imagine.

Windmills

it's been nearly a year since i last updated this blog. i love my vox, nonetheless, so i didn't delete it even if it's practically dead. so, i'm reviving it temporarily. if this would be my last post, then this would be its last breath of life.

i did say in one of the first posts that this was going to be a "hobby blog." since i haven't been able to make bento for a long, long time. i'm making a post about another hobby. i'm starting photography. i have taken a course on introduction to photography during my stay as an exchange student in seoul national university. even if i know nothing technically about the field, i still try.

the picture above was taken in seoul art centre, where the photography class had an outdoor lecture. they had this line of windmills behind a fence against the backdrop of a hill. i was taken by it. actually, i'm a lover of colors, and colorful things, so i couldn't resist taking pictures of the windmill. that's what came out.

it was edited slightly to boost the color.

i now have worthy bento-making tools. =3 i'm excited to get to use them, but right now, i do not have the time to prepare lunch boxes for myself or for my siblings. i bought myself some bento accessories, but i mostly received them from others.

here's my collection. i'm hoping that it'll get larger. (yay, for wishful thinking~) =D

the little tools:

1. add-on compartments
although it isn't clearly seen there, the little compartments have little animal designs. the green one's a dog; the orange one's a bear; the yellow one's an elephant; and the blue one's a rabbit.

the monkey, i presume, may be for ketchup or mayo, and has a little spoon that may be used to scoop out the contents.
(a present from ate mela)

2. sauce containers
(from the left) elephant, lion, chick, bear, panda, rabbit. arent' they adorable? X3
(a present from ate mela)

3. long picks
they're topped with little animals (ram, rabbit, monkey, dog, mouse, pig, dragon, tiger, cow, chicken, snake), too.  =D
(a present from ate mela)

4. bento wraps
dark blue, with a japanese girl in kimono, and blue sakura prints (a present from tita noemi); dark blue, hanami wrap, with cream floral prints (a present from ate mela); white, with dango and pastel floral prints (a present from ate mela)

lunch boxes:

1. table ware lunch box
has its own little spoon, a top compartment and a bottom compartment
(i bought it. =D P98.00)

2. hanami bento set
includes a lunch box with a removable divider, a matching chopstick set (with chopsticks, a case for the chopsticks, and its own draw-string bag), and a drawstring bento wrap. all printed with cherry blossoms. =)
(a present from ate mela)
 

3. doraemon lunch box
has two bottom compartments, and an add-on top compartment for the spoon. X3
(a present from anjel)

4. doraemon lunch box (w/ mini compartments)
has a total of five compartments. its cover is printed with doraemon. =3
(a present from najee)

saki, najee's friend's nickname. (i'm guessing it came from isaac, or was it she who told me that it came from isaac?) may 3rd was his birthday, but we made the bento for him two weeks ago. this was the most difficult bento ever yet, but then again, i love challenges. it was extra fun, because i made it with najee.

if i remember correctly, it took about an hour and a half to finish. after that, we took pictures. (camera, courtesy of the creative services. salamat, ate meann, kuya froi.)

here goes..

S.a.k.i

what's inside:

• hotdog - scattered all over
• lettuce - above the "I"
• grapes - to add color, and to accent the lettuce; also skewered with the spam.
• chocolates -  on the little muffin wraps at the upper half, later replaced by chicken teriyaki.
• sandwiches - cheese and peanut butter (whole wheat bread), alternated, where the letters were placed.
• spam - used to spell out s.a.k.i; cut-up and skewered (at the bottom left corner.); rolled up between two hotdogs (upper right corner)
• chicken tocino - in that area below the "A" sandwich.
• chicken nuggets - under the "S"
• egg - it's styled, albeit poorly, beside the "I"
• carrots - beside the egg.
• rice - beneath all that.

hah.so that's what's inside.. a very heavy meal.

happy birthday, saki.

i made this a month ago for ate mela, who was bugging me to make her bento before she went to japan. since, i thought that the food wouldn't be allowed on the plane, i made her one when she was going to have her goodbye picnic party with her friends.

Bento~!

2 comments

what's inside:

• random sweets -  the left chamber. the sweets on the top are skewered; underneath, they're just randomly mixed (includes, gummy bears, worms, marshmallows, mm's, and chocolate rocks.)
• croquette - those beautiful golden brown rectangular things. XD
• skewered stuff -  er. those are hotdogs, rolled sandwiches, and cut-up food-for-the-gods

this kind of looks like the other bento that i have already made before, but this was extra memorable. this was the last thing that i have ever did for my sister before she went to japan. it'll be quite a long time -- two years -- before i can do her favors again.

i like this because of the croquettes, too. X3 i made them. with help, of course. i loved how they turned out a pretty golden-brown, plus they were really creamy and delicous.

otsukaresama~!

i made a bento for myself this thursday because class hours were extra long (with no breaks), so i made sure to bring extra food. i didn't want to spend on junk food from the nearby convenience stores, too, because i'm dead broke. to start with making it, i brought out my sister's cookie cutters and some pastry wrappers.

okay. on to the contents then.. first, my lunch.

what's inside:

• rice - on the very left
• tomatoes - on top of the rice, to add color
• cordon bleu - sliced, in between the rice and the potatoes
• eggs - rolled up, under the cordon bleu
• carrots - in between the eggs, on top of the mashed potatoes
• mashed potatoes - at the very, very right.

i loved my mashed potatoes. they're heaven. okay, so they weren't that good, says my sister, but i loved it. anyway, i know bento-making is an art, and the lunch would be prettier had there been more.. etou, color?

on to my snacks..

what's inside:

• peanut butter sandwich - the one shaped like flower; i exposed the filling.
• cheese sandwich - the heart-shaped one
• butter sandwich - the star-shaped ones, they were topped with sugar
• prunes

when my sister, anjel, saw the pictures that i took, she told me to make her lunch for her field trip the next day. so, on friday i woke up at 4:45am just to prepare her boxed lunch, because she leaves at 5:30am. i think i was half-asleep when i made this, but it came out just fine. or so i say.

okay, here's her lunch.

what's inside:

• ham and egg sandwiches - there were three of them, to be exact.
• ham ang eggs - skewered with toothpicks
• marshmallows - her dessert, also skewered

what's inside:

well, that ends my bento-making spree for last week, but now, my other sister wants me to make her one, too. this is going to be a long-lasting hobby, i guess. since i have seven other siblings. we're ten children in all.

here are more pictures of the bento:

wrapped.jpg

sandwichtolunch.jpg

sandwichtopotato.jpg

i was looking for a birthday present for one of my college friends, but i couldn't find one. i decided to search the 'net for gift ideas. this was what i found: boxed lunches. she loved anything related to pandas, so i decided to make a panda boxed lunch.

what's inside:

• rice - it makes up the face, and the ears.
• nori (seaweed) - the eyes, and it covers the rice for the ears.
• egg - scrambled, it's rolled up at the upper left corner of the tupperware.
• sweet ham - sliced and rolled up, under the egg, also the mouth
• sweet pork (tocino, for Filipinos) - sliced, at the lower right corner.
• pork - on top of the sweet pork.
• potato salad - used to fill the space between the ears.
• cheese - those little dots on the eyes.

it's the first boxed lunch that i made, so it isn't as pretty as the others found in the 'net. while my friend was eating during her club activities, though, a japanese girl who was interacting with their club complemented it.

'twas fun making, and, i can imagine, fun eating it too.

related links:

Bento Corner -  a personal blog; has really lovely boxed lunches per post.

E-Obento - i swear they're proffessionals at this. just looking at their work, makes me just want to stare at them. X3

ah. i didn't come back to edit the first post after all. *is lazy and busy with other stuff*

i've decided what to do with this blog (aside from lurking at the communities and downloading their stuff). i already have a blog over at livejournal for my random rants and personal daily stories, so i'm making this a hobby blog.

i've got a lot of hobbies that i'm pursuing right now, but i don't have the motivation to do that well. so, i figure, if i start this, i might as well do my best, since there is a chance (albeit small. XD) that other people may see what i'm doing.

ja.

'til my first hobby post,

gin

this probably should be an introduction, but i'm too lazy to write now. XD this post will be longer by ten times when i come back to edit it.