Bibimbap Bento

The idea of preparing bento for the kids is mainly to encourage them to eat healthy meal. I find it to be a challenge sometimes because I tend to want to put more fresh fruits & vegetables than processed food but often Mic came home with the lunch box still full of food. When I asked her why she didn't finished her food, she would say she prefer fried food more than vegetables or fruits. Well, I'm just going to keep trying to include as much vegetables as I could & also put fried food occasionally.

While thinking about what bento to make, Bibimbap came to mind. I love Bibimbap because it's simple, fresh, healthy meal & it's easy to prepare. So I decided to make one for Mic the next day. To make her excited, I told her that she could have fun mixing the food before she eats it & I could see her bright round eyes sparkled just hearing me say it.








Inside the Bibimbap bento: salmon fried rice topped with finely sliced vegetables (carrots, corn, bakcoy),sliced egg & princess tiara shaped smoked beef. To prepare the salmon fried rice, I fried finely chopped garlic, rice & salmon with butter & seasoned it with fish sauce & salt. For the toppings, just stir fry individually for while until ready.

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Love light

You're a darling
You're more beautiful than the stars above in the night sky
The shining thing deep inside my heart
My own love light




D-2 before Mic's school holiday. Although we're not planning any special trip during this holiday, I'm still looking forward to it. I'm going to spend some time with Mic cooking, baking and making things together. Not forgetting Marc, he would almost help with everything messy. It'll be a lot of fun.

Today's bento made of bear shaped rice, seaweed egg rolls, shimeji mushroom and carrot stir fry, corned beef and sliced chicken. Let's just say I was inspired by CNBlue's Love Light song. I listen to this song almost everyday. Although Yonghwa made this song thinking about his first love, I relate it more to my kids. Because they're my own love lights, which give me lights whenever they're near me and shine the dark places inside my heart.

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A Tale of Fries & Little Sunshine

It was hot & humid at lunch time today. I picked up Mic from school at 12pm then after finishing the remaining of her lunch box, we went straight to her Kumon lesson. There's something about Kumon that brought my mood down. Most of the times, I would sit for hours in the waiting room until she finished with her lesson. Great day, she'll be out in 30 minutes. Good day, she'll be out in 1 hour. Normal day, she'll be out in 2 hours.

I gave Mic a hug to encourage her to finish early & told her I'd buy her an ice snack when she finish, preferably early. She smiled back at me and her eyes smiled too, how could I ever get mad looking at my cute girl. While waiting, I played around with my iPhone, thankfully, because if it wasn't for it, I'd get bored instantly, sitting in this packed room with no air con, surrounded by maids and moms who were having the same faith as I was.

Two hours later, Mic's Kumon teacher came looking for me to tell me that Mic had fallen asleep in the middle of her lesson. I sighed and was slightly embarrassed but thought maybe she was too tired after all and gently woke her up and decided to bring her home. This is the conversation I had with Mic on the way to the car:

Me: "So.. Since you're sleepy, should we not go to the dessert house to grab that ice kacang?"
Mic: "Yes.. Mom.." while nodded with sleepy eyes.
Me: "Not even a hotdog or burger?"
Mic shook her head lightly.
Mic: "No.. Too sleepy.. Let's go home."
Me: "How about some fries?"
Mic paused slightly.
Mic: "Mmhhh.. Well.. If it's fries.. I might... Ummhh.. I think I could managed to stay awake for a bit"
I tried to hold my laugh and looked at Mic. She was doing the same thing and I noticed her eyes glowed and her face brightened up.

So.. We walked a little bit further to the dessert house to grab that fries & shaved ice with fruits. Looking at the happy face across me, I suddenly felt sunshine coming from my heart, well, literally anyway, but I'm sure I'm the luckiest mom in the whole world.






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Salt & Pepper Chicken Chops

I guess most of you guys already know how my husband loves chicken. Well, now two of my kids are pretty much following their dad's footstep. So chicken is frequently making an appearance in my kitchen. In fact, I have to say I'm pretty good with chicken dishes. I guess that's got something to do with survival.

The recipe I'm sharing is salt & pepper chicken chops. I guess you guys must've tried this dish before, maybe with pork, beef, squid etc. I love it too & occasionally I order them in restaurants. My personal favorite places that serves the best salt & pepper chops I've tried is got to be claimed by these two Melbourne restaurants:
1. Lingnam, at Lt. Bourke St
Tender juicy chicken chops coated in light crispy flour, couldn't quite figured out what sort of flour mixture they use but it's so yummy.
2. SengHing, at Caufield
I usually ordered the pork chops here, it's crisp coated w perfect spices mixture & I love their homemade sambal here; such a perfect companion.

Salt & pepper chicken chops




Ingredients:
Chicken chops
Egg, beaten
Corn flour
Salt
Pepper
Onion, chopped finely
Garlic, chopped finely
Chilli, chopped finely
Oil for deep frying

Methods:
1. Clean chicken chops, cut into desired portions, marinade with egg, salt, leave it for 30 minutes.
2. When chops are ready, lightly coat it with corn flour. Deep fry in medium heat until crisp & golden brown.
3. Heat oil, stir fry onion, garlic, chilli until the flavor comes out. Add salt & pepper. Toss chicken chops back & mix well.
4. Ready to serve :)

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CNBLUE Singapore Concert

Hi All, just got home from flight back from SG after seeing CNBlue's Mini Live,
and I just want to share my 1st time experience watching them live asap, while it's still fresh in my memory

They performed 9 songs (well, 10 songs if count 'Sunday Morning' sang by Jonghyun during sound problem)
1. Intro
2. Let's go crazy
3. Love revolution (Jungshin sang the parts before reff, before they start Yonghwa asked do u all know this song? fans screamed Yeah!!

Then they introduced themselves in English, must say they are so funny when they speak in English but really like their effort and confidence in speaking English with the audiences, after Minhyuk introduced the next song they want to play, but there's some sound problem, so Minhyuk ran real fast to backstage to inform, then Jonghyun sang a bit of Sunday morning, until they finally sing the next song.

4. I'm a Loner
5. Love light (Yonghwa was saying something but fans were too loud, so he said sshhhhh in the cutest possible way and goes playing Love Light, in the middle Yonghwa asked audience to sing along, and fans did, he said Woww!!

6. Love (I just find it funny that Yonghwa most likely hinted that we should shout encore if we want some more haha)

Encore:
7. I'm a Loner Burning version (Yonghwa asked all audiences to stand up and rock!! and it was burning in the house alright )
8. One Time (honestly, I didn't really like this song before I heard it live, but after, the song sounded so good, and can't get it out of my head, this perf is my fave in this live mini concert)
9. Now or never (Yonghwa's voice a little bit off near the end part & he did apologised for mistakes they made on performing during ask the question part, our perfectionist leader

Then it's ask question, which sent by fans and chosen, I think around 10 qns,
the questions asked I like it because it's not the typical your ideal girl and dream date kinda questions and I learned new things from their answers.
#When asked whether they want to try other music genre than the one they playing now, Yonghwa said rather than choosing a genre, they want to find their own color of music which hopefully will create a genre which is CNBlue's own.
#Chilli crab question arised, but I didn't really hear properly but Yonghwa said something like they haven't been able to try it yet, but they have their own schedule of eating chilli crab, but I'm not too sure as I couldn't hear it
#Career they would choose if they're not in CNBlue, Jungshin answered photographer, Jonghyun said Athlete, when Yonghwa want to answer, a fan yelled SNSD, Yonghwa laughed then showed his couple ring, fans cheered, Yonghwa answered shoe designer, for Minhyuk he wants to be a CNBlue fan since he loves CNBlue so much

Then grant a wish part, chosen random fans get:
-pics with CNBlue
-hugs CNBlue
-signed CNBlue cd
-serenade (song for a fool)

Then special gifts, 4 gifts (Jungshin: signed tshirt, Jonghyun: signed guitar pick, Yonghwa: signed guitar pick, Minhyuk: drumsticks; when Yonghwa want to pass the gift, MC said sorry your girl is not here yet, Yonghwa pouts and pretended to be angry)

After, CNBlue received their surprises from fans, Cake & Video, prepared by cnbluesgfc, when Minhyuk saw the part he made a cameo on OC MV, he was so embarrased, same thing with Yonghwa when he saw the part where he danced genie on WGM

My personal thoughts, I disagree with Yonghwa, he looks sooo much better in person, his fun, outgoing and handsome personality really shines, he's really the mood maker. also Jonghyun, Minhyuk, Jungshin, they all look so good. Can feel their passions for music when they performed and I could sense they are overwhelmed by the well receptions they get overseas (apart from Korea and Japan) but they are happily receive all that by giving their best performances.

Promotor and ticketing wise, the worst ever I've encountered, please CNBlue, if you coming back to have a full concert, do not go with Prooflabel and Gatecrash again, although I think they did put a lot of efforts, still mistakes like they did shouldn't happened and some fans suffer, it's just because our love for CNBlue that make us compromise with it. Imagine this, the ticketing actually paid me money to compensate for my inconvinience. They must've screwed up big time.

Overall, I had a great time watching CNBlue and their live performance was awesome. I really love bands and to me they are on one of my have to watch list. But Jewel still holds the best live performance I've seen.

Edit: I also spotted Boices from Japan. They made such a cute board sign. CNBLUE must be so happy to know Boices from different countries came to support their Asian showcase which started in Singapore. That included me, who's from Indonesia.

Baby no more

Today was Mic first day at kindergarten. It was a challenge waking her up in the morning and getting her ready for school. Marc, however, was all prepared and waiting excitingly for his sister. On the way to school, I recollected my memory four years ago when I gave birth to Mic and was so overjoyed with learning motherhood. Now, as a mother, I keep learning new things every single day and hope to be a better mom.




For Mic's bento, I prepared something simple but filled with her favourite stuffs, sweet potato fried noodles with prawns, mushrooms, bokcoy & quail eggs.

Ahhh.. Feels like my girl is baby no more.

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Waraku, big bowls & me

It's been a while since I posted something. Yesterday night, we tried Waraku Dining for the first time. It's sister company of Pasta de Waraku whom we had tried before.

The interior and display of the restaurant has the same feel as its sister company. The food offered, however are quite different. The menu list many things such as Udon, Ramen, Sushi & Rice dishes. The one that catched my interest was their creamy udon range. My first thought was how would they incorporate cream sauce with a very japanese udon, so I decided to order one. The other choices were the spicy tori karaage ramen, the set menu & kids meal for Mic.

We didn't have to wait long until the food are served. I was really shocked by the size of the serving bowl. It was so huge. For the price, the portion was quite generous.



Inside kids menu were oyako-don, ebi tempura, tori karaage, tamagoyaki, egg & potato salad, fries, orange juice & ice cream, plus toys for kids to bring home.



Inside set menu hubby ordered were cold soba & udon, katsu-don & pickles.



I ordered salmon & cod roe creamy udon. I ended up sharing it with hubby & kids since it was too much for me. They gave plenty of udon, salmon slices & cod roe. The kids totally love it. The sauce was so yummy, it was addictive.



My mom & dad ordered the tori karaage spicy ramen. It was tasty and so fulfilling. Again, the portion was generous, filled with lots of chunky tender tori karaage, crisp beanshoot slices & wakame. My mom is a fan of spicy food and she told me it has one of the best soup taste.

Would I recommend it? Totally!

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