One of my favourite little tools I found in Japan was the pocket sandwich maker. I love this thing so very much, so keep an eye out for it in the future! What does it do? Removes the crust AND seals the edges to make this cool little pocket. It is easy, quick and makes filling sandwiches so much easier! For example, in Japan I purchased a Yakisoba pocket sandwich. Yakisoba is soba noodles stir fried. So in Aussie terms you could put spaghetti in this sandwich, and it will hold all the contents and be super delicious!

In Miss A's sandwich I put a little avocado and mayo concoction. Her kindy lunches are refrigerated so be careful with mayo in an uninsulated lunch box.

One thing I think we forget is bento isn't just for out and about, we can make fun lunches at home too! At home lunches are more fun, because you have more time to make it (well I find I do, rather than the 20 mins I have in the mornings). So for the school holidays I have tried to make lunches similar to those they take to school. Master D loves his cars so I made them both car themed lunches today. Did you know girls like cars too? Mine does ^__^

So here is what I put together.

Pink milk, car shaped sandwiches, beans, snowpeas, rice cracker, mini marshmallow, carrot, grapes and kiwi fruit. A very colorful and healthy lunch!


Need some more inspiration? How about this wonderful lunch?

For more see: http://www.funkylunch.com/gallery.htm

Apple pie would have to be the one thing I crave the most. I'm not a chocolate girl, I prefer juicy apples wrapped in pastry. Oh! And don't forget about the cinnamon! (sorry about the picture, we demolished half of it before remembering we needed to take a picture!)

While I'm still excited with it I thought I'd try something different! Here I out FreeNut butter in the bottom of a silicon cup and put in some celery sticks. This wasn't a bento I had planned on either, completely last minute have-to-make-lunch-in-10-minutes type of lunch. But hey! If you have your fridge and cupboard stocked you can while up this in no time!

Corn thins and babybel cheese, grapes, FreeNut butter and celery, mini wafers (a very special treat!)

As you can see, not the best bento I've made, but it's not rubbish either! This one came home empty! Hitting the right notes lately!

Take care!

x Nya!

 

My daughter requested pancakes for dinner, to which I was willing to comply. I then had a fleeting thought midway making said pancakes, "what if I added carrot and zucchini?" I passed on my thoughts to Miss 4 and she said it was a good idea. So I had to last minute alter the recipe and pray that the vegetables didn't cause the batter to become too runny. Well, the result was amazing!! They were so yummy the kids ate them all up and asked for thirds! Even husband loved them! So I quickly wrote down the recipe to share. Please remember I was going to make normal sweet pancakes, so they do have sugar and a dash of maple syrup (subbed for the vanilla extract that's gone missing). Seeing as I was going to make them sweet, adding the veges made it healthier and OMG so much tastier! I will be doing these again! I have to make another batch though as there is nothing left!

Think of the bento opportunities with these also! A sweet but healthy snack in the lunch box. If you've packed not other sweet things than why feel guilty for the small amount of sugar in the pancakes? It looks like an odd recipe, but try it out! For bento I'd make them piklet sized to fit into the lunchbox. Because of the self raising flour they don't roll at all. If your clever and have some egg frying molds or even pancake molds you can make them in cute shapes!

Ok, so here is the recipe - http://nekomama.com.au/index.php/recipes/bento/52-vegetable-pancakes

Enjoy!!

Today's bento is a bit of an experiment! We aren't allowed nuts or eggs at kindy so I have found a wonderful product from Coles called FreeNut Butter. It's made from sunflower seeds. To me, it looks, tastes and smells the same! But I'm not fussed on peanut butter. I can't remember how much it was but it was about the same price as peanut butter anyway. So to test it out I made a scroll, which is crust less bread flattened with a rolling pin. Added the freenut butter and strawberry jam then rolled it into a scroll. Verdict? Miss A says, Delicious!

What's inside? FreeNut butter and jelly scrolls, pork and tofu meatballs, grapes and strawberries, carrot, cucumber and a babybel cheese.

I have to admit, this one came home almost empty! With just a few extra bits of carrot and cucumber left over. It's a satisfying feeling when they've eaten it all!

Take care!

x Nya!

Ok I know the book is little rabbit foo foo but bunny is so much cuter! I am thoroughly enjoying my new bento tools and OMGoodness the rice ball molds are so much easier than plastic wrap in cookie cutters! Tis had to be one if the quickest thrown together pieces, and the cutest!

 

 

 

It's that time of the year again, I have 3 birthdays within 2 months. My sons, then my daughters and then my husbands. My children are only 51 weeks apart so birthdays have always been joint, however, this year I decided they were old enough to have a separate birthday celebration. I put my sons a week ahead, and put my daughters a few days after her birthday so I had some breathing space! Thankfully they don't know it's early or late. Who knows what's going to happen when they are older!

I have been trying to figure out the exact amount of food to send to kindy. At home she eats all the time, but I think she is so distracted at school that she doesn't eat as much. So today, nothing was left at all! I think I am getting the hang of little Miss's portion size!

 This morning I wanted to try and be a bit more typical Aussie with my lunch and use the sandwich. I ask the Missy every morning sandwich or rice, and she chooses rice most mornings. But today, sandwich it was because shes not eating her rice lunches as much as the sandwich ones. She'll eat all her rice but leaves the rest. Which is unusual as she eats it at home! 

So here it is, I can wholeheartedly admit I went a bit overboard. And that the whole thing will be a shambles when she went to school. I have to find a way to 'stick' everything down. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated! 

I added her name, as she is learning to write her own name, she even recognized and told me it was her name ^__^

 

 Chicken loaf and cheese sandwich. Devon, tomato, chicken loaf and cheese little girl. Cheese letters. All leftover cut out prices have been added on the left side. Pickles on the bottom. Peas and corn in a cup and a cherry tomato. 

Now, what did I learn about today's Bento. Well, kyaraben takes a lot longer than I planned on. While its hot the cheese doesn't come out of the stencils as easily as they should. I had to punch so much cheese to get those letters to work! Let's hope she eats all her lunch today!

 

 Monday is the only day that we are all out of the house. Mummy and daddy go to work, Missy goes to kindy, and Little Man goes to grandma and grandads house. We need to all be ready and out the door by 8am to get everyone dropped off at the right location. It requires a 6am start, short showers, lots of team work and a night of preparation. But once it is set in motion, we are becoming a well oiled machine! 

First day of kindy, the pressure was on to make an appetizing bento to make her feel special at her new school. I tried to keep it basic, but also fun! I was a complete and utter mess making this bento. Sobbing and tearing up along the way. I was positive to get the tears out of the way so I could be big, brave, mummy on the day. I think I did rather well. I kept it together on the morning! 

 

Im separating this into 2 parts, personal and bento. So skip to the next part for write up on Little Miss' lunch. 

So when did this happen? It seems like only yesterday I had my ultrasound photo and video of this squirming little baby growing so contently inside me. Now, she is this compete little human being, complete with giggles, curls and non-stop chattering. She loves and laughs, cries and demand comfort, creates stories with her toys and loves to paint and draw. I'm so proud, as any parent should be, of this little girl. We have tried our hardest to nurture and encourage her behaviors, and life skills at home, getting her ready for the next stage in her life. I hope we have done enough to prepare her. 

Well it's been a lovely Christmas period and I've enjoyed my lunch making break, but also very excited to get back into it. I was very fortunate to receive a wonderful box of goodies from my lovely friend in Japan (thank you so much!!!) 

Lunch Box Raid.... I think we have a winner!
After relentless searching I am going to go with the ECO Lunchbox sets! I found a local company in Ormiston that sells them too, so no wasted packaging on my eco friendly lunch boxes!
Why did I choose these ones? The stainless steel, the open-ness of the boxes that allowed me to create bentos that some of the others inhibited. The second set is stackable! And the clips look pretty easy for a toddler. (Plus if i get lazy, or if requested, I can fit a whole sandwich!)

I am still going to go and touchy feel the boxes to make doubly sure it is what I want. The planetbox and Goodbyn were tempting but it is all too seperated! It just would be too difficult to fill some days I think. I am planning on getting both sets, mainly because you need flexibility and options. One lunch box isn't enough, you need a few to play around with. I am a little sad she can't use her cute strawberry bento box, but she'll be old enough to use it soon.

http://ecolunchboxes.com/product_boxoval.html
http://ecolunchboxes.com/product_boxsquare.html

Aren't they cool? Mr N was very unsure about the boxes, mainly because they are 'industrial' looking and are very 'plain and dull'. So I also got to searching and am going to buy some vinyl decals to decorate the lid. Yay! I just won't put the lid in the dishwasher and hand wash the base of the lid.

I'm feeling very pleased with myself. One down, lots to go!

xx Neko Mama

Nya! =(^_^)= いってらしゃい！

This was the first Bento video/tutorial that I came across and I was in love with the whole concept ever since. Honestly it's been around 2 years since I started my Bento-ing venture. I had an old blog with the 100 bento challenge and I *think* I made it up to 30 before getting quite ill. So that is a fantastic achievement in my book!
Anyway, back to topic. This is a very simply put full bento prep with ingredients and instruction on how to pack and time. I have not made this exact bento but have taken inspiration and advice from it.

So without further ado, here it is!
Cooking With Dog - Bento

Well I read a lovely article about love bombing (and I can't find it but if I do...) and I have to agree with it completely. Without even realizing it I unintentionally love bomb my children, which I thought was awesome! Not over the top because, they're just 2 & 3, but enough that I think they know I love them to bits. I also feel awesome at the end of the day (albeit a wee bit exhausted!)
So brief explanation for love bombing, allow your child to dictate and have your full attention for a full day. A day of yes's, a day of no parental distraction whether it's housework, phone calls, work commitments ect. It is the one day to spend completely with your child and exactly how they want to do it.

Hi Again,
Well as I was trying to avoid this post, at least it isn't in the FIRST post right? =(^.^)=
Why am I blogging? Well, I had this wonderful idea to start up Neko Mama when I just simply couldn't get a little tune out of my head. I'm also very aware of several other blogs which made me think, "I should do that!" I think I have something to share with the world, and if this is where I start, than so be it!
I love to cook, so I want to share recipes, creations, Bento, Charaben (kyaraben) and anything else food related.
I love Lolita fashion, so I wanted to share (more specifically for Australians) my 'off-brand' loli finds and hopefully in the not-too-far-off future, maybe even tutorials and patterns to make your own things!
I love my children, so I wanted to share activities, crafts, nifty hints and tips to make being a mother more fun! Because lets face it, being a mother is very hard work!
I love my husband! But I don't know how I can translate that to helping you all out. Maybe I could share some bedroom techniques? (Oooooooops.... maybe too naughty for here!) Maybe I can share my housework and organisational techniques?
I love Japan, so lets share our learning Japanese experience. I have a few tools to help me learn the language I want to share and give a review about.
I love Technology, Games and Anime! I can share my recent anime series, what i'm playing, what we're playing (my husband and I love to game together!). You know, fun things like that.

So, I feel I have just cause to open a successful blog. Hopefully my ramblings amuse somebody, as I enjoy reading other peoples point of view and unique aspect on the world.

Again, let me know if your out there!

Nya! =(^_^)=   いってらしゃい！