Okinawan goodies

Sirotan is the name of the little seal which adorns today's tea-time bento. Isn't he really cute? He shares the same birthday month as our nation. His birthday falls on 8 Aug, the day before National Day.

My sis just came back from a short trip to Okinawa to attend a conference. She picked up a few goodies for me. Thanks so much sis. I really love the cakes, donuts, t-shirt and everything else.

Too adorable. Can't bear to eat. They come in 3 different expressions.

Furoshiki printed with cute Sirotan. It's a 2-in-1 gift. :)

Mini donuts perfect for bento packing. There is also a bag of chocolate.

Bite size yummies.

Some bento accessories she picked up for me. Even though I have almost everything she bought, I still really appreciate her effort in hunting bento stuff down. :D

I'm glad that she had a good break in her dream country, and left there with great memories. She has finally set foot on Japanese soil whereas I am still counting down the days to when it's my turn. Although she has now gone back to Perth, I treasured the short meetings she took time out for, while here, to spend with me. Till we see you again, hopefully at Christmas.

Bento & goodies from Perth

This week has been a busy one for me. It started off with Easter Monday celebrations in school, with me volunteering my time to help out with the packing of Easter eggs (last week), together with 8-10 other mums. Together we packed over a thousand packets of the treats for the entire school. We came together again in a lovely celebration with singing and a game of Bingo in which the girls could win chocolate Easter bunnies if they got their Bingo match! Unfortunately my girl wasn't one of the lucky ones. ;P

I packed a bento for my lunch at school on Monday, but at the end of the celebration, I was told I wasn't needed anymore for the afternoon slot, so well, wasted my time preparing it. I had a few hours to kill before picking my girl up in the afternoon, so decided to come home in the meanwhile. In the bento is Japanese rice, cheese hotdog, teriyaki chicken, red & yellow cherry tomatoes to give it some colour.

Sis came home on Monday evening but we didn't meet up till Tuesday. I'm glad that we managed to spend a lot of time together this trip. Even though it is a short one week, we are meeting at least 4 days, which is a lot considering on her long trips home, she is usually busy with much more activities that we hardly meet. It's great spending time with her. :D

She brought home a lot of goodies for everyone. These were the stuff I got... some Jurassic sprinkles, fairy dust for a friend, some silicon ice moulds, a Women's Weekly magazine, Carnation milk cookbook, and last but not least, the Cadbury's Coconut Rough chocolate that my hubby adores. They were only available in New Zealand before, but are now maufactured in Australia so it is easier for us to get our hands on them now.

Do you spy the penguin waffle maker in the background? Hehe. That's the original Sunbeam brand Woddles penguin waffle maker. Sis spied them at a market and it's secondhand, but it's still very new and guess how much it was? A$4!! I told her to grab it! Hahha. For that price, it doesn't matter having 2 around the house.

Thank sis, for lugging all the stuff back. :)