of earless bunny and tailless fish...

been meaning to blog abt this... but kept putting it off, coz the photos i took with my phone were blurred and M only bluetoothed hers to me today...

actually a few weeks back, i placed an order thru e-bay for some egg molds, which i regretted immediately after clicking 'buy', coz i did not read properly and realized only too late that the postage charges is the same as the item price, USD6.99, which is ridiculous coz when the actual package arrived, the postage was only HK$9.5, which converted to only RM4.75, which is only about USD1.36! then i suffered another regret coz bento pet sold it for cheaper during the bento party! :'(

ok, i digressed. this post is about my experiment with my egg molds and NOT to rant abt the exhorbitant price of items sold on ebay. anyway, here's how the egg molds looked like (photo taken from ebay). it's exactly those sold by bento pet!!! ok ok, no more ranting abt it... hehe...


when the package arrived, despite feeling cheated, i was still very excited abt it. so i got M to test it out with me, coz there are 4 molds and how can a gal finish off 4 eggs by herself, right?

we only had small eggs in our fridge, but we went ahead to test it out anyway... which resulted in loud shrieks of prolonged laughter, coz the eggs were too small to fill up the whole mold and came out looking like this! -->

my earless bunny and tailless fish!

M's earless bear-bear and tyreless car!

introducing...

ta-dah! M's very own blog --> my memory lane

she's a newbie at blogging, so support-support a bit, ya! ;)

bento #15: the one with last night's dinner

housemates M, P and i called for delivery service yesterday... nando's! and M and i planned on what to order, so that we can save some for today's bento... i think this bento-ing has helped us to actually stop and think and plan our meals.

today's lunch: shredded chicken, sausage & mediterranean rice.
a bit dry, coz the kiam-siap nando's only sent 3 miserable packets
of peri sauce... 1 packet for each set. where got enough???
everyone should get at least 3 packets each! %@#%@&#&$^#*(*&

*strumming fingers, waiting for M's blog to go live...*

Read also:
bento #12: the one with everything squeezed into it
bento #5: discounted sushi and nando's leftover
bento #4: steamboat leftover

bento #14: the one with the experimental porridge

since trying the herbal porridge at a cafe called 'sweet bean', i've been wanting to try cooking my own herbal porridge. but for someone whose idea of "cooking" is basically just pouring hot water into the mee cup, i've no freaking idea what to put into my porridge! so i've been putting off cooking this porridge week after week...

then yesterday, while i was on my way home from my climb at batu caves, i was just thinking of what to do abt dinner when i suddenly had this craving for herbal porridge. for a second, i toyed with the idea of dropping by 'sweet bean' to ta-pao, but remembered that i forgot to bring my wallet. then i thought, "what the heck, why not just go home and cook it urself?!"

on arriving home, i din even think, but was very gung-ho abt it... just dumped in everything i feel would make a herbal porridge taste... erm... herbal porridgy. hehe...

anyway, my guage was slightly off the mark and i ended up with a pot full of herbal porridge! i made housemate P have it for dinner as well, but there were still half a pot left.. just nice for 2 bentos for today --> mine and housemate M's! kekeke...

oh, i used an old food container today... a thermos set i bought few years back from jusco, also during the mega sales. i got the blue set while N got the black set. but forgot how much we bought it for lar... i think i've only used it 2-3 times, mostly to ta-pao nasi lemak from the train station on my way to work last time. the makcik thought it's from Tupperware!

ultimate insulation... keeps home-cooked meals
hotter, fresher, longer until it's time to eat

fits snugly, with a pocket on top of the cover
and another one underneath for utensils and serviettes and such...

it's a 3-piece set...

main container: herbal porridge; 1st side container: pickled 'za-chai' aka 'szechuan chai';
2nd side container, in colourful angel-shapped silicone cups bought from bento party:
2 types of japanese pickles and 'fu-yi' aka fermented bean curd

and here's M's porridge bento... she wanna tumpang her bento photo here (M, next time kenot tumpang ar... go get ur own blog! if not, i'll charge rental! keke...)

'black masculine bento box' bought from mini 100 yen shop at the bento party.
top tier with lid contains the herbal porridge;
bottom tier, in identical square silicone cups (from daiso, singapore) are 'szechuan chai'
and 'chai-xin' aka pickled lettuce, and also some fried eggs at the side.
digression: this set was dubbed 'masculine bento box' by us coz originally,
it was meant for M to pack food for her Mr. DD. it's 'masculine' coz it's black
and not cute or colourful like other bento boxes... but unfortunately it had remained
in her Osram bag from the bento party up until now! hehehe...
so i persuaded her to take it out and use it for the porridge! :P

stargal's chin-chai herbal porridge:
1) rice (of course)
2) crab sticks
3) kei-zhi (wolfberries)
4) red dates
5) a few slices of 'pao sam' (some sort of ginseng-like roots)
6) chinese mushrooms
7) some sort of nut (dunno what it's called) normally used in soup and such

cooking method:
cut up the crab sticks and mushrooms, wash everything and dump everything into the rice cooker. cook with a lot of water.

special note:
need to cook longer, coz the nuts did not cook properly.

*pray the housemates did not get food-poisoning!*

Read also:
bento #11: the one slapped together in 2 minutes
bento #8: the one with the yellow vege
bento #6: sushi breakfast & home-cooked lunch...
bento #4: steamboat leftover

bento #13: the one with the kao-zhi

was too bz to post this yesterday... my breakfast bento ta-pao from pasar malam the night before.



the mini container at the side is my latest purchase from 100 yen shop. comes in 4 identical pieces, perfect for sauces and such!

I Feel Okay Tag!

my quote: (money) - "Money is not everything... BUT it's definitely something!"
~ stargal (something i blurted out once while talking to the brother, and loved it since!)

Feel okay? Well you should be! You’ll definitely be okay if you’re going to be a part of this meme, be okay if you are about to have a chance to increase your Technorati and Google Pagerank!



1. Make others feel good: share your favorite, self made, or any quotes as you pass on this meme with the image below.

2. Make sure to come back – HERE - (ifeelokay.com) to get the master list and leave a comment that you’ve made yourself a part of this meme. This would ensure that you’ve been added to masters list.

3. Your favorites, self made, or any quotes that you shared are collected and will be linked back to your site as its source, this would give you much benefit. Put a category before your quote. (ex. Inspirational, happiness, love, sweet, time, motivational, friendship, and others), much better if you relate the quote on your blog. Ex. Fashion Blog - quotes about beauty; Personal Blog - quotes about success, life, inspirational and many more. It’s your choice.

4. Only one quote and category per blog please, make sure to tag as many bloggers possible. Please update your contributor's list more often. May we achieve thousands of quotes from different bloggers around the world. Let the fun begin. Be a part of a great collection of quotes from different bloggers around the world!!!

(1) BeautyTips
(2) EmjeiSays
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(5) ifeelokay
(6) iAM-MAi
(7) NeuroPatch
(8) Express4Free
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(18) Emily's Buzy World
(19) Pieces of Me
(20) Your blog here! :)

View the complete list of Quotes by bloggers around the world -- HERE
* End copy here

biow, u've been tag!

The Commonly Confused Words Test...

saw this quiz at auntyjo's... so just gave it a try lar...

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 87% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

Compared to other takers

• 54/100 You scored 100% on Beginner, higher than 54% of your peers.
• 34/100 You scored 100% on Intermediate, higher than 34% of your peers.
• 84/100 You scored 100% on Advanced, higher than 84% of your peers.
• 57/100 You scored 87% on Expert, higher than 57% of your peers.

Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at HelloQuizzy

on a good day...

this is how my work station looks like...





don't try to imagine how it looks like on a bad day!

bento #12: the one with everything squeezed into it

ok, i cheated. remember bento #11? well, i din really finish it... just the bottom tier (jam and butter) for breakfast. then i totally forgot abt it and happily tagged along when the bosses asked me for lunch. when i realized it, i thot, "ok, can still have it for breakfast the next day". but suddenly i found out that my initial plan of just going for a day meeting at the resort was stretched to a 3D2N trip! argh!!! had to do last minute cancellations to all my plans...

anyway, i went home to m'ca after my official business at the resort and got back to KL only yesterday. a quick check in the fridge found my ham & cheese sandwiches still sitting obediently in the bento box. took a sniff at it... hmm... no foul smell yet.

so this morning, went to take another sniff at it and still no foul smell... should i take the risk? ah well, what the heck! so my breakfast this morning was that!

then nearing lunch time, was craving for korean kimbab *slurp!* so ran down for my weekly korean fix... hehehe... i had the kimbab + japchae set. kimbab is just like sushi roll, only thing is that kimbab's ingredients are all marinated, so we can just eat it as it is, without any shoyu (soy sauce). japchae is korean grass noodles, or more commonly known as 'tang-hoon'.

anyway, when my order came, i realized it's a lill too much for one person. i'd be a pig to finish it all at one go! so in the spirit of dieting and portion control, i ate 1/2 of everything (except the kimchi. can't get enough of those!) and had them ta-pao the rest for me... but too bad i did not bring my bento box, so had to come back with a polystyrene food container and a plastic bag (sorry, auntyjo!).

this is how my dinner bento looks like... wish i had brought my bottom tier, so that can separate the kimbab from the japchae, but too bad lor.

bento partAy!!

as mentioned, last saturday was the bento party. dragged mon and san along, even tho' they're not bloggers. hehehe...

well, the 3 of us were late. the registration was to be at 11.45am, but due to some delays - mon came home at 10.45am and ABSOLUTELY HAD to take a shower, and then i need to check my car lubricant oil after being reminded for the umpteenth time by the dad - we got there at 12.00noon. aiya... raining mar! hehe...

anyway, after registration, we were delighted to receive a BIG and BULKY goodie bag each! so happy... we grabbed a seat each and proceeded to rummage thru the goodie bag excitedly, like kids under the christmas tree on christmas morning, until it suddenly dawned on me that yikes! how we'd look in front of all the other participants?! i made a pass to the gals... ok, it went more like: "eh pls lar. dun act so sua-ku ok? behave...", at which all 3 of us quickly stuffed back everything into the bag, settled down demurely (or at least tried to!) at the table and proceeded to check out the rest of the participants.

actually i was quite relieved at the crowd that day... initially, i was worried the gals would blame me for bringing them to an 'aunty meet' and boring the daylights out of them! luckily the list consisted of a mix of gals and young mommies. oh, and 1 or 2 aunties lah! :P

auntyjo of Emily's Busy World! opened the party with an intro on how she started her bento frenzy... then she passed the floor to Pat of Bento Pet for a short presentation on bento and all the works related to bento. after that, each participant did a self-intro. in Pat's pre-party e-mail to us, we were supposed to introduce ourselves and our blogs in not more than 10 words... but on that day, all these were thrown out the window and we just went on and on talking about ourselves! ok, not really... but it was definitely more than 10 words! haha...

short presentation by Pat, with auntyjo looking on...

listening so attentively...

after all the talking, it's food time! but before we can eat, we need to arrange our bento boxes (that came in our goodie bags) with the food for a little competition. what??? cannot eat yet??? gosh, i was so hungry by then that i had a mind of foregoing the whole competition and gobble up my food while standing at the buffet line waiting for the person in front to get going! mon and san, u were THAT person in front of me... now u know how slow u 2 are lar har! choosing and changing ur minds abt the kawaii cupcakes for like 100 times! :P but luckily i remembered our vows to try not be so sampat and sua-ku at this party, so i swallowed down my hunger and went to arrange my bento box.

well, i'd say the bento box arrangement was quite fun lar. esp when u're sitting next to first-time bento-er san and the kelakar mon! i even found san telling a piece of her chicken kara age, which was too big to be stuffed into her box: "it's ok, dun worry har". wakakaka...

when we're done, each of our bento box got a 2 seconds of fame in the limelight... or rather, in the flashlight, on a nice japanese lacquer tray, having its picture taken by Pat's #1. after that, i quickly went back to my seat and what else? makan lar! but mon and san were too excited to eat their bento. they continued taking pictures after getting back to their seats, arranging and rearranging their bento, this angle and that lighting... *sigh... tak kuasa aku! but i still made mon take a pic of my cute cupcake lar... hehe...

mon's bento...

san's bento...

sue's ben... opps! already on the way into the stomach! hehehe...

mon: eh, sue! y u so fast eat already? u don't wanna take photos first meh?
me: mai cha wah (hokkien: dun disturb me)! i'm super hungry u know!

cute cupcakes! courtesy of su yin of The Journal of a Girl who Loves to Cook

after that, we went to attack onsen's private room, which has been converted into a mini 100 yen shop! no kidding! there were a great many bento gears for sale, which we dun normally see in the 100 yen shops. what else? the shopaholic in us went to work lar!

towers upon towers of bento gears!

other than 100 yen, there were other bento accessories available for sale, sourced by Pat. needless to say everyone went away with a headache of how to store their additional bento containers, or maybe for some, how best to explain the absolutely-need-to-buy bento box to the hubby, even tho' there's already one (or a few) exactly the same at home, only in a different colour! :P

contents of the goodie bag...

stuff i bought from the mini 100 yen shop... a round bento box (the traditional bento box shape), bento box strap (comes in 2s), tiny containers for condiments and such (comes in 3s of different colours) and onigiri shaper

more stuff bought, from Pat: onigiri shaper (comes in 2s - why i need so many shapers ar?), silicone cups (so much cuter than the ones i bought from isetan!) and soy sauce bottles (comes in 6s - been searching for this for so long!)

ok, let's have some happy smiley faces to end this long, long post!

san with her first ever bento! good job!

mon seems pretty happy with of her masterpiece too... nice!

and here's me, with my cute cupcake, bento half devoured...

3posen at onsen!

hop on over to bento pet's and auntyjo's for more reports and pics of the bento party, as well as more links to the blogs of the rest of the participants. there's one pic of me introducing myself and one of my bento (my number's 12) somewhere!

bento #11: the one slapped together in 2 minutes

ok, not really 2 minutes, but u know what i mean...

have not been having bread for such a long time, so i thot i'll buy a loaf to make sandwiches... and that's my bento breakfast and lunch for today.

this new bento box is from the goodie bag i got at the bento party last sat. ok, ok, will post abt the bento party soon... promise!

lower tier houses jam and butter sandwiches, upper tier holds ham and cheese sandwiches. all cut into small triangles to trick the mind into believing that i've had LOTS of sandwiches... and also (hopefully) look a little more fancy than plain simple sandwiches!

-----------
in case anyone's wondering, will be out of town for the rest of the week on official duties, and then balik-ing kampung for a weekend of mid-autumn fest celebration with the family.

bento #10: the one with the schweet note!

woke up to a note sticking on my door, saying there's a bento waiting for me on the dining table outside... upon checking, here's what i found...


note reads:
"Yah... yah... yah... Bring me to work!!!
I'm delicious... must eat.
--> Please eat me!!"

ok everyone, on the count of 3! 1... 2... 3! aawwww........


thanks M for the sponge cake breakfast! plus the schweet note! no, should be 2 notes - one on the door and one on the bento! what better way to dispel monday blues, right? ;P