Bento No. 14 - Mini Cakes

These past few weeks was rather a busy one and I know I've been neglecting my blog. The kids had a long weekend because of one holiday after the other (National Heroes' Day and Eid al Fitr). Our country's population is mostly Catholic and Christian but our government declared Eid al Fitr as a special holiday as a  respect to our Moslem countrymen. Today is the first day after the holiday and my kid's school have a mini program  so I just prepared a light snack. I know she will not be able to eat properly because they will be preparing their part in the program. I hope she will be able to do her part successfully. 

Inside the box: Inipit in 3 flavors (local mini cake), Ham rolls , flower shaped quail eggs (though not to visible)  and heart shape marshmallows

Bento No. 13 - Easy Peasy Bento

Quick and easy, that's my goal for today's bento. I don't have too many ideas on what to pack today so I stood in front of the fridge with doors open ( I know it's a little waste of energy)  to check what to add to my daughter's lunch box. I still have the purple yam siopao and mangoes, voila! instant bento stash! I've included steamed hacao (shrimp dumplings) It's good that when I started bentoing I purchased a mini microwave steamer, it really comes in handy when I want to shorten prep time.  So here it is my Easy Peasy Bento. I may do a lot of this quick and easy lunch box in the future.

By the way it includes two siopao because my daughter told me that some of her classmate really wants to check her lunch every day and I've told her to share some to her friends.

Bento No. 12 -Chicken Nuggets and Sunflower Sausages

Can't believe it's already Monday. I had a long vacation from work so I'm feelin' kinda lazy while I'm writing this post, another Manic Monday, haayst. Anyway, I woke up at around 3 A.M., I've been working night shift for many years now so my body clock gets a little confused when I'm off from work so I still feel awake and energized even in the wee hours of the morning.  So I decided to make a little elaborated bento for Alyssa today.

My kid's lunch  is consist of funky shaped chix nuggets, sunflower sausages which almost got burned, mango cubes , mini cookies with candy bits and cheese triangle

I hope everyone will have a fruitful week.

Bento # 11: Hello Kitty and Mimi

I guess the easiest character to consider in a charaben is Hello Kitty since you only need to mold the rice and put minimal facial features. I actually used my hands to mold Hello Kitty and her twin sister Mimi. I am able to make more bento for my Alyssa this week because I have five days off from work. I took the opportunity to spent more time with my family. Inside the box: cheese sprinkled chiken nuggets, some mixed veggies and edamame, rose fried eggs and  2 winking marshmallows. The yellow container have ketchup.

Have a happy weekend every one!

Bento #10 - Ube Siopao

I prepared a light snack for my daughter today because it's one of her classmate's birthday. Her classmate's parents will bring some food to school. I told her that I won't be preparing bento for her since there will be lunch for them but she requested for me prepare one. When I started doing her bento , she said that her classmates would always check her lunch box. I guess the kids are also curious on what art they would see on her baon. One kid actually said she brought a toy at the school referring to baran, yay! Here in the Philippines the art of bento is not too common since normally kids would buy their food from the school cafeteria so I guess my daughter's classmates find her lunch box a novelty. 

I also found out from my sister, who also started bentoing after me, that one of her blogger friend got curious on the lunches she prepare for her kid. By the way she also post her creation on her blog though it's theme is not really all about bento. It seems that this bento "addiction" is contagious huh?

Inside the box: Purple yam (ube) steamed bun, 2 octodogs , 3 alien quail eggs and a cheese cube

Bento No. 9 - Oh So Yummy Pancakes

It's my daughter's first quarter examination week so they only stay for two hours in school, I decided a light snack would be ideal for her. She requested pancakes for today so I prepared mini-pancakes  and added chicken nuggets. The green container has the maple syrup. For desert she has heart shaped marshmallows and cheese triangle. I just hope she will finish everything lately her appetite has changed.

Bento No. 8 - Two bunnies and a piggy

When I started doing bento lunch for my daughter my dilema included where to get bento supplies. Here in the Philippines there is limited suppliers of bento items so we actually have to make do with what we can find locally.  One of the problem was what to include in the box. Local supermarkets or groceries already includes Asian Food Section where you can get Japanese condiments like tonkatsu sauce, mirin, teriyake sauce and the like. They may also carry frozen products like potstickers and gyoza. So I was so happy when my sister told me that she was able to find in Rustan's supermaket's frozen section a pack they called Mix Shabu-shabu which includes this Rabbit Fish Cake (this makes life easier ;-D).It's just a disappointment when we found out  it only includes 4 pieces of the said rabbit  It also includes taro ball, fish tofu and veggie balls. I just wasn't able to take a picture. 

My sister  also started doing bento after she found out that I started this hobby.  Just like having a bento disciple, he he. You can read her post here. So we're actually into this sort of bento adventure searching for  bento goodies available locally.

Bento No. 7 - Pandesal Bento

My daughter Alyssa is really fond of this local bread, she likes it best with peanut butter but when I asked her if she wants variation she agreed to have ham and cheese pan de sal. It's a good thing that my shift this month starts at 8 pm and ends at 5 am. My travel  from the office only takes less than an hour so I still have time to prepare her baon which is Filipino for packed lunch.  I included sausage flowers and for desert frugurt (yogurt style fruit jelly), a smiling marshmallow and cream cheese.

Pan de sal (Spanish: pan de sal - salt bread) is a rounded bread that's very common food in the Philippines. It is a bread made of flour, eggs, yeast, sugar, and salt. Pandesal originally started out as a plain roll, traditionally served for breakfast accompanied by such items as butter, cheese, scrambled eggs or filled omelets, sausages, bacon, Spanish sardines, jams, jellies and marmalades, coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Originally, pandesal was similar to the French baguette, as the only ingredients needed were hard wheat flour, water, yeast and salt (Wikipedia)

I hope she'll eat everything, I'm a little worried coz when there is school she lacks appetite most of the time.

Bento #6 - Comfort Foods

 I work night shift so I'm not able to always prepare my daughter's lunch box. So I'm posting my own lunch for today.

Inside the box:  Pancit Miki (fresh egg noodles), Tortang Dilis (Anchovies Patties) and a slab of yellow corn.

Every morning, on my way from the office,   I  pass by our local wet market, so I'm able to always get the freshest produce. Today, my sister asked me to buy cream dory fillet but before I went to the fish vendor I chance upon fresh boneless dilis or anchovies. I remember my mother's recipe for anchovies patties, it is quite delicious specially if you will dip it vinegar with freshly mince garlic. Yummy!

Bento #5-Angry Birds Bento

It's an Angry Birds Invasion! Lol!

This mobile game is quite phenomenal! I bet almost everybody has played  or heard about this fun game. So my kid was not spared. I was searching the web for bento ideas when my I chanced upon a bento blog where the author made an Angry Bird themed lunch box, my daughter was watching me as a browse so she requested me to do the same for her lunch box. The author used ketchup and egg to color the rice, but since my daughter doesn't want flavored rice, I racked my brain on how I can do the same for her lunch. So since I don't have work last night ( I work night shift) I was able to grant her request. I used hard boiled egg for the body, cheese and nori for the eyes and carrots for the beak. All is already packed but when I checked the local news I found out that classes for elementary students in our city is suspended because of heavy rains, sad :(( Well, so much for the effort, I'll just let her eat her school lunch for her breakfast.

Inside the box: Grape Fruit, Tocino (Local cured young pork) and hard boiled egg