11111 + School bento #1

This is my very first post of the year 2011. But of course, the date's been rigged. How could I not take advantage of this date to remember my girl's very special birthday. :P The year has started off not too well, with the princess being sick. It all started with a high fever on 9 Jan. She woke up with a grouchy face and I asked her what was the matter. She refused to answer me at first but later said that she wasn't feeling well. We took her temperature and it registered high, somewhere around 38-39deg C.

I wanted to cheer her up, so while I was out to run errands, got her a cake from Four Leaves (she had requested for a strawberry cake for her birthday but I had no time or energy to bake her one). I had ordered Jewelpets icing a few days earlier thus I decided to improvise on the store-bought cake by decorating it with the sheets. It turned out a success except that I should have placed the sheets on just before serving the cake, as they had started to sag in the 3hrs the cake was left to sit in the fridge. But at the end of the day, it was still a joy for her to see her favourite pets greeting her on top of her favourite cake. :)

For this new school year, I made her 2 bentos. On the first week of school, this was what she got... a mini bagel with ham roll and a slice of cheddar, strawberries and a cherry tomato.

Happy birthday princess. Get well soon!

Life Skills Cooking Class

The school has a programme for the kids at each level they are at, beginning with Primary One where there are parent volunteers who help out with teaching the girls life skills, such as how to pack their school bags, fold their uniforms, comb their hair etc. At the upper primary level, they are taught to sew and cook. I think it's a great programme to expose the kids to, equipping them with skills which they need for their life ahead.

I'm proud to have been given this opportunity to play a part in this very meaningful exercise. Even though my child is only in lower primary, when the request came via sms from the Central Parents' Council, I signed up for it, eager to teach the girls how to cook. I knew it was going to be a fun journey with them. I didn't know what to expect, and the thought of teaching a group of 11-12 year old girls was pretty daunting, but I had the confidence that I would be up for the task.

We assembled in the school kitchen at 7.30 am, but I was there the earliest as I had to send the girl to school before 7.20am. Once the other mums arrived, we set about getting ready the foodstuff which we had prepared at home. Each one had to cook enough rice for 15 kids. We put all our rice and ingredients together before dividing them up into boxes to be brought to the classrooms. As it was my first time doing this, I was assigned a partner, who had actually requested for one as she doesn't cook at home and wasn't confident about going solo. I'm glad I had her for company.

Here, we had put together a few desks and the portable electric stoves.

The ingredients such as rice, sausages, mixed vegetables, eggs, and the various seasonings.

I don't remember having such nice pans when I was in school.

A hands-on experience for the girls. Some got to break eggs, beat them, and some got to season and fry. Among them were girls who cook at home. Wow, that was impressive. I hope that by the time my girl is at that age, I would have trained her enough that she will be able to do some simple cooking.

I'm glad to have spent a most meaningful morning with the kids and I hope they went away with the confidence that they might possibly be able to cook a simple meal for themselves or their family.

Cuppies for a special friend and updates

Hello everyone, I'm back! Not sure how long I will stay, though. Over the past month, it's been crazy preparing for Princess' final year exams. I'm glad it's all over, a weight has been lifted off my mind and shoulders. I'm happy that the hard work paid off, and she improved in her weakest subject. I'm glad that I made the right decision in sending her for enrichment class after her dismal results at mid year.

In between exams, I took time out to make some cuppies for a good friend of mine for her birthday. I'm happy that she liked them. There were a few more that I made, but I need to find the photos for them.

I also stopped making bentos. Just lost the interest for making them. Hope to regain it again soon. I did make a simple one for school one morning. In the bento was a ham and cheese sandwich, some homemade croutons, a box of Smarties, cubed dragonfruit and a cherry tomato.

Fiesta at school

The secondary school held it's annual fiesta at school yesterday and it was the first time the primary school were invited to take part in it. How exciting!

About a month ago, I received an email asking for volunteer parents to donate baked goods, sweets etc for the stall run by the parent support group. It sounded very exciting and I love 'parties' like these.

I spent an entire day baking, taking a couple hours of rest in-between, and started decorating, packing during the evening, and didn't finish getting them looking pretty and all done till almost 11pm on Thursday. I needed to get them delivered to school between 7-7.30am yesterday. Of course, since I had to send them and the girl to school, it meant I needed to wake at 5.30 to get myself ready. I even told the girl that I was just going to wake her up once and if she didn't wake up and if she gave me problems, I was going to the funfair and leaving her at home. Well, the threat worked! Hehe. We left as planned at 6.35 and were lucky to get a cab immediately as the street was deserted at that time of the morning. We got into school just before 7am and wow, I was really surprised to see that 3/4 of the canteen was packed with girls! Goodness, what time did they all arrive?? Some, like mine, were running around with their friends, some were ordering and having their breakfast in the canteen, and there were also girls jogging on the track. It's nice to see firsthand what happens in school in the mornings as it's a real privilege for me. As my girl goes to school in the school bus and as the school is a fortress (very strict with allowing parents and public in), it was nice to be there to soak it all in.

These brownie cones were my contribution to the PSG (parents support group) stall. I made use of most of my sprinkles and was really happy with the result.

Here they are, all nicely wrapped.

I ran out of cones towards the end and was mad at myself for remembering to buy more butter and chocolate while I was out, but conveniently forgetting the cones, which were not in my thoughts at all. But I love these cups which I finally had a use for. Very pretty vertical lines.

I love this piece of artwork made by a volunteer mum. How artistic she is. In fact, she did all the artwork for our stall. And on top of that, she is a very nice lady. It's my first time meeting her and she left me with a deep impression with her warm and friendly personality. It's people like that who make the world a much nicer place to live in. I met a few mums yesterday and she and another lady left me with very good impressions.

The plan for me wasn't to help at the stall initially, but I did offer to help set up the stall. As I was one of the first few mums there, I helped the nice lady, F, to put up the signs. When she had to leave to help out with teaching the girls life skills, I was left alone to man the stall. Meanwhile, the person-in-charge received a call from the candy floss supplier that he couldn't send any manpower to man the machines. I told her I could stay to help out with the stall if they needed more hands. And that was how I ended up staying there from 7am -5pm and by the end of which, I couldn't feel my feet. There were no seats and the only bench available was always filled with people so between few minutes here and there of stealing a space for my butt, I had to stand majority of the day. I'm so thankful to SS who was there to join in the fun, for offering to send me and the princess home. I could hardly walk to the car. Haha. But I did have a very enjoyable day and would very much like to do it again next time round. :)

The goodies...

My brownies

Some chocolate chip cookies which started off being sold for $2 but later all cookies were slashed down to $1 as we simply had too many of them once more parents started bringing them in.

These got to be the cutest cuppies ever! I bought two of them and packed them up in my bag, but I didn't manage to get to consume them as the ants got to them first and in my bag!! Shucks! I freaked out when I went to check on them as I saw many many creepy crawlies all over the place, and true enough, they had gone into the boxes, so unfortunately I had to throw them out. You know how I am around these pests. So, sad to say, I never got to taste them. :(

I bought a little sheep and chick. What a pity.

I love these little flower cookies and bought 2 packets of them as they were of different colours. A sucker for such cuties I am.

Meringues were very saleable once the kids knew what they were and had tried them out. These were cheap at $1 for 2 packets. Each packet had 3 pieces.

More cupcakes for sale, some healthy quaker bars, quacker mini crisps, and yoghurt sweets ($2 for a big packet) were going for very cheap as they were near their expiry.

These cupcakes, too, were very popular and were the first to be gone.

Most of the volunteer mums at our stall were eating this nasi bryani. It was very popular and was sold out in seconds. I was told it was mutton at first and since I don't eat mutton, decided to give it a miss even though I love briyani. The mum who was eating it tried to convince me to go for it as it didn't have any of the funny taste associated with mutton. We later found out that it was vegetarian, thus mock mutton. I was at the stall in seconds, queuing for a packet to take home for my dinner. The thing with me is that when I am super tired, plus the heat on top of it, I won't have an appetite to eat. The lady who was dishing out these yummies assured me it was fine to keep it till the evening. The briyani was cooked by her elderly mum and the entire dish had a very authentic homecooked flavour. Loved the achar too, which was very fresh.

How could I resist these cuties?? Aren't they too lovely to be eaten? Which is why I have kept them safely away from the princess who has only been given one Pooh so far.

Hubby came home from work with a chicken pie for his dinner as well as for Saturday's lunch. I believe it's from the famous Don's Pie shop. They sell them very cheaply at work when the vendor comes on Fridays.

My heart is heavy

... sigh

This has not been a good start to March. We're only into the 11th day of March and I have been having problems with girl in school. First with missing items in school, carelessness, irresponsibility and now, she's being ignored in class by her mates.

When I picked her up after Chinese Speech and Drama class yesterday, she told me that no one in class wanted to be friends with her anymore. :( Why? Well, according to her, a certain girl in class is influencing the rest of the girls to not talk to her. I have no idea what the reason is but this girl has been giving her problems since last year. It doesn't help that she has been given the highest authority in class, both years. Speaking of which, why do schools have all these glamorous titles for kids in P1 & 2? From what I have observed, girl in question is a smart girl, in top Chinese class, and a favourite with both P1 & P2 Form Mistresses. However, I can't take it at face value that the entire class is not friends with her, so upon more probing, I found out she does have friends, but what hurts her most is that the friends not speaking to her are actually the closer ones, people she used to hang around and play with.

As she confided in me, the brave girl was trying to hold back her tears, but I assured her that she is loved by us, and if these girls choose not to befriend her, it's ok. She can spend more time paying attention in class and not be distracted. Besides, she has other friends. I felt her hurt and it made me really upset. I'm glad for the one week break from school so that she will put it behind her for the time-being while she concentrates on her ballet exams next Wednesday. It helps that we are having a sleepover at my home with a little 5-yr-old for company this Friday. That would cheer her up.

Tutti Frutti Tuesdays

"Tutti Frutti Tuesdays' have begun. Last year, I heard of this programme started by the school but the Primary 1s were not involved in it. I think it's a good move to get the kids to eat healthier. For every Tuesday, beginning yesterday, the girls are supposed to bring one item of fruit to school and have it for their recess. They have the option to purchase it from the drinks' stall in the canteen.

It's a day dedicated to the Princess for her love of fruits. :)

I packed a slice of Nutella bread for her breakfast; some strawberries; and a ham & cheese sandwich for recess. She has class duties this week thus she has to stay back in class for 10 mins each day during recess time to clean and tidy up the room together with 4 or 5 of her classmates. Hence, she said that if she brought food to school, she won't have to waste precious time waiting in line at the canteen.

No more bentos?

For the first few days of school, she's been getting bread, bread and more bread. Even I am getting sick of that, but it can't be helped as bread is the easiest to prepare, without having any need to cool down before being packed.

This bento was for the second day of school. I made her ham & cheese sandwiches with dragonfruits, cherry tomatoes, blueberries & a last strawberry on the side. She was also given a marshmallow treat, courtesy of a recent party bag.

I love this Melon Cinnamoroll bento box, a wonderful surprise in the mail from a sweet friend to Princess. Tks so much!

The third bento of the new term has dinosaur-shaped nutella bread sandwiched between a slice of chocolate chip bread & a slice of plain bread. The hearts are cut out of the remainder of the bread slices. As there was a big area left, I quickly defrosted a sausage and cut it into two, and shaped them using the penguin sausage cutter. A little shinkansen chocolate on the side.

There are sugarbunnies-shaped apples and dragonfruit in the bottom box.

While lying beside her in bed last evening, I asked her to tell me about her day. This is what her dad used to do with her previously, a special time when they would recall the happenings of each others' days. She told me that she bought cup noodles in school for 50 cents. And she also bought a piece of seaweed chicken for 30 cents. I was rather surprised to hear that as I had already packed a full bento for her in the morning. It was scary to think that she double-ate. Apparently she wasn't the only one who double-ate. Haha. So I told her that since she is comfortable with buying food in the canteen, maybe I should stop making bentos in the morning. It is very tiring for me to have to rush them out each day. She agreed. However, I will still prepare some fruits for her to bring in. So, for the time being, there won't be any bento making till this zombified mum is out of the zone. It's the 4th day of school and I am really feeling it. I hope to continue to make them, maybe for her lunch once in a while. So do remember to drop by. :) Have a great week everyone!

Bento #65

There are actually going to be a few bentos on this post but I am lazy to number them so I will just consolidate and name them as bento #65. ;)

I made the above bento for girl before she left for school. There were cherry tomatoes, carrots with mayo dip, udon with furikake on the side, and a fishball. No decor except for the leaf picks, and the fork & spoon punchouts on the fishball.

I also prepared this other bento of fruits but decided not to give it to her. I doubt she could consume it after having a piece of bread for her breakfast, followed by the bento above this. I decided to keep it till later when I go down to her school for parent volunteer programme this afternoon. It's a great idea, as I will be able to give her fresh food, as opposed to sending it to school with her and then by the time recess rolls by, it won't be as good. I have placed some mango, dragonfruit & a little container of blueberry yoghurt which grandma bought her.

Today's school snack is chocolate cake so a bento would be good.

This is my girl's other bento which I am taking to school. There's fishball, corn chicken sticks, anpanman potato, cherry tomatoes & ketchup.

I offered to make a bento for a friend whose girl is in the same school, as she requested for one a month ago. And since I have all the ingredients ready, it's just a matter of putting it all together in a box. Hope she enjoys it. :)

I'm very excited to have volunteered for today's 'life skills' programme at school. How else would we get to see the girls in school other than through this channel? I will finally get to meet her form teacher, whom I have not met till this day. But then again, I will be meeting her tomorrow for the parent/teacher meet. :)

I have to go get ready to leave for school now. Ciao!

Note - I left a lot of empty 'holes' in the bento due to former experience of having packed too much & thus girls not having enough time to eat. Experienced for myself what a rush it was to eat and play and go back to class.

Birthday celebration in school + Bento #4

We made some chocolate-covered strawberries for the girls in class this morning, thus was really busy. Made some pancakes for her bento as well.

I don't know if they usually allow kids to celebrate their birthdays in school, but instead of a cake, I decided strawberries were healthier and they would really like the chocolate part of it. It also wouldn't be as messy. This was a last minute thing which I only thought of yesterday, thus made do with whatever chocolate chips I had in the fridge, melted them, and dipped almost two cartons of strawberries, which I picked up with KY, at Giant last Sunday. Imagine $2.95 for a punnet of Korean ones and I only saw them on offer at Vivo. When I went to IMM the day after, Giant there was selling them at $5plus. I also packed goody bags for them but didn't take a photo.

I am told that, every day, the girls are curious to see what's in princess' bentos, so she's really proud of that, but it still doesn't change her mind about catered food. I gave her simple ready stuff today, but I think it was too little as she didn't have her lunch, but it's ok, hubby is taking us out to a sushi dinner soon. :D

She had mini pancakes, cherry tomatoes, blueberries and cheese cubes.

Ah huh, princess had a goody bag too, so I'm able to take a photo of what was in it. Most of the sweeties are gone though...

I really couldn't resist the Cinnamoroll pencil cases from Daiso, and actually went to a few outlets to scout for them. Thanks also to KY for helping me with this task. I initially had to contend with only half the class getting them and the other half getting bags but just the day before sending them to school, the kind lady at Daiso called me up with good news that the cases were in! Now, everyone would have the same. :D You can tell I'm a Sanrio fan through and through. And it was something I discovered in primary school when I would save up my money to go across to MPH and buy a little hankerchief, or a pencil cap, or just little stuff. I'm glad that Daiso has made it very affordable, although they have limited stuff. Once in a while, I still indulge in them at the Sanrio outlet at Taka.

Primary School + Bento #1, 2, 3

My baby is all grown up. Sob sob. She started her formal primary education on 2 Jan 2009. I can't for the life of me figure out why the Ministry has to begin a new school year on a Friday.

She got up at 9am on Friday and wanted immediately to put on her uniform. I'm told she wasn't the only one... seems it was a problem with the P1s in the afternoon session. Hehe!

I now have more hours to myself in the afternoon, but haven't had a real break yet. I think that will have to wait till next week when I have more time on my hands. This week has been filled with doctor visits, sending her to school, my own doc's appt etc. But I do feel I'm not so rushed for time and have more hours to play with. I have even started cooking dinner everyday, on top of preparing her bentos.

On the first day of school, they started classes at 2.30pm. That was a really nice gesture on the part of the school. It was only 4hrs, and princess felt it was too short. She couldn't wait to go the full 5-1/2hrs on Monday. That was a good start. A pity we weren't allowed near the classrooms or even in the hall to take photos. They must know what an exciting time it is for parents with kids going to primary school for the first time, so why deny us that joy.

When Monday rolled by, she asked me if I was happy that she was going to be away for so many hours during the day. I told her that I was going to miss her, and she said she would too. I told her she could call me up at recess. And she said she'd do that after having her snack. The first few days, they had their snacks just outside the classroom, but have since moved to the tuckshop as of yesterday. The tuckshop stalls aren't open in the afternoon so the kids either have to cater food from the school-appointed vendor, or else bring snacks from home. I chose the latter of course. Unfortunately, after the 3rd day, my girl requested that she be put on the catering programme in the 2nd semester. %l Oh well, guess she wants to belong to the majority. She says their food look really yummy. There goes mummy's creative bentos. :P

She has yet to call me during recess, and I don't expect her to. I am indeed happy that she has settled in so well, and thanks to KY & A, got to meet a friend from school at J's bbq. They see each other every day now, as little M will drop by to chat with princess and her classmate, J, who so happens to be M's best friend. Unfortunately they are not in the same class.

Here are some bentos that I have prepared for her thus far...

On the 3rd day of school, I fried some udon with ham, corn kernels, onion, and omelette, which I cut into strips, and topped it off with fishcakes her godma bought her. Aren't they very pretty? I always include fruits in all her bento boxes each day, and because Korean strawberries are plentiful now, she has them almost every day.

Hair is a total headache of mine, because it's short but yet not that short that she doesn't have to tie it up, so am really hoping her hair grows faster.

One of the hairstyles that I did. Need to document them so I can refer here for ideas. :)

Wednesday was a busy day for us as she had ballet class in the morning, which left me with little time to prepare anything for her. I bought some ready sushi and packed them in with some grapes. It was also kind of a late lunch for her as she had to rush through her lunch after coming back from class, so didn't eat a lot of it.

For today, I made her some chapati rolls with cheese sausages, and included some pineapple tarts (her favourite CNY cookie). Also some skewered fruits, as well as a snowman marshmallow and some sweeties she wanted to share with her friends.

As they have a photo session today for their Smart card (I'm not sure what that is, but I assume it's the bus passes), I had to tie her hair up neatly, and decided to braid them and put little ribbons at the end. Unfortunately the wind was very strong this afternoon, so hopefully it's not messed up too much.