Bento accessories organiser

Thanks to Papi for being the sweetest dear ever~

Finally... *imagine Fergie crooning*

I received 2 boxes to organise my bento accessories!

*woot woot*

The interior look

Adjustable compartments

Egg molds, cutters, assorted picks

Punchers, silicone cups, mayo case, shoyu bottle, cutters, barans & misc

I'm a happy happy kid!

Post Three-Oh-Oh

5 days to bloggie's bday, and I hit post #300 today.   :)

What's new, you wonder? Nothing much, just that I stumbled upon Obama sushi while browsing through tofugu, a wonky Japanese language and culture blog (so they say). The amount of work that went in there, i cannot imagine. You've gotta see for yerself, mes amis.

In tandem with keeping things short and sweet, I'm not blogging much today. I'm still pretty tired out from my weekend trip back to hometown. Hope everyone had a good Monday!

 

Blues~ Blues~ Go away~

In love with Delicious @ Bangsar Village

"I could get used to this."

That was what he said.

I smiled a little smile in my heart.

Because that's exactly how I felt,

the first time I set my foot inside the place.

We had been critically undecided about where to settle down for dinner last Sunday.

KL or PJ? Hartamas or Bangsar?

He thought that we should explore Bangsar since we hardly visit the area. I admit that I'd been pretty skeptical about his choice... that was all because I forgot that there was a precious little gem tucked away at a hidden corner in Bangsar Village. Somewhere that a kind benefactor had brought me before during a difficult period.

This is also part of the reason why it rhymes with homey to me...

A thoughtful touch. I'm really getting used to it by now. And I don't see any reason not to. :)

Moving on.... Order was fast, which was something out of the ordinary for me, as I'm a dawdler over menus. I caught sight of something which gave a little tug at my heart and the silent decision's made. He locked eyes with that certain something too and casually suggested it to me... we're soulmates, no doubt about that.

bon appetit, friends...

Drinks

Mine - RM 10.90

His - RM 8.90

Appetiser

Ours - RM13.90

Nothing near the condensed stuff that you dig out from the can. This is pure shroom heaven with a whole galactic of the toadstool family swimming inside. It was enjoyable to nibble at the minute chunks of mushrooms that comes with the soup. I believe shitake was used as well as it imparted a nice woody flavourto the soup. Dunk the buttery garlic bread in, I say, the deal's sealed.

Mains

His - RM 21.90

Mine - RM 21.90

Mo gradh settled for a chicken and avocado sandwich with pesto while yours truly anticipated excitedly for her roast duck salad with pomelo. The former was a tad bland but the latter did not disappoint. Tangy, refreshing and generous with the greens and slivers of roast duck, just the way we like it. I especially eschew the way the flavours explode in my mouth... need I explain more? *winks*

Both dishes were very generous in servings. Mo gradh had oodles of chicken chunks to polish off. As for the salad, it is substantial enough to be considered a main dish just by itself. Truth betold, we were stuffed to the brim and hence vehemently declined desserts, albeit I'm slightly mournful for that. I was sincerely hoping to taste their pretty desserts sitting on the counter. At the same time, I also know that I won't enjoy eating it at that present state. We'll be back again, definitely.

I couldn't help but think that Father Time seemed to have forgotten to wind his clocks. For while we were there, time stood still. And mortals as we are, took the time to savour the delicious food and basking in each other's company... in enrapturement, in ignorance of passing glances, in bliss and in love.

Of course, no great time is complete without some memorabilia...

spunkz and monsieur smiley

spunkz & monsieur grouch

Here's to more rendezvous at Delicious~

Maisie Eats Bento 100th Bento Giveaway

If you're a bento enthusiast, you might wanna know about this :)

There's currently a giveaway from Maisie Eats Bento in conjunction with Lisa's 100th bento post. Closing date is on 5th of April 2009 at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Don't miss out by checking this link !

This reminds me.. I've never kept count of my bentos. haha. Maybe I should start compiling.

I love bento-ing~ *grins like a chipmunk*

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*gasps*

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Click here ---> Pikkopots actually made a bento with DOMOKUN!!!!!!

aAaAaAaAhhhhh!!!

*kowtows*

Please hop over to this talented lady's site for more delicious looking bentos!She also does 'Lost' bentos. Amazing feats, I have to say.

Did you see that? Did you see that? Did you see that??????

I knowww.... I'm just too Domo-crazy... :)

Onigiri-sama bento

Today's bento features onigiri-sama!

I shaped the onigiri following this bentorial from JustHungry. Simple and neat, most importantly it avoids the cumbersome sticky-finger situation. Thumbs up!! There's another way of making onigiri using a Zipock bag which I saw on JustBento . If you're interested, do hop over here to have a look. Both these bentorials come with detailed pictures and instructions which I find really easy to follow.

JustBento also has a very comprehensive Onigiri FAQ which can tell you what you already know and what you do not know about onigiri. I'm absolutely smitten by these two sites which are managed by maki. They are very useful sites for bento beginners like yours truly here. :)

Left: Plain onigiri, Right: Onigiri with okaka furikake

Lookie! It's Zou-san (Elephant) peeking behind the onigiri with shiso furikake.

Full view of the bento. One of the plain ones behind is filled with katsuobushi mixed with shoyu.

The baran on the left hand side is Kuma-san (Bear)! Hihi. The barans were placed to prevent the onigiris from sticking to one other.

Onigiri is something which is really simple and speedy to make. It also makes up a substantial meal. Some even quoted it as the ultimate Japanese comfort food. Omoshiroi or pretty interesting, isn't it? Maybe you can start making some at home too!

Till the next bento, ja ne~

Credits:

Onigiri .gifs from Anikaos.com!

Couscous & Chicken Kebab Bento

I bought a bag of 5 lemons at RM3+ at Tesco few days ago. Initially, I had only planned on getting 1 of the tarty fruit for making my couscous. Upon inspecting, it was RM1+ for a fruit. Calculative obasan ego naturally led me to putting down that ONE fruit and picked up the ONE bag. Hence, these few days will see me doing everything possible lemony. It was hot wild honey and lemon last night with me spudding in front of the idiot box. Life's pleasures can be very simple. :)

As I looked up for lemony facts, I read from here that lemon juice acts as a tonic to the liver and stimulates it to produce bile, making it ready to digest the day's food when taken regularly at the start of the day. Hihi. So here I am feeling slightly luxurious, adding 2 slices of lemon into my water bottle filled with good ol' sky juice. Zesty stuff! Cheh wah. Like fancy dining only. wokay wokay, it's just once in a while! Besides, the added zing serves as an excellent motivation to encourage myself to increase guzzling.

Bento Update:

Yesterday's bento had Mediterranean notes lingering around. Yours truly endeavoured into couscous cooking with mediocre results. But it's okay. Just a bit more salt next time will do the trick. Personally, the taste is fine with me coz I grew up with Mum's less oil-less salt-less sugar cooking. Papi on the other hand found it slightly bland. I'll tweak it to suit his taste next time round. Mou ikkai~

Prior to cooking this, I researched quite a lot of couscous recipes on RecipeZaar before coming out with one of my own. And here's spunkz couscous recipe for sharing!

Couscous

Ingredients:

• 4 - 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
• Handful of raisins
• Salt & ground black pepper
• Couscous
• Chicken stock (I used instant granules)
• Few sprigs of fresh sweet basil (Right outta my garden!)
• Olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice or more or uhh.. less

1. Saute some minced garlic and sliced red onions in olive oil till fragrant. Add in couscous and stir for a while. I also added some raisins in at this point. It can be omitted if preferred.
   
2. Next, add chicken stock to the mixture till water comes to a boil.
   
3. Follow the instructions on the packet as different brands have different water to couscous ratio stated. I used chicken stock in place of water as I wanted to infuse more flavour. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste.
   
4. Take pan off heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes with the cover on.
   
5. Then, use a fork and fluff the mixture up.
   
6. After that, stir fry the mixture on low heat again this time by adding 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
   
7. Add in chopped tomatoe and chopped green peppers. (I sauteed mine prior to this step.
   
8. Before taking pan off heat, stir in 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix well. (May be upped or cut down depending on preference)
   
9. Sprinkle on some shredded sweet basil leaves. Mint leaves can also be used, up to personal preference.
   
10. Couscous is ready for serving.
    

I made chicken kebabs to go with the couscous. It's really pretty simple to conjure up. Feeling very adventurous, I also gave an Oriental twist to the self-made recipe!

Chicken kebab with 5 spice powder

Marinade:

• Chicken fillet, cubed
• Salt or some Kikkoman soy sauce
• Sesame oil
• 5 spice powder or as Martin Yan calls it: Magic powder!
• Smashed garlic cloves

1. After 2 - 3 hours of marination, I skewered the chicken cubes on satay sticks and alternating between a piece of bell pepper, chicken, onion, chicken... you get my drift, yea?
2. Slather some olive oil onto the chicken skewers before popping them into the toaster oven for around 10 - 15 minutes.
   
3. Remember to turn the skewers once in a while for even grilling.
   
4. Juices may run out during the grilling process. Save it and use it to drizzle on top of the couscous! Heavenly stuff, I tell ya!
   

This is Papi's bento:

Left: Couscous with Chicken Kebab

Top right: Chilean blueberries. Lemon wedges for Papi to make tea.

Bottom right: Screwpine cake for teatime. Monkey container with Lingam's garlic chili sauce.


P/S: Will post mine after I get the pics outta Lenny. XD

'A' rant

A-chan, anta no koto daikirai! I don't know whether I should be happy or petrified to be blessed with at least one disgruntled caller or mailer each day. My patience is not working well today. And A-chan is another oni! *grabs hair* Can I say A-chan honto ni baka ja nai desu? I was actually envisioning myself typing something rude back to A-chan earlier on. My, the words I'd like to slap A-chan with. If we were in IRC, I'd have slapped A-chan with a trout yonks ago. Em, actually typed halfway den delete everything and send a polite remark over already for rice bowl sake. My resentment is egging me to kick A-chan but A-chan is on the other side of the world. I hope A-chan reformats her brain so she'll use it to think for once instead of asking unintelligeable (is there such a word?) questions that makes me want to vomit blood.

My life span is shortened by half today. *stabs stabs stabs self*

PS: I re-read my post. Was I too mean? Maybe. But I'm too tired to care. Maybe I'll even delete this post by tonight. Who knows?

Confessions of a Shopaholic

We just got back from the movie. And it turned out to be the special screening of this:

CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC!

And we'd actually thought we'd be watching a Chinese movie. rofl! Chombi managed to dupe Papz into thinking that we're watching a Chinese movie and had me lapping every word up.

I honestly have not read the book yet, even though it was the rage among my high school girlfriends back then. Time to grab a copy eh?Well, this is a must-watch for chick lit fans. Even though the 3 of us had never laid our eyes on the book before, it had us in stitches at quite a few scenes. Definitely light hearted and fun to watch. Enough to chase my blues away! hee..

The premiere would be held 2 days from now. There were actually 3 special screening rooms tonight, mainly for people who got the tickets from My.fm, Mix.fm and Era.fm.

Thanks to Chombi for the tickets again. We really appreciate it!

By the way, Chombi will be appearing in an ad on Astro's Shuang Xing (Double Star) Channel beginning 1st of April if all goes well. Try to spot this handsome monkey of mine if you have this channel. :)

imissyoumissyoumissyouowedy

Achy day

Going for another movie premiere tonight but.....

I dunno what's the movie.

Can't wait.....

for the clock to strike any moment soon.

What an achy day it'd been.

(>_<)*%@#

Thinking about tonight makes me feel a whole lot better about today......

Stop the Meranti Hill Development

I received this message through FB this morning. It was from Papi's cousin.

"I'm writing on behalf of all Bandar Sri Damansara (henceforth referred to as BSD) residents who are trying to stop the Meranti Hill project.

Before I go any further, here's a gist of what has transpired. The BSD residents formed a committee upon hearing the development of the Meranti Hill Condominium project in 2008 and quickly sought to meet with developers and relevant government officials with regards to halting development from progressing. Armed with independent surveys and analysis, and a signature petition, both parties met several times to discuss the merits of the project. Everything came to a full-stop following the Ampang hillside tragedy with the government's issue to cease all hillside projects.

On 16 March 2009, our committee received wind of another project being planned at the same site, and immediately met with relevant parties for an explanation. To their surprise, we found that the developer's were reviving the SAME project, with small amendments. The discussion ended with BSD residents being given two weeks to provide a show cause to halt the said project.

The hills provide sanctuary to many animals, has a waterfall & stream, not to mention providing everyone with a fresh respite to the clogged, polluted air, constantly surrounding us. We do NOT and cannot afford to lose another green lung. We cannot afford to have another 12 blocks of 35-storey condominiums, with abt 7,700+ parking bays, and congestion, traffic, erosion, a lesser quality of life, just to satiate some parties (and possibly to fill some pockets along the way; then again, that is merely a presumption) It is nature, as best as we can ever find it, in this day and age, nestled quietly amidst the hustle and bustle of suburbia, flanked by the by traffic-laden LDP and NKVE highways. How many more green lungs, trees, animals, nature and mankind have to suffer at the hands of progress, under the guise of "development?" What does our future look like at this rate? In a time when the world is looking for ways to save the environment, reduce carbon emissions and save the ozone layer from depleting further, and here we are, killing and eliminating the VERY substance that aids earth's recovery.

We are currently holding a signature campaign as a means of protest, but we need at least 2000 signatures to make a difference, and the going is slow. We are planning to hold a protest this sunday, per details below. We would greatly appreciate any assistance and/or support from your organisation. Please help us save from ourselves, save us from their greed.

SAY "NO" TO MERANTI HILL DEVELOPMENT

SIGN YOUR SUPPORT!

There is a signature campaign ongoing now. If you have not been approached, let us know via this forum to get your household's signatures.

JOIN FORCES AS ONE VOICE!

Your presence is important, every voice counts. Be there!

Warmest regards,Sheerin"



I've pledged to do my part. And I hope more people can too. Every bit helps. Please support this cause to avoid more unfortunate tragedies from happening again. Thank you!

Random... too random, maybe

Wishlist

A mezzaluna

Suribachi and surikogi

Tiffin carrier

Jar of tahini

Wiener cutters

Truffle oil

Oven

Fridge

Waffle maker for moffles

Toolbox for bento accessories

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Out of fun, I decided to draft a wishlist.

Halfway through, I felt amused.

*grins*

It's all about food.

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If given a choice to study language, I'd go for Japanese or French.

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My future is still fuzzy. Sometimes I can see myself swimming on, sometimes I can't. Should I start running instead?

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She's gone all dotty on me. I'm perplexed. And sad.

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Jet-setting sounds fun.

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Not without a random pic to end the post.

My hairdresser's son.

Dilly & Sweety

I have two new additions to my home, Dilly and Sweety. :)

No pictures as yet at press time as I thought they're still traumatised from the move. I repotted them in bigger domains as they're growing and need their spaces.

Sweety looks steadier while Dilly's wispy fronds are toppling everywhere. I resorted to rounding its fronds up with a ribbon I found. So far so good.

I hope they'd have adapted well by the time Papi comes back. I can't wait to show him the plants. :)

Happy St Patrick's to all!

*yawns*

Time to turn in and dream of the four-leaf clover! Or maybe catch a leprechaun and get a pot of gold! mmmm mmmm...... tweet dweamz, dear fwenz~

B-Less and C-Less, I'm Wallowing

Nobody likes to read negative stuff. But I figured that since I've been the happy kid for quite some time recently, I should have earned the right to mope and wallow once in a while. Promise, I'm going for the kill fast and will snap out of it after this post.

Parting seems to have gotten easier over time, I didn't feel that heavy hearted tonight. Good sign. All the practice had me firmed up good.

I was fine, fine and perfectly fine! Coming home alone, feeling good on the couch and finally enjoying some quality TV time. Heck I even watched one full episode of Bones. Didn't even noticed when that sneaky Wallow crept on me. Fine, so I'm wallowing now.

I'm Buu-less for a week and Cuzz-less for two. Misery loves company, yeah... how cliche.

It's ok, today's gonna be over soon. At least I'm booked for Friday, thanks to sayang's grace. We're heading down to Alexis for seafood pizza which Cass was raving about. Spookz always says, convert your misery into chomping energy. I think I won't mind desserts for Friday too. Hmm.... Godspeed!

May the days zoom by for I might gain too much weight before my loves come home!

Am already chomping on the confused lemon chips to improve the mood. And don't get me started on them. Comfort food rating?

f-a-i-l.

I hope they come out with better cross-breeds.

Gah...

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Today's bento

Top left : Cameron strawberries
Bottom left : Tomato drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with basil, bonito flakes and nori
Right : Blanched baby siew pak choy, roasted drumstick

Love my mini shoyu bottle on the right! On the left, I filled Monkichi with sugar for the strawberries.

Monkichi in action. The one showing his behind looks like he is $h1tting.

Strawberry with sugar...

Amai~

@@@@@@@@@

@ suki da ne! @

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\(^_^)/

Credits:

Des-chan for her persistence in insisting on photographing. No pictures otherwise. Taihen arigatou-gozaimasu!

5 years

Some of my happier memories involved getting hot and sticky in the kitchen, and having someone else prodding me to do it.

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At 5 am in the morning.

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5 years of sweat, tears, grit and laughter,

we're made for each other.

Bento Lunch Delivery for Papi

I haven't been making bentos as much as I want to. When papi requested for lunch delivery today, he got a bento in my new Lock & Lock container!

To be honest, it was a mad rush. I'd slept in today since quiet Sunday mornings are seemingly non-existent for me. When I woke up, SpongeBob cartoon was over. Darn, I misssed it. Then I flew to the market and grabbed whatever I needed because I realised I had another Very Important Errand to run. Ahh, talk about relaxing on Sundays. (=.=)"

Anyhooos, here's papi's lunch bento. I fried glass noodles with carrots, fish cake, egg and baby siew pak choy. I also fried an omelette and did a baby cutout as well as some hearts. Did a frame around with katsuo bushi and placed the hearts at all corners. It was all done in record time too. 30 minutes!

Made with love for papi dearest~

The baby cutout kept reminding me of something which i couldn't quite put my fingers on till I recalled this:

The Mami Poko Baby! That was SL cuddling it.

hee hee hee...

Till the next bento, tata!