The Bunnies Strike ... Again!

It is lonesome when there's just one of you .... zzzzz .....

Add another ... oh so sweet!

A pair of bunnies to celebrate the second day of the Chinese New Year!

Do I hear you say ... Valentine's Day??

Making these Bunny Maki Sushi was not that difficult.

Thanks Susan, for sharing the "How To".

Hop over to Hawaii's Bento Box Cookbook - Bentos and More for Kids, for a detailed step by step instruction on rolling the Bunny Maki Sushi!

My little boy ran over while I was packing the sushi into the lunchbox, and said .. it's a pig! Haiz! A pig with long bunny-like ears? Maybe I should just remove the slice of cheese ...

Anyway, in the bento ... Bunny maki sushi made with SPAM and sausage, and broccoli florets.

A "no fuss" meal, according to my elder boy.

"I don't have to decide what to eat first. I just pick it up and pop it into my mouth!" said Darling son KW.

SPAM Musubi

My boys love eating SPAM, the western version of Luncheon Meat, and they love sushi too! They get to have sushi for their lunch regularly, but not SPAM. SPAM appears in their meals when Mom is extremely exhausted, ill or there is no more ingredients in the fridge for preparing meals.

This is the Hawaiian version of the Japanese Onigiri. I found this recipe from House of Annie. With the temperatures going up to a high of 33 degree Celsius, and feeling like 38, I just don't feel like cooking! I have only 30 minutes to prepare lunch, after bringing the boys home from their swimming class. Hubby dear had a meeting to attend in the afternoon, and had to be out immediately after lunch.

Ok, I'm finding all sorts of excuses to make this =p

But seriously, this is a no-fuss meal, and it's so easy to prepare!

To feel less guilty, I replace the original SPAM with the less sodium type, and use soy sauce that has less sodium =)

• Cut SPAM into pieces (not too thin).
• Do not discard the can. To be use as a mould for later.
• Heat up a pan. No oil is required.
• Put the slices of SPAM onto the heated pan.
• Mix 1 tablespoon of soy sauce with 1 teaspoon of brown sugar.
• Drizzle the mixture onto the slices of SPAM.
• Heat the slices for a couple of minutes.
• Flipped over, and again, drizzle the soy mixture onto the side facing up.
• Heat for a couple of minutes.
• Remove and set aside.
• Using the SPAM can, scoop some rice into it and press the rice down. Put a slice of fried SPAM on top of the pressed rice.
• Invert the can onto a broad nori strip.
• Wrap the nori strip around the rice and SPAM slice.

What about the vegetables?

I had some leftover strawberries from baking the Fruit Pastry Cake. I cleaned and cut them up and threw them into the mixing bowl of lettuce trio. WOW! They instantly brighten up the bowl of salad! Mix some honey and mayonnaise together, and you get your salad dressing =)

The cold salad went very well with SPAM Musubi, on a very hot and humid day! The boys love their lunch! Both the musubi and salad were gone in seconds! Tasty!

Pork Floss Sushi

Remember the pork pieces I use for cooking soups?

I used them to make sushi for the kids' lunchboxes!

Since the pork/chicken floss was fried the day before, all I needed to do in the morning was to blanch/microwave the vegetables ... broccoli and carrots!

1. Mix the blanched/microwaved vegetables with the fluffed rice.

2. Add sushi vinegar and mix well.

3. Cool the rice a little before using.

4. On a rolling mat, place a sheet of nori, shiny side down.

5. Spread the rice on the nori sheet, covering 3/4 of the sheet.

6. Spread the pork/chicken floss onto the rice.

7. Roll tightly and cut.

8. Pack or serve.

Alternatively, if you don't like broccoli or carrots, you can use spinach!

Blanch the spinach, drain, let cool, and squeeze out the excess water. Cut the blanched spinach into smaller pieces. Store in an air-tight container, keep in the refrigerator for use the next morning. Simply mix the refrigerated spinach into the fluffy hot rice, add sushi vinegar, mix well, and let cool the rice before using. You don't even need to blanch any vegetables in the morning! Just mix, cool, and roll!

I prefer chicken floss to pork floss, as I find it easier to cut the sushi "log" . Either one, it is a good way to use up the meat in soup. YUM!

Fishcake Sushi

Learning is fun in the woods!

Darling son YW who is in Kindergarten, is learning about moon phases, day and night on earth, and planets in the solar system. A school field trip to the Planetarium completes the topic.

The field trip to the Planetarium took place this morning. Since the kids would be back in school after their school lunch hour, they were asked to bring a cold lunch and drink. They would be having their lunch after the trip, in their respective classroom, instead of the school's lunchroom. To make it easier for him to finish his lunch quickly, I prepare a sushi lunch for him and gave him a piece of brownie as a sweet treat! Indeed a cold lunch, for both darling sons, without the thermal jar.

We bought fishcake from the Korean Mart near our apartment. It didn't taste like the ones back home, but we missed the food back home so much, anything close worked! The kids gave the thumbs up the first time I cooked it! We were so happy to find fishcake that we started talking about what we would eat when we go back home for holiday in August ... Curry, Laksa, Char Siew Pau, Char Kay Teow, Chicken Rice .... even the kids had their own food list!

Got a little carried away when I think about home food ... back to the sushi.

It was fairly easy to prepare the sushi. All I needed to do was to :

• Cut the fishcake into strips.
• Fry the strips of fishcake in a pan with a little butter.
• Blanch the broccoli and cut them into very small pieces.
• Add some rice vinegar to the warm rice.
• Add the tiny pieces of broccoli into the rice.
• Mix well and let cool.
• Place a sheet of nori onto the sushi rolling mat, shiny side down.
• Spread the rice and broccoli mixture on the nori sheet, covering 2/3 of the sheet.
• Place two strips of fishcake in the centre. Roll and cut.

Due to the lack of time, I couldn't make sushi for hubby dear ... I'm so sorry ... Instead, I cut the strips of fishcake into even smaller pieces. Packed them into one of the boxes in his thermal jar. Sprinkled his box of rice with some furikake. Boxed the blanched broccoli into another container. Lastly, a bowl (yes, a soup bowl) of warm Ovaltine!

A hot lunch for him, to keep him warm on a cold winter day =)

Cold Lunch and School Field Trip

During dinner last night, darling son YW asked me :

"Can I bring the bun for my field trip tomorrow?"

So this morning, I packed the cream cheese bun I made yesterday, into his lunch box, together with some cherry tomatoes and sushi. With this Lock&Lock Box as his lunch box on a school field trip, I don't have to worry about him losing his thermal jar. The box is easy to open and lock, and Sushi is easy to eat. He doesn't need to ask for help to open his lunch box at all! He will have enough time to finish his lunch.

Salmon and Broccoli Sushi

Broccoli :

• Microwave and cut into smaller pieces.
• Mix the broccoli with rice.
• Add sushi rice vinegar. Mix well.
• Set aside to cool.

Salmon :

• Heat up a frying pan.
• Melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in the heated pan.
• Put the salmon into the pan, with the skin side down.
• Cook the salmon, turning it at least twice.
• Sprinkle a pinch of salt onto salmon when almost cooked.
• Add a little more butter if required.
• Cut the salmon into long strips if possible.

Prepare the sushi :

• Lay a sheet of nori, shiny side down, on the bamboo sushi mat.
• Spread the rice and broccoli mix onto the sheet of nori.
• Place the salmon strips on the rice.
• Roll and cut.

Enjoy your bento lunch, my little darling .... love, Mummy =)

Bacon Sushi

Whenever we eat out at Sushi Box, a Japanese restaurant near our apartment, we will order sushi for the boys. The boys love sushi! When the grains of rice stick to the fingers of the little one, he will lick them off! He will use his fingers to pick up the ingredients that fall out from the sushi. His favourite sushi? Philadelphia Sushi. It comprises salmon and Philadelphia cream cheese.

So whenever I need the boys to finish their meal quickly, or for a convenient fuss-free packed lunch, I will pack sushi for them. I had some baked bacon left over from packing the lunch boxes for hubby and elder boy. The little one is forever eating so slowly when he is at home. So I mix finely chopped broccoli into sushi rice, fry an omelette, and add the crispy baked bacon (done the day before) and roll them into a sushi!

The little one finished his sushi lunch in a flash, while his mummy beamed in the kitchen =)

Thanksgiving and Chicago!

Three bento lunches ... for the three bears? Kind of ... ha ha ... for Papa and Mama bears, and the two little bears! All going to Chicago on Thanksgiving day!

We left the woods after breakfast.

The drive there took us about three hours. Weather was good. No snow.

Hotel check-in was at three o'clock.

Hence, we thought we should just drive to the Field Museum, made good use of the day since the day darkened around five.

It was a big museum. Bigger than I had imagined. And so many exhibits to see.

Some exhibits viewing were included in the admission fee to the museum, while some required you to purchase tickets to enter.

"Mummy, mummy, look! There's a person lying down here!" Shouted my two boys as they peered down through a glass panel on the ground.

They were looking at a "Mummy" ... no, not their mummy. A Mummy found in pyramids.

It was fun exploring the Great Pyramid.

Meet Sue, the dinosaur!

The head is 270kg, and is too heavy to be mounted.

So what you see in the photo is just a replica. The real thing was framed in a box in the second level.

Wanna feel how it is like to be a fly, with complex eyes?

Wanna experience how it is like to be inside a tornado?

Wanna know more about earthquakes and tsunami?

What elements affect the shape of a volcano?

Welcome to the underground world of the creepy crawlies!

Honey, I shrunk the kids! And they are now smaller than an earthworm!

Really, there was so much to do and to see. We spent so much time viewing the exhibits, we missed the Crown PlayLab, where the kids get to do all sorts of hands-on activities.

The kids enjoyed themselves, and so did we! So off to the hotel we went! We were so tired we went to bed at 8pm!

The next day, it's to Chinatown for brunch, before heading to the Alder Planetarium.

We thought we would spend more time here, since darling son KW was learning about the Solar System and kept asking us questions like "What happen when an asteroid hit a planet?".

We decided to bring him to the Moon ... to watch a 3D show. The second show, Timespace, showed us the Big Bang, comets, etc, had great effects.

The exhibits were not as fantastic and fun as the ones at the Field Museum. I guess the older boys would appreciate them more, since they would be able to read better than a six-year old? I didn't enjoy the Planetarium as much as I enjoyed the Field Museum.

So the visit to the Planetarium ended earlier than we planned. We could do with an early dinner outside, and then find our way back to the hotel, since it was still early. Oh dear, but the traffic was terrible! It was just like Orchard Road back home! See the bride and groom dashing across the busy road? They were on a photo-shoot... erhh... on a day when the temperature was like 5C? I had a good laugh looking at them while holding my down jacket.

We had to end our trip on Saturday morning. Plans for more site seeing and other activities were shelved. Why? I had a terrible throat inflammation, and my temperature had been on the rise since we reached Chicago. Had to drive back immediately after breakfast, so that I could see the doctor at the urgent care clinic. By the time I reached the clinic, my temperature had risen to mid 38C.

The kids had a good time though. If we were to visit again, we would definitely go the Field Museum again. And the Farmer's Market too! And walk instead of drive through the Magnificent Mile.

Butterfly, where are you going?

It does look like a butterfly, doesn't it?

This is my favorite packed lunch.

My boy's favorite too.

He loves sushi.

Simple ingredients.

Easy to prepare.

You need ham, carrots, rice and a sheet of nori.

Set the rice cooker to "delay" function.

Rice is ready by morning.

Lay a sheet of nori on the bamboo roll.

Next comes the rice, ham and carrots.

Don't like carrots?

Fried mushroom omelette?

How about blanched spinach, with a pinch of salt?

Your choice of vegetables =)

Roll it up when you have assembled all the ingredients.

Cut it up into smaller pieces. Done!

Into the lunchboxes they go!

Bye Butterfly .. See you at lunchtime!

The little boy says ... Hi Mr. RiceMan!

Hi Mr. RiceMan!

You looked so fierce!

Mama said to me ...

"Eat them quickly, and there will be no more Mr RiceMan".

And I did!

But hey, there's something inside Mr RiceMan!

It's ham! Yum, yum!

I love ham!

In minutes, Mr RiceMan vanished.

Mama was very pleased with me for getting rid of fierce Mr RiceMan.