{Featured @ inSing.com} Happy Birthday Singapore - Part 2, "National Day Bento"

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This year 09 August 2011, Singapore will be celebrating her 46th Birthday together with all citizens of Singapore as well as spectators and National Day performers at the Marina Bay floating stage. But even if you can't get hold of any National Day Parade tickets, you can still join in the celebration with friends and family members to enjoy some special holiday buffet, shop around at flea market, viewing fireworks and etc to enjoy a fun-filled National Day. (more details HERE).

Here upon the request of my boy, I have made a National Day Bento for him which I used his favourite Chicken Rice to make a rice parcel that is wrapped using red and white egg sheets to resemble the National flag. The concept of this bento is made to represent the different races and food cultures in Singapore. Example:- Chicken Rice is a well-known Chinese cuisine whereas Putu Mayam is one of the old-times Indian breakfast treat. In this way, at least my boy get to know and try the different kinds of food eaten by the different races in Singapore. If you are interested you can also take a look at our National Day Icing Cookies done by WaiFong at this link HERE.

Lastly for more details and recipe of this National Day Bento, please refer to the article at inSing.com HERE.

Once again!!! We would like to wish everyone a Happy National Day and Happy Birthday Singapore!!!!

Spooky Bento Featured @ inSing.com

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A few weeks back I was approached by Javan from inSing.com on whether I could do a bento base for their 7th Month, "Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival" theme. Upon reading his email I was actually stunned for a few minutes and I even "text" a few friends for their opinions and most of us feel this is quite a sensitive month and topic to handle.

So after much considerations and drafting we decided to settle with something more kid's friendly that resemble "Halloween" theme just for some fun and spooky chill on this Chinese 7th month. But before this, initially I have a few design such as using charcoal bread/squid ink pasta to form a black coffin or well with "pool" of tomato pasta sauce to create a bloody effect with accompany ghostly images or broken hands and etc. And Javan even suggest that whether I could do a "paper talisman" sort of design but I find it rather "Spooky" to use for bento especially in this Hungry Ghost Month.

For more details and recipe please refer to the article at inSing.com HERE.

Penguins Bento and Bento Making featured in ZaoBao(联合早报)

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Recently my boy was fascinated with "The Penguins of Madagascar" showing on #kto(here) every Monday - Thursday at 6.30pm. He loves those 4 crazy Penguins known as Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private who rule the roost at their Central Park Zoo home with thier all-new adventures together with King Julian. And with his favorite show he has always wanted to make a Penguin Bento.

So finally last Sunday, I managed to come up with this Penguins Bento which is similar to his favourite Madagascar Penguins using Charcoal Bread(read more HERE) bought from "Lavender Bakery" at City Square Mall, Johor. He was so excited when we cut out the penguins shape from the charcoal bread using the cutter and assemble it featured with cheese and carrot. I am sure no matter who you gave this Penguins Bento to the receiver will definitely be thrilled.

This photo shows the tools and steps on how to assemble this cute Penguins Bento.

Ingredients:

1 Slice of Bamboo Charcoal Bread
1 Slice of Sandwich Cheese
2 Thin Slices of Carrot
1/4 Portion of Sweet Corn
Fresh Fruits of your Choice
Some Prawn Crackers
Nori sheet
1 Toothpick

Method:-

1. Blanched Sweetcorn in boiling water for about 2 - 3 minutes, removed and add in the carrot. Cook for 30 seconds, remove and set aside.

2. Using a Penguin shape food cutter to cut out two penguins from the bamboo charcoal bread.

3. Next with the same cutter cut out another two penguins from the cheese and using toothpick and drinking straw to cut out the stomach, mouth and eyes of the penguins.

4. Place the cut out cheese features on the prepared bread (give it a gentle press to stick the cheese on the bread), before securing the legs(you can use a flower shape cutter to cut out semi-circle from the carrot) of the penguins using carrot and thin spaghetti strips.

5. Lastly, assemble the sweetcorn, fruits, crackers and penguins bread into the bento box and serve.

FEATURED in 21.06.2011

ZaoBao(联合早报), Family Page

Here is a screen shot of our bento making featured in today's ZaoBao(联合早报), Family Page which might be an encouraging article for working parents to create a bonding time with kids by making bento as a food art and educational theme for them.

Although bento making in Singapore is not as popular as in Japan and Taiwan but there are still a lot of bento makers and bento item collectors in Asian countries. And my bento journey starts with a group of bento friends whom always inspired me with their creative ideas where you might be interested to take a look and read-up their fabulous bento from their blogs shown below:-

1. Mothering Corner @ http://motheringcorner.com/

2. Bentolicious @ http://www.mybentolicious.com/

3. Susan Yuan @ http://susanyuen.blogspot.com/

4. Hippomum @ http://www.wretch.cc/blog/hippomum/11108126

5. Tona Mummy @ http://ourfirstbabykimiboy.blogspot.com/

Kung Fu Panda Bento Recipe Featured @ inSing

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Last week we have the Angry Birds Bento Recipe(read more HERE) to join in the fever of the Angry Birds Mobil Game. Today we have another bento recipe to catch up with "PO" from Kung Fu Panda which is my 2nd featured bento post over at inSing.com. Same as the preview article, this recipe also provide readers with step-by-step photo illustrations on making the cute Panda Onigiri, Mini Panda(using quail eggs) as well as how to assemble the food in the bento box.

If you are keen to do a Panda Bento for your friends or kids during this June School Holiday, you can take a look at this featured recipe and starts making your very own bento with the guide of details step-by-step photos.

For more details please refer to the article at inSing.com HERE.

Red Angry Birds Bento Featured @ inSing

Continue with the series of Angry Birds Bento fever, I was invited to write a related bento recipe over at inSing.com. This recipe provide readers with step-by-step photo illustrations on making the Angry Bird Onigiri as well as how to assemble the food in the bento box.

[Angry Birds Item Giveaway] Angry Birds Bento - 愤怒鸟便当

I am sure for those who play Handphone/Ipad games you definitely have come across this most popular paid-for game in the Apple App known as “Angry Birds”. My boy whom is a great fan of this game collects all the different character plush toys as well as some other related items such as pencil case, mouse pad, files and etc.

Oven Baked Fried Chicken Bento

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Do you like fried chicken? I am sure most of you would rise up your hands and say yes. Recent years there so many fast food outlets such as "KFC", "Wendy", "Popeye Chicken" and etc selling fried chicken. And there are also frozen Fried Chicken that is available in the local supermarkets too. In this post, I would like to share with you some tips and ideas on how I made use of some CP Fried Chicken (Original Flavour) to prepare this cute little "Chicky Bento".

Fried Chicken is one of my boy's favourite deep-fried finger food that I would always prepared from scratch using chicken wings, seasoning, flour batter and etc. But with this CP Fried Chicken that can be easily grab from any supermarket it actually shorten my time on preparing these deep-fried stuffs for the family.

  The CP Fried Chicken (Original Flavour) are coated in a specially light and crispy batter that stays crispy on the outer skin even after 30 minutes or more. I choose the oven baked method to prepare these chicken as I find it more healthier than deep-fried with oil. To assemble the bento, here are the ingredients and steps:-

Ingredients:

1 Bowl of Cooked Rice
2 - 3 Pieces of CP Fried Chicken
1/4 Japanese Cucumber, cut into long sticks
1/4 Carrot, peeled outer skin cut into long sticks
Some Lettuce Leaves, optional
Some Fresh Fruit of Your Choice

Method:

1. Place the fried chicken in the oven toaster and toast it for about 15 – 20 minutes, turn occasionally to prevent it from getting burnt.
2. While waiting for the chicken to be done, cut the Japanese cucumber and carrot into long veggie sticks as side for the bento.
3. Assemble the bento accordingly; you can place the fried chicken (if too big pieces for the kid, you could cut it into bite size) together with the veggie sticks in a container.
4. Drizzle some roasted black sesame seeds on the rice if you preferred.
5. Serve the bento set with cut fruits immediately or packed it for your outing.


Do you want to have a piece of these "Mickey" face cutout dragon fruit for after meal dessert? I am sure most of the Disney fan kids would love this special treat which would change their mindset on eating fruits.To make this cute cutout from the dragon fruit you would need to have the mickey ring cutter shown HERE.(1st photo of the post)

Don't worry if you don't possess any of these bento items, you could always start off by using some simple tools that are available at Daiso (S$2 shop) or even some online bento site such as New Stylish Tokyo (http://www.nst.my/), Bento Craft (http://bentocraft.com/) and etc.

Pooh Pancake Bento

It has being more than a year since my last bento post on making the "Macar Garden". Usually for a traditional bento it consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables that are packed in a box-shaped container. But recent years making of kids’ bento also became a trend in Singapore under the influence of those creative Japanese bento makers. For kids’ bento you can packed anything that your kids prefer in those cute and fashion “bento boxes” that comes in various sizes and designs. (Click HERE for sample)

Here I am packing a "Pancake Bento" which I believes everyone loves pancakes despite whether kids or adults so with some quick and easy pre-packed pancake mixture and extra ingredients like milk and egg you can prepared some delicious pancakes in no time.

I bought this set of "Pooh Face" pancake pan about 2 years back during my craze over these cute bento products. So far I have only tried using it once until recently one of my friend bought me another similar set from her trip. So I decided to use it to make some cute "Pooh Face" pancakes for my boy.

These collage photos show the steps on how to cook the pancake and you could also refer to the instructions below:-

Ingredients:-
200g Pre-mixed Pancake Flour
1 Egg
150ml Fresh Milk
Oil or Soft Butter to grease

Method:
1. In a large mixing bowl add in pancake flour, egg and fresh milk then slowly whisk it with a balloon whisk till well combined.
2. Set the mixture aside for about 2 - 3 minutes, lightly grease and preheat the pooh pancake pan or any small pancake pan till hot.
3. Slowly ladle 1 small scoop of batter and swirl it around the mould/pan.
4. Cook it on low heat for about 2 minutes till the mixture almost dried up and bubbled. (refer to the photo above)
5. Carefully loosen the side of the pancake if using the pooh pancake mould, then flip it over to cook the other side for another 1 minute or so.
6. Remove from pan and continue with the rest of the mixture.
7. Keep it warm and serve with extra butter and maple syrup.


You can easily get a pack of this pre-mixed pancake mixture from any leading supermarkets or you can also use any of your reliable pancake recipes.

My Boy loves Winnie the Pooh so I have some collection of the Pooh related bento items range from bento boxes, food cutters, fork and spoon and etc (Click HERE for sample). So with this lovely "Pooh Pancake Bento" it really brings joy and excitement to him when he gets a set of this for his afternoon tea break. To make this more attractive, I also add in pooh shape butters and some maple syrup in pooh container. Mummies with similar interests I am sure everyone of you can prepared something even better than mine to bring a smile on your kids' face.

Bento #29 - Macar Garden

Thank God for his blessing that today is Sunday again. As usual after our early church service, Rey and I will go to the market and pick up some goodies that he wants me to prepare for him as lunch and dinner. Along at the fruit stall, Rey prompted me that he would like to have some cherries in his bento box to accompany the rest of the berries at home.

Today we are having cheesy macaroni with some blanched broccoli and Komoboko cut into small dual colour flowers using the tools shown. So after showing Rey with an example of how to use the cutter to assemble the flower, I leave the rest of the task to him while I start to work on the macaroni and packing of the bento.

Tata.... so after about 30 minutes of work in the kitchen, we finally come out with Today's lunch bento. We called this Macar Garden because of the flowers, cheese rabbits and colourful fruits. Overall, Rey do enjoy making and eating this bento but he is a bit upset when one of his favourite "Cheese Rabbit" melt while during my photo taking session :p

Err... sorry darling, mummy should have wait for the Macaroni to cool down a bit first before putting the "rabbit" on top of it.

Bento #28 - Reyon & Buddy

It had being quiet a while since our last bento because Reyon is having a few weeks of mid year school holiday and I am kind of caught up at work so I don't have much time working around with those fancy stuffs. But Shoppingmum's website is a must to visit daily site due to cute and innovative bento for her two kids.

I love her latest design by using this dual cheese strips to cut out various cute figures. You can click on the link to have a better explanation on how she made the stripe cheese. Today our theme is base on my dear son and his favour pooh teddy bear. I use the face cutter and assorted mini food cutter for these design. I used the compartment divider to cut the shape out from the chocolate bun so that it will fix nicely. Next I place the cheese cut outs on top of it and serve the bento with some orange slices and mangosteen. Lastly Rey still use the Alphabets pasta to arrange his name on it.

Bento #27 - Salmon Onigiri Bento

Today is Mother's Day and after our usual Sunday Church service, we went to the nearby Supermarket to get some ingredients to prepare our lunch. After looking at the ingredients, we settle for Salmon Fillet, Button Mushroom and Corn.

With the ingredients in hand, we made some Salmon Flake & Corn Onigiri. Rey and I love the colour combination as our Church dress code for Mother's Day is Pink this year. I pan-fry the salmon fillet with shredded ginger and spring onion until brown then set aside. I cook the rice as per normal by adding some fresh corn kernel and chestnut and cook until done then I add in the salmon flakes and mould them into round onigiri.

With some olive oil, I do a quick stir-fry using the sliced button mushroom and carrot to serve it as a side dish. Tata... so after assemble above is what we have for our lunch today....

Bento #26 - Cheese Pie & Fruit Salad

Since I am alone in the office this week as my colleague went for Holiday Trip. I decided to pack some light and simple lunch for work today. I packed 3 different types of cut fruits which are Kiwi, Dragon fruit and apple to go with my Blueberry Cheese Pie. As we are in a rush, I forget to soak the cut apple slices in some salted water to prevent it for discolouration.

On the second day, I bring some cut dragon fruits and apple slices to work again and this round I have soaked the cut apple in some salted water for a while and the colour remain clear and nice through out even when I eat it quite late after lunch :)

I used this set of Mickey Mouse design vegetable cutter to cut my apple slices for the bento.... :) You can take a look at other range of the Mickey Mouse Bento Tools here.(click the link)