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Porridge in siew mai tray Posted by Dragonfly at 1:06 PM No comments: Links to this post 

Pikachu kamaboko

For the first time I shopped at Medi-Ya supermarket at Liang Court, I bought  Pikachu kamaboko.  I didn't want to buy because it was too pricey.  Unfortunately, my son saw it and he 'please' so many time that I just did not want to disappoint him. What is kamaboko? To put it simply, it's Japanese processed seafood product which is akin  to Chinese fish cake.  I have extracted some information from the internet below.

Quote: Kamaboko is Japanese cured pureed white fish. They have rubbery texture and mild taste. In Japan, we slice them and eat with soy sauce with wasabi or mayonnaise. Kamaboko are often in udon soup, ramen soup, and bento box.Since kamaboko is good source of protein and calcium, and it is low fat, it is considered as a healthy food.  UnQuote

I have seen character kamaboko selling in top-end or specialised supermarket at Market Place (Tanglin Mall), Isetan supermarket (Orchard Road) and of course, Medi-Ya supermarket (Liang Court) in Singapore.

In the plate, my boy had soba, blanched carrot/spinach, gyoza and Pikachu kamaboko.  On top of which, he finished some grapes and a bowl of soup which was not pictured here.

Posted by Dragonfly at 2:12 PM No comments: Links to this post 

Fox maki sushi

Have you ever seen a panda face sushi or a flower maki sushi?  Fancy maki sushi or decorative sushi roll, whichever way you may call it. I have been procrastinating for a long long time to make something of similar for my boy's bento after I had seen beautiful ones created by Karen Wee's Bento Diary.  Last night, I found a video on how to make a fancy sushi here -http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-a-fancy-maki-sushi?sourcelink=playlist#playlist-urlname=how-to-make-a-fancy-maki-sushi.  It looks quite daunting and complicated to make such a huge sushi roll as shown in the video.  However, I marvel at the Japanese chef's sushi art.  If you own decorative tools, it will make the job a lot easier, I guess.  But I don't.  Nevertheless, I was quite encouraged and inspired by the sushi art.  And after watching the video several times and taken note of the technique of folding and handling the roll, I decided to create a simple one using tamagoyaki  and imitation crabstick (the ears) instead of just sushi rice for the entire roll.

Honestly, I have no idea what to expect this morning.  My finished product has a pair of pointed ears (imitation crabstick) and square face (tamagoyaki).  After decorating the facial with nori, I presented it to my son and asked him "What kind of animal is this?"  He replied "A fox?" unconvincingly.  In the box, he has edamame, imitation crabstick, grapes and Japanese cucumber on top of his maki sushi.

On a separate note, my 5 years old boy is able to write all the characters in his Chinese name.  Another milestone!!  Last Sunday, we had a house visit from his form teacher, Fu Laoshi (符老师) about his progress in his school.  Overall, he is doing well.  There are two areas he need to improve i.e. his spoken language in Mandarin and fine motor skills such as cutting using scissor.

Posted by Dragonfly at 11:55 PM 2 comments: Links to this post 


This box looks rather empty.  It's meant to be eaten at home and I have not much ingredient left in the fridge since it was the end of the week.  My boy loves egg fried rice in any form. However, this time I added lup cheong (aka Chinese sausage) and seasoned it with Thai fish sauce and some soya sauce for a twist (on top of the usual mixed vegetables; frozen peas, carrots and corns).  A new rice dish!  And his first lup cheong fried rice too!!  On the sides, he got some Japanese cucumbers and dragonfruits.  Plus a teddy bear made of orange cheese with a green pepper outfit and heart shape ham.  Nori for the facial and paws.  To my surprise, my son actually finished everything including the green pepper.  Haha, he thought it was green jelly initially.  Luckily, he did not throw out after a bite ;)

Have you planned anything for your children over this coming June school holidays?  We did!  First week, we will travel to down under, Darwin Australia.  We probably go museums hopping on second week.  And we signed up an one-week Chinese Theatre camp on the third week for my boy.  Forth week, we will visit Grandma and his cousin (a routine we did in every school holidays :))

Have a nice weekend ahead!

Posted by Dragonfly at 2:09 PM No comments: Links to this post 

Zoom Zoom Race Car Posted by Dragonfly at 4:24 PM No comments: Links to this post 

Penguins, Paper Plate Jabiru

Materials for paper plate Jabiru :- Posted by Dragonfly at 2:21 PM No comments: Links to this post 

Mother's Day, cheese sandwich with assorted shapes

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿I have the best Mother's day this year.  I was gifted with an hour of Swedish Body massage at Amore by our dear Papa and son.  It was my happiest moment in my life to know that father and son together planned a surprise for me on Mother's day.  The original idea was to buy a pair of earrings for me and it must be 'gold' in colour insisted by my boy.  However, Daddy suggested a body massage instead.  I love it all whichever it would be.  To celebrate the occasion, we went to the floral show - Tulipmania at Flower Dome, Gardens by Bay which has since started 29 April 2013 and would be ending 20 May 2013.  I love tulips for the vibrate colours and it was a 'must go' for me, of course!!  But it was tad too crowded in the Flower Dome for us to leisurely immerse myself in the blooms.  Nonetheless, we still enjoy it and even did a 3D paper yellow sunshine tulip above.  There, we also witnessed a Dutch street organ on display and in action.  It was an eye-opener for me who has never been to Holland :P

On a separate note, my son was actually nursing his stomach flu since last Thursday with onset of vomit, diarrhea and stomach ache. He saw our family doctor and was given Collimix (for wind tension), Dimenate (to stop vomit) and Lacteol Fact (the good bacteria).  On the third day (which was also the Mother's day), his condition has improved.  There was no signs vomiting and diarrhea except with intermittent stomach pain  And he was feeling quite bored at home on Sunday.  That was why we brought him to Gardens by the Bay to relax.  But the stomach ache came suddenly during the trip and gone later.  My poor boy :((  Later that evening, we had Japanese dinner at Yayoiken restaurant at Liang Court basement and strolled MEIDI-YA supermarket where we bought some crackers home.  It's a long time since we last visited Liang Court. We ordered udon soup for my boy as it was best to have bland food still he recovers.  The last few days, I have been following the B.R.A.T diet - Banana, rice, applesauce and toast.  (I did not make applesauce.) It was a real torture for a kid who loves food!  On the 5th day, I am so glad that he has fully recovered. I continue to provide small meals for him.  He had toast for breakfast, quinoa/oatmeal and banana in mid-morning and I packed some cheese sandwich for him to bring to school for his lunch.




Posted by Dragonfly at 12:36 PM No comments: Links to this post 

Sushi from leftovers, Phoenix, and about food

Sometimes, I used leftover from last night dinner to prepare bento for my son's lunch the next day.  The sushi here was made with leftovers; chicken breast, teriyaki sauce and corn kernels, except for the rice.  He also has tamagoyaki, blanched broccoli, green kiwi and blueberries. My boy decorated his lunch with the foodpicks.

Talking about food, I was craving for BBQ chicken wings from Bedok North (Fengshan). Hence, I decided to bake it myself since I had some chicken wings in the fridge.  I found a simple and easy receipe from Noobcook - Honey Baked Chicken Wings.  I thought these drumlettes and wings would be the nice portion for two adults and one pre-schooler.  But I was wrong! Although my hubby complained it was tasteless, he ate most of it and even attempted to steal one wing from my boy after I commented that our son was still not skillful in eating wings.  My boy was almost in tears and I gave up mine for Daddy.  This was not the first time father and son fighting over food.  Ice cream too!! It happened when we have an ice cream treat.  My hubby scolded him at the table and reprimanded the then 3 years old for eating too fast and too much ice cream.  My son was crying whilst scooping the ice cream into his mouth.  Papa was such a spoiler for that day! The other time was we were dining at a Japanese Restaurant.  I ordered Japanese curry and hence, I could not share with my boy because he has yet to appreciate spicy stuff.  Daddy had sukiyaki.  When the food arrived, there were probably 4 thinly slices of beef.  Daddy said it was too little for him and ordered the little one to go for vegetables instead. :((  Another favourite dish for these two 'carnivores' is roasted pork belly.  My boy would give himself a huge serving first which literally half the meat would be gone from the plate. But he has indeed taken too much meat from the dinner table.  Papa interfered by taking some of his roast meat away.  He was disappointed but did not cry.  He turned to me and said "Mommy, I really like this type of meat!".  As a Chinese, it is a basic dining etiquette that we should share the food and not seen as greedy at the table.  It's a good thing he loves his food but he cannot be too greedy.

On the contrary, we have plenty of greens on our dinner which has never been an issue of fighting over it.  Reason being, my son did not ask for second helping..haha

Below was a phoenix I created using threadfin fillet pan-fried in egg for its wings, nai bai for tails and head/beak using cheddar cheese.  Nori for the eyes.  What do you think? ;P 

Snoopy and Woodstock, Recycled craft : A turtle Linking up :- Posted by Dragonfly at 1:24 PM 3 comments: Links to this post 
California sushi and more parties

This was one of the California sushi bento I prepared for my son's lunch using this red single-tiered lego box.  On the sides, he has tamagoyaki, green grapes and a strawberry.  I bought two of such lego lunch box; blue one for Papa and the red box for my boy as their birthday presents. April was indeed special for our Papa and our little boy because their birthdays fall on the same month and only one day apart from each other.  I planned an ice-skating for both father and son at JCube on 4th April 2013 right after school since there was a promotion where the child could skate free accompanied with an adult on their birthday month.  It was their first ice-skating experience.  My boy enjoyed every bits of it but Papa was complaining of sore muscle :P I also threw a big birthday bash for my boy's 5th birthday at Art Speaks Studio which I had blogged here.  Coincidentally, his best friend, Ollie's birthday from his ex-preschool, also born in end April and he was invited to his 'Ninja Warrior' party too.  We bought Ninjago lego for Ollie's gift as such.  My boy drew and wrote the words 'Happy Birthday' with gold ink on a black paper that I folded into a card. His writing has improved tremendously compared to a year ago.  He was 4 years old then. His grip over the pen/pencil was tight and exert a lot of pressure when he writes.   I vividly remembered he was in tears the first time I asked him to write on a Jake's birthday card last year. Papa accompanied him to the party dressed in black as part of the theme. I was, however, nursing a flu at home.  Back home, he told me that the best part of the party was food!?!  According to Daddy, he ate a lot and even into spicy fried mee hoon and hotdogs.  And ice cream too!  That's my son - he loves to eat :)) His other bestie girl-friend, Arin, was not in a good mood and had ignored him at the party.  Nevertheless, he had fun with his old friends.  Personally, what makes the party exceptionally different from others was Ollie's parents actually did a thank you note on the goodie bags that "... in the spirit of giving, half of the presents would be donated to Sunbean Children's Home....." It was such a noble and meaningful act. April was a month of celebration and hence, I was more lenient over his intake of goodies like chocolate, ice cream and sweets allowing him to indulge.  The result, he came down with a sore throat, cough and later, running nose :(( Arrrgh!


Posted by Dragonfly at 12:31 AM No comments: Links to this post