Mame Goma Seal Bento

It's cold soba for the boys today, topped with seals. :) I did a short tutorial on how to make these seals today. :)


Using the new lunchboxes, this set is for IT. In the box are soba, quail eggs, grilled thai style chicken, bacon asparagus, golden kiwis, strawberries and grapes.


And this set for LT. The pink seal is coloured with beetroot water. And the blue portion of the white seal is coloured with red cabbage water.


And this one for IT to bring to School, cold soba in the thermos, and grapes, quail egg and chicken in the small strawberry box. :) LT wanted a box today but I did not make a box for him. I told him he'll make a mess eating the soba in School. So, the little fella showed me at home how he won't make a mess out of eating soba, lol. Looks like I will have to make some soba for him to bring to School next time.


This was my Thai dinner last night, pineapple fried rice, grilled chicken and tom yum soup.


And to make the seals. First, boil two quail eggs, dye one pink by soaking in colouring. I'm using beet root water to dye it.


Slice off a small portion from the pointed side of the egg.


Punch out 2 ovals with a cutter, these will be the flippers.


Punch out one oval from cheese, this will be the mouth.


Attach on the flippers and mouth with pasta.


Punch out nori using punchers.


Dab on some decorating gel or ketchup.


Ta-dah, completo! Pretty fast and easy to do. :)

Where to get same or similar items seen in today's post:

Sugar Bunnies Bento

Sugar bunnies for the boys' bentos today. :)


For their lunch, they had multi-grained rice, with grilled wings, bacon asparagus, golden kiwis and strawberries.


LT took this one, the cheese broke as I was poking holes on it. Sob. :(


And IT took this one, the bread also broke. Hiaz. :(


And sugar bunnies sandwiches for their snacks in School, with grilled wings and grapes.


And more lunchboxes to add to my collection. :) My friend helped me to get these from Korea. Totally did not expect that she will be able to find these. When she told me she's going Korea, I just gave her the link to the lunchboxes I saw on Gmarket Korea and told her to help me to buy 2 sets if she happened to see them selling in the shops over there. And she really saw the boxes while she was doing her shopping! :) Really thankful to her, the boxes are lovely. :)

Face Burger Bento

Lol, quite a lame title because I could not think of a title for this post. :P IT has a medical appointment in the morning today, so we had to leave the house early. I had no intention to do a charaben, but I was done with the bentos early, and could not resist adding on a face to the burgers. :P


IT had this in the car, on our way back from the appointment, before going off to School.


LT had to skip School, because we could not come back in time. I expected that so I only prepared a lunch bento for him. For lunch, they had chicken burgers, potatoes, apples, strawberries and grapes.


Just a burger for IT's recess. :)


I rearranged the stuff, so that the box can close properly. Love transparent covers, it's nice to be able to see the contents. :)


I made for an extra chicken patty in the morning, grilled some rice and potatoes in the afternoon, and had them for lunch. :) Recipe for the chicken patty below. :)

CHICKEN PATTIES RECIPE

Ingredients:
200g ground chicken
2 onions, minced
1 tbsp sake
3 tbsp panko
3 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp ginger juice
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce - 3 tbsp sake, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp sugar

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Shape into patties and pan fry with a little oil until both sides are browned. Set aside.
3. Pour the sauce ingredients in the pan and bring to a slow simmer. Add in the patties and coat with the sauce. Cook till sauce thickens and both sides of patties are well coated.

Note: 

• If you want to freeze the patties, you can do so after step #2. Then, when you want to eat them, defrost and glaze with them with the sauce.
• The chicken patties can be eaten with buns as a burger fillings or as a side dish with rice.

Perry Platypus Bento

This is a request from the boys, and they asked for Perry with his hat. Perry is a character from Phineas and Ferb cartoon, he is usually just a platypus, but once he wears his hat, he becomes Agent P. lol, I dunno whether I've got it right, I have never watched the cartoon before.


And so Perry for the boys today, with rice coloured with deco furi, chicken nuggets, broccoli, golden kiwis and strawberries.


The boys asked why is the hat so small? :P


And for School, they had Agent P made from spinach bread, with nuggets and grapes.


Peanut butter for IT and strawberry jam for LT.


Chicken nuggets hidden under the leaf baran.


Fried tofu puffs for my lunch, they were from dinner last night, I fried it again before my lunch. They do not stay crispy for long, so it's best to fry them just before you are eating. Recipe at the bottom of the post.


Here's how the tofu puffs look like straight from the pack.


The tofu puffs turned inside out and stuffed with meat. They look ugly, but don't worry, they will look nicer after you fry them. :)

FRIED TOFU PUFFS RECIPE

Ingredients:
10 tofu puffs
200g minced pork
100g fish paste
100g minced prawns
1 tsp salt

Method:

1. Cut a slit on one side of the tofu puff and gently separate the insides.
2. Turn the tofu puff inside out and set aside.
3. Mix all the other ingredients together.
4. Stuff the tofu puff with mixture #3.
5. Deep fry till golden brown.

Note:

• You can shallow fry them too. The tofu puffs you see in my pictures are shallow fried.

Back to School Bento

The boys are back to School. I need to get use to the routine again, lol. I felt a little loss making their bentos this morning, did not know what stuff to get out, lol.


For their lunch, they had onigiri with five spice meatballs, ham omelette, broccoli, golden kiwis and strawberries.


A closer look. :)


And for snack time at School, LT had strawberry jam sandwich, five spice meatballs and grapes.


Same food for IT, except he wanted a peanut butter sandwich instead. IT saw me doing his bento when he woke up, he came and gave me a hug and said thank you. He really made my day. :)


It was still early after I'm done with their breakfast and bentos, so I made myself some breakfast. Salad with ham omelette for me.


And yummy dumplings for my lunch, made by my mum. :)


She always makes a different bundle just for me, because I do not like chestnuts in my dumplings. :)

Macarons

Macaron is one of my favourite dessert, love their pretty colours. :) I'm not much of a fan of the chocolate ones, prefer the fruity flavoured ones. I made a batch today, cheated with the fillings though, I just used whipped cream with strawberry jam. :P The boys wanted to help, but this time I had to say no, coz macarons are more tricky as compared to the other bakes they have done. Sharing the recipe at the end of the post, do google for videos on how to whip the egg whites and fold in the almond/icing sugar mixture if you are doing it for the first time. :)


Macarons for tea today. :) This recipe gives a shiny meringue, I prefer another recipe which gives a matte looking macaron instead, might share that in future.


They taste better the next day. :)


The boys made gyoza and ramen using the popin cookin set this time. This is the fillings inside the gyoza before wrapping. I forgot to take a picture of the pakaging, but you can see it here.


Making ramen. :)


Their ramen and gyoza set, lol. :P


Inspired by Natsumi Hayashi, the boys and I are hooked on taking levitation photos recently, lol. Here's one I cropped off a shot IT took of me. :P Do check out her page, her levitation photos are all so cool!

This will be my last post for the week, the boys will be back to School next week, and I'll be back with my bentos again. Sign, I want a longer holiday. :(

MACARONS RECIPE

Ingredients:
90g egg whites, separated at least 24 hours in advance
210 g icing sugar
125 g ground almond/almond meal
30 g granulated sugar

Method:

1. Line baking tray with parchment paper or silpat mat.
2. Blend the almond and icing sugar together, then sift them to remove any clumps. Set aside.
3. Begin beating egg whites on low speed. Once the egg whites are very foamy, begin sprinkling in the granulated sugar as you beat. Increase the speed to medium, then high, and beat the meringue to stiff glossy peaks. Add the food colouring if desired, use gel or powdered colourings.
4. Add about 1/4 of mixture #2 and fold in until no streaks remain. Continue to add in quarters and fold till you reach a batter that flows like lava.
5. Pour the batter into a pipping bag and pipe small circles onto the parchment paper, giving them space to spread.
6. Tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles.
7. Allow them to rest for 30-60 minutes.
8. Bake them at 150 °C, at the 3rd rack of your oven. Bake for about 15 minutes.
9. Fill them with your favourite fillings. 

Notes:

• The measurements for the ingredients is crucial. And you have to sift the almond/sugar mixture. It is also important to whisk the egg whites and fold in the sugar/almond mixture correctly.
• The need to use aged egg whites is debatable. Some recipes call for them to be aged 3 days in advance, whereas others say this step is not necessary. 
• It is necessary to leave the batter to rest for at least half an hour before baking, this is for the macarons to form a shell on top.
• Macarons taste better the following day, so you can make the shells a day before, keep in fridge and pipe in the fillings the next day.

Baked Donuts

I made some baked donuts for the boys' teatime on Monday, recipe at the bottom of this post. :)


Baked versions are different from the fried ones, but healthier and taste great too. :)


For me. :P


This is the mould I'm using, I bought them at Tokyu Hands during my last Japan trip.


Random shots of my dinner I took this week. This was for Monday, baked minced beef with salad and baguette.


For Tuesday, fried tofu puffs stuffed with meat and fish paste.


And for today, somen dipped in miso and yakitori.


Oh, I've to share this. Found these sandwich boxes at the Sanrio Fair at Harbourfront centre yesterday. They are only $5 each. The fair is still on, go grab! Not sure when's the last day though. :)

BAKED DONUTS

Ingredients:
220g cake flour, sifted
170g granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C.
2. Prep your donut pan with butter.
3. In a bowl, combine the melted butter, buttermilk and beaten eggs. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the cake flour, vanilla sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. Spoon the batter into the wells of you pan (roughly 2/3rds full). An easier/cleaner option is to pour the batter into a ziplock bag and snip the corner or use a piping bag and pipe the batter into the pan.
6. Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until the tops of the donuts spring back when lightly touched. Do not over bake.