A Promise. Echo-Echo.

I promised my little boy yesterday, that I would include Echo-Echo from Ben 10 Alien Force in his lunch today. He was really looking forward to it! I did my homework yesterday and came up with a sketch and template of Echo-Echo.

As usual, with the mad rush in the morning, I realised (again!) that I didn't have time to include the details, despite planning for it! The thin strips of nori were already cut, but I just didn't have the time (and stable hands) to put them on the figures. I was lucky to be able to include the eyes, cut from a leaf of lettuce, and the Ben 10 logo. Upon see his lunchbox, the little one said "Echo-Echo!". It's a "Pass", from my little teacher, for my assignment, I suppose?

The boys got an extra side dish for their lunch, apart from the usual meat and vegetable .... bacon wrapped asparagus!

I baked these bacon wrapped asparagus last night, to test if the boys like it. You don't want to include a new dish, only to have them bring home to you after school, untouched. Bacon is not exactly a healthy choice of food, but as long as we consume it in moderation, it works just fine. Another vegetable included in their diet, especially for Darling son KW, who requested that I "cut off the green part sticking out". He didn't mind popping the hidden asparagus into his mouth, since I cut the spear of asparagus into smaller chunks.

4 spears of Asparagus

2 slices of Bacon

• Half the slice of bacon lengthwise.
• From a slice of bacon, you now get two thin slices.
• Remove tough end of asparagus.
• Wash and pat dry the asparagus.
• Wrap the half-sliced of bacon around the spear of asparagus.
• Put the bacon wrapped asparagus in a lined tray.
• Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes.
• You may want to turn the spear of asparagus half way through cooking.

I didn't add any salt or pepper. The asparagus was soft and well seasoned by the saltiness from the slightly crispy bacon. While the bacon was sizzling away in the oven, I pan fried the chicken thigh chunks.

These chicken thigh chunks were cut and marinated with Shaoxing Wine, and left in the fridge overnight. I coated the chunks with some cornstarch and salt, and pan fried them with some olive oil. Since they were bite size chunks, they cooked faster than when you fried a whole chicken thigh.

Oily bacon and oily spears of asparagus, with panfried chicken ... unhealthy? I added more vegetables - orange cauliflower. Scoop some rice into the lunchbox and that completes the meal. This is the lunchbox for hubby dear. No Echo-Echo for him =p

Three lunchboxes in one morning. It is no wonder the kitchen was in a terrible mess after packing the lunchboxes. Let's hope the boys, big and little, come home later with an empty lunchbox.