Bento #86

Jaimie decided to wake up at 5am this morning for no apparent reason. Luckily I slept early last night (11.30pm!!) after I finished marking a pile or worksheets (yes!! at 11.30pm!!) so I didnt feel too bad today. Maybe it's the long weekend which is coming up keeps my spirits high.

I didn't fry the bee hoon. It was left over from last night's dinner at my MIL's place. Initially I had no intention to make any bento today. I planned to just heat up the bee hoon in the microwave and pack them in disposable boxes. However, since I was woken up at 5am, I might as well do something more.

Bento #85

A simple hotdog breakfast with double sausages, crisps and kiwi. I forgot the ketchup and mayo. Aiyah!!

教《七步诗》记

看到紫妮妈妈那么勤劳地教紫妮背诵唐诗宋词，而我这个华文老师却懒到骨子里去，我今天决定发奋图强，也给媛媛一点文学的熏陶。于是，我决定教她曹植的《七步诗》[煮豆燃豆萁，豆在釜中泣。本是同根生，相煎何太急]。我知道媛媛利用音乐来学习的话蛮快上手的，所以我就唱当年一个豆奶广告为《七步诗》编的曲子。我告诉她，这是“豆花水的歌”。

起初，媛媛还蛮兴奋地听，叫我唱了一遍又一遍。唱得有十来遍了，她开始问我这首歌曲是什么意思。这可为难我了。该怎么解释呢？

先解释词汇混过去。

“豆，就是豆豆。豆花水是用豆豆煮的。”媛媛点点头同意。“泣，就是哭泣。也就是哭哭。”媛媛又点头明白。“釜，就是锅子。呃，就是婆婆煮饭的那种。你看过吗？”媛媛又一幅恍然大悟的样子。

“什么意思？”媛媛继续追问。“那就是，豆豆在锅里哭哭。因为他的哥哥在烧它，呃，他的哥哥在欺负它！”媛媛脸色一变，紧张地问：“为什么它要欺负豆豆？”

为什么？“啊~~因为，因为它们是同一个妈妈生的。哥哥欺负弟弟是不对的。豆豆长在……长在……”我一时词穷，看到媛媛的抱枕，就拿起来示范：“喏，豆豆长在这里。可是，豆豆的哥哥（指抱枕）却去烧火，让豆豆很热，欺负豆豆！他们是‘同根生’，就是同一个妈妈生的，但是哥哥拿火烧弟弟，哥哥却欺负弟弟。这是不对的！”我一边解释一边冒汗。怎么跟一个三岁的小妞解释古诗啊？！

我都还来不及把额头上的汗擦掉，媛媛就扁嘴，快哭出来了。“我不要。我不要豆花水的歌。”她没有明言，但是我知道她被“哥哥拿火烧弟弟”这样的暴力画面吓坏了。我连忙补充：“假的！假的！（怎么跟孩子说这是比喻手法啊？）是cartoon啦。假的。它没有真的烧。”媛媛还是无法平息激动的心情，继续眼眶含泪地说：“我不要豆花水……”“好好好！不要唱豆花水的歌。我们唱别的。”

今晚的文学课被腰斩了。

Bento #84

Lunch for today is potato salad with apple, peas, crab stick cubes and luncheon meat which I got from my scavenger hunt last evening. No dressing for a healthier choice. :)

Bento #83

I have come to the conclusion that for a bento, there is no need to cook everything by myself.

Buying some ready made food and combine with some homecooked food saves half the time in the morning!

In this bento, ready made food: fruit pie from a neighbourhood pastry shop, sotong balls from Old Chang Kee.

Homemade food: seaweed wrapped onigiri, quail eggs

Frozen food: Japanese crispy chicken.

VIOLA!

Bento #82

I took an hour to do this silly face burger bento!

The baking of the spicy frozen wedges took some time, the pan frying of the chicken patties took some time, the still-in-a-daze-because-it's-5.30am took some time, the decision between using half a slice of cheese or one slice took some time, the cleaning up took some time.

Ok, so an hour is really quite reasonable, huh.

I'MM having Fun!

It has been 2 weekends since we had not been to IMM. Yup, 2 weeks is a long time to us considering the fact that we are super regulars of this shopping mall.

I encouraged Jaimie to go to the wet playground today as I had brought extra clothing along. She was a little embarassed to go topless but she was ok after I pointed out to her that there were many other babies in the playground running around in their diapers only. Heh heh heh... anyway, Jaimie is 3 years old already and this is about the last time I can allow her to go topless in public... must take pictures!! but I forgot my camera so I'll just make do with the one in my handphone.

Jaimie had so much fun that she refused to get off the playground. Instead, she sprawled on the floor and 赖死 when I told her it's time to go.

It has been quite some time since she played at the wet playground... maybe it's time to call for another gathering at the IMM wet playground with the usual gang?!

Bento #81

Making bento is still the best way to destress... so I am waking up at 5.15am again to make bentos although I am having a flu! Anyway, it is ok because I will be seeing the doctor tomorrow...

I bought some mini egg tarts and realised that they look really cute and lovely in a bento. In my head I was picturing a "sunrise in the garden" with the food. Unfortunately, as usual, I did not scucceed due to my poor art and craft skills. Hence I just arranged them in properly in the box before the crust of the egg tart broke into crumbs.

The fried fish was bought from my school canteen. Every Wednesday is the much awaited "fried food day" in all schools. I bought the yummy fried fish at 80cents each and this morning I just needed to put in the oven toaster to heat it up and make it crispy again. I fried some green, red and yellow pepper with mushrooms and lots of garlic. Sushi rice makes the bento tastes better.

Clement's comment was that this was a crunchy, pretty and yummy bento. Hmmm. I think so too!! :)

Bento #80

I woke up at 5.30am to make bento again! But I guess this is the only one this week. It's bread roll with bacon roll with golden mushroom with veggis.

And then the usual broccoli, honey tomatoes and strawberries.

I just spread some nutella on the bread for breakfast while saving the bacon and golden mushroom rolls for lunch. As I am in a scavenger mood, even the rice was taken from my mom's rice cooker last evening.

Scavenger Hunt

In case you are wondering, I am still bringing lunch to work everyday but now I have reduced from bento making to scavenger hunting.

You see, April - Sept are the busiest time in school. Honestly I couldn't find the energy to wake up everyday at 5am to make bentos during this period. So I am either making something really simple like cold noodles or I wipe off whatever that was left on the dining tables of my mother/ mother-in-law, depending on which day. I just need to heat up the food by microwaving them for 5mins. It was so convenient, the extra hour of sleep is so tempting, and I grew to be lazy! Another reason is I didn't have new bento ideas. I had repeated the bento ideas a zillion times already.

I sure hope I will be able to find the energy to make nicer bentos again, soon!!

Say Cheese!!

Most of us would have stood inside one of those Japanese photo machines before and had our portraits taken. It was very popular about 10 years back and it was one of the fun things Clement and I used to do. Yes, we would make faces in front of the machine and get the thrill of seeing them in prints. We used to have a collection of our photos but I can't remember where I have put them when we moved house.

This is the first one we took with Jaimie. She was very uncooperative. We needed some time to choose the frame, select the background, decide whether there should be wind or not blowing at our hair etc. Jaimie ran in and out of the neoprint machine and thought that seeing those aunties spending a dollar after a dollar trying to push some mentos out from the moving trays was far more interesting

In the end, we managed to take some photos in a haste. It's fun. We should do it again.

Sound of Music | Central Station Antwerp (Belgium)

My friend linked this video in facebook. I am truly amazed!!! and I wonder if Singapore can ever have such performances!!!

A Good Friday

A public holiday that falls on Friday is GOOD. A day spent with family is GOOD. A day spent with friends is GOOD. A day whereby our daughter has a lot of fun is GOOD.

On Good Friday, we went to West Coast Park in the morning for breakfast and then to the playground to have some bubble fun at the playground.
Jaimie enjoyed busking with the artist.

She had more bubble fun when we reached home.

In the evening, we met up with Clement's best friend, Nic and his family at Square 2 for a simple dinner and tea. The daddies had a good chat, the mommies had a good chat, the children had fun playing together.

This was a GOOD Friday. Many good things happened to us. Some dreams are being put into action, some good opportunities are being presented to us. Some good efforts are made, some good moments are shared.

In all things, I give thanks.

Beautifully Imperfect

We are all imperfect... but love makes us beautiful in imperfection ...

Happy 3rd Birthday

It's Jaimie's 3rd birthday today!! The celebration was a simple family affair. First we had dinner together yesterday for the family members. Because Jaimie is into Disney characters now, she requested to have a Mickey Mouse cake. Her yeye bought her this one from Bengawan Solo.

Both Clement and I could not take leave from work today. My mom helped me to collect the cake from Bengawan Solo (again!) to bring to Jaimie's childcare centre so that the children can have a little celebration with her.

Jaimie with her por-por and classmates.

Jaimie with the school principle, Mdm Aw, who dotes on little children very much.

Jaimie with Yang Laoshi and Mrs Sim, her N1 class teachers.

In the evening after dinner, we went over to Swensens for the free birthday ice cream. Jaimie was only interested in the cherries and strawberry ice cream. In the end, I was the happiest person because I got to eat most of the ice cream! Muhahahaha~~

Happy Birthday, my little princess. Mommy and Daddy love you very, very much.

Bento #79

Frying Udon is really quite easy and delicious. Since (1) YH missed my bento #78 and I have left over ingredients, I made fried udon again today. Replacing the chicken balls is minced chicken.