to do horribly now, I'll just quickly post up one of the bento which I did for Angel during the Chinese New Year since I have uploaded the photos. Phew!

According to the Chinese calender, this year will be the year of "Rabbit" so here are those rabbits coming by wishing all of us Gong Xi Fa Cai ^_^

^ ^ Rabbits!! A lot of Rabbits squeezed into 1 bento box :P :P

The big rabbits were made of dumplings (小笼包) and biscuits as ears, while those small ones were quail eggs and carrot as ears. 2 cherries were buries somewhere down under and as Angel requested for some 'heart-shape' in her bento because she says she wants to love me wor ..... how could I resist? So I fixed her 2 heart shape strawberries to make her day :)

Didn't actually complete the bento as what I initially planned coz while half way done, I heard a bang from the living room and guess what, Angel has climbing up to the coffee table pulling down our CNY deco from the lighting! So I have to finish it off as it is and keep an eye on her.



^ ^ Poor CNY deco now with a clear tape on it! Luckily she didn't drag the entire decoration off with the lighting along.

I am glad that she loves her meal and obediently climbed up to her high chair without being asked waiting for her meal to be served :)


^ ^ She is happy to see a lot of rabbits in her bento. She would dig out and eat all the seaweed from the 'faces' first before she have the heart to eat them.

Bento#8: Start Bento-ing Again

My bento tools have been putting away for way too long, until lately when I am doing my Spring cleaning ……

So they were finally out from their hibernation seeing sunlight again :) Time to continue with my practice to fix my girl some decent bento :)

I fixed her a simple ‘bento-in-a-bowl’ as a start coz I can't find where all my bento boxes were (@_@) I really have to polish up my bento skills more because this very simple looking ‘bento’ has took me over 20 minutes to prepare! *gosh*


^ ^ ABC pasta with broccoli and carrots. 2 happy face fish balls, carrots flower and broccoli trees as decorations

Nevertheless, Angel is more then delights to see her first ‘bento’ being put in front of her after such a long time. She must be missing her ‘decorated’ meals so much :P She even thinking to call hubby telling him all about her ‘happy face meal’ and force drag our ‘Ayi’ who does not speak English over to her lunch and say, “See! Ayi, you see~~!!! It’s my happy face! 我的！我的 (it’s mine)!”


^ ^ She was all over the moon to see her special decorated lunch ^_^

She finished her meal with a lightning speed until I have to stop her from eating too fast and swallowing too quickly without munching! *first time*

Boy …… she must have been either extremely hungry or extremely in love with her meal!


^ ^ Her extra large portion of pasta was being gallop down within less then 10 minutes time! She eats finely chopped broccoli but still, no luck with broccoli in stalk.

She gave me a big hug and a sweet thank you after she is done ^_^ Oh, it always put a smile on my face to see this little girl’s smile brighten up while wallop up her meal with just a simple touch ^_^

A wonderful day to me and I hope so does yours ^_^

Bento#7: The Chicken Family Bento

This is the most complicated bento that I have ever done *wipe sweat* It all started with a bowl of fried vermicelli which I have no idea of what bento to fix for Angel. Then suddenly I noticed that the vermicelli looks like a ‘bird nest’ hence decided to make a 'Chicken' barn out of it coz I don’t know how to fix birds :P :P So here it is, a bento with the Rooster Papa, Hen Mama, 1 newly hatched Didi chick and 1 MeiMei chick with another not-so-happy egg which is still waiting to be hatched *hehehehe* At the side was 2 very kepoh (busy body) Uncle Tree and Aunty Tree watching the happy chicken family welcoming their little chicks :)


^ ^ Angel is having fried vermicelli + sliced pork + cabbage, few quail eggs, 2 stalks of broccoli with funny looking face which I got the idea from one of the japanese bento magazine, some mix vege at the bottom left, 3 cherries and some carrots decorated as flowers.
Angel can’t wait for her meal and get ready her high chair automatically when she saw me taking out her bento during lunch time. When I asked Angel what did she see in her bento, she told me, “Egg~~” and I said “No, It’s Chicken Family ..... Papa chicken and Mama Chicken!” but she insisted that they were eggs!! She finished everything including the fruits but only took 1 of the broccoli after much persuasion and refused to eat the other one :P For me it’s good enough :)

Bento#6: Little Brown Bear Bun

The other day I baked some raisins buns for Angel and suddenly think of fixing her a cute Little Brown Bear Bento. I am not good in drawings so normally I have to do a sketch in advance just to make sure the bear will looks like a bear and not a dog :P It’s really hard to cut those seaweeds using freehand and wondering how those Japanese mommies managed to come out with all the difficult shapes and forms in their super nice looking bentos.

This is definitely Angel’s most favourite bento so far as it’s packed with her favourite homemade raisin bun, her beloved quail eggs (don’t asked me whether it’s a dog or a bear there coz I wish someone could tell me too :P :P) and also packed with all her favourite fruits! I can see that she really enjoyed her bento so much so that she polished everything off until I couldn’t even find a tiny piece of bread crumb inside the box nor on the table. But the funny thing is Angel doesn’t recognized the decorated quail eggs in her bento at first and refuse to eat them until I have to wipe clean one of the quail eggs just to show her it’s actually an egg *laugh* I am glad that she loves this combination of food very much and I am hoping that I will get to pack more of such bread/bun bento apart from the normal rice bento for her. I am really so happy to see her gobble down her food that day (and also have to keep a close eyes on her with those quail eggs) until I forgot to take a picture of her enjoying her bento :P

^ ^ The Little Brown Bear was made from home baked raisin bun, serve with 2 quail eggs and tightly packed with red grapes and pineapples. She just loves every single food inside this bento box!!! ^_^

Bento#5: Sunflower Field Bento

I am browsing through a Japanese bento magazine in the bookshop and suddenly came across a lovely sunflower bento kyaraben hence decided to make one Sunflower theme bento for my 'Queen' too. I have used finely chopped baby corn in her porridge but never try steaming method but decided to give it a try. So the sunflowers were make up of baby corns and some of them I dye it with some beet root for a darker colour (some faded already when I steam them :P), while the stem of the sunflowers were made from thinly sliced French beans. As for the soil, lightly stir fried some beet root in the frying pan (coz I don’t know what else to do with it :P :P) while the middle part of the sunflowers were decorated with some kei-Ji (Chinese wolfberries) and carrots. A sun was added hoping to brighten up Angel's day and oh gosh …… now that I look at the picture then only I realised I have forgotten to give my sun the eyes and a sweet smile too >_< *slap forehead 5 times*

Angel is having a bento with Baby Corns, Carrots, French beans, finely chopped Beet Root at the very bottom, Spinach Meat Balls and some Cherries ^_^
For added protein + fibre, I make Angel a Steam Spinach Meat Balls seasoned with tiny bit of light sodium soy sauce and corn flour. I have added some Kei-Ji (chinese wolfberries) on top of the meat balls hoping to add some natural sweetness into it. As for fruits, I have some cherries in the fridge so it goes into her bento as well. Needless to say that this simple looking bento has taken me quite some time to complete again …… (Need more practising still :P)


I have retain some gravy from the steam meat ball and was added into Angel's rice before serving as my little ‘Queen’ doesn’t take rice very well without some soup in it. She loves everything but not the French beans :P The fried beet root surprisingly taste so sweet which added some flavour into her meal. Overall, I like this bento as much as Angel does ……. although she might not seen a real sunflower before but at least she has seen it in her bento for once :)

Bento#4: Starry Night Bento

This is a very quick and simple bento I prepared for Angel. She loves the Tomato + Mince Chicken Rice which I made for her earlier so I have decided to use tomatoes in her rice again. So to make things quick and simple, I decided to do a very simple Starry Night bento for her. I love starry nights :)

All set! The yellow colour stars was cut out from using bananas and Mangoes, Moon is from Water Apples and decorated with nori stars over the Mince Pork Tomato Rice
I lightly stir fried some rice with one freshly chopped tomato, mince pork, finely chopped yellow onions and few stalks of spring onions, cut up some bananas and mangoes and shape out some of the remaining with my cookie cutter, punch some nori with the star shape puncher I bought from Daiso and also do a simple and nice crescent moon out of the water apples from the fridge and it’s done! Simple isn’t it? Although it’s a easy bento but it still take up more then normal required time for me to get it ready. *blush* Oh well, I just need to keep practicing then :)


So here is Angel’s extremely simple Starry Night Bento with a few animals gazing at the sky :) Angel did perform her “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” song before she digs in, hahaha. I have a very happy ‘baby’ happily enjoying her meal today :)

Bento#3: Anpanman Tomato Rice Bento

When talking about fixing a bento for young toddler like Angel’s, it really is quite challenging for me due to the reasons:

1) Angel’s solid are porridges still. (Anyone came across a porridge bento before?? LoL Maybe I should try it someday …. Ya! I think I should :P)
2) I am trying not to use process food as much as possible in her daily meal.
3) Angel is allergic to all diaries, nuts and seafood which means food like cheese / fish balls, etc is out of the question.
4) She is a meat person and don’t really fancy veggies, raw or cooked unless I hide them inside her food.

So I guess I am left with not much of a choice to pack a variety of bento for her for the moment being. But somehow, I feels that I need to start now so by the time that Angel attended kiddy, I would have gotten a better idea on how to fix a proper bento and will not take ‘forever’ just to fix her something simple and nice. I am pretty slow in preparing bento at this moment and absolutely no idea on what to make for her most of the time. Some very dedicated bento-ing mommies really are extremely creative and very talented ….. I am pretty amazed!

So after some thoughts, I think I should start with the cute Anpanman! Anpanman is one of the most popular anime cartoon characters in Japan at this moment and I think his chubby face looks very cute! This little superhero dedicates himself to the cause of justice and will allow those hungry and in need eat his face which is make of anpan (bread fill with bean jam) which can be restored. Oh …. Yummy yummy!!! :) So in order to get the orange colour of Anpanman’s face, I have decided to make Tomato + Onion + Mince Chicken Rice using fresh tomatoes for Angel’s dinner. And at the sides, I have added some diced cucumber to fill in the gaps, some water apples decorated as flowers, half of a banana underneath those flowers, and some steam carrots as butterflies and on the cheeks. So that’s Angel’s Anpanman bento for dinner.

Angel’s Anpanman bento with Tomato + Onion + Mince Chicken Rice, Dice Cucumber, Water Apples and Bananas at the bottom.
When Angel opened up her meal, she was squealing with delights and dance a bit on her high chair until hubby asked me whether she normally behaves that way when she got her bento meal :) It’s such rewarding just by the look on my little girl’s happy face …… She kept looking at her bento and show me the eyes, nose and mouth until I need to asked her to ‘eat’. I did reminded her to eat the fruits (those flowers) very last but when I turned around, she quickly shove them into her mouth and pretended not to let me saw her munching on her fruits LoL Half way enjoying her meal, hubby took away the food picks and baran thinking to wash them and she scream and cry so loud until hubby put them back to where it belongs *laugh* I am glad that she likes her bento and polished off her meal in no time – all by herself without asking me to feed her that night.

Bento#2: Vermicelli Soup and Mix Vegetables

This is what I prepared for Angel’s lunch today. At first I only prepared the Vermicelli with Beet Root Soup, served with some shredded pork ribs, and since I am plan to incorporate vegetables into her every meal so I do not wish to break the rules so at the end, I added some frozen mix vegetables into her lunch for added fiber. Looks like the bento box which I got for her was just enough for the Vermicelli alone, huh? It does looks so big when I got them LoL No fancy decorations for her ‘almost – bento’ lunch this round as I am running out of time today :P Maybe next time ok Sweetie?? Although this looks simple but yet, took me an hour just to come out with this ….. ya, I know I am very slow :P

She loves the soup, she loves the meat, she like the vermicelli, totally crazy over those grapes but she didn’t really fancy her vegetables. However I manage to coax her to finished the carrots and the peas (of course I am eating along with her :P) but she just refused to ate those corns. I thought kids loves corn coz they are sweet?? Maybe my little girl has a strange taste bud. LoL Anyway, to be able to finish the portion of what she had just now is considering good enough for me.

When she really eats her meal and didn’t fuss and picky of her food as usual, I will be the happiest mom of the day :)

Angel’s Lunch: Vermicelli, Beetroot Soup, Mix Vegetables, Black Grapes and Shredded Pork Rib at the side


Wa laaa …. She is full!! But she managed to polish off her soup bowl as well after the picture as taken :)

Bento#1: Hello Kitty Vege Egg Sandwich

That is what I prepared for Angel’s lunch few days ago. This is not a proper Bento meal yet because for Angel’s easy access to her food, I did it in her dish plate :). I am trying to practice with all my tools which has been left untouched actually. It does take a massive time to prepare the bread because I am such a novice in this area still but after preparing the meal (and also having to attend to Angel’s crying and her needs on and off), I think I would only have time to do such meals again when I really have more time to spare or else, dealing with such details and Angel at the same time really was such a challenge :P

Angel can’t wait to eat her meals when she saw the Hello Kitty on her plate and call out “Ti ….. Ti …… “ (as in Kitty) but once I handle her the food, the first thing she dug into was the grapes instead @_@. However after the meal, I think the sandwich would be more suitable for older kids as the sandwich combination is a bit dry for little Angel to swallow without her bottle of apple juice. Furthermore, she didn’t really chew her food hence the bread would stuck on her throat most of the time. Other then that, everything seems fine with her. But I did mention before that Angel hates fried eggs so I thought to give this meal a little difference seeing whether she would love her fried eggs. I have add in not only vege to the eggs but some mince chicken meat as to add some flavour to the eggs as well. she does take a few bites on the eggs then, she keep feeding me the rest of the eggs and only save the piece of bread to herself LoL I guess I shall try other version next time unless I am feeling to have more fried eggs for myself :) Nice try though …. LoL

^ ^ On her plate (clockwise in the top left picture) were Black Grapes, Goat Milk Yogurt sprinkled with Haw Flakes (山楂), Some extra Vege Egg*, Hello Kitty Vege Egg* Sandwich. (*Vege Eggs = Egg, Cabbage, Onions, Carrots + Chicken Meat).