Binging on chocolates

Tell me you can resist these chocs???! The mint is not halal though.  :(

i LOVEEEEEE the salted caramel whirl!

Bento chef wanna be Day #23-36

Day 23: Home made beef patty burger with salad, grapes and banana

Day 24: Mee Poh in soy with crispy chilli and egg benedict, stir fried carrot and french beans, grapes

Day 25: Spaghetti in spinach sauce and button mushroom, mango and banana

Day 26: Fried egg noodles with Dino snacks, grapes and banana

Day 27: Ribbon pasta aglio and grapes

Day 29: Home made patty burger with sunny side up, cheese and turkey salami, kiwi and grapes

Day 30: Tom Yum noodles with seafood and straw mushrooms, apples and chinese pear

Day 31: Fried angel hair with beef sausages and mushroom, grapes and kiwi

Day 32: Chinese fried rice with chicken breast pops, grapes and Chinese pear

 Day 33: Fried mee poh with straw mushroom, fried egg and crispy chilli, banana and grapes

Day 34: Plain rice with stir fried  teriyaki beef with capsicum, egg omelette, brocolli with cheddar cheese, grapes and banana

Day 36: Southern style chicken burger with full garden salad

Bento chef wannabe Day #18-22

Some food-screw ups this week... but still delicious and edible.

Day #18: Spaghetti with oyster mushrooms, in spinach sauce. Pa said he loved this! And rockmelon.

Day 19: Mee goreng basah with seafood and scrambled egg thrown in, watermelon and kiwis.

Day 20: Macaroni in tomato sauce with shreds of beef, rockmelon and kiwis.

 Day 21:  Curry fried rice with whole white button mushroom and mixed vegetables and beef sausage sides, banana and rockmelon.

Day 22: ahhhhh... this was the screw up. I made a perfect egg benedict using microwave technique. But i used a ladle with long stripy gaps and the white just slid through the gaps. So there you go. Egg yolk benedict.

Home made beef burger patty with cheese sandwich, egg benedict and pickled cucumber, drizzled with mustard and chilli sauce. Bananas and rockmelon.

Nurul's bento

Not sure what to expect for lunch, I made Nurul a simple bento - hamburger Ramly, fruits and muesli bar. But she had BBQ at school. The school said they catered to all the different dietary requirements including Halal, so she had beef sausages then. It's ok Kak, you were not in doubt, don't fret.  :)

Bento chef wannabe Day #14-17

We did a whole lot of groccery shopping at Hong Kong supermarket last Aust Day. Hong Kong supermarket is the Aussie cousin of Sheng Shiong. What you want, they'd have it and the price is cheaper than those sold at Woolies and the Asian shops at Craigieburn. I assumed it is because the suburb where they are, is like a little Asian town. Lots of Chinese and other Asian nationalities. You can count, with both hands, the number of Aussie caucasians you spot on the street. That's how Asian-ised that suburb is... heheheheheh. Mak bought hokkien noodles so i thot I'd make it for Pa's Bento one of the days.

 Day #14: Corned beef with mushroom sandwich, bananas and strawberries

No,it was not an open-faced sandwich. For photo taking only, i removed the top bread  :)

Day #15: Mee goreng semi-basah, bananas and strawberries (again! ehhehe ran out of other fruits)

 

Day #16: Nasi pattaya with teriyaki fried rice inside, strawberries and grapes.

Day #17: That's today! Macaroni in 4 cheese sauce sprinkled with parsley and crushed black peppers, bananas and kiwis (finally a different fruit!  :p)

Bento chef wannabe Day #11 and 13

I am fasting today so I'm not sure how flavorful today's Bento was. Got Pa to taste it before i packed it. Too bland he said. I added more salt. But not sure if it's a wee bit salty... InsyaAllah it'd be delicious  ;p

Day #13: Dark soy fried rice with egg, potato in sambal and mangoes

Day #11: Fried instant noodles with cripsy crushed prawns and poached egg, cucumber drizzled with tomato sauce and oranges.

I missed taking a quick shot of yesterday's (Day #12). But it was the remaining pizza and chicken burger. Purchased the pizza when we were in Springvale the day before (Australia Day). From a Halal corner outlet diagonally opposite Dandenong Market. Labelled itself as Taste of Heaven pizza. ahhahahahah i found the name comical, something which would suit some Hawaiian beach front food outlet and not much related to the italian favourite. Side tracked, the entire stretch, well almost the entire, were Halal food outlets mostly Afghan diners. Sadly few patrons but maybe it was due to everyone partying out and barbie-ing on the day which some Australians hate due to the fact that it was the day the indigenious land was invaded... rather emotional though. Back to pizza, the pizza was sooo reasonably priced, unlike Singapore's. A big family size for only $13! And i mean REALLY big. Back home you could only can about a personal pan for that price from pizza hut and the likes of it. The pizza was Hawaiian with plentyful of stripped turkey ham and a generous amount of sweet pineapples. Alhmadulillah, the best and most important part was, it stayed delectably soft the day after. How did they do that??!!? Pizza Hut's pizza used to go hard by the next morning and had to be heated up and still became hard after it cooled down. It's in the dough. What special ingredients did they add huh??

Bento chef wannabe Day #08-10

I'm getting a little frustrated with the uploading of the photos since my phone broke down. Anyway, hopefully Pa's getting healthier by the day... and hope he gains weight too... heheheheheheheh

Saf asked me what Pa used to bring while he was "single" in Mel last year. I told her it was salami sandwich after salami sandwich. Sometimes he was that lazy... but other times i remembered he proudly cooked fried rice... way to go Pa...! But now, it'd be way to go "me"! :P  

Day #08: Fried rice with mixed vege, fresh salad and water melons.

 Day #09: Instant noodles fried in chili oil and soy sauce with straw mushrooms and fried egg, bananas and fresh salad.

Day #10: Creamy pasta macaroni with mushroom and parsley, sneaked in the kids' dino snacks (nuggets), home made brownies and seedless green grapes.

Bento chef wannabe Day #07

Now seems like i'm running out of ideas... need to look at more books pronto! I give up on the phone camera. At times when i took it portrait, it turned out in landscape. And vice versa. So i'd just upload it in whatever form it comes up in...  :P

Day #06: Spaghetti in tomato sauce, banana and mango and mixed fresh salad.

Bento chef wanabe Day #06

Sixth day into my Bento adventure. I am still determined to make my own food such as patties, balls, ice cream. For experiments  and to see how far i can go in this foodie area. An area which i sucked at previously, and still am! ehhehehehehehe Ill post some food that i froze later... InsyaAllah.

Thawed my minced beef, added salt, pepper and a bit of flour into the mince. Shaped it round and i got my very own beef patties! Hungry Jacks here has the softest cheese beefburger i had ever eaten!  And i wanted to try to make my own version with the onion tomato sauce. I forgot the pickles! darn! I'll buy gerkins and preserve them myself. If i'm too lazy, i'll buy bottled ones ehehehehh  :P

Bento Day #06: Double home-made beef patties with cheese and onion tomato sauce, Sheperd's pie, grapes and watermelon.

Bad picture taking, i know. Couldn't even see the inside of the sandwich.

Bento chef wanabe Day #05

Final day of the week! So far, it had been good. I could think of different menu for each day. 

The night before i cooked Nasi Minyak with Ayam Merah Madu Pengantin. A pat on the back for me... ehheheh my first try. On my own, at least. It was an extremely simple recipe which i got off FB. No need for ingredients which were unheard of. Just those that i had at home. And this worked really well for me since there are tons of spices in the pantry. 

The rice turned out delicious and fragrant. We had leftovers from the second batch i cooked at night. I made it into Bento for the next day. I fried sausages instead of the leftover chicken. I was late in thawing the sausage and i thought defrosting it in the microwave could save me time. But this didn't work with this sausage. After i fried it, it turned hard when Pa had his lunch. SHould have just popped in onto the frying pan for succulent sausage throughout the day. That's it! Finale for the week. Each day of the week was a different main dish and rotation of fruits.  :)

Bento Day #05: Nasi Minyak with Merah Madu sauce and fried sausages, stir fried kacang boncis and tomaoes; and grapes.

I should start taking pictures in potrait for iphone. This photo was ok in the PC but not in this blog.

Bento chef wannabe Day #04

ok, firstly i don't know why i couldn't rotate this photo. Secondly, my Samsung phone died on me so the day #03 Bento photo couldn't be retrieved yet. Not until i fixed it. I keep marinated chicken wings in the freezer. So for Day #04, i fried spicy noodles with honey glazed chicken. This brand and type of noodles were so fragile! I had to be extra careful with it, tossing it with tender loving care not wanting to break the strands into tiny lengths.

Bendto Day #04: spicy fried noodles with crunchy chilli and mushrooms, honey glazed chicken wings, omelette, stir fried chye sim and tomatoes in oyster sauce. There you go. No fruits this day!

Bento chef wannabe Day #02

I'm on a roll on this Bento thing. Keeps me thinking creatively just on food.  :)

Went to Craigieburn Central to get chicken schnitzel or what it actually is a breaded chicken. 4 huge slices for $6.80. Not bad. I could do it myself but I needed to buy the chicken breast but it'll just be easier and quicker to buy ready made ones. Wanted to have a different menu and not just pasta or rice. So i decided to make double sandwich. In my thoughts for the sandwich, i wanted to make it look like kebab so i was inspired to make tabouleh but settled on what was in the fridge - i made tomato and cucumber salsa instead. Added slice onions for the crunch. And not forgetting cheese on the second layer of the chicken... i calculated the ingredients for that today's lunch Bento is about $2.50! Imagine if we had to consume bought-lunch. That'll cost about $6 for a chicken sandwich. Alhamdulillah, i'm proud of myself... heheheheheh

Bento for Day 02: Chicken schnitzel cheese sandwich, honey-drizzled strawberries and sweet corn.

Double chicken schnitzel sandwich with tomato and cucumber salsa.

Bento chef wannabe Day #01

OK. So Safiah got me really hooked on this guy's FB page where he made Bento for his son every day for school. He was sooo influential and inspirational for healthy eating. Trust me. Google his page - Andy Handika. 

Well, i tried to do Bento for the kids for school but they said it was too much. Insisted that i just make simple peanut butter sandwich. That is what all the kids bring to school - Sandwich! The teacher would check their lunch box to make sure that each student brings sandwich for recess. They are on this healthy eating path and recycling and everything and anything that has got to do with health and saving the environment... which is taking a bit of a time for me to digest... ehehhehehehehe

So this was what i packed for Riyan: Peanut butter sandwich, 1/2 banana, 2 sushi slices with packed sauce, a London roll cake and a muesli bar.

Riyan said it was too much for recess on his 1st day of school. Was it?  :(

 

This was Nurul's. For her orientation: egg mayo sandwich, maggi goreng, crackers and Ovaltine palettes.

Anyway, back to the story, i'm trying to be like Andy. Not that i'm simply a copycat or just because it looks like a nice presentation. But because it is a healthy set - main, fruit and vegetables. This will also make me stock up and eat more fruits at home. PLUS, it will make me rise early and start the day without troubling my mom to make something for the kids or Pa for their bekal (food from home in English). Now this is what we call a stay-at-home mom!

For the first real Bento for Pa, I made and packed these. Didn't go out to get the ingredients. Alhamdulillah, just used what I have at home: Mushroom and tomato pasta, Shepard's pie (i made a few in advance and froze them), bolied carrots, cauliflower and chives, strawberry and mango. And he finished it...  :) Shukran, Pa!
 

Let's continue to do this, InsyaAllah!

Only $12!!!

This gadget saved my life! I'm on the roll in making ice cream on a cheat sheet. There are Halal ice creams in Victoria but i want to have my own flvours and chunky Oreo bits in it. So far i have tried Oreo, Blackberry, Fudge and in the freezer now is passionfruit. Don't know how it'll turn out as the texture of the syrup was not as i had expected. 

I didn't have the luxury of a mixer when i came to Melbourne. Sooo.... I had been using a hand whisk to turn the cream from liquid to creamy texture. Imagine the muscles i have now...

Didn't want to have Jojo Sinclair's arms, I went to Target and stumbled upon this life buoy! For only $12! You'd think i buy it??? Of Course! Saved the hassle in my merry ice cream making...

Target sells cheap gadgets. Of course they have the high end ones but the cheap ones work well enough. So far i got 3 of Target's gadget - waffle maker, ice cream maker and the hand mixer... all under $20 each ehheheeheehhe

My chocolate fudge swirl

My blackberry ice cream

Single scoop blackberry with home made waffles