(don't) forget your lunch

lovely day for a picnic

forgotmyhead — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:28:00 -0400

It’s almost the end of the school year! Hooray! I am finally out of hiding since most of my final projects are finished, so I’ve got a little breathing room. It feels wonderful. I even went to bed early last night to get up in the morning like a real person (instead of like 1pm…or 5pm…y’know). So, when we woke up this morning to a bright a shiny day, I thought it would be wonderful to go out for a picnic since Gaelen and I are both off of school/work for Good Friday.

Except that we had almost no food in the house. But it turned out okay!

I made some pan steamed yams and beef sukiyaki, and found a small zucchini so I cooked that in the leftover cooking liquid. Both the yam and sukiyaki recipes are from Makiko Itoh’s cookbook “Just Bento”, they worked out really well!

I think Gaelen liked it :)

The cherry blossoms are almost ready too! I’m excited to go back to High Park, hopefully sometime this week!

We walked over to the zoo for a bit after lunch. Here’s an emo cow

And a pacing llama. I think he was all worked up because of all the people there to pet the llamas and raise money to save the zoo which is going to close in June if they don’t raise enough money. It’s really sad! I donated what was in my pocket, if you want to help please go to http://torontoparksandtrees.org/high-park-zoo :)

Happy Easter weekend everyone!

Happy Valentines Day! I was going to make chocolate sugar...

forgotmyhead — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:13:00 -0500

Happy Valentines Day!

I was going to make chocolate sugar cookies with royal icing last night…took out the butter to soften and everything! But then I decided it was too much work (and noise!) for 1am. So, I whipped up some egg whites and made meringue kisses.

Pink strawberry-flavoured ones. I found some heart quins in my stash too, I think they’re so cute! There’s no actual strawberry anything in these, just some icing flavouring I had…but it makes these kisses taste like candy :3

The reddish ones are mint-chocolate…though I maybe added a little too much mint flavouring, one drop instead of two next time! And red gel paste to make them a bit prettier, though I kind of wish I’d just left them brown! The green ones are matcha tea flavoured…I just had a hankering for some matcha flavoured sweets.

Little poops in the oven :3

My favourite are the pink ones.

I made a huge mess of the kitchen table while decorating. But it was fun :3

Waiting for labels.

All packaged up and ready to give out! <3

Hope you’re having a lovely day, no matter what!

We got new upstairs neighbours this week and I wanted to do make...

forgotmyhead — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:58:46 -0500

We got new upstairs neighbours this week and I wanted to do make something for them as a housewarming gift…I had originally planned for it just to be these cookies, but they turned out WAY too sweet. So I whipped up some whipping cream and froze it to make unsweetened ice cream (to offset some of the sweetness) and made ice cream sandwiches. They actually turned out pretty good! I had originally chosen the recipe since it was gluten and dairy free, since I have no idea if they’ve got any dietary restrictions, but…well, now they’re just gluten free. Ah, can’t win them all.

The cookies were actually very tasty, good and chocolaty, just way too sweet…the texture was just like the edge of a brownie (chewy and delicious, my favourite part)! And they were super quick to make, with stuff I keep in my pantry. So, next time I might just look for a similar recipe that includes flour. :)

I had fun wrapping them up in cello bags and washi tape ^_^

And then tying it all with the Divine Twine I got for Christmas! ^_^

Hope you’ve had a good weekend! <3

egg salad sammich

forgotmyhead — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:52:46 -0500

I don’t think I’ll be able to stop saying that school is kicking my ass until April…when I no longer have to go (holy crap, less than one semester to go T_T). Well, that is if my stupid transfer credit goes through. C’monnnn Ryerson.

I’ve been eating so much crap lately because I just haven’t had the time or energy to be in the kitchen longer than pouring myself a bowl of cereal or making tea, (okay, fine, G’s been feeding me also. He even made me eat half a zucchini last night) but I decided that tonight would be the night I made myself dinner.

Well, it’s a sammich. But I love a good sammich and it was damn delicious.

I apparently had boiled eggs earlier this week. Whatevs, old hard-boiled eggs are easier to peel anyway!

Have I mentioned how much I love my new camera?

I made some celery salt from a recipe I saw over here right when school started. It’s yummy. I put some in my egg salad, as well as some tabasco, paprika and lots of black pepper. And of course lots of mayo.

I mangled it a bit.

Do you like my new placemats? It’s just laminated cotton from my stash that I finally said “ENOUGH OF YOU LAYING ABOUT” to and cut it up. Because we got a new table and I want it to be pretty forever.

Anyway, I’ve been having a busy week and it’s still going, so just a quite note to say hello! If you’ve been busy like me, I hope you can take time to make a sammich too!

christmas bentos

forgotmyhead — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:35:42 -0500

Before these get too redundant I have some Christmas bento pictures from a bento gathering I had at the beginning of December (I would say party, but really it was just 3 of us) that I thought I should share…considering I haven’t posted anything since the summer I’d say I am long overdue for a post.

Anyway, I’m still alive! Look at that! Barely, since school has been kicking my ass for the past 4 months and will continue to do so until April, but here I am!

I made bubble tea (it was mediocre, I was sleepy/sick, but it looks pretty)

Jess brought some DELICIOUS cupcakes (thanks love!)

And of course we made bento ^_^

Hayon’s

Cute right? Closeup!

Jess’s

Love that flower in her hair

And mine

First bento in months! O.o Yikes. Realized later I probably should have tied those presents with parsley ^_^;;

This is how I feel all the time now.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas or whatever and are enjoying your holidays <3 Hopefully I’ll have more soon, I got some really fun stuff for Christmas ^_^

All photos by Hayon Chang, used (and hosted on my flickr) with permission <3 What a lovely lady.

Me+phone camera=not very good pictures. But too bad. I’m endeavouring to have a good day...

forgotmyhead — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 15:08:58 -0400

Me+phone camera=not very good pictures. But too bad. I’m endeavouring to have a good day since G has gone to nerd it up in Montreal and I’m by myself this weekend so I thought I’d spoil myself and see what the fuss was about Nadege. Well, technically I bought a dozen macarons to share with some lovely ladies while we picnic tomorrow, but only 11 fit in the box so I had to round it out to a 3 macaron snack. The mojito one was my favourite. But yes, I hadn’t been there yet because I find new stores intimidating and I’m a little wussy-baby. Also, it’s expensive. But too bad! None for you G! Muahaha. And while the idea of going to sit in the park and brainstorm for my collection seemed like a picture perfect idea, a dog peed on my tree, my sunscreen went all weird and flaky-gross and I smushed a lot of bugs on my sketch paper so I should really just remember that I’m more at home…at home. Ah, well, hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!

spiral eyes bento

forgotmyhead — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:16:50 -0400

I went to Canada’s Wonderland with my lovely friend Hayon yesterday <3 It was so much fun! Though I’m a little sore today from being bumped around so much and walking around in crappy shoes for 8 hours…but at least they didn’t fly off while we were on Top Gun! (Flight Deck….whatever, I refuse those new names)

I made us a quick bento which we ended up eating for breakfast since we didn’t want to risk them taking it away at security.

It could be either one of us since we’ve both got bangs :P This was the cute one, the other one I made (which I ate….too derpy looking to give away!) Just looked fat and scary! No pictures, too scary looking.

And of course we got a funnel cake for lunch

<3 I love you funnel cake even though you were 12 dollars.

Vinegared rice, nori, ketchup cheeks, slightly pickled radishes, cucumber, steak, tamagoyaki, broccoli stems and cherries.

A bright and colourful (and overexposed T_T) lunch for G since...

forgotmyhead — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:40:00 -0400

A bright and colourful (and overexposed T_T) lunch for G since today is our 5 year anniversary. Now, please excuse me while I go hang out in the air-conditioned mall for a while before we go to die at the T&T Waterfront Night Market ^_^; Thank goodness my boss let us go early today, otherwise I’d be a grumpy/fainting cat.

Rice hearts (with a little vinegar, too hot!), salami, quail eggs, broccoli, cucumber, corn, green beans, tomato heart <3, slightly pickl-y radishes and soy mayo. Red plum and cherries for dessert.

Hope you’re finding a way to beat the heat! We have 4 fans in our bedroom ^_^ Happy Thursday!

Giveaway at All things for sale

forgotmyhead — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 22:55:00 -0400

Giveaway at All things for sale:

Just a quick note to let you all know about a giveaway at All Things for Sale. You have to register on their website to enter and leave a comment on their giveaway post. Also, you get an extra entry if you blog about it ;) and like their facebook. You know, anything for free stuff!

chibi-totoro sunrise

forgotmyhead — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:03:40 -0400

Waaahhh…so much going on T_T I need a break!

I was so sleepy on Friday that I fell asleep on the couch at 9 before even starting my Mandarin homework…so I woke up at 3:30 when G got home and ended up staying up for the rest of the day O.o Totally messed up my internal clock, but I ended up having time to make bento before I went to class!

Chibi-totoros are having coffee at sunrise :)

Rice, ketchup, egg sheet, quail eggs, green beans, cucumber, shredded ham, nori, mango.

It’s amazing what a little planning can do…well,...

forgotmyhead — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:26:17 -0400

It’s amazing what a little planning can do…well, except that I ended up eating a lot of eggs today (what possessed me to get an egg salad sandwich for dinner I will never know). Rice AND potato salad? What is this? Well, whatever, at least I eat lunch.

Rice (with a little vinegar since it’s been pretty hot), quail eggs, ham and green beans, egg and potato salad, watermelon.

dinosaur breakfast

forgotmyhead — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:20:16 -0400

weeeeeelllllllll…hi there? I missed you! I have been hiding, sort of…really just sleeping at every possible moment and trying to get some sun inbetween homework and work-work and school. What the heck was I thinking when I thought it was a fantastic idea to take summer school?! Don’t answer that. (Though, I know I’ll be glad next winter when I’ll only need to take 3 course instead of 5) Well, at least there’s only one more week of my Textile Design course, though I’ll still have to get up early on Saturdays for Mandarin *grumbles*

Anyway, I got up early for once this past Friday so I thought I’d fix something simple for Gaelen and I. Breakfast for lunch, though I messed up the rolled omelettes big time >.<

Tomatoes, lettuce, slightly scrambled eggs, bacon, dinosaur toast, blueberries, cherries, golden honeydew melon.

cherry blossom picnic

forgotmyhead — Sun, 15 May 2011 15:11:09 -0400

Last weekend I went for a picnic at High Park to see the cherry blossoms with my lovely friends Jess, Tala and Hayon. It was so much fun! And good thing we went last weekend too - since it’s been raining all yesterday and today.

(Photo by Hayon)

Hayon made kimbap (or Gimbap), so delicious! I made onirigi, Jess brought some yummy sammiches (somehow there are no pictures of them?! We must have been hungry) and Tala brought drinks :) Having everyone bring stuff is the best way to picnic, I think!

(Photo by Hayon)

I’ve got a little too much going on in my life, so I needed a little bit of Gaelen’s help for this. He cooked the rice and the corn and soybeans, punched out all of their little eyes and made some of the faces. Guess which one is his?? ;) I made three different kinds - the bears had dried, shredded pork inside, the hearts were corn and soybean and the stars were egg and black sesame. Oh, and the face Gaelen made is that mustache man at the top. ^_^

(Photo by Hayon)

The blossoms were beautiful, and it was such a lovely day. Hayon brought her fancy camera and took some stunning photos, I think this one is my fave <3

I pretended to know what I was doing.

There were SO many people out and about enjoying the beautiful day. But I have to say everyone was really respectful of each other, doing their best to stay out of other’s photos, waiting their turn to take photos in some really pretty areas… :) It was really lovely.

I talked Jess and Hayon into going to the zoo with me ^_^” I love this silly cow

But who am I kidding? I went to see the llamas <3

(A little belated) Thanks for a lovely day ladies!

And of course, Hayon…

…the girl who hates having pictures taken of her and thus refused the group photo. ^_^

I hope you’re having a restful weekend, I know I am… :’( I have so much crap to do! But, I have been forced into my bed to try to banish this awful cold that decided to take over my body yesterday morning. I guess I should probably take this as a sign that I’m trying to do too much, huh?

11 march 2011 on Flickr.This is what happens when I am lazy and...

forgotmyhead — Wed, 11 May 2011 20:21:39 -0400

11 march 2011 on Flickr.

This is what happens when I am lazy and don’t want to do much for lunch in the morning. pretty good still huh? HUH? ^_^”

It’s been so lovely these past couple days, too bad this weekend is probably going to be rainy :( Good thing I caught the cherry blossoms last weekend! We had a picnic too :3 Pictures to come soon
Lettuce and dried shredded tuna sushi

dinoooooos

forgotmyhead — Thu, 05 May 2011 18:17:37 -0400

You can’t really see it but I pressed a stegosaurus cutter into the buns. :)

Ham bun, cucumber, carrot triceratops, egg sheet “RAWR”, mushroom pasta, brocolli pasta, curry noodles, mango salad for me and lettuce and dressing for g (he wasn’t so thrilled with the mango salad yesterday). Clean out the fridge day!

stars

forgotmyhead — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:47:37 -0400

Being the clumsy giraffe I am, I tripped over my own feet at the end of January…my knee’s been kind of messed up so I finally got off my butt to do something about it. Anyway, the guy I go to has two cute kids that my Mom’s kind of been watching over. I’ve made cookies with them a couple times, and now the little boy has decided he loves me…so much that he drew me like 5 pictures while I was getting acupuncture (don’t even, I don’t know if it works but it doesn’t really hurt and the massage really helps so whatevs) and gave me his cheese! It was that “funcheez” from Black Diamond…I think its supposed to be a rocket and a moon…well, what else could I do but put it in lunch?

Dried, shredded pork onigiri, soy sauce eggs, “funcheez”, carrots, salami, cucumber, curry noodles, mango salad.

animals

forgotmyhead — Tue, 03 May 2011 23:54:01 -0400

Been hanging out with the J’s and M’s on my ipod at work for the past couple days…thank goodness for that white rectangle - I’d be more crazy than usual without it >.< If you were wondering (erm, even if you weren’t I guess) I’m working in a factory sewing my life away. Yep. :) Summer jobs rule.

G’s bento. I like the cat and the bear…but weird fox/dog/raccoon on the left there is kinda creepy. Oh well.

Didn’t have time for faces on mine but that’s not important

Look at this giraffe pick!

I put one on G’s oranges too but after the fact…I almost forgot that we would need something to eat with. Mr Giraffe makes me so happy, thanks Anna! ^_^ People who know me would say that this was fitting…I’ve been nicknamed Baby G by my lovely friend Lili (check out her blog, it’s gorgeous) because sometimes I wobble and walk into doors/walls/etc. :) My legs are too long for my own good.

Salami sammiches, lettuce, broccolli, corn, rainbow carrot flowers, cheese, wheat crackers, cucumber, cara cara oranges.

handmade tea bags and a small cakey

forgotmyhead — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:56:29 -0400

I’ve been finished school for about a week now but I’ve been taking a much needed rest so I haven’t made bento in quite a while! And I haven’t got one for you today either, but I finally got a job (start tomorrow!) so I’ll be making lots more this summer for sure.

———————————-

Way back at the beginning of March I signed up for oh hello friend’s collection swap and I got paired with a lovely lady named Anna who runs a food blog called Blondie’s Cakes where she shares some lovely recipes and beautiful, clean photographs of what she makes. You should take a look! I love the way she writes - it’s so friendly.

But, I have to apologize to her because at the end of March when we were due to send out our packages I was kind of at the end of my rope, school was insanity and I was not sleeping so my package was not as full as I had wanted! I’m sorry Anna! I did take some time out to hunt for a pretty teacup to add to her collection - I hope it got there in one piece. Anyway, when I got Anna’s package I was dumbfounded - it was filled with so many lovely goodies

O.o so pretty!

She made that card in the top right hand corner herself! It’s so pretty :3 And all wrapped up in the center is homemade jam. HOMEMADE - my goodness. <3

I knew immediately I had to send her a thank you card and some more goodies and I remembered that I had planned to made some tea bags filled with some of my favourite tea.

I also busted out the polymer clay and made a cake.

I may or may not have also made earrings for myself :3

Anyway - there’s something in the mail for you Anna! I hope you’ll forgive me :)

—————————————————————————

Heart shaped handmade tea bags

I can’t promise that this is a quick project - but it’s kinda nice on a rainy day!

Cut a heart out of cardstock and trace it on to prewashed, very lightweight muslin. You really don’t need very much. Use something that gets wet really easily! I traced a couple hearts in a row and then folded the fabric underneath, pinned and cut about 10 out at the same time.

Sew them leaving a hole on one side near the point and then turn them inside out and iron them. Seriously, iron them - if you fold in the seam allowance from the hole (it’s annoying, I know) it’s a lot easier to sew shut. I sewed them on my machine but you could hand sew….if you really want to…

Fill with tea and sew shut. I used a small running stitch, but you could whip stitch or stitch in the crease, it looks nicer but only if your stitches are small and its kind of annoying. I filled these ones with dragon’s well green tea from China with osmanthus flower from Taiwan (I brought these back from my trip last year). I made another set filled with Ali Shan oolong tea from Taiwan.

Then I made some tags and attached them with thread.

Then I packaged then in cello bags and made a sticker for a label. Ugly picture, sorry!

Of course I had to make one extra to test out. :3

Maybe a good mother’s day present? I would make some more for my Mom but she has so much tea already. Well, at least there’s lots of rainy days coming up if you wanna make some of these too…heh. Happy Spring everyone!

philadelphia roll bento

forgotmyhead — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 13:20:48 -0400

School is finally winding down…sort of T_T I just want summer! Er…and a job ^_^; If you know anyone doing (or needing) costuming for theatre or film who would like to hire a friendly, hardworking girl let me know! ;)

Had some smoked salmon in the freezer so I thought I’d make Philadelphia rolls. Mmmmm.

Tamagoyaki, grape tomatoes, carrots, broccoli stems, hot dog, philadelphia rolls (smoked salmon, herb and garlic cream cheese, cucumber), cara cara oranges.

more bento birthday

forgotmyhead — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:22:53 -0400

My lovely friend Hayon/delinquent tumblr-er (who I demanded bring her DSLR to my birthday party ^_^;) put her pics of facebook for me yesterday, so I thought I would share some of my faves!

Kitty cupcakes >.< If you remember my bento party over the winter break my friend Lili brought me a cute cupcake kit so I thought it would be appropriate for the occasion <3 And beautiful flowers from Mona! What wonderful friends I have!

bee bowl from G <3 the one filled with corn is an owl and the other one is a monkey, with plates to match! Guess where he shopped for me? (Indigo kids…he knows me so well)

bubble tea

carrot cutting <3

mona’s cute characters

we forgot to photograph her finished bento before she devoured it! T_T

detail of my cake bento

hayon’s bento #1 (so cute!)

all wrapped up

hayon bento #2

gaelen’s dinosaur (which couldn’t sit flat because the head would fall off…and then it died due to extenuating circumstances (I flipped it over by accident…oops))

lauren’s bento (love the derp face)

jess being sad because i put vegetables in her box.

tracy’s (?) “I’m hungry”/no effort bento

tracy’s…something…lol.

Later Tracy and Kyle made fancy charabens too! But I don’t seem to have any pictures T_T Tracy made a pretty Rapunzel one and Kyle made a Flynn Rider and I wish I took pictures.

Thank you guys so much for coming out and playing with me! <3