Monthly Archives: October 2017

Kindergarten bento – Mini Hamburg steak (27/Oct/17)

27/10/2017

Menu: Mini hamburg steak, Steamed veggie salad, Boiled egg, Rice with sesame sprinkle 

Kyoho grapes & Japanese Nashi pear for dessert

My daughter is not a big fan of meat. When she saw me mixing the hamburg pâté this morning (yes I made it in the morning – impressive for a sleepy head like me) she made a frowning face. But I told her I’m making “mini” hamburg, and she seemed satisfied with the remark. 

I used to be or still am fascinated with miniatures of everything – doll houses, a small kitchen set, miniature food samples… I think my daughter also enjoys looking at and playing with them. I’ll probably start cooking all the meat dishes in small bite sizes going forward!

Kindergarten bento – Variety (23-26/Oct/17)

26/10/2017

Since the start of this week, I’ve been working on my translation assignments and didn’t have a chance to post my daughter’s bento. No matter how tied up I can be, the bento making happens everyday. When you are busy, time passes in an incredible speed. I can’t believe it’s already Thursday, and I hadn’t posted any of these bento pictures. 

23/Oct/17 – Tori-don


24/Oct/17 – Chinese stir-fried beef & green pepper 


25/Oct/17 – Sandwiches


26/Oct/17 – Onigiri


Looking back, I’m pleasantly surprised how versatile my daughter’s bento’s are from one day to the other. I wonder if this makes any difference in my daughter’s perception to food. I hope this means something to her, and that she’ll one day realise how much variety of food she is exposed to on a daily basis.

Kindergarten bento – Komatsuna (19/Oct/17)

24/10/2017

Komatsuna.  

It looks like spinach, but tastes more like a mixture of garlic chives and Chinese cabbage. It makes a great side dish when simply sautéed with either olive oil or sesame oil, with a pinch of salt & pepper. 

Today I cooked fried rice with chopped Komatsuna along with jako, dried baby sardine. Just stir fry chopped spring onion with a table spoon of sesame oil, add chopped Komatsuna, then rice, and sprinkle a little bit of salt, pepper and konbu dashi powder (or konbu tea powder) to taste. In order to avoid making the fried rice soggy, make sure to stir fry Komatsuna well. Sprinkle some sesame at the end.

Menu: Komatsuna fried rice, Sausage, Boiled green beans, Cucumber sticks, Cherry tomato & broccoli omelet 

Apple bunnies for dessert

Kindergarten bento – No egg day (18/Oct/17)

18/10/2017

One of the readers of this blog once mentioned that she had noticed a lot of egg used in my daughter’s bento. Thinking about it, I do pack some form of egg almost everyday. My daughter loves egg, and on top of it, it not only gives bright colour but also fills up the space in the bento box.

But ever since then, I started to have a no-egg-day, once a week, for my daughter’s bento.

From last April, my daughter started getting hives. Without anti-histamine, it comes back almost everyday. She had a blood check done, and the result came out completely clean, so it’s not because of egg or any other food.  But I’m hoping this no-egg-day initiative may shed some light…?

Menu: Nikudon (pork on rice), Boiled green beans, Steamed broccoli, Cherry tomatoes

Frozen apple mousse & raisons for dessert

Kindergarten bento – Overslept (17/Oct/17)

17/10/2017

I overslept this morning. In such a panicky morning, frozen chicken soboro, sautéed minced chicken, comes in handy.

While Soboro is being defrosted (just in room temperature), quickly make scrambled egg and boil green beans. Once the beans are boiled thinly slice them, place them along with Soboro and egg carefully on top of freshly cooked rice. Voila, it’s done!

Steamed mashed pumpkin also came from my dear freezer.

Menu: Chicken Soboro bento, Steamed mashed pumpkin, Cucumber sticks, Cherry tomato

Tangerine Mikan for dessert

Kindergarten bento – Grandparents (16/Oct/17)

16/10/2017

Menu: Grilled salmon & wakana sprinkle mixed in rice with nori seaweed on top, Steamed broccoli, Steamed carrot & daikon mixed with olive oil, Boiled egg 

Apple bunnies & Kyoho grapes for dessert 

Last night (Sunday night), my husband and I went out for a dinner organised by his business partner. We asked my parents to come over to our place to babysit our daughter, with an option for them to possibly stay over in case it gets late. 

With such an arrangement, of course we take an advantage and stay for a nightcap, but this means going to bed super late on a school night and waking up early for bento as well as breakfast for five people instead of three.

So I did. Woke up early and made bento for our daughter and breakfast for all of us. As I was making bento at our open kitchen my parents looked over my shoulder and admired their granddaughter’s bento. Not because it’s fancy (not at all), but because they haven’t had a hand-made bento for a long time and reminisced its existence. Sensing their wish I packed two extra bento boxes for my parents (forgot to take a photo unfortunately) and left it before I went out for my weekly chore. When I came home my parents had already left, and I was expecting to see those two extra bento boxes taken along with them. But instead, I found one empty bento box in our kitchen sink with a pair of chopsticks clearly used for eating what was in the box.

It must’ve been really good. 

Kindergarten bento – Lack of green (13/Oct/17)

13/10/2017

I wish I had one more ingredient to add more green to the bento today. I only had garlic chives in my fridge that was green… which ended up in omelet. 

Later on I went to a grocery store and replenished my fridge with green ingredients. Only then have I realised it’s actually weekend and there’s no need to make bento for the next 2 days. Well, it happens…

Menu: Garlic chive omelet, Coleslaw salad, Cherry tomato, Grilled Spanish mackerel in saikyo-miso, Rice with sesame sprinkle

Japanese Nashi pear for dessert

Kindergarten bento – Tortilla wrap (11/Oct/17)

12/10/2017

Following the precious advice by a fellow blogger Antonio, I heated up tortillas directly on top of the gas burner. As a result, they stayed soft after being heated, and I was able to roll them all up very easily. Thank you again for such a spot-on advice!

Menu: Tortilla wraps (Cheese, ham & cucumber with appelstroop, Broccoli omelet, Strawberry jam & peanut butter, Apricot jam & butter, Nutella), Boiled okra, Steamed broccoli, Cherry tomato

Kiwi & banana for dessert