Mondays are always tiring

Another lovely day when I have to prepare completely different bentos for Takoyaki and Roast Meat. Thankfully, there was less to do for RM because his sushi were all store-bought. No raw fish, safe for bento.

Takoyaki was adamant about bringing (planned over) Spaghetti Bolognese, otherwise known as meat sauce pasta in our family.

Finally Friday - Pressed Sushi Again! (Real this time)

After yesterday's rather failed attempt, I decided to give my new toy another go, but this time, without the nori and with better fillings.

Oshizushi with egg sheet and pork floss

The middle layer is a thin egg sheet seasoned tamagoyaki style. So it's just one layer of rice, then the egg sheet, then more rice, and finally pork floss on top. My cutting skills suck though.

Takoyaki's oshizushi bento

We will know whether she liked it or not tonight.

Friday Brunch In School

I was invited by Takoyaki's Sec One class to join them for brunch this morning, and parents were asked to bring some food to share. So I made some sushi and a special onigiri for her. 

Here's the onigiri. I learnt this from my friend Maysatch, although she used ham while I used cheese. Actually I made two of these, the first one going to my neighbour who adores Totoro. Takoyaki was just lucky d:)

And I couldn't forget Roast Meat, of course, who loves sushi. He wouldn't have let me d:O

Bentos at Teachers Day Celebrations

To celebrate the end of the term (and a nice rest from bentoing because I was just too stressed up), I made some inarizushis for both kids to enjoy at recess.

From the left, inarizushi with chopped up cucumber, inari with homemade salmon flakes, strawberry cherry tomatoes and clementine wedges.

Chirashi Don + Review of Kago Onigiri Box

Is a great way to pack the ingredients for a bento if you're running out of time.

RM's chirashizushi don

I knew if I'd tried to push the rice into sushi moulds we'd be late for school, so instead I just packed a bed of sushi rice and quickly arranged the toppings. Roast Meat will be having some aburaage (sweet deepfried beancurd skin), surimi crabstick, arctic surf clams and Japanese cucumber. Oops! I forgot to pack him some soy sauce d:/

Takoyaki doesn't eat any of the seafood (fusspot) so I just gave her inarizushi plus some ham to up the protein factor.

And this one... is lunch for me and Mouse (the tot) in my new Kago Onigiri Box from Bento&Co. I have decidedly more toppings d:P including pork floss tamagoyaki, edamame and seaweed chicken (for Mouse).

Chirashi Bento in my new Kago Onigiri Box

I love love love this box! Just the sight of it fills me with indescribable happiness. The natural smell of the bamboo is calming and adds fragrance to the rice. Ok my rice is sushi rice but I'm entitled to think what I want, yes? d:)

Review of Kago Onigiri Box

The box itself is very sturdy because it has reinforced corners and bottom. I had expected it to be rather soft but it's quite the opposite. This box is as strong as my other plastic bento boxes any day! The food will not be squashed in it. And it's as light as a feather - this is a decided plus. Only thing left is to see how well it washes, but according to Just Bento, all I will have to do is use a non-abrasive sponge to scrub it, then let it dry completely.

(Update: Because I used wax paper to line the box, washing was a breeze with my 3M sponge. I just left it on the dish drainer overnight to dry out completely and back it went into the cardboard box it arrived in - it's own "home", so sweet.)

To hold onigiris is it's original intended function, but here I've packed a bed of rice (on a layer of wax paper to prevent sticking), and I can see myself packing sandwiches sometime soon. It's certainly spacious enough. You can pack a full bowl of rice in for an adult AND still have lots of room left to add sides and fruits. The height is adequate for medium to long picks to stand upright. Since it's porous, it is not advisable to put foods with a lot of gravy or sauce, not even with silicone cups. You will have to put any wet stuff in a small box with a tight-fitting lid, such as the smallest box in my One Piece, Matryoshka or Cowboy sets. The box requires a bento band or furoshiki to keep it closed and secure in transit.

The price is not cheap, but to me the quality is worth every cent. I got it shipped free to me so I certainly saved a bit there!

This box is NEVER going to school with the children.

It's the weekend, yay!

Chirashizushi Bento

To make up for yesterday's ultra boring box, I made Roast Meat a yummy sushi bento today. The hokkigai and surimi crabstick were bought precooked, so all I had to do was defrost them and blanch them briefly (just in case). These are sitting on a bed of sushi rice, something I have not made for months. On the side are a couple of cherry tomatoes, blueberries and lettuce.

I am looking forward to picking both Takoyaki and RM up today so we can go out for lunch.