On our recent trip to Malaysia, Lil’ C ate really well. I was so proud of her because she was so willing to try local food and actually enjoyed them. She even tried durian! She didn’t care of it but at least she tried it. Besides local food, she also loved the banana muffin that my mom made. There was one day when she ate 6 of them!!! So naturally I had to ask my mom for the recipe.

Recipe:
250 gm banana
80 gm sugar
1 egg
180 gm flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup oil

Method:

1. Mash the banana with a fork till mushy.
2. Add the egg and oil to the banana. Mix well and set aside.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
4. Fold it gradually into the banana mixture.
5. Scoop into muffin tin and bake at 350F for about 20 min or till golden brown.

Today’s bento contains pasta with marinara sauce and topped with giraffe-shaped cheese, carrots, cheese flowers, ranch dip in the blue container and homemade peanut butter chip cookie.

This giveaway will end on Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 12 PST. The winner will be announced on Wednesday.  

Note: Thanks to all who have participated in this giveaway so far. This giveaway will continue for another week, so I am leaving this as a sticky post at the top. Please scroll down for the latest post. Thanks!! 

I started making bento almost 3 years ago when Lil’ C first started preschool. Back then it was an attempt to get a picky toddler to eat her food. Since then it has been become a fun hobby, one which I wish I have more time to indulge in. Bento making has been pretty sporadic this school year since schedules have been so hectic plus the fact that Lil’ C only goes to half-day kindy makes it unnecessary to make bento every day. She eats most of her lunches at home. However starting from Sept this year, she will be going to full day school, so it means I will have to start making bento for her every day. I am actually looking forward to it.

Anyway, as I mentioned in the previous post, I am slowly approaching my 100th bento. To celebrate that, I am having my first bento giveaway ever on this blog!! Here’s what I am giving away.

• 2-layer bento box
• bento strap
• egg mold
• furikake bottle
• mayo case
• disposable mini cups
• piggy bento cups
• mini fork and spoons

Everything you will need to get started on your first bento! With the new school year coming up in a few months, this will come in very handy for packing homemade lunches for the little ones. So if you would like to win all these bento supplies, here’s how you enter.

1. Just leave a comment below and tell us what is your favorite food to pack for your kid.
2. For an extra entry, subscribe to this blog.  Leave another comment to say that you did that 
3. For even more entry, blog or tweet about this giveaway. Don’t forget to leave another comment.

This contest will end in 2 weeks. Make sure you include your email with your entry so that I can get in touch with you when you win. : )

Ok, so technically this is not a food item but since it is a “cake”, I just had to post it here. It’s my first ever diaper cake!!

For a friend, I made this Jemima Puddle-Duck diaper cake. I have been wanting to make a diaper cake for a long time and I finally got a chance to make it for a friend recently. I knew I wanted to do something in pink since she’s having her first girl. And when I saw Jemima Puddle-Duck stuffed animal, I knew that I had to include that because she loves the Beatrix Potter books.

The front view

The back view

The cake is made from baby diapers. What new moms do not welcome diapers, right? I also stuffed a couple of cute dresses and surprises in the middle of the diaper cake. Then I added some hair clips, socks, taggies duck, a Jemima book and of course finishing up with good old Jemima Puddle-Duck.

Woohoo… #97! I am creeping up to bento #100. It has taken me a long time but just like my gal says, slow and steady. To celebrate my #100th bento, I will be having my first bento giveaway ever next week. So do come back next week to check out my giveaway.

Spring is in the air and all the flowers are blooming. Even the daffodils are blooming!! I think spring started almost a month early. I love this weather. I can’t wait for the tulips to start blooming. Anyway for today’s bento, I think some flowers are definitely in order. Bento contains fried rice topped with cheese and nori flowers. Broccoli flowers form the grass while the flower stems were Spam. Another piece of cheese forms the flowerbed.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of AccuWeather. All opinions are 100% mine.

Ever since moving to the Pacific Northwest, I find that I have become a little weather-obsessed. Nowadays it is a habit to check the weather every day. I guess it is because the weather here is so unpredictable. It can be sunny and 50 degrees one day and next day could be dark, gloomy and in the 30s. It is also important to check the weather every day so that I know what kind of clothes I need to wear that day. Trust me, you don’t want to wear those 3 inch high heels when it is going to be raining all day and there are water puddles everywhere.

Contrary to all belief, it doesn’t rain that much here in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, New York has more inches in rain than here but we do have more rainy and cloudy days. We get lots of drizzles instead of thunderstorms. So it is critical that we plan our weekends around the weather forecast. If a wet weekend is forecasted, we will plan for some indoor activities but if we see little yellow sun on the forecast, we are out the door and in the park enjoying the sun.

Since our daily activities are so dependent on the weather, it really helps to have a great website like the new AccuWeather site. It is so easy to check the current day’s weather and also the extended forecast because of the larger displays and a tabbed navigation. I love a website that is organized by tabs! It makes viewing so much easier without a lot of clutter. This new website also includes four new lifestyle areas: Weather and Health, Weather and Travel, Weather and Home and Garden and finally Weather and Outdoor Activity. I know that I will be checking the Health section often for information on allergies for DH. So if you live in an area where your lifestyle is dependent on the weather, go and check them out today so that you can plan your activities and wardrobe easily.

This is my shortcut hard-boiled egg sambal. A simple dish and yet goes so well eaten with rice. What’s my secret for this easy peasy dish? This!

Brahim’s Sambal Tumis!

To make this,

• Hard-boiled some eggs, peel them and deep-fry them in a little oil. When the egg turns a little golden brown, remove from oil and set aside.
• Fry some onion in a wok till fragrant.
• Add in the Brahim’s Sambal Tumis and fry for a couple of minutes.
• Add in the eggs and mix well.
• Serve with rice.

Starting off the week with a simple yet well-loved bento. Heart-shaped nutella sandwiches, heart-shaped cheese slices, smoked turkey on flower picks and carrots.

On a side note, last week I submitted Lil’ C’s registration form for school in September. She will be in first grade!!!! I can’t believe my baby girl is all grown up.

It seems like I was attending some sort of dinner party at least 2 or 3 times a week for these past couple of weeks. Between Chinese New Year and birthday parties, it seems like everyone was in the mood for entertaining and guess what, I think I have caught the entertaining bug too. I want to start having dinner parties, invite a couple of friends over and cook a delicious meal for them.

However before I can start having dinner parties, I will need to do some shopping first for dinnerware. Currently I only have mismatched dinnerware in my kitchen because I usually do not entertain. Now that I plan to entertain more often, I guess it is justifiable to invest in some nice dinnerware and glassware. I guess I should get some silverware too. Speaking of silverware, I would love a lesson about silverware so that I know the proper usage of each utensil and not make a fool of myself for using the wrong utensils at formal dinners. With all these new dinnerware, I guess I should stock up on linens too.

Now if only I can decide which dinnerware pattern I should buy! Logically I should probably get the all-white Country Chic but I also love the bold colors of the Spring Fiesta. I wonder if I could get two sets. Ha!

I had a lot of pineapple jam leftover from making my pineapple tarts. It will be a waste to throw them away since I spent a lot of energy making the pineapple jam. Since I also had spring roll skin leftover from making the mini crispy spring roll, I decided to combine the two. Rolling up the pineapple jam with the spring roll, I made mini pineapple jam spring roll. Then I deep-fry them. After it turns golden brown, remove from oil, drain and serve with a dash of powdered sugar. This crispy snack with a tangy filling will make a great snack / dessert for a party.