Happy Birthday Soldier!!

A brand new day! another week for bento creations. Happy morning girls.. ^^

Today is a special day for us. It's hubby's birthday! Yee-aay :D
Actually, I really wanted to make a special bento for him today. But then after it finished, it looks the same as before. -______-' nothing special at all :D

I put a cap and a gray shawl as the background on his bento picture. Those are--two items of five--my birthday present for him. He has 'going to Japan' schedule, at the end of the year, to attend international architecture seminar. And since he has nothing to ask as his birthday present, so i thought it would be more useful, if i buy him things that he'll may need on his trip to Japan (which according to the weather reports, it'll be winter). I know, there are still several months to go, but lets say these stuffs as the beginning :) 


Hubby said, that he missed his old bento (means, my earlier bento, the first one). And he asked for that today. I just make him plain onigiris with chicken teriyaki. But instead sausage/bratwurst, i grilled him a Puket mackerel with teriyaki marinade and dabu-dabu condiment.

I also make him goulash fern--with traditional recipe. Try this :

 English Recipe

you'll need to cut off the fern-leaves from it's hard tough stem
then wash and rinse cleanly  

for the spice you'll need to mash these: 

Red-Onions

Garlics

hazelnuts

coriander

turmeric

And you'll need these too :
meat

bayleaves

galangals

lemongrass leaves

red-chili (sliced thinly)

scallions

water to boil

salt, sugar to taste

  

how to :

1. cut meat into small pieces, then boiled until cooked. 
2. Saute the mashed spices along with bay leaves, lemongrass leaves and galangal. Add the sliced chili. saute until cooked.
3. pour the sauteed spices into the stew water. Boil it with medium heat.
4. Add the fern and the scallions, the sugar and salt to taste, stir well and boil with low heat until cooked and the spices seep. 

Indonesian Recipe

pisahkan daun pakis dari batangnya yang keras
cuci bersih

bumbu halus :

bawang merah
bawang putih
kemiri
ketumbar
kunyit

bumbu lainnya:

daging

daun salam
lengkuas
sereh

cabai merah, iris tipis

daun bawang, iris kasar

air untuk merebus

garam dan gula

cara memasak :

1. Didihkan air, rebus daging (bisa juga tetelan) yang sudah dipotong-potong hingga matang dan cukup lunak. sisihkan.
2. tumis bumbu halus bersama daun salam, daun sereh, dan lengkuas hingga harum. Tambahkan cabai iris dan tumis hingga matang.
3. masukkan bumbu tumisan ke dalam air rebusan daging, aduk rata. didihkan dengan api sedang.
4. masukkan daun pakis dan daun bawang, garam dan gula, dan masak dengan api kecil. 

I give up with baking cakes -______-'

Although, i'm still trying to make the right ones. Last night, i baked this brownies. But it's texture was too hard, because i baked it in the oven for more than the exact time. Hubby said : "there's always be the first for everything" and my first brownies is good enough (he likes the taste, he said). 

the brownies with heart shape

but I assure you, that i'm a delicious fruit-salad maker. Especially if i make it at my parents' house, cause there, my mother always buys me a good quality of mayo. Hubby's fruit salad only contains of papaya, melon and bali black grapes.

My new customer asked me for a bento today. So i make another portion for him :

And the mini bentos for today are the same menus with hubby's, but smaller portion.

 

there you go. Happy birthday hubby..I know I often equate you with the bollywood superstar Sharukh Khan--

guess which one is my husband is ? LOLs

but you always know that you are more good looking than Sharukh Khan itself. And i'm so glad to have you. You are a good husband, and gonna be a good father indeed. I love you. --

Boy & Girl Bibimbap

Happy Friday!
In a week, Friday is the day that I've been waiting for. Why?--Because that day is the last working-day for hubby in a week. It means, He'll be free on Saturday and Sunday. Yee-aay! ^^d


I have no thoughts at all for today's mini bentos menu. So then, I think--it will be easier and fast if i make bibimbap. And it was. 

These are the mini bentos. Bibimbap for everyone. See the picture? I didn't do anything to it. No editing on my PC, just giving the logo--that's all. But how amazing the color is..the bright full orange from carrots, dark green from spinach, light green from zucchini,  the black and brown from minced-meat and champignon mushroom , the yellow tinge from the egg, and clean white from the rice. My friends on my facebook said, it looks refreshing! I'm thinking of "vegetables market" when i see this. :D Korean people love this so much. It represents the 5 nature elements of : Air, Water, Fire, Earth and--the Copper? (i forgot the last element.. :D). 


After making those mini bentos, I still have the leftovers. So then, I put them to hubby's tier. 

But since he already has this menu for several times, then i make the bento more cute for today--at least for me, it's cute :D. I make fried rice with tomato sauce, and forming it into balls. Make the hair, the eyes, the smile, from nori cut. And i make a pair of them, a boy and a girl. I put white-plain rice as the base, and arrange the bibimbap ingredients on the top. Put the fried-rice, and give some slices of sunkists and apple. There you go..

As the salad section, I made another version of rainbow salad. Today, i'm using cucumber (kyuri) and tomatoes. With the same dressing like yesterday, but i change the garlic powder to red-onion and give some sugar. Put it in the fridge, the salad will taste refreshing. :)

Oh, this morning, hubby went to work, bringing the mini bentos with him. After 10-15 minutes, he was arrived at the office, and immediately sent me an instant message. It said : "The first buyer is Mr.Apep"... second later, he messaged me again "..and now, they're sold out!". Yippiiiieeee.... :D Happy fridaaaay :D

Green Sushi

Or--a wannabe-green sushi :D

Actually, the greenness is more visible if you put all the menus in one tier. I'll show you later :)

So, today's bento contains of maki sushi (sushi with kyuri filling), chicken katsu, saute water spinach with sesame seeds, tasty tamagoyaki, corn-edamame salad, and melon. 

The sushi taste wonderful. I guess besides using the right rice, you should choose the right nori to wrap it too. I choose nori that made in Thailand (offcourse you can choose another ones) that 100% vegetarian, no colestrol, more crunchy, and it has variant flavors (i have the original, squid and the spicy. But today, i use the original flavor). For the saute water spinach, i also add oyster sauce to it besides the sesame seeds. It will give a different taste too.

This salad, is corn-edamame salad. I use the same dressing with rainbow-ribbon salad. But it taste different. More savory, i say. Perhaps it's because i'm adding the different salad ingredients. Besides using carrots and apples, like yesterday, i roast the corn first with small amount of olive oil--until browned. Then i add some edamame (japanese green soy beans--i use the salted ones), chopped tomatoes, and green paprika. Put them all together in a big bowl. As the dressing, use another smaller bowl, mix a full spoon of olive oil, with 2-3 full spoon of apple cider, salt and pepper to taste, aaand.....garlic powder!! (so..this is why it tastes different, cause i'm using garlic powder too). Whisk it and taste it first before you mix it to the salad ingredients. 

These are my mini bentos for today sale. The menus are the same menus like hubby's bento. See, i've told you, the greenness  looks better when we put the menus all together in one tier. Like usual, i'm using the food ratio of grains:protein:vegetables in 1:1:1.


Hubby also bring mung beans drink and kiwi yogurt. a-ha..another green-menu! LOLs. Hopefully it's healthy enough for him :)

I'm bento-ing agaaaaain . yeee-aaay! :D

Almost a week with no bento at all. Here i am, with today's newest posting.

--

I've been selling the homemade-food for these 5 months, and receive orders for bento too. Hubby said, i should make small packages of bento to sell, not only by orders. But i've been too busy with baking and making snacks, so that i have no time left to do that thing. Until yesterday, one of BentosiAyah's friend, tagging me to her picture. That picture showed how she makes bento as her newly-business, inspire by BentosiAyah at first. What a great creativity! Here's the picture :

Windi's bento caterings. She makes this only by order. Same like BentosiAyah at her first catering step, but using the permanent tiers, instead.

Those are awesome, aren't they? So, after seeing that picture, Hubby's idea for making bento packages are sparking again. Thanks to Windi.  I've found out, that making snacks more tired than cooking. So i think, why not, let's try to make a simpler bento and the cheaper ones off course. Usually, i made regular bentos. With regular size too. A portion that enough for lunch. But now, i also make the mini size of bento. Like snacks, but healthier and more filling. A portion is enough for a simple breakfast. These are the mini bentos :

A portion of mini bento contains of 1/3 part of grains (onigiri), 1/3 part of vegetables (today, i made chayote curry. With kyuri and rainbow salad), 1/3 part of protein (grilled fish, and egg stew) with candied papaya as the dessert. So, i assure you, this bento is 100% healthy. :D
I make carrot as the beaks and the topknots  of the onigiri-chicks, while nori as the eyes. Hubby said, these were hot-sale this morning. What a happy me :D LOLs. 


These are the reviews of hubby's bento for today.

See the color? Yes, i love it too ^____^. I know, i've ruined the arrangement. Since i make the mini bentos, hubby' bento exists in distended position--for me to arrange. And i didn't have any time left for that. As usual, i just put those there, and let the camera plays the part :D. Hubby said, orange-yellow-green and red are the colors that evoke appetite. And it's happening  to me now.. i'm in terribly starving :D LOLs. 

in his main tier, there are same menus with mini bentos. But in bigger portion--offcourse. Let me share you how to make the egg-stew of BentosiAyah :

 English Recipe

you'll need to boil some eggs first, then peeled 

for the spice you'll need to mash these: 

Onions

Garlics

hazelnuts

pepper

caraway

nutmeg

ginger

tomatoes

salt to taste

And you'll need these too :

bayleaves

galangals

sweet-soy sauce

sugar to taste

chicken broth-powder

  

how to :

1. Saute the mashed spices along with bay leaves and galangal. 
2. Pour some water, add the sweet-soy sauce, sugar to taste, and the the chicken broth-powder. 
3. Put the eggs in, cook until the gravy thickens and marinade seep.

Indonesian Recipe

telur rebus, kupas kulitnya.

bumbu halus :

bawang merah
bawang putih
kemiri
merica
jintan
biji pala
jahe
tomat
garam

bumbu lainnya:

daun salam
lengkuas
kecap manis
gula pasir
kaldu bubuk

Cara memasak :

1. Tumis hingga harum bumbu halus bersama dengan daun salam dan lengkuas. Tuang air, beri kecap manis, gula pasir, dan kaldu bubuk. Aduk rata.
2. Masukkan telur, masak hingga kuah mengental, dan bumbu meresap. 

  

This is hubby's salad tier.  I put rainbow salad (or ribbon salad, or let's say : rainbow ribbon salad) and home made-candied papaya. As usual, on Wednesday, I also made another tiers for hubby's coworkers with same menu. That's all :) Hopefully he'll enjoy today's bento :D Happy Wednesday girls!!

--ps:

Please welcome new logos of BentosiAyah :

Hubby made these. And he used BentosiAyah's original bento as the letter of 'O'. 

It's bibimbap edition :). 



As seen on What's for lunch , Wednesday

Marathon Posting, again :D

Gee, I've almost forgotten.. that i still have three days of bentos that i haven't post yet. :(
I'll pay it now. :D

Monday, 7th March, 2011

I made these bento-packages for Monday. Named it with 'The Yellow Tones'. I didn't realize before that they have the similar color tones. My Friend said, they look a like color pallet, with yellow tones of paints.

Well, as usually, i put the food in three different tiers.

First, as the side dishes of the plain rice (which cannot be seen here, the rice became the base for the side dishes), i made Chicken slices with coconut spice, grilled tofu, sauteed zucchini, shiitake in soyu, and sunny egg.

In the second tier, i mix curry pasta salad  (mixed of macaroni, sweet carrot--grated, low fat raisins, and apple). For the recipe, i'll share you. :)
you'll need :

1 package uncooked spiral pasta

1 teaspoon of curry powder

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

salt to taste

1 apple-peeled, cored, and finely chopped

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 carrots, grated

(you can add crumbled tofu and pine nuts too, if you like. but i didn't)

How to:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. drain.
In a large bowl, combine the curry powder, salt, mayonnaise and lemon juice.  Add cooked pasta and toss to coat. Then add the apple, raisins, green onions, carrots. Mix well. Serve and enjoy.

Third, i put tropical fruits of  papayas, melons, and sweet ambarella. hmmm...juicy!

I feel it is important to put this photo here,

click at the picture to see it bigger

These are the "bento si ayah's tiers" for hubby with measurements. From my first posting, I've been reminded not to put too much food rations for hubby--my friends said so, my husband too. He said, he's toooo waaaaay tooooo full, and he gains 6 kilos of weight :D, and he's not feeling OK with it. So then i changed my strategy. I adhere to the rules that said: in your bento, put 1/3 part of grains, 1/3 part of vegetables, and 1/3 part of protein with fruits and or salad--to maintain the quality of weight, and healthier off course. Eat regularly, take some exercises, and DO NOT EAT YOUR FOOD AT ONCE--thus, eat the food slowly, and digest well before being swallowed.
if i want to add another rations, i have to reduce the other. so the portion is always in the exact measurement.
I had have told this many times to friends who asked. But they still questioning, whether hubby's food rations excessive or not : "gee, those are  'massive portions'. can he eat them all??".
So, i took this picture to be disclosed, to answer that question. The largest tier is only at 14cm-diameter, and the smallest is only for 10cm-diameter. I use different tiers to seal the taste and the flavor of the food, not only by using separator things (like lettuce or kyuri). Further, this separated containers, make him easier in heating the food or chilling it in the fridge--without scrambling the contents.
In these tiers, I always give him small amount of rice (at about 3-4 tablespoon), so he won't be too full after having his lunch. 
There you go. That's for Monday.


Tuesday, 8th March, 2011
Yesterday's theme is : Lazy day!
Yeah! it was :D I was too lazy to woke up and still eager to slept under my warm-blanket yesterday morning. But then i gave up :D, i thought, i have to make him his bento. Otherwise, he'll be troubled finding lunch from his office. 
So, These are the 'Lazy bento' :

Sorry about the picture. suddenly, after the bento was done, the electricity was turn off. My house is a small one. With small ventilation too. So Usually, i take the pictures from the table in my kitchen with the light's help. But yesterday, i have to brought the tiers to living room-sofa, opened the window widely, and took the picture with natural light. Still, i've done nothing to program the camera. so i've got these pictures, they're not too sharp :(

These three tiers again :) :

in the first tier, i made the egg-rice as the base again, and put black pepper-beef, and saute mushrooms ( i use champignon and shiitake with sweet carrots and corns). I didn't have any rules, any ideas, to arrange this tier. so i just put them there, and gave some kyuri and tomato skin-flower.

the second tier is his salad's section. I made "Ribbon Salad" from sweet carrots and apples. They're so refreshing. I made the sauce with : cider vinegar, small amount of salt, pepper and give some sugar too. then mix with the carrots and apples, and keep them in the fridge.

In the third one, I put a dessert of fried apples in chocolate sauce. hmm..yummie :D hubby said, it was toooooo waaaayyy tooo delicious (LOLs).
That was for yesterday :)


Wednesday, 9th March, 2011
Fyuh, this is the latest and the last post for today. :D
I'm soooooo damn tired *oops.. :D

I put the alarm-clock there, to show that i made today's bento+hawker food, form 6am this morning till 8.25am. It's about 2,5 hours. All the menus are made just now in the morning.

I had have to make 5 portions of bentos (2 were take away), plus foods for sale too. Till this article posted, my house is still look a like 'vessel rupture' (too way to mess. LOLs). But I thought, i have to write this posting to the blog, or i'll forget again. 


Three same tiers :

 First, beside the plain rice, i made singgang ayam (that's a local recipe. ummm, maybe same like, grilled chicken in spicy sauce. You can make it also, all you need are just :

whole chicken, cut it to 4 parts. (or use the breast fillet like mine)

lime juice

lemongrass

lime leaves 

bay leaves

thin coconut milk

water

salt to taste

sugar

for the spices, you'll need to mash these :

garlics

onions

red chillies

ginger

galangal

turmeric

How to :
Coat chicken with lime juice for 15 minutes. wash it, and drain. Coat it with the spices. set aside.
Saute the onions with lemongrass, bay leaves, and lime leaves. Add the coconut milk, salt, water, and the chicken. Cook well and the gravy thickens.
Put the chicken on the pan that have already coated with butter before. pour with the gravy, and oven it, done with golden-brown color.

in this tier, i also put him a macaroni-schottel as the snack. :)


Second tier is curry leaves of cassava. That's with local recipe too :) 

Friend of mine said, when he saw this on the facebook, suddenly it reminds him to the small Padangneese restaurant near his campus, 11 years ago, and he misses it. oooooow... :,)

The third is the fruit section. today, i brought him fuji's apple, with black-watermelon, and strawberries. 

aaaaand, potatoes-donut too :D Actually these donuts with macaroni-schotel are for sale menu today. Oh, i add some paprika-powder and oregano in the macaroni. I hope they'll enjoy it.

Last, this is bento-package for hubby's work-mate. He asked this from three weeks ago :D (he always asks it for wednesday, i don't know why). I didn't have much time before to do this, but, oh ok..since my hubby said that his working-mate always asking the same question : "is there any bento for me?" for three weeks lately, so he asked me to make him one this morning. This is for you, Abu.


---------------------------------------------------------
aaaaaaaah...finally :D :D :D
I wanna have some sleep this noon :D
thank you folks, enjoy this :)

Simple Thursday

Another simple bento.

Few days ago, we went for some sushi hawker. One of  the menu was sushi that using rice as the cover and nori as the filling. i didn't know exactly the name, but those cute sushi captivated me. So, i made them for today's bento. But since i didn't make any preparation for this, i didn't cook the sushi-rice today. I'm using the regular rice--that make the cover not as smooth as usually.
I gave zucchini and smoke beef besides the tasty-nori (i use squid-taste nori) as the filling and caress the rice cover with chili powder.

I only made four, and those sushi were minis. ^^
See the yellow mozzarella above? that's the topping of my homemade pizza. And the golden brown flower behind the sushi (the one with the green rocket pick) is a chicken-souffle (also baked this morning for him). Both pizza and souffle used carrots as the side ingredients.

For today's salad cuisine--i only mixed lettuce with fresh tomatoes and non-fat raisins. As the dressing, i mix plain salad with sweetened condensed milk. Actually i want to add some cheese and lime juice too, but i ran out those things, so the salad dressing is a very simple one.

And gave him extra vitamins from these fruits of black-grapes, apples and strawberries. He also asked me to brought him a pack of berries yogurt (but i didn't photo it). 

So, these are hubby's bento menus.. aren't they lovely  :)

Healthy Bento package

Hai there, long time no see.. ^________^ how's world?

I've absent in making bento for the last few days. Hubby asked me to make him 'a healthy bento' because he felt upset with his distended belly. I've reduced the amount of rice, for recently, and it works for his weight. His weight is stable. But he keep complains about his belly.. :D and demanding me to give him more vegetables instead of protein and fat. Oh ok, i'm not sure this would last longer, but i made him this healthy bento. 


I used three tiers for today, but the size are minis--the largest one at about 12 cm diameter.

At the first tier, as the collection of protein, i bake him macaroni pasta with small amount of milk and cheese. A mashed-potatoes patty, and mini sausages. For the sweet taste, i put some non-fat raisins.

At the second tier, as the healthy fiber, i arrange a garden salad that contains white cabbage, sweet carrot, and cucumber with the dressing. I also brought him green bean juice.

And in the smallest tier, there are tropical fruits as the vitamins : Strawberries, papayas, apple (this is a Malang Apple--grown in malang, east java-indonesia, it has a tight texture, not too juicy, a lil bit sour and a small apple indeed--but taste delicious. Especially if you use it to bake an apple cake), and rose apple. 

I hope these menu are enough for him today. I've told him not to buy any hawkers/foods from outside if he want to keep his belly in shape :D (i guess it also applies on me ^^v).

added to  What's for lunch