Favourite Creations in 2014

To round up year 2014, here I share my 14 favourite creations. And if you want to read the post further, you may click the link on each title.

My highlight in 2014 is being able to participate in Japanese TV station (NHK World) special program, " Bento- the Global Lunchbox Project" which received the 4th in NHK World's "VIEWERS' CHOICE AWARDS 2014" of "Food&pop culture" category. If you missed the show, you may watch it online in this link.

I would like to thank you all for your supports and for being with me in my bento journey. Looking forward to sharing more creations and recipes in 2015! 


These are my 14 favourite creations in 2014 (In random order) :

1. Back to School Bento 

This bento has a special place in my heart because the idea to make replica of me and himself in the lunchbox was given by my youngest son. He was just 5 years old at that time. I'm sure he can feel the love when he opened his lunch that day.

2. Delicious Sausage Rolls Bento

I got lots of feedback from busy moms that really want to make bento for their kids, but can not spend lots of time to prepare them. And since I have to make two bentos for my sons every school day in 2014, I have to be practical as well. This bento is suitable for busy moms/dads because the sausage rolls and the jellies can be made in advance. I shared the yummy recipe in this post.

3. Special Valentine's Day Bento

In some occasions, I love to create bento with more details for special people. I really love how the cheese patterns and carrots messages turned out. 

4. Duck Pancakes Bento

I tried to put variety in my creations. This time, the homemade duck pancakes look and taste so beautiful.I shared the recipe in this post. Yum!

5. Sunflowers Bento

I adored the color of the sunflowers in this lunches. They are so vibrant and simply gorgeous. And my son told me that he loved the carved banana too :)

6. Bento & co International Competition 2014

Even though I did not win this competition, but I was really happy with how it turned out. I spent quite some time to plan, make and photograph it. I love all the details and how colorful this bento was.  

7. Perfect Couple

I shared this bento at #Wonderlunchbox competition by Wonder White and won a $100 visa gift card. So grateful!

8. FIFA World Cup Bento

This bento is so special for both me and my eldest son. I still remember his reaction when he saw it. He is really into soccer this year, and this bento means so much to him.

9. Fish Drumsticks Bento

The combination of colours, fresh foods and vegetables looks so gorgeous in this bento. I love the unique fish drumsticks well. I shared the recipe in this post.

10. Adventure Time

It was when my eldest son turned 8 and I made an Adventure Time birthday themed cupcakes for his teacher and classmates. To go along with the theme, I also made this cute Finn and Jake bento. My son really had a great time on that day.

11. Casper and the Pumpkin Witch

One of my favourite halloween themed bento. I can't believe so many of you love Casper so much like me and my son do :)

12. Santa Suit Bento

I don't know why but for me, this Santa suit bento is kinda cute. I love all the details from the snowflakes, presents, and the idea of using a coke ring as Santa's belt is just brilliant!

13. Minions Birthday Cake

This post is not a bento post, but I really love this Minion birthday cake that I made for my youngest son. Each of the Minions has unique expression, and by getting used to do Bento, certainly helps me a lot in creating this birthday cake. 

14. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I feel that these bentos are really suitable for my sons. The boys really look alike (even though they have 2.5 year gap) just as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss. 

Christmas Stockings

Since today is the last day of school, before a long school holiday, this is the last Christmas-themed bento in 2014. This time I created Christmas stockings for the boys. They are strawberry jam sandwiches with apple cuts, carrots and cheese for decorations.

Details as below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Christmas stocking sandwich
2. Red seedless grapes
3. Broccoli with "snowflakes and star" cheese
4. Corn on the cob
5. Ham "flower"
6. Honeydew cuts for recess

And for my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Christmas stocking sandwich
2. Red seedless grapes
3. Broccoli with "snowflake" cheese
4. Corn on the cob
5. Homemade beef meatballs
6. Fruit salad yogurt for recess

In this occassion, I'd like tosay : Merry Christmas to all of you! Count your blessings and be a blessing to others. Have a safe holiday with your loved ones....

Santa Reindeers Bento

Christmas is fast approaching! How's your Christmas preparation up to now ?

Today, I'm joining my fellow bento bloggers and friends for the Eat, Drink & Be Merry Holiday Hop.
Each reindeer is made of croissant, the tip of sausage, white crab stick, nori, and pretzels.

Details as below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Reindeer croissant
2. Carrot sticks
3. Homemade fish ball with cheese "snowflake"
4. Apricot balls (recipe here)
5. Corn on the cob
6. Tamagoyaki
7. Ham roll
8. Pretzels
9. Banana for recess

And for my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Reindeer croissant
2. Carrot sticks
3. Homemade fish ball with cheese "snowflake"
4. Corn on the cob
5. Tamagoyaki with salt and pepper
7. Ham "flower"
8. Pretzels
9. Kiwi fruit for recess

Please continue the blog hop by clicking on the button below and I hope you'll enjoy this hop as much as I do :) Happy holiday!

Santa Suit Bento

I've seen the idea of using coke ring as Santa's belt in facebook one day, and I think it's pretty cute. So when we went to Christmas carol in the park last night, I saved the ring from my coke can for a little surprise :)

Since my youngest son will have christmas party at school, he doesn't need to bring lunch. I made this Santa suit bento for my eldest son. He is 8 years old. When I showed him this bento, and told him not to eat the belt, he answered, "Of course, mum...I know that was a coke ring". I worried too much, I guessed :)

Inside the box :
1. Santa suit sandwich (Ham and cheese sandwich, apple, coke ring, and nori)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Broccoli with cheese on top
4. Carrot presents (with corn husk and cheese on top)
5. Red seedless grapes
6. Ham flower

notes : he had honeydew cuts for recess

Tiger Santa and Croissant

My eldest son loves rice. So I packed for him these cute tiger santa onigiri using my favourite tool, below :

My little one prefers ham & cheese croissant instead. So I packed for him a simple bento that only needs a little time to prepare.

What I prepared for my eldest son :
1. Tiger santa onigiri (white steamed rice, nori, sausage and white crab stick)
2. Homemade fish ball
3. Tofu, snow peas, and pork minced stir fried
4. Ham and carrot
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Banana for recess

And for my youngest son,
1. Ham and cheese croissant
2. Carrot stick
3. Homemade fish ball
4. Sausages
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Banana for recess

Christmas Chicken Wraps

Today the kids are having chicken wraps for their lunches. I put  grilled chicken, lettuce, roma tomato, ham, cheese, BBQ sauce, and sour cream for the filling.

This time, I would like to share the apricot balls recipe. It's a healthier version of treats and tastes so good.

APRICOT BALLS
Ingredients :
200 gr dried apricots
1/2 cup oats
1 teaspoon honey
Desiccated coconut as needed

Method :
Blitz all together in food processor
Roll into balls, then roll into the desiccated coconut until well covered.
Keep them refrigerated .

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Chicken wrap
2. Apricot balls
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Kiwi fruit for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Chicken wrap
2. Red seedless grapes
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Kiwi fruit for recess

To add a Christmas touch, I added red napkins and Christmas-themed ring decorations for the bento. You may find them here :

Indonesian Fried Pastry (Pastel Goreng)

If Spanish people has Empanadas, Indonesian has their own version, called pastel goreng. Pastel goreng (Indonesian Fried Pastry) is fried pastry filled with vegetables, egg and chopped meat. Best to serve them with sweet chili sauce. Recipe is below :

PASTEL GORENG (Indonesian Fried Pastry)

Ingredients:

Pastry :
250 gr flour
60gr butter
60ml cold water
1/2tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
1 egg

Filling:
Oil to fry
Boiled potatoes, finely chopped
2 Carrots, finely chopped
100 gr minced chicken
3 garlic, finely chopped
1 pack of dried vermicelli (dip it in hot boiled water)
2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
Salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

Instructions :
1. Prepare the filling first. Heat oil and fry the garlic until fragrant.
2. Add minced chicken & carrots. Fry until the minced chicken and carrots done.
3. Then season with salt, pepper and sugar.
4. Add vermicelli and potatoes, then for last one, add hard-boiled eggs. Mix well and leave aside to cool.

For the pastry :
1. Mix the flour with butter, egg, and salt.
2. Knead well and then add water little by little. Let it rest for 1/2 hour. Then put a tablespoon of oil and knead again until smooth.
3. Roll the dough into paper thin. Cut the dough into circles 8 cm in diameter.
4. Take a tbsp of filling and place in center.
5. Fold pastry over to make half circle and crimp at edges.
6. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Pastel goreng
2. Carrot sticks
3. Apricot balls
4. Milk jelly with nata de coco
5. Banana for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1.  Pastel goreng
2. Carrot sticks
3. Seedless red grapes
4. Milk jelly with nata de coco
5. Apple cuts for recess

For the Christmas themed ring decoration, I used :

Snowflakes Sandwich Bento

My first post for Christmas themed in 2014. Christmas is one of my favourite bento themes ever. It's just bringing warm and happiness in my heart. Sometimes I found myself singing those Christmas songs while preparing the lunches. So enjoyable :)

I've been wanting these snowflakes cutters for so long and finally I got them from Ebay. Bliss :)
Both of my kids are super excited too. They said their lunches looks so gorgeous...yay!

Inside the box there are :
1. Ham and snowflake cheese sandwich
2. Halves hard boiled egg with mini cheese snowflakes
3. Corn on the cob
4. Milk jelly with nata de coco
5. Seedless red grapes

And the kids had apple "rabbits" for their recess.

You may get the music notes food picks here :

Easy Mini Garlic Bread

This dough recipe only needs 2 ingredients and it is very versatile. It is perfect for pizza dough as well. To make the dough, mix 2 cups of self-raising flour and 1 cup of Greek yogurt by hand and knead it until it's not sticky. For mini garlic bread, roll the dough and cut into small cubes. Sprinkle them with salt, minced garlic, and parsley. Bake in oven at 180°C for about 10 minutes until the color changes.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Mini garlic bread
2. Fried sandwich bread (recipe here)
3. Corn on the cob
4. Quail eggs with salt and pepper
5. Baby carrots
6. Apple "rabbits" for recess

My youngest son had the same lunch as his brother, but he prefers kiwi fruits instead for recess.

You may find these cute food picks, here :

Fried Sandwich Bread with Sausage Bento

This sausage with sandwich bread recipe is perfect for snack after school and for school lunches filling.


Fried Sandwich Bread with Sausage

Ingredients :
5 pcs sandwich, tear them
2 pcs sausage, cut thinly
2 eggs, beaten
3 garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
150 gram breadcrumbs
Oil to fry

Method :
Mix all the ingredients well.
Shape the mixture into little balls
Roll into breadcrumbs
Fry in medium hot oil until turn brown.
Put them on paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
Enjoy! (Best served with tomato ketchup or sweet chili sauce)

Inside the bento box :
1. Mini ham and cheese croissant
2. Fried sandwich bread with sausage and tomato ketchup
3. Corn on the cob
4. Baby carrots
5. Quail eggs
6. Kiwi fruit for recess

Skylanders Themed Birthday Cake

My youngest son turned 6 and because he is really into skylanders lately, I made skylanders themed cake for his birthday.
For his teachers and classmates, I planned to give out some cupcakes so that it was easier for the teachers to distribute them and they are mess-free. I did some research in the internet and found templates for 8 elements in skylanders. They are  Magic, Earth, Water, Fire, Tech, Un-dead, Life and Air.
The cupcakes are white almond sour cream cake (WASC) with marshmallow fondant icing.

And for the birthday party, I made a skylanders portal from WASC cake with marshmallow fondant icing. To make it even special, I ordered edible image with skylanders themed (of course) and his photo on it. Not to forget, the eight elements to go around the portal.
To see his reaction when he found out that there was his photo on the birthday cake was priceless!

Here I share the WASC recipe. This cake is so moist and easy to make. Perfect to go with fondant icing.

White Almond Sour Cream Cake (WASC)

originally created by Rebecca Sutterby

Ingredients :

2 boxes white cake mix

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar (I reduced the sugar into 1 cup because it was too sweet for me)

1 1/2 teas. salt 

8 egg whites

2 2/3 cups water

4 Tbls. vegetable oil

2 cups (16oz carton) sour cream

2 teaspoon clear vanilla flavor

2 teaspoons almond extract

Instructions :

Mix all dry ingredients by hand using a whisk in a very large mixing bowl. 

Add the rest of the ingredients and beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Bake at 325 degrees

* Notes :

- One recipe makes: one 14″ round + one 6″ round

or one 16″ round or one 12″ round + one 10″ round or one 12×18″ sheet cake or one 12″ round + one 8″ round + one 6″

- Half a recipe makes: two 8″ rounds or two 6″ rounds + 6 cupcakes

For the marshmallow fondant, You can find the recipe and video tutorial here.

And also for his birthday bento, I used some birthday decoration from All Things For Sale, here is the link :

Inside the box, I prepared :

1. Ham and cheese mini croissant

2. Corn on the cob

3. Fish drumstick ( recipe here)

4. Quail eggs with salt and pepper

5. Strawberry yogurt for recess