The adventures of the three bears

Good Weekend

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:04:21 GMT

I had a brilliant weekend!

Friday 1st December 2006
Company Christmas dinner. I had been to the venue before a good few years ago with a different company and they still do brilliant Christmas parties. The dancers were fantastic and it was really nice to socialise with my new work friends. The only guy in my department didnt want to sit with us as we were all girls (he sat with some guys from his previous dept). It was real girly affair in the end, we had a lovely meal and danced the night away. My legs were so tired at the end of the night (maybe going to body combat before a night of dancing wasnt such a good idea after all).

Saturday 2nd December 2006
Hubbie and I went off to Sadler's Wells in London to watch Darcey Bussell perform. Hubbie isnt at all keen on dance show yet alone ballet performace. The show was quite short (just over an hour). There were 4 pieces, I wasnt so keen on the 2nd piece but the rest was brilliant. Darcey Bussell has such a strong body, not just slim but muscular and so gracefull!

Before the ballet, hubbie and I tried out a new dim sum resturant, it was near Liberty's on Regent Street. The resturant was called ping pong. The food was fabulous and they dont use MSG (I dont know why so many chinese resturants think that it is good to use the stuff) hubbie didnt get sick (he is allergic to MSG). The lotus leaf steam rice was so scrummy.

Sunday 3rd December 2006
Hubbie and I went home to have dinner with my parents - it is the last chance I will get to see them before we head over to Ireland for Christmas. My brother and his girlfriend Rhea were there (Rhea is so lovely, hope my brother doesnt mess it up with her) and my sister was there with her new boyfriend Alex (it was such a lovely change to for one of her boyfriends to have a personality, usually she goes for guys that are all looks and no brains, this guy had both - hope she doesnt mess it up this time). Since my brother and sister have stopped working together, family dinners have become really good fun again. Now I am looking forward to Christmas with my other family. Only 2 weeks to go and I have so much work to get throught between now and then arrrgggghhhhhh.

Bento Classic

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:49:14 GMT

Top: Japanese rice with waisabi furikake
Bottom: Choi Sum with oyster sauce and home-made teriyaki chicken

Bento Times 2 - Twice as Nice

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 20:37:24 GMT

I have to double post my bento entries as I was too busy to last week, enjoy:

Top Box: Sushi rolls made with corned beef mixed with country relish with a babycorn centre
Bottom Box: Papaya with ruby red pomegrante kernels

Right Box: Farmer's Market beef burger with tomato sauce and gerkins
Left Box: Pasta with home-made sweet pepper sauce with cheese shavings

Bento Box Times 2

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 09:39:52 GMT

Right: Smoked Duck breast sushi with young baby leaf spinach
Left: Japanese Pear, pink ginger, Daikon (not sure if it is the correct name but its yellow japanese pickled radish), Brandston brown sauce & probiotic yoghurt drink

Left Top: Garlic & Chili courgette
Left Bottom: Braised Eel nigiri
Right: Korean Aloe Vera Drink, Manderine Orange, Red Bean Sweet

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 10:57:48 GMT

I had leftover roast pork from sunday dinner and new nigiri mould.....vola this is the result!

Bento Lunch

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 09:51:56 GMT

Left: Leftover Tuna & Sweetcorn, half moons of cucumber and wedges of tomatoes
Right: Falafel (greek chickpea balls) on Japanese rice with new rice seasoning (looks great but not tasty)
Not shown: tub of mint yoghurt sauce for the falafel, apple and banana.

Bento Lunch

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:57:23 GMT

Left Top: (Leftover) Bolonese Onigiri
Left Bottom: Sliced Mango
Right: Strawberry Yoghurt

Bento Lunch

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 18:18:40 GMT

Left Top: Mango with Blueberries
Left Right: Sweet & Sour Pork Chow Mein (leftover from dinner last night)
Right Top: Muller Light Yoghurt in Banana Custard Flavour
Right Bottom: Yellow plum, Discovery Apple, Banana

Home Bento II

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:27:14 GMT

Left: Fruit salad made with slices of golden kiwi (tates very different to the green kiwi fruit) and discovery apple (small but very sweet apple - totally yummy) on a bed of sliced mango
Right Top: Ballymaloe Country Relish and French style mayonnaise
Right Bottom: Sweet potato wedges

Bento's Back

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 11:55:27 GMT

After a long break I am back onto the Bento Train. It not a true bento but I am slowly getting back into the swigs of bento,ing.

Top Left: Mango with banana and blueberries
Top Right: Dolly Soup Noodle Laska flavour (I dont think I will be getting this flavour again - it was a little bland)
Bottom: Pork & Prawn Sui Mai Dim Sum

I love these dim sum, you can cook from frozen and it only takes 12 minutes to steam - yummy and easy.

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 07:10:57 GMT

Left: Aurbergine & pork with cashenut, basmati rice
Right: Jordan's Multigrain bar in Nut & Honey, Red Bean Cake, Apple and Guava Juice Drink

I went oriental food shopping over the weekend when I visited my parents. I pick up some Aurbergine sauce (the pack said 'Spicy Garlic Sauce'. So I gave it a go, when I was cooking the dish, I tasted the sauce - it was hot but bland, so I had to rescue the aurbergine with a jar of yellow bean sauce and a dash of rice vinegar as the spicy garlic sauce was too sweet. The end result was rather yummy, 'Chili Yellow Bean' hubbie called it.

Dim Sum Bento

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:58:58 GMT

Top Left: Choi sum with oyster sauce, pork sui mai dim sum
Bottom Left: Mung bean noodles with spring onion & ginger soya sauce
Top Right: English strawberries
Bottom Right: Red bean paste cake and instant chrysanthemum honey tea

Birthday Party Leftovers

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 07:01:44 GMT

.I went home yesterday to celebrate Dad's 61st Birthday and Father's Day, I managed to get some leftovers to have for lunch, I did have to fight with my brother to get some leftovers - wow, he really can pack away food.
LEFT: 5 spiced squid with mixed peppers, orange duck
MIDDLE: Egg noodles with spring onion and oyster sauce
RIGHT: Red bean paste chess cake and fresh pineapple pieces

Sushi Experiment

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 07:02:04 GMT

I decided this morning to change my original bento plan and turned my teriyaki chicken & rice lunch into sushi rolls. I have never had meat in my sushi rolls just fish or veggies.
Left: Teriyaki sushi rolls served with Nandos peri peri BBQ sauce
Right: English strawberries (1st in the season) with white sugar (on the side, cant see it in the photo) and squares of Japanese chocolate.
Not shown: Happy face of clemintine banana and apple

Ooodles of Noodles

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 07:09:44 GMT

Left Top: Baby cherry tomatoes, half moons of cucumber, salad cream and yoghurt covered raisins
Left Bottom: Udon noodles fried with beansprouts, egg and mang tout in a yakisoba sauce and 7 chili sprinkles
Right: Happy face of pink lady apple, clemintine and caribean banana.

I had one work lunch yesterday and I feel unwell after eating it (too much salt I think) I had 1/4 roast chicken with roast carrots & parsnips and boiled cabbage. I was going to make onigiri for lunch today but decided to make sushi rolls for dinner - yummy smoked fish fillets worked wonderfully!

Summer Salad Bento

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 07:04:36 GMT

Left: Shredded Cos lettuce with baby cherry tomatoes (they are so cute!) with cucumber and mixed peppers, topped with tuna mayo (and splash of salad cream, I think this might be a English thing I have never seen salad cream in the US)
Right: Fruit salad of strawberries, clemintine, nectarine, crispy seaweed (leftover from takeaway on sunday) and nougat for my sweet cravings

It been so damn hot lately I have really cravings for a big salad I finially get round to making one and its raining today. I dont think the rain will last but it has certainly cleared the air, hope the rain wont cause today to be super humid!

Cheater's Bento

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 07:07:24 GMT

Left: Leftover takeaway fruit spare ribs and singapore fried noodles
Right: Slices of nectarine, clemintine, strawberries, leftover takeaway seaweed and mini baby bel cheese

Hey Pasta!!!

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 08:38:11 GMT

Firtly sorry about the fuzzy photo, I was still very sleepy when I took this photo with my phone:
Left: Sautee babycorn with farmer's market carrots and mang touts
Right: Spagetti with Tuna, red peppers and onion in a scillian styled sauce
Also with bento but not in photo:
Melon Slices
Greek Yogurt with honey
Apple, Clementine and Banana

Stir-fry'lious

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 07:01:01 GMT

Left: Japanese rice with furikake seasoning, Middle: Beef with broccoli, beansprouts and water chestnut stir-fry using leftover Pad Thai sauce, Right: Greek yoghurt with honey and Special K bar. Not Shown: Pink Lady Apple, Banana, Nectarine and Boiled Egg - I have 2 gym classes tonight after work so I have brought a snack to eat before the classes

Long time no Bento?

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 07:02:48 GMT

Left: Chicken Pad Thai Noodles, Middle: Babycorn with Oyster sauce and Mange Tout Right: New chocolate chip Special K bar, an apple and 2 fresh apricots.

It been a long time since as I last posted a Bento. It was a crazy week last week. There was a bank holiday on Monday so we went out and about for the weekend and I was too lazy to make a bento for Tuesday. I did make a bento on tuesday night for my lunch on wednesday but I forgot to post it. Wednesday was my birthday and I was taken out for a lovely Indian Dinner - ate far too much as the food was so good. Came home too late to make a bento for thursday. Thursday night I went out with my cousin for her birthday - ate tonnes and didnt get home until midnight so no bento for Friday. I spent the weekend just gone at my in-laws in Ireland - it was so sunny and hot we spent the whole weekend outside on the deck and had BBQs - totally yummy

Eggy Bento

Tue, 30 May 2006 07:13:25 GMT

Left: Turkey & Onion Scrambled Egg (I tried to make an omelette this morning but failed the pan was too big and the egg spread itself to thinly for me to flip it over)
Middle: Japanese rice with seasoned with salmon furikake
Right: Organic greek yoghurt with honey and blueberries (so creamy!)

Do you care to tuna?

Fri, 26 May 2006 06:24:17 GMT

Its uber wet and not too cold today but at least its Friday and its a long weekend this week in England!!!!!

Left: Tuna & Cucumber sushi rolls (cooked the rice last night but was too tired to wait for the rice to cool, rolled the sushi rolls this morning)
Right: Nectarine & Blueberries salad with a drizzle of local honey (which I got from the Farmers Market - there's one on sunday!!!!), slice of fruit cake and a fun size milkyway.

Supremley Delicous Tuesday Bento

Wed, 24 May 2006 07:24:24 GMT

Left: Homemade Chicken Supreme on rice Right: Fruit cake (from local bakers), mini baby bel, half moons of cucumber and cherry tomatoes. Chicken Supreme: I used leftover home roasted chicken, cut into cubes, added one can of campbell's condense chicken soup, diluted it with 1/2 a can of milk, added one can of sweetcorn and plenty of parsley.

Yummy Sweet & Sour Chicken

Tue, 23 May 2006 06:09:17 GMT

Left: Udon noodle fried in soya sauce with new Japanese chili sprinkles (cant remember the name of it)
Right: Sweet & Sour Chicken (I had some leftover roast chicken with I stir-fried with Amoy's Sweet & Sour sauce, I like Amoy sauces as they are MSG free - alot of the oriental sauces contain MSG which doesnt agree with me too much)
Not Shown: 2 Japanese Rice crackers, banana, nectarine and kiwi fruit.

Friday Fish Bento

Thu, 18 May 2006 21:26:53 GMT

Left: Tuna & Sweetcorn mini pitta
Right: half moon of cucumber and cherry tomato
Not Shown: 1c of strawberries with brown sugar, mock meat jerky, apple, banana and yoghurt

I took the picture too high up last night with my camera phone, sorry about the blurriness. Weather here is really rubbish, its wet and windy - someone forgot it was supose to be summer!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!