(#143) Indoor picnic, and pasta bento

D is telling me that today they will  have an indoor picnic at his class, they'll pretending the weather is nice, sunny and warm. Well, it was raining a little when I dropped them at school this morning, and now the sun is shining brightly but off course the temperature outside is still in the 40's here in Bellingham.
And everyone should bring a picnic friendly lunch so I packed him smoked turkey rolled in tortilla.

The rests are steamed broccoli, another smoked turkey (I tried to make it like a flower :D), sliced of English cucumbers, grape tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and satsuma orange.
I also packed banana, crackers and dried plum (not pictured).

And for B, I packed him some leftover pasta with basil pesto topped with flowered cucumber and carrot. I use the eko lunch box that has little separated container with lid perfect for the pasta or chilly, I really love this box and now I am thinking to get another one.

The rests are steamed broccoli topped with flowered carrot, yellow baby carrots, grape tomatoes, sliced of persimmons, granny smith apple and dried plum.

(#142) Fried chicken and roasted kabocha

Quick post for today's bento ^_^ YUP!! I roasted some kabocha last night and OH MY!!! it came out so good, I did not even put any sea salt or anything but everyone loves it including the baby!

Inside the box : fried chicken, roasted kabocha, steamed broccoli, baby roma tomatoes, satsuma and dried plum. Below is the other picture :

(#141) Vegetable soup from a Deli :D

Busy weekend yesterday, hubby decided to install a new sink and it took him almost the whole day, and I could not cook since he took all the kitchen space :D
So we decided to have dinner out and do little grocery afterwards, I bought some vegetable soup and bread for today's bento.

It's Monday and that means D is going to Mt. Baker again for the next ski lessons. So I packed the soup in a thermal soup bowl separately (not pictured). I hope he can manage to open the lid with no problem.

The rest are some cheddar and onion bread stick packed in the first tier, the second tier contents are satsuma, persimmons, granny smith apple slices and some dried plum. In the morning I decided to put some mozzarella stick for "just in case" he's still hungry up there :D
And off course packed him some hot chocolate to warm him up after the lessons.

This one is for B, he seems a little upset and jealous that his brother got to go skiing while he is going to school like a normal day, but after seeing his teacher and friends I know he'll have a great FUN day.

Here are some before and after picture, and I am so happy with the result, this is our first DIY project we ever do to our house :D my husband is not such a handy man, I mean really ... he is not a handy man at all ...LOL
I kept my fingers crossed all day long yesterday ..... but after seeing the result I might let him do the kitchen floor next .... :D

Not only that the water is dripping, but the sink is pretty gross HUH? ...

Not bad ... not bad at all ....

Y'all have a great Monday ^_^

(#140) Simple fried rice

For today's bento I prepared a very simple fried rice with egg and sweet corn, topped with flowered carrot and leafs food pick ^_^

The rests are leftover fried chicken, I sliced the meat part only so it would be easier for them to eat. Sliced of English cucumbers, some baby yellow carrots and green beans along with baby roma tomatoes, crispy granny smith apple slices, and fresh pineapple.

(#139) Chicken spring rolls

Today's bento is very simple and quick :

I made some chicken spring rolls upon hubby's request, he did not want to have a big dinner that's why. So I packed the boys some leftovers, along with that are same vegetables with yesterday's bento, yellow baby carrots and green beans, baby roma tomatoes and fresh pineapples.
Snacks are packed separately (not pictured) ^_^

I blanched the green beans a little bit too long, so the color did not turn out to be flattering on the pictures, but they are still crunchy, just the way my kids love it!

(#138) Ayam bakar kecap

Howdy y'all ^_^ Hope you are all enjoyed the festive of Thanksgiving.
We however did not have a Turkey dinner, sadly! turned out the snow has ruined our Thanksgiving plan :( Don't get me wrong, I or I should say my kids enjoy the snow so much. Me? ..mmmm maybe ...but not much, especially when I have so many things to do but get stuck at home because I don't drive on the snow. It's way too scary for me, in that situation I have to depend on my husband.

So here's what happened, a very good friend of ours invited us for a Thanksgiving dinner over at their house, and everything was set. I was supposed to bring some Indonesian croquette and some fruit platters. Done!! I prepared everything and so excited to get together with such great people.

But Thursday morning when I got up and looked out at the window the snow is about 10cm high, it must've been  started early and it keeps getting harder and harder. We were starting to debate weather to go or stay instead.
The thing is, our friends lives almost at the top of the hill. (a very stiffed hill I should say). We do have a 4 wheel drive car but I am a bit scare to go up there in such condition. We called each other back and forth and finally decided to stayed home. Thanks GOD I already marinated the whole chicken that was supposed to be served on the previous day. So I pulled everything at the very last minutes. Despite the fact that we didn't got to enjoy a pumpkin pie but our Thanksgiving dinner was scrumptious and everything was great  ^_^ The boys and hubby had a great time playing in the snow.
These below pictures were taken couple days before Thanksgiving, some snows has melted, but then we got so much more the next day and on Thanksgiving.

Anyway, back to the bento business. I did not take any picture of yesterday's bento. I packed just a regular leftover pizza from Sunday's dinner, something easy so D can eat in the car, because his first ski lesson is started yesterday, so he and bunch for students from his school went up to Mt. Baker in the morning and Oh My!!! he had such a wonderful time skiing, he said he had a blast and skiing is his things now ..LOL ...
I packed the same thing for B by the way.

For today's bento I packed them some leftover ayam bakar kecap, it's Indonesian style grilled chicken with sweet soy sauce, I personally prefer to enjoy it with white rice but they requested some pan roasted potatoes with EVOO, garlic and herb. So I prepared just as they requested ^_^
Other than that I put some baby yellow carrots, petite green beans, baby roma tomato with bear and elephant flag to add some cuteness ^_^ Last but not least is mozzarella cheese.
I add some chicken meat to filled the gap on the chicken cup.

Some watermelon packed separately in my new triangle bento box collection, the other one is in black color (not pictured) :

And in the morning I decided to packed them some yogurt with honey for a snack time (not pictured) ^_^

Enjoy your Tuesday everyone!

(#137) Squash and Chicken

This probably is going to be my last bento for this week, tomorrow there will be early Thanksgiving party at B's class and early release on Friday, next Monday and Tuesday.

Anyway, since last night I saw at least 3 bento-er packed squash and chicken ...lol ...
Well, squash is good and I love it, and there are so many kind of squash that I honestly do not know all of it. But I know some are more watery than others.
And last week, a good friend of mine gave me 3 pcs of good sizes squash, I am not sure what kind until I steamed it, and it tastes so good and creamy, so this is not the watery kind, definitely will be good for soup. I never cook creamy squash soup, so I need to search for some recipes.

Back to the bento, other than steamed squash and baked chicken I packed the boys steamed broccoli, grape tomatoes. I packed fruit on the 2nd tier, its apple wedges, raspberries and fresh fig.

Here is the one for D :

The Stylish Blogger Award

Have no bento to post, I only packed the boys some mac and cheese in a thermal boxes and I did not take any pictures. It was so dark yesterday all day long and today's forecast is not so promising either :(


But I got this very exciting news from EMMA'S LUNCH ... that I got this STYLISH BLOGGER AWARD .. WOW ... I must admit I get a little too giddy over this ^_^ thank you so much Emma, I am so honored to received such award ^_^

So here are the rules :

1. Thank & link back to the person who awarded you this.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award. Blog Award!

And here are the 7 things about me:

1. I am married to the most amazing man on the planet

2. I am excited to go back to Indonesia again soon for my sister's wedding

3. I enjoy cooking so much, but don't like the cleaning part .. LOL

4. I like to be well prepared for anything and don't like being rushed.

5. I get nervous so easily and I hate that!

6. I am scared with dogs, especially when they are big and aggressive

7. I enjoy walking especially when the weather is nice

And now I have to pick 15 recently discovered bloggers, and here they are :

(some are recently discovered, some are not but they deserved this award)

http://www.mybentolicious.com/

http://kpolizzi.blogspot.com/

http://purpleangelscooking.blogspot.com/

http://bonitofood.blogspot.com/

http://sonomabento.blogspot.com/

http://www.kidsdreamwork.com/

http://tinybento.blogspot.com/

http://bentobird.blogspot.com/

http://www.hapabento.com/

http://happylittlebento.blogspot.com/

http://jennipriceillustration.blogspot.com/

http://apocketfullofbuttons.blogspot.com/

http://momlunajovann.blogspot.com/

http://bentoforkidlet.blogspot.com/

Have a great Tuesday everyone!!!

(#136) Stir fry beef with sweet peppers

Good Monday everyone!! ... Simple bentos for my boys ...  as always ^_^

Inside the box : Jasmine rice topped with carrot leaf (presenting autumn), stir fry beef with sweet peppers (I separated the peppers cos the container is too small), and steamed broccoli.
On the 2nd tier are pineapples, apple and persimmons wedges.

(#135) Pasta salad

Up for today's bento I packed the boys some leftover pasta salad, along with hardboiled egg, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and yellow baby carrots. I put some celery stick for B upon his requests.
Fruit and snacks are packed separately (not pictured).

This one is for D, I used the 2 tier stainless steel boxes, as you can see I packed some fruits in the 1st tier,  and the 2nd tier contents are the same with the one for B minus celery :D

There will be no school tomorrow, and I have signed up to do Soupy Friday this week, that means I'd have a break from making bento till next week. 

(#134) Vietnamese chicken and croquettes

These bentos are for today, I am still making 3 identical bentos and I am having FUN ^_^ I got to enjoy this bento making hobby while I can, soon my boys will growing up and they wouldn't want me to pack them cute bentos anymore. (I do not want to think about that)

Inside the box :
Brown rice shaped like star, bear and heart,
Beef and vegetable croquettes, Vietnamese lemon-grass chicken, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and yellow baby carrots. Fruits and snacks are packed separately (not pictured)

(#133) Yellow rice and butterfly

I finally have a chance to update my bento blog. This past week was so extremely busy cos D's birthday and my in laws are in town. I did not have a chance to make D a birthday bento on Monday, but I made a special yellow rice.
In Indonesia people have this kind a yellow rice for many big celebrations. So I hope he'll like it and notice that this bento is specially made for his birthday.

I made 3 identical bentos coz D had his buddy for a sleep over at our house.

Inside the box : yellow rice topped with butterfly made out of mini sweet peppers and carrots, egg sheet noodle, steamed broccoli, petite cucumber topped with flowered carrot, cherry tomatoes and baby yellow carrots. Fruit and snack are packed separately (not pictured)

Yesterday I went to school to drop some birthday treats for everyone in D's class, I made some beef and vegetables croquettes and strawberry rolled cake, and they are all love it!!

Too bad I couldn't stay for the ceremony, but when I came to pick up I see a very BIG smile on D's face, and I am so glad he had a great day.

(#132) Pizza and candy

This morning D is complaining that he got stomachache, so I keep him home, and I decided to keep B home as well, there's no point sending B to school if D is staying at home, especially in this wet, cold and windy weather like today.

But since I already took a picture of the bento I've prepared last night, I might as well post it here and will serve it for lunch at home.

We took the boys for trick or treat at the Columbia neighborhood and met so many good friends there, the boys were so happy and excited. They got so much candies and some other stuff like pencils, stickers, road chalks, little toys and many more.

Once we got home, as always they gave all the candies to me to be shorted, I gave them all the toys and kept all the candies. I limited the sugars for my boys so I only give the Halloween candy like 2 pcs per day, and they will only remember it for a week, soon after that they'll forget they have it. 

But I made the candy dog for today's bento to be included with the leftover chicken pizza, I also put some yellow baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and kiwi. 

Here is another picture :

(#131) Gemelli with Basil Pesto

Didn't do bento for the last couple of days, I've been glued to the TV and internet watching every  updated news about the earthquake in Mentaway and Mt. Merapi eruption. Calling my family, relatives and friends in Indonesia and thank GOD everyone is okay, they are far far from the affected area.
My deepest deepest condolences, my thoughts and prayers are with the family and the victims of Mentaway and Merapi.

Anyway, I could not think of another spooky bento for the boys, but still want to add a little Halloween things.             It's a very simple bentos as always.
I cooked some Gemelli pasta served with basil pesto, I hope the boys will like it.

I topped the pasta with Jack O'Lantern out of carrot, next to it are some grapes, steamed broccoli, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and babybel O'Lantern. I so regret I did not grab the red one, so the result would not be to pale :'(
And Uh .. I also put some yellow carrots in the mini bamboo skewer I just got the other day.

Here's another picture :

(#130) sweet and sour chicken

The weather is been so cold, wet and windy here for the last couple of days ... totally one of those day where you do not want to do anything but staying at home, bundled up with the kids and watch movies *kidding*.... LOL ...

Anyway, I cooked sweet and sour chicken for dinner last night, I knew it tasted so darn good and hubby loves it so much, but I guess this is not my boys favorite dish after all, I can tell when they were having dinner they kind a ate it because they have to. So there must be some leftovers today >,< 

But actually D is been doing really good this year, I almost never see any leftovers in his lunch box. I just have to work on B's appetite, he used to be so much better compared to D. But I guess it's hard when it comes to kids, one day they seems to be so picky and the next day they will eat almost anything .... ^_^

For today's bento, I use the eco lunch box that I just got the other day. I love the separated little container inside but I think I should not use that for today's lunch, why? because it's un-microwaveable and even if I manage to heat up the chicken still the heat will probably spoiled the fruits next to it.
So what you see in this picture is not what D is ended up taking. In the morning I took the chicken out to heat it up then put it back in, then I took the fruit and tomato then pack it in another container.

Back to the menu, other than sweet and sour chicken is rice o'lantern, steamed broccoli with bones picks sticking out, grape tomato, and purple grapes.
And here's the picture of bento for B, I use regular plastic boxes for him, everything is the same but instead of making rice balls, I just layered the rice and topped it with carrot o'lantern and nori bat.

(#129) Two little ghosts

I wasn't even plan to make Halloween bento for today's kids lunches, but when I started to put everything inside the box I was thinking maybe I still can give a simple Halloween touches to it, you know like "BOO" letters or something. But still! I wasn't going to take a picture .... too lazy and it was too dark outside, windy and raining almost all day long. Typical northwest weather!
And then I remember last year I made the ghosts out of swiss cheese using the tulip cookie cutter upside down, and I was thinking again hhmmm I can make that simple ghosts and the bento will have more Halloween other than just BOO letter ... and as you can see I ended up taking pictures ..LOL .... So here they are... two little ghosts :

Inside the box : beef patty topped with BOO letter from carrots, mini purple potatos topped with "the ghosts" swiss cheese, steamed broccoli, purple grapes and grape tomatoes and strawberry. I also put a cute spider pick.

(#128) Caterpillar Bento and good news

Inspired by yum yum bento book, I prepared the caterpillar bento for the boys, I cooked the rice in some home-made chicken broth then added fresh parsley and cilantro, so it looks greener. I do this a lot coz my boys love it!!

Inside the box : leftover roasted chicken, sliced cucumbers, orange bell pepper, carrots, grape tomatoes and checkered apple.
Here's the picture of the other one :

Now for the good news :
Today marks the 1st anniversary of my bento blog, I can't believe I've been bento blogging for a year, I still remember how reluctant I was to get started, I was so worry about my English and this and that, but I am glad I did it!! coz I got to know many bento bloggers and get so many ideas, get inspired by them and learn more.
Before I did bento blogging I always post my bentos in my Multiply account which I set it up for my contacts only, so it was very limited and seems to be I was the only bento maker there. So this is great.

And what better way to celebrate the 1st Anniversary than received some bento presents. Special thank you to Kelly, I received the prize I've won on the Awesome Wilton Give Away :

And thank you hubby for getting me this :

 And also this :

And more to come ...LOL ... I hope ...*grind*

Y'all have a fabulous weekend!!! ^_^

(#127) Eyeballs bento

Back to Halloween theme, today I packed the boys some rice served with Indonesian style beef.
I have seen some other bento-ers making an eye ball using bread with special edible marker, but I do not have such tools yet.

So this is what I did after I prepared some rice balls. I put some ketchup into small plastic bag, then poke a small hole at the edge and then squeezed the ketchup out creating the red marks on the rice balls. Then I put a circle nori cut by scissor.
I am not to crazy about the result but the boys seems to be excited to get Halloween bento again.

Other than rice balls and Indonesian style beef are some orange bell pepper and yellow carrots. And I also packed them some fruits and snack (not pictured).

(#126) Spinach Ravioli

I really want to make another Halloween bento, but last night I was so blank and couldn't come up anything, I ended up standing in the kitchen doing nothing and wasting time. I think I have to look up for some new ideas and inspirations from another bento-ers. 

So I decided to go back to my life safer's bento menu :D I know it's just ravioli bento, but I was in the good mood on taking pictures :D 

 

Inside the rectangular box is spinach and cheese ravioli sprinkle with EVOO and Parmesan cheese and herb topped with flowered carrots, yellow baby carrots, orange bell peppers and baby Roma tomatoes. On those 2 little containers are some grapes and strawberry and some gold fish for a snack.

Almost all the time I make 2 identical bentos for the boys to save some times, and here is the other picture :

(#125) Quick and easy quiche

Before I started with this post, let me share a good news that really touched my heart. BentoBlog has posted the panorama result of the Octobre Pink Bento Project, 46 bento-ers world wide have participated in the project including me. the panorama is now up for auction on FB. Mine is the green box with the pink egg on the second row from the bottom. But you can also check it HERE.

Okay, now to today's bento. I made this supper simple and easy quiche using the recipe from the kawaii bento boxes book that I got a while ago. It came out really nice, I hope the boys gonna love it.

I use some spinach, yellow and green bell peppers and smoked turkey, so the quiche is loaded with some veggies and protein. I baked it in the bear silicon without any crust.

Inside the box other than quiche are honey sandwich, my plan was to make a tombstone with the RIP letters on top, but the stone shape is not shown as clearly as I wanted, and I was a bit frustrated when I made the letters RIP out of cheese, the letters came out in pieces, so instead I just took the letters out and cut the cheese as it is. Not too bad! The rests are sliced cucumbers, purple grapes and strawberries.
All and all the bento is not looking as scary as I wanted to be, but the boys still love it.

I am using my new stainless steel boxes that I just got last week and the lids are pretty high, so I can tucked everything and close it with no problemo!!. Love these boxes from Lunchbots!!!