Loving my black bento box

I'm really in love with the black bento box my friend got for me last year. I've almost abandoned most of my other boxes in favour for this one! hehehe I don't know, I think it makes the food look so much more fresh and vibrant. Or maybe it just photos better! hehe


Left: Leftover Shanghainese pan fried pork buns
Right: Cold soba noodle salad. I had a really nice citrusy Japanese salad dressing to mix into this


Left: Chicken and mushroom ravioli in a garlic and olive tomato sauce
Right: Fennel and mandarin salad with smoked salmon. Usually I use orange, but I didn't think the orange segments will last after sitting in the salad overnight. The mandarins went really well! They also make great portable dressing dispensers. Before eating, squeeze a piece of mandarin over the whole salad as dressing! hehe


Left: Ham and veggie frittata with sliced smoked chicken drumsticks
Right: More fennel and mandarin salad with smoked salmon


Left: Smoked Chicken salad
Right: Black Pepper stir fried spam with broccoli. Really nice and peppery!


Left: Salad with ricotta cheese served with balsamic vinegar
Right: Veggie frittata with grilled veggies and beef patties


Left: Veggie frittata (Yes I had a lot of frittata! But 1 frittata can last 2-3 meals!)
Right: Tuna garden salad


Top: Lamb Kofte with Bulghur
Bottom: Baby corn, green beans, cherry tomatoes, curry puff, pea sprouts and sweet figs



Left: Chicken patties and sautéed shitake mushrooms
Right: Curry puffs and veggies

The White Cockatoo - 1 Dish, 4 meals??

I've previously blogged about The White Cockatoo at Petersham. My friends having seen my blog really wanted to go try it out. I prewarned them to size of the meals, even sending photos of the schnitzels I've had there. I did 2 days prep for this one meal. Gym and Volleyball the day before, another intense cardio workout the day of our dinner. I was ready to eat the table by the time I got there.

I had a quick scan of the menu, spotted prawns and calamari in the same sentence and immediately ordered the Marinara schnitzel.

Marinara Schnitzel - $19.90

This looks fantastic and smelled absolutely heavenly. Taste wise...it depends on how you eat it. Basically the king prawns had been cooked in a garlic butter, which all got poured onto the schnitzel. And I mean prawns, garlic and all the butter. Whilst parts of the schnitzel basically sat in a pool of oil, the bits I managed to lift up from the oil was delicious. The gorgeous garlic bits, plump prawns and thick juicy chicken was amazing. I'd stay away from the calamari though. My ones were severly overcooked.

Veal Mexican schnitzel $18.90

This was almost as thick as a steak. It was smeared with a layer of refined beans, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. The bite I tried was delicious! I didn't have more than one bite since I had to tackle my own schnitzel.

I've learnt to always bring a container with me (Although the pub provides them as well), and the first thing I do is cut off any piece that isn't covered with sauce. This gets packed away to stop them going soggy. It also gives me more room on the plate to actually cut the schnitzel.

With the leftovers, I managed to make 3 additional meals!

Chicken Katsu Kare

I made a simple Japanese veggie curry. Basically chop up some carrots, potatoes and capsicum. Simmer with water until almost tender. Add a cube of Japanese Curry Roux that come in a box. I got the S&B Brand (You can find them at all asian grocery stores and super markets). I put this on a lettuce up to stop the rice soaking all the sauce up and stop it staining the container. Here's a tip, if your container does stain, put it out in the sun for awhile. It magically "de-stains".

Schnitzel with Garden salad

I love this Fit & Fresh lunch box. My sister gave it to me for xmas, but I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet. Mainly because I lost 2 months of my life to Houston. But it comes with a cold pack that sits right inbetween the 2 layers keeping the food nice and cold. I didn't use the cold pack on this occassion since its winter and I didn't want to crush my salad. I heated the schnitzel up and ate it with the cold salad with a side of spring onion ranch sauce. I also found a mystery cake lying around the house which I packed as well.

I still had 2 pieces of schnitzel leftover which I ate for dinner one night. To me that's a damn good deal. $19.90 for my Marinara schnitzel which I managed to stretch into 4 meals! That's $5 a meal!

I raved about The White Cockatoo to my workmates, and we've now set up a Schnitzel Challenge that will take place in 2 weeks time. I won't be participating in the speed eat-off, but I'm certainly going to be there to take photos and laugh at the poor sod who tries to eat the entire schnitzel.

Here are a few more photos from the various times I've tackled the schnitzel. I've NEVER finished the schnitzel and have always walked away with heaps of take away!

Boscaiola topping

Closeup! Bacon, peas and mushroom in a cream sauce

Another Boscaiola, but look at all the extra pieces they give you!!!

Peppercorn gravy

Grilled chicken with mustard sauce

I opted to try something else from the menu and got the grilled chicken. You know, grilled = healthy? Not sure how this works when there's 1/2 a chicken on the plate. The sauce was really nice, but I didn't enjoy the chicken that much. It had a charred taste very similar to portugese chicken, which I DO NOT like at all.

One of my one lunch boxes crammed with schnitzel

White Cockatoo Hotel
Shop 30, Terminus St (Directly opposite the train station)
Petersham NSW 2049
Phone (02) 9569 4675

Last minute bentos

One thing I hate about summer is the setting sun shining into our kitchen at 7pm at night. The sunlight is so intense, washing your hands will make you sweat from the heat. This makes it a pain in the butt to make my bento after dinner, so instead, I procrastinate until the sun goes down. Except then I have to scramble around looking for ingredients to wack my bento together. Thank goodness I keep the fridge well stocked. Here are the absolute last minute bentos I made, usually after 10:30pm. Yes, I'm that lazy.


I had to stay back late at work one night, so I packed this as a snack to tide me over until I got home.

Left: Smoked Salmon, cream cheese and lettuce tortilla wraps
Top right: Stringer shapes
Bottom right: Cucumber and capsicum strips


Left: I have no idea what to call this. The literal translation is "Flavoured rice". This is one of our favourite comfort food that we made in our family village. Its rice boiled with chinese sausage and cured meat, fresh chicken/pork/beef, dried shrimps/oysters/scallops, beans or peas of some sort and lots of shallots and ginger. Mix it all up with a little soya sauce and eat by the bowlful.
Top right: Cheese and bacon puffs and mediterrenean puffs.
Bottom right: Dragon fruit, one of my absolute favorites. But only if its the white variety. I absolutely hate the bright pink variety. It tastes like someone has sprayed deoderant or perfume in my mouth.....



You can almost guarantee that when I make bibimbap for my bento, that I had pho for dinner!! Since we make our own Pho at home, we have almost all the ingredients I need for a bibimbap. The 2 main ingredients that I don't always have on hand is beef for the bugolgi beef and bean sprouts. I added some sauteed zucchini, carrots and shredded egg. I also pan fried some Mandu (Korean dumplings) to go with it.


I had family friends over for dinner who spent the whole night sitting in the kitchen cooking. Not wanting to cook infront of them and getting them salivating over my lunch (No! I'm not sharing! hehe) I had to cook in our other kitchen. I loaded my arms up with as much as I could carry without looking like a piggy hog, I managed to whip this up.

Left: Cha Soba
Top right: Salad with artificial crab stick.
Bottom right: Mandu


My lazy vegetarian fried rice with added cherry tomatoes. I also quickly cooked up some beef patties. That's the last of my beef patty stash, will need to make more for the freezer soon.

The not so healthy bentos....

I love my Bentos and the fact that I'm bringing something home made, cheap and healthy to work. But sometimes, I like to treat myself to something a little more sinful.....

Left: Salad of cucumber, carrots, capsicum and home grown organic lettuce. I then sprinkled some chopped honey almonds ontop.
Right: Homemade wedges, seasoned with pepper, paprika and my private stash of KFC chips salt! And the other half? Thick juicy slabs of chicken schnitzel!

Top: Vegetarian curry fried rice
Bottom: Salt and vinegar chicken strips on a bed of salad with extra corn (I'm loving my corn). At the Coles in the city, they sell these salt and vinegar chicken strips freshly fried in the hot food area. I've been really good and stopped myself going there to buy them. Instead, I bought the frozen pack and oven baked it instead. Not healthy, but not as bad as freshly deep fried!

This is my ultimate comfort food! It was something I used to make after school to cure my hunger pangs, and guaranteed to satisfy every time! Instant noodles (without the soup) with oyster sauce and a dash of seasame oil. That is the most basic lunch if I can't get my hands on any other ingredients. When I can, I love to add boiled lettuce, pan fried eggs and either pan fried ham or thick slabs of spam. Not healthy by a long shot, but oh so comforting!

Edit: I just realised this looks like an abstract painting! Green fields with spam mountains. Golden white cloud with a sunny egg yolk when the sun is going to set!

Trying some new Bento ideas

After cleaning out all my Bento supplies in the freezer for Xmas, I have to replenish my supplies. And what better chance than to try something a little different?


This was an uber simple bento to make! The beef mince was sauteed with soya sauce, sugar and lots of pepper. I drained all the sauce and poured it all over the rice before putting the mince on the rice. This ensures all the rice is nice and flavoursome. I then sauteed some grated carrot and diced beans in the same pan with extra pepper and soya sauce. The corn was straight from a can!

Tomato fried rice with Shang Dong Chicken

Very simple vegetarian fried rice with cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes add an extra dimension of flavour and subtle sweetness. The Shang Dong Chicken is a chinese dish of fried chicken with a sour sauce with lots of chilli, garlic and coriander.


Left: Grilled lamb with BBQ seasoning. Chicken and mushroom ravioli with a simple tomato sauce. I lurrrrrrve this chicken and mushroom ravioli! Absolutely delicious! I probably didn't need the lamb to enjoy this meal.
Top Right: Sweet white peaches
Bottom Right: Edamame and cucumber


Top Left: Tomato and cucumber salad
Bottom Left: White Donut peaches and home grown strawberries. I absolutely ADORE the white donut peaches. If only I can eat it all year round!!!
Right: My version of Chapchae (Korean stir fried sweet potato noodle). Doesn't look too bad for a first timer aye?

Bento madness!

With all the family here during December and all the xmas preparations I had to do, there was basically no time to do any fancy bentos. Most of these are from late November to early December.


Left: Nam Yu (Fermented red beancurd) stewed potatoes, boiled rice topped with nuts and lentils marinated in chilli oil
Top right: King Prawn and scrambled egg stir fry
Bottom right: Carrot and cucumber salad


Impromptu Bibimbap - bugulgi beef, sauteed carrot, beansprouts, shitake mushrooms and lettuce (I didn't have any spinach)
Fresh mango

Left: Cold Somen (To be served with zaru soba sauce), bunny egg and ham rolls
Top right: Greek Salad
Bottom right: Beans, asaparagus, carrots, semi sundried tomato and ham rolls

Left: Leftover Valencia Paella from Encasa
Top right: Oranges and cherries
Bottom right: Cherry tomatoes, cucumber and sliced goats cheese. I dressed this with a little raspberry balsamic vinegar


Top left: Lamb Kofte
Bottom left: Raw baby corn, cucumber and cherry tomato salad
Right: Cha Soba, mandu, snowpeas and boiled cocktail potatoes

Top left: Cucumber, snow peas and cherry tomato salad
Bottom left: Pan fried chicken and wedges with bbq seasoning
Right: Chilli fried rice with baby corn, beans, peas and tofu fish


Top: Fake crab and omlette roll, home grown beans and cucumbers, snowpeas, cherry tomatoes and boiled cocktail potato
Bottom: Tomato fried rice with diced vegetables and grilled Toulouse sausages

Top left: Teriyaki chicken and mandu
Bottom left: Blanched home grown Choy Sum
Right: Sliced cheong fun (Rice noodle roll). I bought along a container of udon soup to eat this in. I love sliced cheong fun in soup to replace normal noodles


Left: Cut veggie box of home grown beans and cucumbers, carrots, beetroots and cherry tomato and bocconcini skewers
Right: Turkish style bulghur and paprika chicken

Left: Salami and lettuce roll (I figured it was the easiest way to pack lots of lettuce into my meal without making a salad). Cherry tomatoes and cucumber
Right: Turkish Bulghur and beef rissoles

Left: Not the most pretty looking, but definitely tasted fantastic. Lamb kofte on rice with pan fried garlic mushrooms and eggplants
Right: Garlic eggplants, cherry tomatoes, home grown cucumbers on a bed of home grown lettuce. (Definiately making the most of our garden!)

Despite my bento efforts dwindling to nothing, but I can tell you, its about to make a MAJOR comeback! A few months ago, I sent my sister in Singapore a VERY long email asking her to go to Daiso and help me stock up on everything that can possibly be used for bentos. And this is what she brought over:


MUhaUAhaUAha Bento heaven! The only thing was that she didn't buy me a bento box! Well, she bought me a tinyyyyyy little bento box which is barely enough for a snack (Considering I'm not good at packing the box tightly). But besies that, I've got every kind of sauce containers and bottles, countless types of rice moulds (star, heart, triangle, round etc), dividers and even a new thermal hankerchief like thing for the bento box.

I also cleared out all my food supplies in December to make room for my sister's cravings, so I'll be building all of that up again over the next few weeks. So hopefully there will be a few new variations to my bento repertoire.

A new bento box!

So when S asked me what I wanted from Japan, I immediately yelled "BENTO BOX!!!". I gave the rough specs of what I wanted. "Decent" lunchbox size, microwaveable, 2 layers / compartments if possible and must be "Japanesey" in looks.I think this was perfect! I love sakuras and bunnies!

My new bento box from Japan

I knew to christen the bento box, I needed something special, this was the best I could do the day I got back from our country trip:

Top: Leftover chicken and mushroom pide, sujuk pide (Turkish sausage), grape tomatoes and a "car" boiled egg.
Bottom: Cucumber, asaparagus and ham rolls, carrots, beans, semi sundried tomatoes and olives.

The only thing with this box is that its not that water tight. The top layer comes with a pretty water tight fitting lid, but if I put that lid on, I can't fit in alot of my salads. I've basically been wrapping both layers with glad wrap and I'm limiting this box to mainly liquid free stuff.

My parents were also away on holidays a while back, so I decided to pack a little breakfast to eat on the train to work. (I am so glad they're back now!) I bought this little box about 3 months ago, but never had a chance to use it as it was too small for lunch. However, its a great size for a light snack.



Left: Strawberries and grape tomatoes
Right: Leftover chicken and mushroom pide and sujuck pide



Left: Lady bug tomato fried rice on a bed of home grown organic lettuce. I also pan fried the left over bits of lamb in lots of cumin.
Right: Salad with tolouse sausage, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, beans, asaparagus, semi sundried tomatos and olives.

I like to use really strong flavoured stuff like the olives and semi sundried tomatoes to avoid using a dressing for my salad.

Breakfast box - Same as above, just smaller

Turkish box

Left: Bulgur cooked with tomatoes and lamb kofte
Right: Fresh sliced beetroot, cucumber, carrots and beans. I bought along a small container of hummus. The beetroot was really nice raw, however, one of the bigger beetroots was really bitter. Next time I'm going to use the baby beets only.

Breakfast box

I did a quick stir fry of egg noodles with ham, wongabok, bok choy, carrots and bean sprouts with a dash of oyster sauce. So very very nice. Almost as good as my mums!