Bento in a jiffy

The rain has dampened my plans, so am stuck home this afternoon while I wait for it to stop. Swim class might even be cancelled due to the thunderstorm raging outdoors. The plan was to make a trip downtown the minute the girl got home, to have lunch and pick up some brochures, as well as to exchange a toy at Toys r Us.

I don't mind staying home, but the fact that I did not prepare lunch for the girl was a bit of a headache. It wasn't till I was downstairs awaiting her arrival did the rain come down in huge torrents. The minute we got home, I had to quickly think of things to prepare for her to eat. Two days ago, while at a Japanese supermarket, I spied these packets of Ume Soumen. Of course the only reason I got one was for the pretty colour. Who can resist pink noodles?! Well, I quickly put a pot of water to the boil and cut out some carrots, kamaboko, sausages and the soumen. The fishfry went into the oven while the rest of the items were cooking on the stove. There were a lot of empty sections in the bento box which was too big for that amount of food, so I added a piece of Sirotan custard cake and a mini donut, as well as cherries and blueberries. Glad that I did it all within half an hour.

My girl is having a bad breakout of cold sores all over her bottom lips. Really pity her when I look at it. It must hurt and she has had many school friends and some teachers asking her about it. Some of it is bleeding but it is part of the heeling process, unfortunately. The minute I spied those bubbles, I had applied Zovirax cream, but there is little else I can do now that it has dried up. I have been using Vaseline to soften the scab and hopefully that will help it to fall off. She was alright throughout the holidays, save for the 1st week when she had a small breakout of it. My heart dropped when I saw the bubbles forming the night before she was due to return to school. It's healing very slowly and doesn't look like it's going to get well anytime soon. So meanwhile, I have told her to keep away from messy food such as pasta in tomato sauce; food which will dirty her lips and if she doesn't clean it off, will aggravate the condition. Keep having to remind her to wash her mouth after each meal. That is also part of the reason to serve her cold food as can be seen in today's lunch bento.