I'll be Away.......

Yes i'll be away........leaving the kids & the man at home!!

More than 10 years ago, we used to see each other daily in college in our pursuit of tertiary education back then. With the exception of PF who used to be a secondary schoolmate, a companion during our school holiday part-time working exploration & also a room mate during college time, the other 2 (LF & SF) actually came from Johor & Melaka respectively. Despite having a diversity of life style, culture, background & languages, we managed to keep our friendship lasted for nearly 15 years!! Aren't that precious enough in life that it shouldn't be neglected instead treasure with much sincerity???
Can't speak for them though..... but i surely will DO !!

So with each of us having our own family & personal affairs to manage after started working, we have not been able to realise a dream of going for a vacation together (despite many talks & thoughts) yes.......an ALL ladies trip !!! And this time, it is with much compromising, tolerance, sacrificing & consideration, that a relaxation trip was finally agreed upon among us. All 4 of us "aunties" will be flying to Macau for a 4Ds, 3Ns trip..... eating, drinking, shopping, sightseeing, chatting, crazying around without the needs to bother about kids screaming or trying to entertain the huby's needs!! How wonderful !!

This is going to be my 2nd time to Macau, the 1st being at least 7-8 years ago!! And i knew Macau has changed so much recently!! But anyway it's not so much of the place, instead it's the time that we are spending together that matter most!!

Btw, Macau's weather right now is at 27 deg.cel. (max) & 23 deg.cel. (min)!!
So don't get me wrong, i'm NOT that 'sot' in bringing the above winter clothings to Macau!!
Those winter clothings were dugged out earlier for a much needed DRY CLEAN before i will need them in coming December!!

B'coz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


I'm going to Tokyo, Japan ahh !!!! (will definitely be a post for another day)

Arghhh.....tell you, i'm almost floating up into the air just by thinking about this trip. So i better not think about it too much yet, at least after i enjoyed my time in Macau !!


We were all VERY EXCITED, FULL OF ANTICIPATION & look forward to this golden opportunity of vacationing together.....yet again !!!

One more............bento for tomorrow !!

I'm an easy eater, just anything can easily pacify my hungry stomach when it's yelling in hunger.
So I had initially fried some garlic rice from the left over rice for tomorrow quick lunch & never plan to post it as it has nothing special that worth a feature!!
And it was left on the trolley table to cool before packing!! Now i realised how dangerous it is doing that!! Eventually it was attacked by my 'wai sek' monkeys!! Blame it on my ignorance to get them pack as quick as possible.....
So gone was my garlic fried rice !!!


Still can smile so cheekily ??!!

So i just do up some quick pretty sandwiches some 10 minutes ago....!!


I only came across the techniques to do these in the afternoon over at a japanese mama's site!!
Alternating the "HEART" shape nutella bread with peanut butter bread, surrounding some carrot sticks for munching !!!


Here are some mixture of fish & chicken balls which i'm also trying to finish up before i vanish for one week..... just can't trust the man to cook up the food left in the fridge during my absence for a week!!

I like this simple bento!

Bento week # 18

Finally i made these......my all time favourite Inari !!

It is actually so easy to prepare. So long as you have rice & any toppings of your preference are handy, all you need is to stuff them into these sweet tofu skin (which i bought ready from the supermarket)!! I didn't purposely cooked the rice but instead they were leftover rice and i also don't usually keep overnight rice. But these super soft, smooth yet bouncy PREMIUM rice was just TOO NICE to be thrown away !!! BE WARN.....rice lover, if you have yet to discover this heavenly rice, please don't start looking at/trying them........hahaha !!! Sounds so scaryleh....
Bcoz once you start chewing them, i'm just afraid that u might get addicted.....LOL LOL

here it is

Anyway, the left & right were assorted 'furikake' and the middle one was stuffed with chilli salmon!!

And this one was the unfinished food from our dining at a nearby restaurant!! Ooh no, since when i became the 'bandaraya' (referring to a local authority but was rather a term use to refer to someone that 'takes' just ANYTHING)!!

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Here are a few BREAD bentos for the BOYS (specifically requested by Scot after savouring mummy's home-made McD & poor Sean despite not preferring as much as his di-di, still needs to share the same menu...haha)!!!

Little Chicken chop sandwich, rock melon cubes & 1 baby potato.

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~~~ THE REAL BURGER ~~~

... 2 pieces of McEGG ...

...Then pan fry freshly marinated minced chicken burger...

...Once done, rest on the toasted cheese bun...

...double layer of chicken burger & egg which has d tomato sauce sandwiched...

... wrap them nicely so that d tomato sauce would not dirty their lil fingers ...

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Since i was already 'sweating' with the burger, i might as well have them as my lunch at work, i mean why not since i do walk to the fast food for these too at times !!!

MY burger was surrounded by lotus slice from yesterday's soup!! An extra cup of chilli sauce for a more delicious meal. Some pineapple tarts as extra.....

Forgot to mention, i had double McChicken burger..........hehehe, too bad i didn't get any lettuce/greenies ahead.....having them missing here is so bland!!

Tomorrow is already Thursday & i'm not planning any bento for the boys as the menu is porridge !! And after that my Bento will take a break for the whole of next week, yoohoo !!

Happy Bentoing !!

A Fruitful weekend that has been long lost ......

Our weekend was usually filled with outings (merely means away from home even if it's only a trip to the shopping mall). Maybe both huby & I are not the type who enjoy staying at home. We also felt that we are obligated to spend sometime with the boys at either public playground or paid play centre or a reading session at the bookstore!! With that, it means i hardly have a peaceful time managing household affairs given that there are so many other things that eats up my time, BENTO.....BLOGGING......BAKING (not enough???)

This past weekend, i felt i'd achieved so much !!! So many tasks accomplished !!! First of all, the boys' mountain of TOYS at home had been seriously in an UGLY sight! Over the years & months, the toys only got to accumulate and had never been downsized !!! Just about anywhere i could find space to hide their toys, there they would be buried.....esp. in time when there will be guests visiting & we were running short of time to tidy up.

The worst victim of all was the TV cabinet. Other than the middle portion of the TV top was occupied to place the TV, the rest of the compartments were ALL FILLED UP with toys!

... THE MAIN TOY CABINET has already been over crowded ...


... THE LEFT SIDE OF TV ...

... THE LEFT CUBICLE ...

... THE RIGHT CUBICLE ...

... THE MIDDLE DRAWER ...

... EVEN ANY BASKET AROUND WAS NOT SPARED ...

I had long wanted to do a housekeeping of those toys that they have out grown !!
So i'd finally picked up the spirit to sort out those toys that are still in good condition & those that can be thrown. In the end, i had a big pack of toys that can be recycled. I will be donating them to the orphanage house!

Despite being busy on that day, i still cooked them a simple lunch as i was not in the mood to go out until my mission of settling down with the TOYS was completed !!

Site track a bit...I realised that even for meal time at home, these bento boxes are excellent use for the kids!! Not only that they increase the kids' appetite, they hold food better for kids since they have a deeper space, hence would eliminate the chance of the food spilling off as compared to using a plate instead !!
Furthermore, isn't it wise that i utilise them more since i'd invested so much in these boxes.....heh ??!!

Anyway, the job of sorting, arranging & storing of all the long jumbled up toys were really killing me. It nearly took my whole saturday off, with several breaks in between for cooking, lunch, baking snacks for tea, entertaining "the fights" at home & etc....until i was all sweaty & soaky!!

I can even baked a simple cherry muffins with mixed nuts (i was trying to finish of the left over cherries from the earlier baking session of the Black Forest Cake)

I finally gave it a FULL STOP at 4pm as i had completed nearly 80% of the job and wouldn't care less for the remaining.....!! I took a good shower & decided to rest & nap for awhile with the boys. But the boys just wouldn't cooperate. They continued to talk & talk on the bed & refuse to sleep. Suddenly Sean said he had a 'stomachache' of which i asked if it's a poo that he needs, but only to realise his stomach pain means 'hungry'...hahaha !! It was already close to 6pm. So, i thought i better start cooking dinner. As i was busy trying to speed up my cooking, suddenly it was all quiet out there.

And this was the sight i discovered !!!

Aduh....yeah such tired they were !!!

I retired my Saturday after watching the final 2 episodes of the Last One Standing series shown at Astro On Demand.

SUNDAY

Next Sunday morning, as expected i was forced to wake up early again. I didn't cooked them any breakfast but just snacking some left over muffins. Then i started changing the table runner, cushion covers, table & cabinet cloths.....basically all the "tidying-up-the-house" tasks....once again a long overdue one!! Then, i proceeded to pack my luggage for an upcoming trip next week...probably a post on this next !! By the time i was done, it was nearly 10am and thought i should be planning for brunch already. I was kind of tired & boring then so i thought it would be a win-win situation if i could send the boys of to a play centre (which has been much needed anyway) while i relief myself with a nail job & some retail therapy!! So off we went to Mid Valley & had our brunch at Oh Sushi. Then i got the boys registered at Megakids & left 'potato' minding them while i quickly headed to the salun, just a floor down. I dare not think about indulging into a full menicure spa or the like as i would never know when my mobile would ring just in case the boys need me to attend!! So it was just a quick "cut+shape+buffing" session which lasted less than 30mins. I was all prepared to forgo the nail job if the queue is long but thank god, i was immediately served once i walked in. After i had my nails polished nice & shine, i even had enough time to shop for a much needed pair of legging !!!
I had a quiet peaceful moment all by myself for nearly 1 hour & no interruption at all until i became worried. So i went back to check on them. And I had my query answered, the boys met their school mate and they had a good time playing together. The boys were even reluctant to leave. On our way to the car park, the boys were still not contended & wanted to eat ice-cream. SO they had a scoop each in the car. By the time we reached home, it was about 3pm & we all hadn't eaten anything after our sushi brunch!! So i made a quick snack for tea.

The boys called it :

... Mummy's McDonald meal ...
just because i had some french fries there, hehehe !!!


I just threw in the marinated chicken & the baby potatoes into the oven & bring them to cook while toasted few slices of bread with cheese in the toaster. Frying those little fries on the non-stick pan was rather quick & hassle-free too.


Place the chicken strips on the toast & squeeze some tomato sauce!
That's mumy's version of BURGER, hahaha......


Scot love it so much that he specifically requested the same 'burger' for Monday's Bento. Since i had balance of the chicken chop, i fulfilled his request. Will try to post that up soon.

To end this long 'rojak' post, i'll present you the master piece of this week !!

... Tadda ...

These were done on Friday night, this time with my youngest sister who place "an order" with me for cupcakes & konyaku jellies. She had a pot luck session with her colleague mates on Sat & offered herself to bring desserts!! She must have had a super real big guts for trusting her "setengah masak"/"half-boiled" skilled sister, hahaha !! And this super good sister gave away the orders absolute free of charge.....it was just to satisfy her baking & decorating bugs, hehe....

Anyway, to reduce the chances of failure, i asked her to buy 'pre-mix' flour & i only added blueberries & carrots into the cakes to create 2 flavours!! This time around, i found a tentative solution to my icing problem. I tried using the alternative to whipping cream i.e. meringue powder to made my icing topping and i have to say that this is so much easier to handle as compared to the whipping cream!! And those cute little carrots were bought candy, not made by me, ok!! Oooh, i just HEART the super white icing carrot cupcake (anyway looks nice doesn't necessarily guarantee good taste, ok)!!

Hope you had a good time enjoying our weekend's happenings !!

Have another great week ahead !!

Caught In Action ......

This weekend, dady was away....just a nite at Penang to check out the site of a project, plus another eating fiesta of course (with all the 'ma lat lou')!! So i had initially planned for a morning cycling session with the boys around our 'taman'. This mission came after we had finally dragged our heavy heart to buy ourselves a bicycle which has long been waiting in our wish list!!
The height of the bicycle is a little high for me but no choice i've got to sacrifice just so that huby could also ride on it as, any lower than this would not be suitable for his usage!!

For obvious reason, having a city childhood's life, i am not familiar with cycling at all !! The last time i cycled was when i was in Form 6 during a field trip to Pangkor Island. And i could remember vividly that i was among the last group that reached the destination during the cycling session!! Now with at least 40% greated in 'weight', i'm not surprised that cycling will no longer be a joyful activity for me. True enough, after my very first session, my 'bawah'/buttock la.....was so damn painful i tell you !!! Hence, I couldn't understand why in the world my boys like cycling so much !! But hopefully it was only the 'first session syndrome' kind of pain and it should go away with more practising!!

Cost about RM260 came with full gear function!!

As usual, my boys are early riser. As early as 7a.m., both the monkeys were already jumping about around the room. Usually, i would just continue with my sleep leaving them to do anything so long as they are staying put in the room itself. But the moment they decided to leave the room & go down, i've got no choice but to slap myself up as i can't risk letting 'potato' alone minding them.....i was just paranoid that the boys might force the 'potato' to open the gate for them to go cycling outside !!! Anyway, once i got down to check on them, the boys were CAUGHT IN ACTION ....... trying to be "mechanic"....."technician".....or "engineer"......i don't know!! I was not told of what's was wrong with one of their bicycle. And the boys went and picked up their dady's tool box trying to "FIX" their problem. Btw, dady has been using his tools in the presence of the boys so they knew that these are NO TOYS and would not use it unwisely (i mean to fight betw them la....). So i let them be while i snapped snapped & snapped behind the curtain, hahaha.... just so that i could prove to huby later that it was the boys that caused the faulty to their bicycle!!!

Anyway, after i was satisfied snapping their photos, i went out to find out what they were trying to fix. Apparently, the break of the bicycle was not functioning. So it means the cycling session has to be put off, eventhough we are living in a gated housing area, i still find it not safe cycling as there are still lots of cars around.....
And i had to put the blame on them as i had no clue how to fix it back. So poor boys didn't get to cycle this 2 days. Argghh.......dady was so badly needed in time like this !!!

My mechanics looked so serious hor....like doing a big project liddat, hahaha.....

Bento week # 18

The boys first bento for the past week was sandwich toast!

I used the raisin bread for toast with slices of ham & cheese which was cut into cube & fastened with a pick!! It's really hard to get strawberries that are sweet so i had to add few drops of honey to combat the sour taste of the fruits, else i'll risk having them untouched! The 2 little pieces of birdy cookies were my first bake of the "kuih bangkit"....which doesn't tasted like one though (bit too hard....blek) !!

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Not everyday, the boys would returned with a clean bento box!! So on a day when i really want them to EAT, finish & come back with a 'polished' box, i'll fried their all time favourite
i.e. fried rice, what to do....."china ah pek's taste" ma !!
So i filled up the whole box with rice & topped with eggs & a pc of sausage !!

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The below bento might looked simple yet i find it time consuming preparing varieties of dishes like that !!
You need to boil the water to cook the frozen edamame.
Then using the same boiling water to cook the hard quill eggs.
Re-heat pre-cooked chicken strips.
Microwave bake beans with eggs.
Cut & arrange kiwi fruits (though d cutting part was done by 'potato').

Anyway, that's the bento for the day & hopefully it was appreciated !!

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And when a light meal was all that was expected (as i knew the boys would prefer the school's menu for the day), why not try giving them a dessert instead !!

So, i made them the Palm Sugar & Coconut Jelly !!

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While the boys had toast with ham & cheese, i had the same sandwich too minus the toast.....to save time & effort !! Plus more 'kuih bangkit' for munching, strawberries & a little bread pudding (obviously from the boys' cut out left over)!

Eeemm.....am sure my sandwich tasted better with cucumber & tomato!!

...the ugly looking bread pudding...

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I considered myself lucky when mom cooked a little extra for dinner!! It means lunch for the next day was settled. And it was even blissful when the dish was my mom's specialty and my all time favourite too!! Ohh, btw don't call yourself a Malaysian if you don't like curry chicken, wokay !!!
I added cherry tomatoes & baby carrots to the tomato rice!!

Having said all, if mom really cooks such nice meals for my lunch everyday, am sure my wasteline gonna burst out all my pants & skirts......arghhhh !!!!

Another weekend ended and hope you'll have a great week ahead !!
Happy Bento !!