Bento #21 - At The Beach

Today's Bento theme has being a long waiting one for my dear son. As most of the reader from my blog will have read about that my dear son loves to go picnic at the seaside. And I have also tried making a few of his meals on seaside theme before. But today's challenge will be a little difficult for me because he wants the real sight of the seaside atmosphere being present in his little bento box.

I have being scratching my head for ideas on how to make this seaside bento appear real..... so after much thought and some brainstorm chat with another bento mummy, Amy(from mothering corner website) I decided to give this bento a try. Last night, I have draft out the idea of the layout and what are the animals that I would want to include in it.

For the colour layers, I have used egg white with some blue food colouring and spinach juice to make scramble eggwhite represent the sky and ocean. As for the sand, I choose multi-grain bread and tear a zigzag layer to form the beach with some cheese stars(as starfish) and since I do not know how to make a seashell, I place a small seashell on the bread. My dear son was thrill when he saw this...........

Related Post:
1. Seafood Noodles
2. Seafood Melody

Bento #20 - Mickey Mouse

Tata..... Another weekend bento using my new Multi-purpose Mickey Mouse tools which I have bought recently. With the left over ham from making yesterday Bear Hamroll. I use a slice of it to make one of the mickey mouse side face and my dear son was thrill when he saw this Mickey Mouse Bento.

This set of Mickey Mouse design multi-purpose cutter come in a pair of two different mickey mouse design which enable you to cut out the head and face features. I also have another similar Pooh Design set which I used to make the Ham & Cheese Bear Sandwiches in another bento.

Related Post:
1. Mickey Mouse Bento Tools
2. Ham & Cheese Bear Sandwiches

Osmanthus, Water Chestnut & Sea Coconut Dew

Some weeks ago, one of our church members bought some desserts to my mum and she told me that it is very special as she had not eaten something like that before. From what she mentioned, the ingredients include lotus seeds, chopped water chestnut, wolfberries, egg white and most important Osmanthus flower which gives this dessert it unique fragrant and taste.

So from what she had mentioned to me, I come out with my own version of Osmanthus, Water Chestnut & Sea Coconut Dew. Yup, for my version, I have added some shredded Sea Coconut to it. It had being long since I used fresh sea coconut to make soup or dessert. And I must admit, this is a very refreshing dessert which have a very nice tangerine taste due to the Osmanthus Flowers.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
12 Dried Lotus Seeds
2 Teaspoons of Sugar
4 - 5 Water Chestnut, peeled & finely chopped
2 Teaspoons of Dried Osmanthus Flower
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries
800ml Water
1/2 - 1 Egg White, lightly beaten
1 Medium Fresh Sea Coconut, optional
Rock Sugar to taste

Method:
1. Wash and peel off the skin of the fresh sea coconut (try to select the soft to touch type which is more suitable for making dessert) then cut into thin strips.
2. Bring half small saucepan of water to boil then add in the lotus seeds and simmer on medium low heat for about 7 - 10 minutes until the seeds are soft. Dish up, rinse and remove any germ inside the lotus seeds to prevent bitterness then marinate with the sugar and set aside.
3. Next bring the pot of 800ml water to boil, add in rock sugar, sea coconut, wolfberries and osmanthus flower and simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Use a strainer, remove most of the cooked osmanthus flower away then add in the chopped water chestnut and marinated lotus seeds and simmer till boiled then switch off the heat.
5. Slowly add in the beaten egg white and give it a slow stir to create the swirl effect. (The heat from the content will cook the egg white and you have to add in slowly and stir so that it won't be in a lump)
6. Serve it with some extra osmanthus flower either warm or cold.

Notes:
a) You can replace dried lotus seeds with those vacuum packed fresh lotus seeds instead.
b) You can either soak the dried lotus seeds with boiling water(without washing the seeds) till soft then cooked together with the sea coconut and rock sugar.

Releated Post:
1. Osmanthus & Water Chestnut Kueh
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Bento #19 - Bear Bread & Hamroll

My dear son had being down with flu and cough bugs for the past 2 weeks plus and just a few days ago, he was also down with high fever and bad cough. But thank God after the 3rd visit to the doctor and change of medication he is getting better today. So while he was doing his homework I secretly prepared this Bear Bread & Hamroll Bento in our new purchase Tomica Lunchbox. I hope that this artwork of mine will be able to cheer him up and as well to increase his appetite by the look.

This bento is divided into 3 parts. On the left side is a bear and heart shape cutout from two different colour tone of bread to make the contrast. Next I use the Caral Mini Craft Puncher (click here for details) to punch out the features of the bear using nori sheet. On the right side, I use the apple baked ham, lettuce and shredded carrot to make a cheese bear hamroll (click here for cutter use).

In order to make it more eye catching, I also use two tone colour cheese to make the features of the bears and also with some added cherry tomato and strawberries to make it more colourful. Lastly, I decorate it with some added parsley to make it look more like a garden with some greens.

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