bento #13: the one with the kao-zhi

was too bz to post this yesterday... my breakfast bento ta-pao from pasar malam the night before.



the mini container at the side is my latest purchase from 100 yen shop. comes in 4 identical pieces, perfect for sauces and such!

The Commonly Confused Words Test...

saw this quiz at auntyjo's... so just gave it a try lar...

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 87% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

Compared to other takers

• 54/100 You scored 100% on Beginner, higher than 54% of your peers.
• 34/100 You scored 100% on Intermediate, higher than 34% of your peers.
• 84/100 You scored 100% on Advanced, higher than 84% of your peers.
• 57/100 You scored 87% on Expert, higher than 57% of your peers.

Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at HelloQuizzy

on a good day...

this is how my work station looks like...





don't try to imagine how it looks like on a bad day!

bento #12: the one with everything squeezed into it

ok, i cheated. remember bento #11? well, i din really finish it... just the bottom tier (jam and butter) for breakfast. then i totally forgot abt it and happily tagged along when the bosses asked me for lunch. when i realized it, i thot, "ok, can still have it for breakfast the next day". but suddenly i found out that my initial plan of just going for a day meeting at the resort was stretched to a 3D2N trip! argh!!! had to do last minute cancellations to all my plans...

anyway, i went home to m'ca after my official business at the resort and got back to KL only yesterday. a quick check in the fridge found my ham & cheese sandwiches still sitting obediently in the bento box. took a sniff at it... hmm... no foul smell yet.

so this morning, went to take another sniff at it and still no foul smell... should i take the risk? ah well, what the heck! so my breakfast this morning was that!

then nearing lunch time, was craving for korean kimbab *slurp!* so ran down for my weekly korean fix... hehehe... i had the kimbab + japchae set. kimbab is just like sushi roll, only thing is that kimbab's ingredients are all marinated, so we can just eat it as it is, without any shoyu (soy sauce). japchae is korean grass noodles, or more commonly known as 'tang-hoon'.

anyway, when my order came, i realized it's a lill too much for one person. i'd be a pig to finish it all at one go! so in the spirit of dieting and portion control, i ate 1/2 of everything (except the kimchi. can't get enough of those!) and had them ta-pao the rest for me... but too bad i did not bring my bento box, so had to come back with a polystyrene food container and a plastic bag (sorry, auntyjo!).

this is how my dinner bento looks like... wish i had brought my bottom tier, so that can separate the kimbab from the japchae, but too bad lor.

bento partAy!!

as mentioned, last saturday was the bento party. dragged mon and san along, even tho' they're not bloggers. hehehe...

well, the 3 of us were late. the registration was to be at 11.45am, but due to some delays - mon came home at 10.45am and ABSOLUTELY HAD to take a shower, and then i need to check my car lubricant oil after being reminded for the umpteenth time by the dad - we got there at 12.00noon. aiya... raining mar! hehe...

anyway, after registration, we were delighted to receive a BIG and BULKY goodie bag each! so happy... we grabbed a seat each and proceeded to rummage thru the goodie bag excitedly, like kids under the christmas tree on christmas morning, until it suddenly dawned on me that yikes! how we'd look in front of all the other participants?! i made a pass to the gals... ok, it went more like: "eh pls lar. dun act so sua-ku ok? behave...", at which all 3 of us quickly stuffed back everything into the bag, settled down demurely (or at least tried to!) at the table and proceeded to check out the rest of the participants.

actually i was quite relieved at the crowd that day... initially, i was worried the gals would blame me for bringing them to an 'aunty meet' and boring the daylights out of them! luckily the list consisted of a mix of gals and young mommies. oh, and 1 or 2 aunties lah! :P

auntyjo of Emily's Busy World! opened the party with an intro on how she started her bento frenzy... then she passed the floor to Pat of Bento Pet for a short presentation on bento and all the works related to bento. after that, each participant did a self-intro. in Pat's pre-party e-mail to us, we were supposed to introduce ourselves and our blogs in not more than 10 words... but on that day, all these were thrown out the window and we just went on and on talking about ourselves! ok, not really... but it was definitely more than 10 words! haha...

short presentation by Pat, with auntyjo looking on...

listening so attentively...

after all the talking, it's food time! but before we can eat, we need to arrange our bento boxes (that came in our goodie bags) with the food for a little competition. what??? cannot eat yet??? gosh, i was so hungry by then that i had a mind of foregoing the whole competition and gobble up my food while standing at the buffet line waiting for the person in front to get going! mon and san, u were THAT person in front of me... now u know how slow u 2 are lar har! choosing and changing ur minds abt the kawaii cupcakes for like 100 times! :P but luckily i remembered our vows to try not be so sampat and sua-ku at this party, so i swallowed down my hunger and went to arrange my bento box.

well, i'd say the bento box arrangement was quite fun lar. esp when u're sitting next to first-time bento-er san and the kelakar mon! i even found san telling a piece of her chicken kara age, which was too big to be stuffed into her box: "it's ok, dun worry har". wakakaka...

when we're done, each of our bento box got a 2 seconds of fame in the limelight... or rather, in the flashlight, on a nice japanese lacquer tray, having its picture taken by Pat's #1. after that, i quickly went back to my seat and what else? makan lar! but mon and san were too excited to eat their bento. they continued taking pictures after getting back to their seats, arranging and rearranging their bento, this angle and that lighting... *sigh... tak kuasa aku! but i still made mon take a pic of my cute cupcake lar... hehe...

mon's bento...

san's bento...

sue's ben... opps! already on the way into the stomach! hehehe...

mon: eh, sue! y u so fast eat already? u don't wanna take photos first meh?
me: mai cha wah (hokkien: dun disturb me)! i'm super hungry u know!

cute cupcakes! courtesy of su yin of The Journal of a Girl who Loves to Cook

after that, we went to attack onsen's private room, which has been converted into a mini 100 yen shop! no kidding! there were a great many bento gears for sale, which we dun normally see in the 100 yen shops. what else? the shopaholic in us went to work lar!

towers upon towers of bento gears!

other than 100 yen, there were other bento accessories available for sale, sourced by Pat. needless to say everyone went away with a headache of how to store their additional bento containers, or maybe for some, how best to explain the absolutely-need-to-buy bento box to the hubby, even tho' there's already one (or a few) exactly the same at home, only in a different colour! :P

contents of the goodie bag...

stuff i bought from the mini 100 yen shop... a round bento box (the traditional bento box shape), bento box strap (comes in 2s), tiny containers for condiments and such (comes in 3s of different colours) and onigiri shaper

more stuff bought, from Pat: onigiri shaper (comes in 2s - why i need so many shapers ar?), silicone cups (so much cuter than the ones i bought from isetan!) and soy sauce bottles (comes in 6s - been searching for this for so long!)

ok, let's have some happy smiley faces to end this long, long post!

san with her first ever bento! good job!

mon seems pretty happy with of her masterpiece too... nice!

and here's me, with my cute cupcake, bento half devoured...

3posen at onsen!

hop on over to bento pet's and auntyjo's for more reports and pics of the bento party, as well as more links to the blogs of the rest of the participants. there's one pic of me introducing myself and one of my bento (my number's 12) somewhere!

bento #11: the one slapped together in 2 minutes

ok, not really 2 minutes, but u know what i mean...

have not been having bread for such a long time, so i thot i'll buy a loaf to make sandwiches... and that's my bento breakfast and lunch for today.

this new bento box is from the goodie bag i got at the bento party last sat. ok, ok, will post abt the bento party soon... promise!

lower tier houses jam and butter sandwiches, upper tier holds ham and cheese sandwiches. all cut into small triangles to trick the mind into believing that i've had LOTS of sandwiches... and also (hopefully) look a little more fancy than plain simple sandwiches!

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in case anyone's wondering, will be out of town for the rest of the week on official duties, and then balik-ing kampung for a weekend of mid-autumn fest celebration with the family.

bento #10: the one with the schweet note!

woke up to a note sticking on my door, saying there's a bento waiting for me on the dining table outside... upon checking, here's what i found...


note reads:
"Yah... yah... yah... Bring me to work!!!
I'm delicious... must eat.
--> Please eat me!!"

ok everyone, on the count of 3! 1... 2... 3! aawwww........


thanks M for the sponge cake breakfast! plus the schweet note! no, should be 2 notes - one on the door and one on the bento! what better way to dispel monday blues, right? ;P

bento #9: the one packed by someone else!

a 'love-hearted bento' in it's true sense! u see, i personally think that only a rice box packed for us by someone else can qualify for the term 'love-hearted bento' (ai4-xin1 pien1-tang4). it's because of the love and care someone puts into packing up the bento that such bentos are given this name in the first place.

this is my unexpected 'love-hearted bento' dinner, packed by N! fish meat with the bones picked out on the left and cauliflower, celery, carrots & prawns mixed on the right, with rice in the middle. i added on some of my usual pickles and washed it all down with one of my all-time fav drinks, self-bancuh ribena (self-bancuh to ensure it's not too sweet!).

bento #8: the one with the yellow vege

have not been bento-ing lately... coz been coming home late and been so tired! housemate M was commenting that my broccoli will be turning yellow if i dun cook it soon... so since today is the last working day of the week, and i know i'll be too lazy to cook during the weekends, i made myself put together a bento for today's lunch.

nothing much... just boiled the broccoli and baby carrots. had to discard half of the broccoli that was too yellow. and i didn't know for how long i should boil the two vege... so just agak-agak lar. turned out ok, i think.

boiled vege with my usual pickles... but i forgot to
splash some soy sauce on the vege, so lucky i have the pickles!

something a happening this sept!

woo hoo... party for bento kaki! keke... hopefully i'll be able to schedule my MATTA Fair duty around this! *cross fingers* dragging housemate M along... hop over to Bento Pet's for more info.

update (8.48am, 22 aug 08): managed to persuade good friend S to go too! who else wanna join?