My Very First Bento

Got sis' help to look out for these kawaii bentos in Hong Kong

So here's are my very first bentos! still very amateur hehe

The Loot! - Tokyo 2009

Now I know why so many people like Tokyo. The city is the most vibrant one that I'd ever seen, and of course, complete with beautiful (or should i say hardworking) people. The Chinese saying 'there is no ugly people, only lazy ones'. I could see the hard work behind the beautiful hair and make up and the perfectly coordinated outfits. Also got a shock on my first day in Tokyo when I saw the number of ladies touching up their make in the train toilet!

And oh...the shopping!!! the range of merchandise available here is dazzling! Unlike the shopping centres in Singapore, each shopping area / centre in Tokyo offers varied styles and brands. So each shopping destination is refreshing and interesting.

Here's some of my loot, while I find time to upload the rest of my holiday pictures.

Loft is my heaven. The array of stuff here basically short circuited my neuropathways. Here's the tools for bento making. Problem is..not sure when I will put them into use... :p
Egg moulds and cookie cuttersEgg Timer. Got to know about this product from dreamersloft. Just immerse this egg shaped timer together with the rest of the eggs to boil. The size of the red area will determine how cooked the yolk is. Very useful for making ajitama

Got these on orders of dear sis from Ranking Queen. The 'qiam qiam' with the green packaging is ranked No. 1 and the yellow packaging is ranked No. 2. Sis likes the yellow one but I prefer the green one. Also discovered that there are 2 Ranking Queen outlets in Shinjuku. One at Mosaic Street and one inside the train station
This sandwich cutter and sealer is my older daughter's favourite. She had been asking me to make her sandwiches using this almost everyday since I returned from Tokyo. The one on the right is the sandwich box.

Tools for fondant modelling. Bought this on impulse as I couldn't find any in Phoon Huat before I came to Tokyo. Cuoca is a cool baking supplies shop that I chanced upon in Shinjuku at the basement of the building where FranFranc and LV are.
Overpriced bath toy for my girls. The merchanise of Studio Ghibli is so expensive! A DVD costs about S$50!

Sweets from Afternoon Tea, a zakka and tea place opposite my hotel. Only managed to pop by the shop just before I leave Tokyo. The goods in Afternoon Tea are pretty (and expensive like rest of Tokyo zakka shops)!! Too bad, our luggage are packed and I'm left very little yen.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

A farewell gift for foodie WH

I actually also designed a label for the container, but I did not manage to take a picture of it. See if I can successfully download the photo from my mobile.

Hello Kitty Egg Mould

Never thought that I would ever succumbed to Hello Kitty's saccharine sweet claws. BC (i.e. before children), my sis and I used to looked at Hello Kitty with distaste and declared her as "the Cat without a Mouth".

However, the mission to feed / coerce / trick my children into eating more nutritional stuff, had lead to my ever-growing collection of cartoon related kitchen tools to disguise food as cutesy characters. So this was how my HK collection started. I must say that I'm somewhat a convert nowadays. I do honestly think that HK do have a certain cute factor. :p

Here's an attempt to make my older girl to eat hard boiled eggs.Hello Kitty Egg Mould

1. Boil extra large eggs, weighing about 65 grams each.
2. While boiling, try to roll the eggs around so that the egg yolk will settle at the middle of the egg.
3. Let the eggs cool slightly, peel off the shell and squish the egg into the egg mould. In order for the egg mould to work, the eggs have to be as hot as possible.
4. Latch the moulds and let the eggs cool for about 10-15 mins
5. Unlatch and remove eggs.

Unfortunately, HK failed to work her charms. The egg was untouched by her.

Affordable Luxury Kopi

Recently discovered this when helping my auntie to look for Japanese instant Matcha au Lait. Must really give it to the Japanese for their ingenuity. The drip coffee are flat packed into individual packages. To enjoy, just open the satchet, and hang it on the coffee cup or mug. Add hot water and wait for it to filter through the satchet and enjoy oiishi kopi in a few minutes! At only S$8.10 for a pack of 10, it's really recession-proof luxury.

Thai Style Chicken Dip

This is one of the yummy goodies that SK's mom brings to office now and then. When we asked to learn from her, SK's mom had taken the time to write down her recipes and generously shared it with us. The chicken dip is surprising easy and tasty although it was made with very few ingredients. I only made a slight adjustment to her recipe by adding a tablespoon of minced ginger.

However, be careful when handling the chilli padi. I suffered a bad case of chilli burn after preparing this dish. Tried every method to remove the capsicum but with no effect. Methods I tried:
1) Rubbing with cooking oil, leave for 5 mins then wash off - Doesn't work
2) Soaking in milk - works only when my hands are in it
3) Soaking in ice water - works only when my hands are still submerged
4) Washing with soap, then rubbing with salt to remove the chilli oil - Seemed to help a bit, but the burn returned within minutes
5) Wash wash wash with soap - Didn't work too!

In the end, i wrapped ice cubes in handkerchief and clutched it until i felt asleep.

250gm coconut milk (i used pasturised coconut milk)
200gm minced chicken
2tbsp fish sauce
1tbsp corn flour, mixed with a bit of water
1tbsp minced ginger
8 chilli padi
1 stalk Chinese parsley

Method:
1) Fry minced chicken with some oil and minced ginger
2) Add coconut milk and boil till chicken are fully cooked
3) Add in fish sauce and stir well
4) Add in corn flour mixture, then chilli padi and Chinese parsley

Serve with rice cakes. SK's mom deep fries the rice cakes, but I chose to bake the rice cakes as a healthier option.

Tangerine Chiffon Cake

My earliest memory of a homemade cake was a orange chiffon cake made by my grandmother. However, the memory of taste and smell of that cake had faded together with time until recently. I tasted an orange chiffon cake made by KS' aunt and memories of that fragrant, citrusy, moist cake came flooding back. I adapted the recipe to use up the leftover mandarin oranges from CNY. The taste of the cake is wonderful! So now, I can easily whip up a batch of orange chiffon cake for myself whenever nostalgia hits me :)