Honeybee Cake

I've made this honey cake today as I was feeling quite spring-like. I've never quite got the hang of glace icing though- I either make it too runny or too thick. I rather like when the icing is just artily dripping down the sides of the cake but i never quite manage it:( I think my little bees are quite cute though

World Cup Bento

My Hubby is obsessed with his Panini World Cup Sticker Book, so I thought I's make him some World Cup themed bentos. This is Zakumi, the mascot of the 2010 world cup. He's made using baked egg with spinach and lettuce leaves.

Zakumi is a leopard who, according to FIFA.com 'will be first on the dancefloor and last off it at the biggest party in the world - the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™'

Fat Club

When I changed jobs, I went from working in a very busy community pharmacy where i was on my feet all day and had no time for lunch to a desk bound job in an office with lots of biscuits. I've put on quite a bit of weight as a consequence and am nearly up to the heaviest weight i've ever been again. Luckily at work we all decided to get fitter and we started Fat Club.

The first rule of Fat Club is... you don't want to be in fat club!

We paid a pound a week for weigh ins and the person who lost the most by percentage body weight won all the money. It ran for three months January- March. I was doing really well to start with but then a three week holiday to Toronto did me no favours whatsoever and by the time I got back to work, everyone else had fallen off the thin wagon too. We've decided to try again, just for a month this time, as we should all be able to stay motivated for a month.

At least the bento lunches are much healthier than sandwiches and biscuits and I'm trying to walk into work a lot more and increase my exercise substantially.

fingers crossed that this fat club is a bit more successful than the last one!

I've used my favourite frog bento box for Friday's lunch, which is spaghetti and meatballs with spinach salad and potato croquettes. Pudding is a toffee Angel-Delight type affair with banana and orange decorations. All healthy and low fat of course!

Bento for Wednesday

Sorry for my few days absence- I was too busy yesterday to get round to posting today's lunch. A happy, healthy little bento consisting of couscous, treasure bag omelette, tomatoes and broad beans.

Bento for Wednesday

Wednesday's bento contains croque monsieur, teriyaki salmon with dill, and spinach salad. I'm going to have to be a lot healthier now that Fat Club has started again at work (first rule of fat club... you know the rest!)

Bento for Tuesday

tooth update: the swelling has gone down quite a lot (although not enough to prevent mocking comments at work!) and i am able to eat pretty much normally. phew! at least its done now though, and i don't have to worry about it anymore.

today's bento turned out really ugly, so i didn't bother posting it. Tomorrows has worked out quite cute however. I love how it looks really full, but its mostly veg so it's all good for me. It contains: sausage roll sushi, vegetable stir fry in hoisin and spring onion sauce (packed underneath the other goodies), bacon wrapped asparagus, bacon rolled omelette, and tomato and courgette skewers. then for my dessert I have a homemade strawberry baked cheesecake and a couple of biscuits. quite a menu!

one of the things i love about bento is the variation, and the fact that you get to eat a little bit of different flavours rather than just one big sandwich or salad.

Retrospective Cake Blog 3

i thought i'd pop another cake picture up as there has been a lack of bentos in the past few days. This is a racetrack cake i made for a workmate's son's birthday. I remember it with excitement as the husband had just passed his driving test so we actually could drive to deliver it!

the Shame of it!

check out this amazing story on the BBC website from 2007, which was flagged up on someone's blog...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6932801.stm

It seems that Thai policemen who had done something wrong, such as being late, or parking where they shouldn't park, were punished by having to wear a bright pink Hello Kitty armband for a few days. I wonder if they still have to do this nowadays and how much of an impact its had on the terrible goings on in bangkok over the past few days.

A google images search for Hello Kitty also brought up a few other interesting things, including a Hello Kitty themed room in an S&M hotel, and a very classy(?!) hello kitty pink wedding dress

tofu for toothies!

Well, I had my wisdom tooth extracted yesterday under general anaesthetic. It all went very well but now i'm left with a fair amount of pain and a VERY swollen face. one side of my face looks normal, the other like an overgreedy chipmunk. I can only eat soft foods so i made myself some tofu mousse, strawberry and chocolate. I think i put a bit too much tofu in the chocolate one, its a bit dry, but it tastes quite nice and the texture is nice to eat on one side of my mouth. decorating the mousse helped with the pain a bit as well by distracting me for a while.

Bento for Hubby

Well, I've had the afternoon off and its been a beautiful sunny afternoon- its been very pleasant sitting out on the balcony and revising. I've made a bento for hubby for tomorrow, as he'll be stuck in the hospital with me while i have my tooth out. It contains ham and cheese grilled sandwiches, potato salad, polish pretzel sticks, some cheese, and a fishfinger, topped off with some strawberries.

Wish me luck for my tooth extraction!

Bento for Tuesday

I've been in a bit of a rush tonight, what with having to work late to perfect my training presentation for tomorrow, but i've still managed to knock up a couple of bentos, although they are more boring than I would like. Still, it beats boring sandwiches. This one contains crabstick maki rolls, a scotch egg (ooooh fullsize and everything!) a pepper fried egg, wrapped cheese and boxed raisins, some Polish pretzels, and a little radish bird garnish.

This is going to be my last bento for a few days, as I'm getting a wisdom tooth removed on Wednesday:( I suspect it's going to hurt to eat for a while. Luckily, we went shopping for plenty f milkshakes yesterday!

Have I missed a new trend?

so according to a magazine i glanced at today, cupcakes are soooooo last season. now everyone, just everyone is making... woopie pies. clearly this trend completely passed me by!

so what are woopie pies?!

according to that fountain of all knowledge, wikipedia, a woopie pie is

' a baked good made of two round mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, sometimes pumpkin cake, with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them. While considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition, they are increasingly sold throughout the United States. According to food historians, Amish women would bake these and put them in farmers' lunchboxes. When farmers would find these treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!" '

I think i'm going to have to get my act together and get baking, quick!

Bento for Monday

I've had great fun making moulded onigiri with my new moulds, and making faces with my nori cutters. It's delicate work attaching the faces though. This bento contains moulded onigiri, rolled pork stuffed with onions, radishes, strawberries, and a baked sweet potato cake. I picked up the new frod-shaped snack box at a local supermarket today- i now have a really cool frog bento range, i'm sure you'll agree. Its full of pretzels, which are great as a mid-morning snack at work.

Delivery!

Hooray! my J-list delivery finally came today, and i'm very pleased with my products. I got some nori cutters to make cute faces for my sushi, some onigiri moulds, and some really cute little picks. I can't wait to use them.

Hawaiian Bento for Friday

This bento contains spam musubi sushi, pineapple salad, some crisps and an egg chick. I used my new furikake seasoning in the sushi rice, which i bought from a great little Japanese shop in Newcastle. Its nice to know i can get hold of some basic ingredients right here in Newcastle

Retrospective Cake Blog 2

This lush make-up bag cake was made for my super good friend Amanda's birthday. The sugarpaste bag drooped a bit but making the make-up accessories was really fun.

bunny bento (with added pig)

a cute little bunny and bear rye open sandwich for me and hubs's lunch tomorrow. Made of ham and baked egg, they should be just as yummy as they look!

Bento for Wednesday

chicken katsudan- not as cute as i would have liked but no doubt yummy nice

His n Hers Bento

bento for hubs, bento for me! some nigiri sushi, happy stars, pretzels, and mini sausages await us in our lunches tomorrow- smiley faces all round!

Hogman-d-ay!

This bento is sure to blow away the monday blues! my little piggy bun is nestled in next to some leftover shepherd's pie, carrot sticks, seafood sticks, mini sausages, and olives, then i have a fruit and fromage frais salad.

Piggy Prosh!

OMG how amazing have these piggy breads turned out?! They're from La Carmina's book cute yummy time, and there is also a video on youtube. They were really easy to make (and only took about half an hour) and are filled with chorizo and smoked cheese. They make me want to scrunch my face up and go 'squeeeeeeeeeeee!'because they are just so cute!

I've also made some chocolate flapjack today.

Beauty Bonanza

its been yonks since I went to the salon, so i had a lovely time yesterday getting my hair and nails sorted again. My hair has gone beautiful red again, and I just love the colour on my nails this time- OPI's sahara sapphire, with northern lights glitter topcoat. It's really gorgeous in the sunlight.

Sweet Treat

Check out this ADORABLE necklace I got from chicki.co.uk. Its just amazing! I'm going to team it with a gorgeous floaty black dress for a friends leaving party. I'm also hoping to team it with some beautiful new Vivienne Westwood heels (provided I can afford them!)

Bento for Friday

phew, I feel all over the place this week! can't believe it's Friday again tomorrow! this Friday bento contains chicken teriyaki on rice, macaroni salad, sesame string beans and broad beans, with a shortbread and some apple shapes-tulip and bunny.

My new book came today, 'cute yummy time' by la carmina. the book is fab and she is quite amazing also. check out her blog!

Bento for London

OMG so I'm going to London tomorrow for a meeting, which seems like something that real life professional people do! how exciting. let's hope i can manage to get through the day without

a) losing my train tickets

b) getting completely lost

c)making a complete fool of myself

so i was told to bring my own lunch, which I will do, gladly, and i'm sure everyone else at the meeting will be very jealous of my bento. It contains wrapped flower onigiri, olives, mini sausage and jalapeno skewers, potato salad, and wasabi peas. I also have a 'sweet box' with strawberries and pancakes with chocolate sprinkles.

I made sure I bought Grazia for the train journey too, as i love that magazine. Whenever I read it though I alsways end up thinking that I need a new cosmetic procedure done.

Bento for Tuesday

Aaaahhh, a lovely bank holiday weekend means a good day for bento making! This lunch contains some happy face onigiri, potato salad, mini sausage and olive skewers, a rolled ham and cheese omelette, with some yoghurt and raisins. I made a similar but less girly bento for hubby, and i'm going to try to make more bentos for him too.

A Cherry on top

Today I went back to basics and have baked some vanilla cupcakes with crisp white icing and a cherry or some sprinkles on top. simple and pretty (and hopefully delicious!)

I've had to bake double quantities due to demand for my cupcakes- hubby's workmates are getting upset that they haven't had any of my baking for a long time, but there would be riots if i didn't take any into my office!

I also made these really cute little shortbread hearts, and other assorted shapes.

Mini Musings

Why is it that, if something is made mini, it instantly becomes cute?