Buy ... Buy ... Buy

Yeah ... my purchase from AllThingsForSale is finally here :)

Love the power of online shopping. Not only you can get cheaper things (including shipping) compared to local suppliers, you get stuffs that local suppliers do not have.

Had been searching for the silicon lettuce look a like cups for a long time but no one seems to be carrying it till I spotted them at this site. No need to waste lettuce to fill up space in my bentos anymore :)

Oh oh oh ... I also gotten myself a dinosaur cutter!!! Yesh, finally!!! Boys are so crazy over dinosaurs and now finally can make something dinosaur for them. Hmm ... let me see when.

Bento #25 - Crazy Week

Nothing turned out the way it was planned this week. Hated this kinda situation ... period!!!


25 April 2012

Made bread again yesterday and had decided to try making some character buns for the fun of it. Made some bear shaped buns and after dressing it up, it looks like this in Owein's box.

BUT ... this box did not make its way to Owein's school. WHY?? Because, FIL had given him a lot to eat during breakfast at home and I really doubt that Owein will be able to eat up another bun at snack time in school at 9am. MAD!!! Really was mad ... This box ended up became Oswald's breakfast. --> This is the 1st uneventful event that had happened this week.

Headed out to pick Owein up from school as usual and the moment I step foot into the house, heard Oswald crying very very sadly. Initially I thought he had gotten some punishment from grandpa for misbehaving or something. But it ended up to be that he is crying due to pain - toothache. This result to a mad rush trying to call the clinic to get an appointment and to inform school that he will be absent and to rush down to the dentist. All I can say is HELL BROKE LOSE!!! Mad rush for everyone to get ready to head out to the dentist. --> Uneventful event #2.

At the dentist, it turned out that the filling of his rotting tooth cracked and had exposed the nerves and hence created the pain. Result, Oswald got to suffer a jab to numb that area, which he almost had screamed the clinic down, and had that tooth extracted. Check out his rotten tooth!!! This boy, mouth full of bad teeth ... can't wait for all his baby teeth to drop off.

27 April 2012

Had wanted to make more character buns for today's bento but my attempt failed badly. Had attempted to make hedgehog buns but FAIL!!! Look so ugly, decided not to use them at all. So, it is bear once again and this time, made use of an egg mold to help shape the bread.

This box is packed for Owein as that was all I could managed last night. Uneventful event #3 - Oswald had another toothache!!! Oh yes ... another episode of last min appointment making and made rush to the dentist. To make matter worse, got to wait till this morning then can call to see if there's any available appointment ... the anticipation, the wait, the anger ... all come together. Totally had no mood to do up another bento (Oswald's box) when we discover Oswald's toothache is due to a hole in his tooth and definitely got to make it to the dentist.

Managed to secure an appointment at 10:30am for Oswald to see the dentist. Mad rush to get Odin ready and head down to the clinic. The only relief is that we managed to get his tooth fixed and be back in time to pick Owein up from school at 11:30am.


Crazy way to end the week. Hardly had a moment of 'peace' in the past few days. Everyday I got to mad rush over something. SIGH ... but luckily friends had ask us out for dinner and I'd gladly agreed to it. Finally can sit down and eat in peace. No need to rush, no need to worry, just take my time to eat and relax. Though I had to carry Odin in my arm throughout dinner, but at least he was fast asleep.

Odin's update

Time really flies ... Odin is about 5+ mths old now.

Gotten this rabbit soft toy to measure his growth. 2 little bunnies side by side ... cute right :p

This little boy is growing very well and had started to eat puree fruits and rice cereal already. He flips over onto his tummy like no body's business and he is doing the army crawl to get to things that he want. Very soon, this little bunny will be crawling all over. See, he is already starting to train up his arms for this coming milestone ...

Bento #24

Term 2, week 5 ... half way through the term already. Still have 5 more weeks to go but how ... mummy is losing steam for bento making. Been concentrating too much on bread making these days :)


18 Apr 2012

Made an assortment of bread yesterday and hence, the boys are bringing homemade bread to school again!!!

** Mini Sausage Bun for Owein **

** Chocolate Bun + Strawberries for Oswald **

20 Apr 2012

Thought it would be good to take a break from homemade bread and hence bought a loaf of bread for the boy's bento today. But as I was preparing their boxes, my mind really went blank. I kept asking myself how should I dress up their box. Sad to say, nothing came up and got to rely on cookie cutters. Picked out a cutter to match the box.

Threw in some gummies, nutella brownies and raisin for Owein's box. Forgotten to take a picture of Oswald's box :p

Expanding ... need more space!!!

Can't help but to buy!!!!!!!

Bento-ing can be an expensive hobby!!!!

Dibo and Friends cutter are too cute to resist!!! Think I should start making some cookies soon to use those cutters. Anyone want some cookies???

The rest of the items are loots from Japan :) Friend's sister went Japan for holiday and bought S$600 worth of bento items. Went to my friend's house today to do 'shopping' and these are what I got :p

Baking Frenzy

Can't wait to try out my new oven and I went on a baking frenzy.

The new oven is 1 week old only and I am already working it hard. I had been using the steam function to reheat food and to steam dishes. The steam function is really very good and it frees up my stove area for other purposes and hence cooking time is really maximized.

I also had been baking bread like crazy and fell in love with the proof function that is available. Now time spend on bread making is much more controlled and predictable.

Here's what I'd been baking today and for the past week.

7 April 2012

My new oven's virgin bake using Ellena Guan's Chocolate Chip Bread Loaf recipe

8 April 2012

My 2 days old oven is working today once again and is working very hard. It was being used to bake a Japanese Cheesecake and after that, use to proof dough for my bread and is use to produce these bakes ...

** Ham n Cheese Buns and Cheese Sausage Buns **

10 April 2012

It is bread making day today ... WHY?? So that my boys can have homemade bread in their bento to bring school. Decided to use my favorite Hokkaido Milk Bread recipe (taken from 陳郁芬65C 湯種麵包) to make bread because this recipe can yield quite a far bit of bread. I adjusted the flour portion to incorporate wheat flour into it :)

Hubby requested for 肉干 Buns and having done some research on bread shaping recently, I can't wait to try it out.

** Milk Bread Loaf, Nutella Wormy Buns and 肉干 Buns **

This is what I get from 1 portion of the recipe. Quite a fair bit of bread isn't it? Left the buns in the oven a little too long and hence they look a bit more 'tan'. Shape of the buns turned out quite ok too. The only thing is that the chocolate chip I use as the worm's eyes did not managed to stay on (see below for the 'before' look) and I think got to find another way to 'shape' the 肉干 Buns. Don't really like how they look.

** See these worms before they are sent to bake ... cute hor ... hahaha **

12 April 2012

Using the Hokkaido Milk Bread recipe, made 2 loaves of toast bread and use the remaining dough to make 肉干 Buns. This time shaping the buns differently and I like this look better. 肉干 Buns are very well received by Oswald and Owein. They each had 1 immediately after they got back from their music lesson. The remaining will be for breakfast tomorrow and for Oswald's bento box.


14 April 2012

** Black Sesame Bread Loaf and 肉干 Buns **

1st time trying out Black Sesame Bread ... bread texture and taste is nice but it is not really my kind of bread. So, don't think I will make it again unless someone request for it. The 肉干 Buns I made on Thursday was a HIT. The pathetic 5 buns I made was snapped out in the morning. Since I am all alone at home with Odin on this Saturday afternoon and there is still 肉干 left, I'd decided to made more for my boys and hubby to indulge in.

This batch of buns are make using 陳郁芬65C 湯種麵包 basic sweet bread recipe. Shall wait for hubby to be back to do tasting and see how it is. But from the looks, it seems ok.

Bento #23 - Homemade Buns

It is all about homemade bread!!!

I had been making bread recently and now I think it is decent enough to be 'shown' to others hahahaha. Never expect to find passion with baking once again. Really fell in love with bread making this time ^_^

11 April 2012

Made Nutella Worm Buns for the boys to bring school. Got the inspiration from this YT clip - Baked Bread with Nutella.

Packed similar boxes for the boys and hence only 1 picture. Kept the bento simple as there's simply no space for other snacks to fit it and also the bun is quite a big one and I am afraid if I pack too much of other stuffs, they got no time to finish.

Despite 2 boxes being packed, only Oswald gets to bring his bento to school to show off his worm. What happened to Owein's??

Not sure what was being conveyed to grandpa, Owein was taking his breakfast, eating the food from his bento box. When I saw that, I was dumb folded and was very very mad!!! I was so mad, I did not know what to say ... I was mad because:-

1) There is no time to repack bento.
2) Why take the food out from the bento to eat??? Never once I had given instruction to eat breakfast from the bento box. How come never use brain and believe what the kid say?

Really lost of words!!!


13 April 2012

Today, only Oswald get to bring a box to school cause it is NO SCHOOL DAY for Owein. Owein had gone for a full day excursion yesterday hence today no need to go school.

Bread of the day is 肉干 bread. This bread is a favorite hit in the family. The boys are trilled when they know I'd made these buns. Added in edamame bean and some carrot in his bento as today is Fruit/Vegetable day.

Bento #22

Did not manage to bake another batch of bread for Owein to pack to school today because there are still bread left from previous bakes. So off I went to Four Leaves to pick up some mini buns to be packed into his box.

Packed a bento for him on non-bento day because today is his turn to head our for excursion. He will out the whole day and is to have lunch in school. I am afraid that he would not like what is given in school hence packed a little something for him to bring along as stand by.

Picked up whatever snacks that is available at home to fill up space and use picks to brighten up the box.

My Latest Toy ...

Hubby had decided to upgrade my oven!!!

To replace my old oven, he got me a SHARP Healsio Steam Oven AX-1500V ...

With this oven, I can bake more things with it ... one of which would be swiss rolls!!! FINALLY :)

Bento #21 - Easter Week

Easter is just round the corner and being a short week, Friday is Good Friday = Public Holiday = No School = No need to prepare bento.

Hence I only need to prepare bento for the boys for today. Choose to do Easter Theme bentos today to mark the coming holiday.