Baymax Oden Hotpot & Noodles

2014 is coming to an end very soon, it is unlikely that I will blog another post before 2015, so this will be my last post for 2014. Here's wishing you a Happy New Year!

It has been a busy year for me, with LT entering primary school this year. With both of them in different sessions and their school temporarily located in another location for these 2 years, I had to make a few trips throughout the day, more trips when IT stayed back in school and I would deliver his lunch over. It will be the same for next year, totally not looking forward to it, but I know all will be fine once I get use to the routine again.

I still managed to find pockets of time for making food art and charabens this year, though not as often as I did in previous years. However, I've cut down a lot on blogging this year, after a long day and my boys have gone to bed, I just wanted to relax at night, the last thing I wanted to do would be to switch on my laptop and blog. I even thought of shutting down my blog, but changed my mind thereafter, lol.

This year, I'm also very thankful for the article on Daily Mail about my bentos, that resulted in my bentos being mentioned by sites all over the world. I've also received requests asking me to conduct workshops, talks, demos, as well as to order my bentos, I'm really sorry for rejecting, I'm just not interested in doing such stuff. Making food cute is just a hobby for me, which I enjoy doing when I'm free, for my 2 boys. I do, however, take on food art design work online and do review for products that I'm interested in, as long as my schedule permits.

Snoopy Christmas Bento

Hello! Back to update my blog with a Christmas bento, my second and last one for this year. Rather unproductive this year, could not find time to make more Christmas bentos, though I actually have a few ideas for this year.

Olaf & Penguin Christmas Bento

I'm back in Singapore, the holiday seems to be over so fast, wished I was still in Japan, now I've to wait another year till my next winter holiday. Sorry for the lack of posts, been busy with chores upon returning. I've quite a few Christmas bentos ideas, but I doubt I can make them all. I managed to rush out one today, might make another one before Christmas.

Clown Pasta

Back at Tokyo for the remaining of our holidays, did not managed to finish this post before I left. We are waiting for our shuttle to transfer to Disney hotel and since I've some time, I'm finishing up this post while waiting. :) We have been eating non-stop this trip, I don't dare to go back and weigh myself, lol.

Madagascar Penguins

Hello from Kyoto! That should be where I am now, did up this post before I left for my holiday. Just a reminder, I've having a Black + Blum Sandwich on Board giveaway on my Instagram tomorrow night. Please go there to join if you are interested.

Totoro Autumn Bento

I'm flying off to my holiday on wednesday morning, going to one of my favourite country once again. Hope I am still in time to catch the autumn foliage but I also hope to see the snow, lol, greedy much. :) I only made 2 autumn themed bentos this year, had a few ideas, but simply too busy these few weeks to get them done. :( If you would like to see what I've made for autumn in previous years, you can click HERE to take a look.

Sleeping Doggy Bread Bun

It's been a while since I last updated a recipe. I do have a few waiting to be updated, but they take longer to update than my usual blog post, so I'm awfully slow in getting them done. But rest assured that I do see your requests for the recipes, and I will definitely get them updated eventually, just that I can't guarantee exactly when.

Big Hero 6 Baymax Bento

We finally caught Big Hero 6 in the cinema last wednesday night. We chose the 3D version and had the whole theatre to ourselves, lol. My boys were thrilled as they could talk and laugh loudly during the movie.

Keroppi Noodles & Philips Noodle Maker

I've a nifty kitchen gadget to share for today. Before I move on to it, let me share what I created using it first.

My Melody & Piano Bento

Sorry, I've been missing from my blog. I've been busy since the school holidays started, so many activities, and I also have bento work to clear. Just a fast update today, I'll update a longer post at the end of this week, I've a cool product to share with all of you. :)

Hello Kitty Ice Cream Bento

I have no idea what to update today, not because I've no bentos to update, but there are too many in my backlog, I've can't decide which one to choose. Sign. :(

Domokun Bento

My boys came back with their report books today. IT did better than last year, he continued to score in his best subjects and has improved on his weaker ones. I had been worried about whether LT will fare well in primary school last year, he seemed slower than IT at the same age, and I've not spent much time coaching him as compared to IT. But he surprised me by doing quite well, in fact, his results is better than IT's primary 1 results 3 years ago. They are both capable of doing better, but nevertheless, I'm happy with their results this year. :)

Spongebob & Patrick Pasta

It's been more than 2 years since my last Spongebob Squarepants bento. Click HERE to see what I made 2 years ago. This time, I tried making Spongebob and Patrick out of pasta.

Vampire Mickey Bento

I'm sharing my last Halloween bento for this year. If you need more ideas, you can click HERE to check out all my past Halloween creations. I'm joining a Halloween bento hop today with my fellow Bento Bloggers & Friends, so do remember to click on the graphic at the end of my post for more Halloween bento inspirations.

Mummy Snoopy Bento

I did not have time for bentos or blogging due to the exams. I did not feel like making any as well, as marking and going through my boys' revision work always spoils my mood. -_- So happy that it's finally over today, and we can put our books aside for the year. I can't wait for the school holidays and our year end trip. :)

Pooh Bear & Piglet in Autumn

I love the beautiful colors of fall. I love snowy white winter too. Unfortunately, it's summer all year round where we live, lol.

 

Jack Skellington Bento

I first made Jack Skellington for Halloween 3 years ago. Till today, we have never watched the movie, The nightmare before Christmas. However, my boys are very familiar with this character, simply because there there is a theme ride in Disneyland which features him. Somehow, Halloween always reminds me of Jack Skellington, click HERE to check out similar creations of him from previous years.

Wednesday Addams Bento

It's so hard to wake up so early again today after the break. Doing revisions with my boys and marking their papers the past few days is giving me a headache. I can't wait for their exams to be over, have to hang in till next tuesday. Ganbatte!

 

Doraemon Burger

I actually wanted to do up more blog posts this week, as there was no school these few days. I thought I would have more time, but somehow, it did not work out the way I expected, lol.

Graveyard Pasta & Toast

My boys only have school for today, it's holiday for the rest of this week. Not really a holiday for them, as they have exams next week, so they will be studying instead. They are still happy to be off from school. And I'm looking forward to sleeping in, I hate waking up early. :P

Totoro Bento & Steam Cake

A fire broke out in the unit above us just a few hours ago. Thank goodness it was confined to one room and the security guards managed to put out the fire before the firemen came. Nobody was hurt in the ordeal, but it was still quite frightening since it was so close to us.

Vampire & Grim Reaper Bento

Daddy is in Nagoya for a work trip now, he went a day earlier and took a side trip to Kyoto. How I wish we could all go but exams are coming, so I'm stuck in Singapore doing revisions with my boys instead. -_- He'll be back tomorrow, waiting for him to come back with my stuff, asked him to get me something for my bentos. :)

Wagashi and Mashed Potato Duck

Thank you very much to all those of you who emailed to ask about my upcoming book. Sorry for not talking about the book earlier, I started working on it in June, as I'm working on it slowly, I was hoping to wait until I submit the manuscript before talking about it online. However, due to the interviews, the news came out earlier. Just to share a bit about it for now. The book is a bento cookbook, with lots of bentos and food recipes, and all bentos come with step-by-step photos. It is estimated to be out in US in fall next year, I'll update more in due course. :)

I started making Halloween bentos this week, but I'll only be updating them next week. Meanwhile, if you need ideas for Halloween bentos, you can click HERE to check out those I made previously, I've plenty of old Halloween bentos.


The duck sitting on top of the mini pancakes stack is a type of wagashi ( traditional Japanese sweets), I made it using white bean paste and shiratama flour.


I won't be sharing the recipe for this, as you can't get white bean paste here. I've not seen it being sold here, if you know where to get it in Singapore, please let me know.


However, you can easily create these ducks using mashed potatoes, and I'll be sharing how to make them in this post.


The mashed potatoes ducks are sitting on ham and egg mayo sandwiches, and there's also prawn salad packed in the bento.

Please continue on for the detailed tutorial on how to make these.


Finally, the mashed potato tutorial I promised. Sorry for taking so long to get it done. First, peel potato, chop into small pieces and steam for around 10 to 15 minutes or till soft.


Mash them up with a fork or potato masher. I usually add a pinch of salt and half a teaspoon of butter so that it taste better. Please do not add too much butter, and please do not add milk.


You can colour the mixture using gel colours. To make the duck, I divided the mashed potato and coloured them yellow and orange.


To make the duck, roll yellow mashed potato into 2 balls, one slightly bigger than the other, using the palms of your hands.


Take the bigger ball, flatten the front a little and mould out the duck's tail at the back.


Place the small ball on top.


Take a bit of orange mashed potato, mould out the duck's bill and mould it onto the duck.


Punch out a circle from nori, using a hole puncher. You can stop at this step.


Or you can get some yellow mashed potato and mould on the duck's wings.


I chose this duck to demonstrate the step-by-step as it's very easy to make, but you can use this same method to mould into other things you fancy. You can also use sweet potatoes and purple potatoes. You can even fill it in a pipping bag with a pipping tip and use it to pipe on designs for sushi cake. :)

Relaxing Pooh Bear & Piglet

As expected, with every report of my bento, there are bound to be some rather 'interesting' comments. Don't worry, I'm not affected by them. I can't be bothered to clarify or explain anything to these Internet trolls, who are of no importance in my life, furthermore, I doubt they will understand anyway. However, do click HERE and HERE to check out these posts by my bento friends, Lunchbox Dad and Eats Amazing, love both their write-up on this. :)


I made this Pooh Bear food art in August and posted it on my Instagram. A few weeks later, I wanted to make Piglet in a similar pose, but I wasn't sure how Piglet's tail should look like, so I went to search online, only to realise Piglet and Pooh both have no tails. Really!?! I always just assume Pooh has a tail. -_- And I also realised there's no way Pooh's legs could be positioned this way while lying flat on his tummy. I even went to try it out to make sure, or maybe it's possible and I'm not flexible enough, hahahaha.


Anyway, I decided to make Pooh Bear again, in the exact same pose, minus the tail and with the legs adjusted, now he feels more comfortable. :P


Dinner that day was a one pot meal, soup with shabu shabu pork, veggies, prawns, squid and mushrooms.


Pooh bear is made using rice mixed with mashed egg yolk, nori and crabstick.


Piglet was made on a different day, even though the soup behind looks similar, so happened to cook the same one pot meal again, lol.


Piglet was made using rice coloured using pink sushi seasoning, ham and nori.


A close up shot of Piglet.

Where to get same or similar items used in today's post:

  

Doggy Sausage Bread Bun

Hello there, if you are dropping by for the first time. :) I'm very thankful to Mail Online for the article about my bento on Wednesday,  which lead to many other sites reporting about my bentos. I have actually been busy the past few days,  going about my usual stay-at-home-mom chores.  I've not had a chance to sort out my thoughts, so when the reporter asked how I felt, I could only say I'm happy. Now that my thoughts are better organised, I just want to say a big thank you to all the sites that reported about my bentos, I really appreciate it. :)


Now, onto these doggy sausage bread buns I'm sharing today, made them back in July. I think you might be quite familiar with this doggy bread bun design, as I've seen them being shared online before. I can't take credit for this wonderful idea, I got this idea from Pitachan on Cookpad. She has lots of cutie bread design, I've always wanted to try many of them but yet to find time to do so.


I did not use her recipe for the bread buns. I've included my recipe and also the steps on how to shape this doggy below. :)

DOGGY SAUSAGE BREAD BUN RECIPE

Ingredients:
Bread Flour 400g
Instant Yeast 5g
Cold water 220ml
Egg 30g
Sugar 40g
Butter, room temperature 70g
Salt 6g
Sausages
Raisins

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients, except butter, in a large bowl to get a dough. Add in butter and knead until dough is springy and soft, this takes around 10 minutes. If you have a bread maker, you can just use the dough function for this step, as well as step 2.

2. Cover the dough with cling wrap and keep in a warm place for it to rise. This takes around an hour and the dough should double in size. Do a finger test to check if it's ready.

3. While the dough is rising, soak raisins in water so that they will soften and expand. Dry them on a paper towel and set aside. These will be for the doggy's eyes and nose.

4. Slice sausages and set aside.

5. Dust your work table with some flour, place dough on it. Punch out the air from the dough with your fist. 

6. Divide the dough into 60g portions. Roll them out and form them into balls. Cover with cling wrap and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

7. Roll out bread dough using a rolling pin.

8. Place a sliced sausage on one end, and make a small cut on the other end.

9. Fold the dough in half.

10. Make slanting cuts for the ears.

11. Place on parchment paper, cover with cling wrap and let it rise for 40 minutes.

12. At the end of 40 minutes, place the raisins onto the bread dough and press gently.

13. Brush with egg wash and bake at 180 degrees celcius for around 20 minutes or till they turn golden brown.