haha...fr the previous entry, guess it wld be obvious dat i'll surely pack the sushi for my bentos ya! n here they r!!! yummy sushi bentos... n so easy to make in a jiffy! jus had to pre make the sushi the night b4 and pack them in the lower tier.... for the other bento which i packed for the boy, everythin was prepared the night before and kep in the fridge, ReaDy to go the nxt mornin!! yahoo! 

   Left, clockwise: 
Tomato, flower-shaped egg, minced meat wif cheese bits, crabmeat & carrot cocktail stix (note the cute animal food picks*)
Strawberry-sauce container 

Right: 8 sushi, wif crabmeat, cheese n carrot...

for the bf!~

Left: 8 sushi, wif crabmeat, carrot, cucumber, cheese,
         and carrot/cucumber sticks for decor! n a sauce-bottle
Right, clockwise:
Honey-dew, crabmeat & cucumber cocktail sticks, hm-made lemon tart, flower-shaped egg!

this might be abit...out of the blue.... not bento related but here's wat i made! lemon tarts! doesn't look dat appealing but it tastes great! lemon-custard on top of shortbread crust, n i packed a box for a small gathering wif my frens... guess it's considered a dessert bento perhaps? haha!

I've tried out the sushi-mould (large size) and it's really fun!! soooo much easier than using the traditional bamboo mat for rolling the sushi.. n it's faster too! *yuMMy!* here r the pics =P and some guided instructions for using the mould~ 

--> this is how the mould looks like, buy it in Daiso! i bot 1 large and 1 small-sized-mould

Ingredients: *up to ur creativity*
- salmon, ham, cheese
- cucumber, carrot, crabmeat
- Rice

Preparing the Ingredients:
- First, slice up the ingredients into strips and leave aside.
- Mix furikake and japanese vinegar into the cooked rice (it doesn't have to be japanese pearl rice)

Making the Sushi, with the mould! 
1) Using a spoon, fill the bottom rounded-mould with rice, making sure you leave a narrow gap in the middle for the ingredients
     (at the back of the sushi-mould plastic packaging, this step is illustrated, so do watch out for it!)
     Tip: Do fill up with more rice and ingredients as it will require compression later on for a firm, compact sushi... insuffient rice/fillings may
     result in the completed sushi-roll falling apart.
2) Place the filled bottom-mould into the taller, rectangular outer casing
3) FIll up with rice again, as shown in picture 4 
4) The rice should be at the extreme sides to surround the sushi-fillings/ingredients. This ensures the ingredients stays in the middle and 
     look more appealing when cut. 
5) Cover up with more rice, filling the mould to the brim 
6) Replace the 'lid' and press hard to compress the rice and make a compacted sushi roll
     You may remove the lid every now and then and use fingertips to test the firmness. Add more rice if necessary.  
7) Turn over the mould and remove the rectangle-outer casing 
8) Turn over yet another time to remove the top lid
9) Tip the sushi-roll onto the seaweed
10) Make sure the ends correspond to the seaweed's edges, as shown in the pic 
11) Gently roll it with the seaweed, it will stick to the rice easily 
12) Slice up the sushi roll wif a sharp knife n Voila!! pretty makis... done instantly! weee!
 

Phewww!~

been soooo bz lately, busy playinG!!!! dat explains why i haven updated my blog for sometime~

it's gonna be lyk... a few more weeks b4 i officially start work n i wonder if i'll still continue bento-ing! hahah! 

i thnk i will prepare bentos for my fieldwork nxt time... n anw, i still haf plenty of bento pics, not yet posted! dere was a period of time.. quite recently where i jus kept making sushi! yum yuM! gonna post em up soon! =)

hee! my mini snack bento!! these are pill cases! n i've packed some sweets to keep me going!
Left: 4 Jelly Beans fr Candy Empire, 1 cafe-latte flava, 1 pina colada, 1 peachy pie and a cranberry-apple! 
Right: 3 or 4 cloret Dark Secret Mints, a white caffeine pill shld i feel sleepy

Mini snacks: Shrimp-flave potato chips and a box of vegetable chips..... NOT! (watch the movie, Borat, n u'll understand the 'not' joke) 

haha....those outside the pill cases r jus keshigomus! erasers! but in a cute packaginG! hee! bot a pack of 6 in kinokuniya!

Left: Cheese and peanut-butter ciabatta, orange wedges
Right: Vegetarian fried rice, a slice of toufu, brocolli and carrots 

Ate this in the sch library alone... that was during my exam period a few mths back! I don't mind eating bento wif my frens but it does feel weird to eat it alone... sobZ! other pple mus be thnking either 1) this girl is a weirdo... or 2) wow! such innovative idea! cute bento she's got!

haha...being an optimistist, i prefer to assume the latter!~ =P

Left:                                                                               Right:
- Baked beans                                                            - Meatball rice bombs, a traditional onigiri
- Boiled meatballs on a bed of lettuce                           - Leftover Pork Katsu, furikake-sprinkled for colour effects!
- Eggs

Pardon me for the picture quality... used my hp camera... 

Will finally be flying off tonite! to Taiwan!! will be back on 12th... hope i get to find some cheap comics/DVDs dere... back on 12th night... till then!!!

Top-tier:                                                             Bottom-Tier:
- Roasted Beef slices with herbs                - Strawberry & cream honey stars, Oreo
- 'Ba Bao' Glutinous Rice (chinese)            - Almond Pastry Bar
- Grilled Pumpkins                                    - Coleslaw, in the silicon-cup

Not shown in pic: 2 halved-pocketed Pita breads with a slice of cheese in each (packed in a simple ziploc bag)

When having my bento meal, I stuffed the pita breads wif the Beef slices.. the cheese n beef really goes well! =D a very fillinG meal!

Jap Drama Recommendations any1?

I've jus finished watching Jotei.. not bad!! And here's a list of other dramas i like! Ranked in sequence! haha!
- Nobuta wo Produce (nice show, a touching story on friendship)
- Hana. Kimi. (much better than the taiwan version... ♥Nakatsu!!! he's soooo cutE! & funny!) 
- Nodame Cantabile (comical, ♪music-related drama... lurve dis too!) 
- Jotei (more serious drama, thrilling to see how the girls backstab and plot against one another..)
- My Boss My Hero
- Liar Game (average rating to me...)  

And so i've finished all that my frens recommended me... anymore nice shows to recommend me pls?!? anw, soju.com has got a wide variety of drama series, similar to youtube or tudou, it's really cool n user-friendly! Convenient when u can jus click the next button to direct you to the following episode, fast buffering too!

No matter how much i lurve jap cuisines... i guess sometime it still proves to be rather troublesome to cook them~ Another sch bento, this is of a local cuisine, display of my mum's culinary skills! (i only boiled the egg, and packed this bento...haha!) 

     

Left:
- Boiled Egg, Mashed-potato-pancakes, and a dash of strawberry honey stars for fun~ 
Right:
- Chinese-style Macaroni with minced meat, 3 'Guo-Tie

n it's all packed and ready to go!! Discovered this lunchbox which i pestered my mum to buy.. many yrs back..  din know of bento existence then! but i'm glad i found this again! Which means.. one more bento set! i've got 3 nw yaY* n this one's a unique round shaped 2-tier bento! I rmbered it was quite cheap, bought at those Value-Dollar Shop, at most $2+ only! Bottom tier: 300ml, Upper tier: 250ml

A Peanut-butter sandwich and an oreo cookie to munch on the way out! =D i'm a glutton~~ hahha! 

Jap Word of the Day:
ポテト Poteto (PO-TEH-TO) = Potato 
パン Pan (PA-Ng) = Bread
クッキー Kukkii (KUK-KEEE) = Cookie

These words are in 'Katakana' form, meaning they are translated directly from english and thus, have the similar pronunciation! Some Katakanas are translated from German and other languages as well, with the same pronunciation.

                                                                                                ♪it's sushi time! ♪*~-.-~*★

Made this bento to bring to sch for the 1st time!! Kinda weird actually, to be eating bento in the canteen.. while ur frens are all eating food fr the canteen in proper plates n bowls...but i still lurVe it! It's cute isn't it? Here's my 1st sch-bento~ (the pic on the left)

         

Left pic:
- Inarizushi X2 (wif LOTSA ingredients inside!! crabstick-pieces and at least 3 peeled prawns!) 
- Sushi X8 (cldn't wait, once i opened it, downed one sushi str away b4 i rmbed to take the pic) 
- Mixed Vege, of 3-colour-capsicums 
- Boiled Egg
- Ebi, Fried X2
- Chicken Sausage X1 

Right Pic: 
Basically the same items, packed for my bf! (^___^) anw, Cold Storage sells many sushi-making-ingredients, and i bought the sweet beancurd-pockets there too, about $5+ for 10 pieces!

Mogubox #4 (as posted) was a 'Speed-Bento' i would say... since i have morning lessons the nxt day, i made the sushi on a sunday night, packed the lower-tier first and left it in the fridge overnight... some tips summarised as follows:

1) Do prepare food items in advance. If possible, pack them into the Bentos the night b4
2) Do prepare cut-up or cubed vegetable pieces in the fridge
3) Try to cook food items simultaneously, such as steaming/boiling all together 
    (i often boil the vegetable chunks together with an egg, or sausages, meatballs etc...) 
4) Use Leftovers!!! and microwaves!
    (the fried ebi was my mum's creation for the previous night's dinner hee!) 
5) Planning in advance does help alot! 

Here's a pic of my bento-blue-print.. kinda lyk a 'map' which i follow thru~ 

Preparation time: 10mins

See, packing bento is not as time-consuming if you plan properly! There's also no need to wake much earlier, just to cook~ And do check out this webbie http://lunchinabox.net/ ...Many many cool tips! really interesting to read... Have fun bento-ing! 

Sunny Sentosa Outing!~ complete wif a bento-picnic!                         
  
     

Bento Lids:
- dried cranberries and a packet of mayonaise

Pink Bento (Left to Right):
- Shredded Cabbages and mushrooms in the orange silicon-cup, cucumbers at the side
- 2 mini apple strudels
- Oven Roasted Chicken, 3 piecies, with assorted vege and grilled tomatoes 
- Decorated wif a Lemon-slice-smiley~~

Blue Bento (Left to Right):
- Bolognese sauce with a Happy face, of Mushrm-slice-hat, egg-white-cubes for eyes, and a Tomato smile!
- Macaroni with japanese dried fish flakes (any1 knoe the exact jap name for that?? o___0)
- Hard-Boiled Eggs
- Chicken Karaage behind the grass-separator (leftover from dinner) 

Overall, was a great meal! though it looks kinda small to fill 2 person.... guess it's the roasted chicken helped to fill up our tummies~ n it's a smiley bento for the special occasion!! Still trying my best to make cute-looking bentos~
really luRve those kawaii bentos in bentochallenge! *gyabo* but for me, i thnk i might not have the patience to prepare those bentos! looks rather time-consuming to me! n i've alrd invested enuf time in cooking!! ps: i'm still an inexperienced, slow cooker... =( 

Jap word of the Day:
ゆでたまご YuDe Tamago (YOU-DEH TA-MA-GO) = Hard boiled egg