Oven Baked Chicken (163)

Yesterday I started my new job at UH and it was a very nice first day! All the people that I met are great individuals and my boss is the greatest. Our office is just renovated (an old anatomy classroom that stored bodies, omg!) and my desk is brand spanking new. I'll try to take a picture of it today or something. I have increased responsibilities, which is something I've yearned for. 2008 is looking like it will be a good year work-wise.

My lunch today is an oven baked chicken thigh with rice and corn. On the side I have a small piece of banana cake I made earlier this week and some mega huge blueberries I got at Costco yesterday.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I had a pretty rough and emotional Christmas, but things are looking up now. I'd go into details, but I don't want to paint my blog in blue. I'm getting excited about the Sugar Bowl coming up in just 4 days!! GO WARRIORS!!

Stuffed Aburaage (162)

Yesterday morning my cousin Jennifer e-mailed me to say she'd missed her flight to Honolulu and that she needed to find a hotel to stay. I ended up offering to pick her up after the radio show and letting her stay the night. We had a nice night talking at Zippy's and laughing at the kiddies who apparently were high on the idea of Aunty Jennifer coming over. Baby Girl put on a Christmas singing show and at the end of one song did a shaka. She sang the song again and her shaka was taking on a weird form and we were like, what is she doing? Then suddenly she does what she wanted, which was to have only her thumb, pointer, and pinky pointing up. Then she screams, "ROCK ON!!!!!!" We almost busted our sides open laughing!!

While we were talking she mentioned a co-worker of hers that reads my blog every day. Hi Christina! Thanks for reading!! ^_^


Today I'm eating stuffed aburaage. Aburaage is fried tofu skin and the stuffing is made out of pork. It's my mother in law's dish and something that doesn't smell so great, but tastes really yummy. On the side I have some white rice and stewed carrots. I added the shelled edamame and a little sprig of parsley for extra detail.

I've been slowly but surely going down in weight, probably because I've been really good about portioning lately. My other cousin Stef heard I've become really skinny and told me I need to eat food but as you can all see here, of course I eat food. lol My best friend's wedding is at the end of May, I'm pretty confident that I can be at my goal weight of 120 by then!! YaY!

I will have no bento tomorrow as we are going to have a Christmas lunch for work.

On On Leftovers (161)

Yesterday I had a birthday party to attend at On On on McCully. I ate a whole lot of food, but was able to control myself in that I ate a TON of the salad then did not eat anything of the last two courses. (there were EIGHT!!) I thought the food was great, especially the salad! It was probably doused in fistfuls ajinomoto (MSG) but still tasted yummy!


I don't think I've ever had an 8 course meal at a Chinese restaurant, so it was quite an experience. I didn't know that we were getting this much food so of course I ate a ton of salad, then downed a lot of soup, then quickly ate up the kids' discarded "duck in buns" before I realized that I should have been saving room for all the other things. Roast chicken came out, then a seafood medley in a fried taro bowl, next came mongolian beef with asparagus, then stuffed tofu, and finally cake noodles with duck meat. The duck noodles was by far the best dish so naturally I was upset that it came out last when I'd already stopped eating. I tried a small piece of meat and it was so yummy, that's why my bento is kinda overflowing with it! lol

Sorry for the late and short posting, but it's radio show day! Tune in if you are bored! http://www.onlinegamingradio.com

Beef Stroganoff (160)

Last night we had beef stroganoff, which I really love. Still, this was a really rough bento to pretty up because it's appearance in general is just very gray and pasty looking, but I managed to figure something out. Not my best bento, but still better than what it looked like on its own!

The picture is a bit blurry, sorries! :( Anyway, as you can see from the photo, I used Ancient Peas. These are not a special variety, I mean these have been in my freezer for quite some time and have been given one last chance for glory before retiring. Some still look fresh, obviously these are the ones that decided to try Botox for Peas. I topped it with three simple sakura carrots for color and frilliness.

One week until Christmas and here I am with the same long list of people to shop for as I did a week ago. +_+ I got really cute cards from the guys at Square Enix, which is actually the only cards I've gotten this year, so thank you!! It's a snowman with cutout eyes and when you open it, a chocobo is peeking out at you. I'll definitely put them up at my new desk! (whenever I finally start my new job!)

I finally got to watch the Survivor finale and YAY the person I wanted to win, won! Next season they are doing Survivor: Micronesia and are putting old favorite Survivors against people who have watched the show since day one. I looked at their application and man it looks like fun, but I think my severely bad eyesight and reliance on contact lenses would be a huge issue. *sob*

Chicken Lettuce Wraps (159)

Yesterday we finally got off our asses to go take the kiddies Christmas tree shopping. I figured Walmart was a good place to start since they always seem to have the short little trees we want so we headed out to the Mililani one because if they had none, City Mill and Star Market are right there. All three stores had no trees left! We headed back onto the freeway with Baby Girl asking us every 15 seconds why we didn't buy a tree yet and whether we thought the trees on the side of the road were nice. By the time we got to Home Depot I was ready to claw my eyes out at her non-stop questioning. Oh wait, I mean, my daughter is the most wonderfulest little person in the whole world!

We could see buttloads of trees in the back but there was a chain on the gate, so we went into the store and come to find out Home Depot's tree lot, which is open from 8 am to 8 pm, closed at 4 pm for a Christmas party. ON SUNDAY. There were at least 4 other customers with us in shock that they'd be this dumb. I hope Home Depot eats all their trees. Yeah, I'm bitter and full of scorn, so sue me.

We went to the Pearl City Walmart nearby, but they had no short trees either, so we went all the way to Waikele to Lowes where we found out that they had only 6-7 foot trees left but they were all 50% off! Woohoo! That's my kinda tree price! We chose a nice grand fir tree and had the guy cut all the love handles off to leave us with a nice 5 foot tree for $20. YaY!

Buddy was driving me insane, picking off all the glass balls and throwing them like fast balls into the middle of the tree, then picking them up as they fell out and throwing them again. On the bright side, he's got quite the throwing arm! I had to put each ornament on like 5 times, but eventually it got done. I tried to get them to take our Christmas photo but just couldn't get it done. I even busted out the puffs and that didn't work, so I'll have to try again another day. D:

We ate Costco chicken for lunch on Saturday so I used up some of the leftovers in today's bento. I chopped up the thigh meat into small pieces and added a tablespoon of light mayo to make it stick together then wrapped scoops of this mixture into romaine lettuce leaves. These leaves were pretty awesome for making what look like temaki sushi rolls. I ripped the stem out until about halfway, put the chicken mixture into the cup area at the top of the leaves, then wrapped the two strips of leaf at the bottom around to make this nice shape!


I fit three in very nicely and added a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese plus some carrot sticks for a side and color. My bottom tier didn't look so great so I didn't post the photo. I have peeled tangerine slices and some fat free chocolate pudding. Mmm!!

PB&B Sammiches (158)

I'm at home all morning with Baby Girl as she woke up with a fever. This afternoon we're having my goodbye coffee hour at work, so I have to go in at lunchtime.

The OOT forum at Allakhazam is having this nut challenge in posts, so I decided to play by doing some peanut butter and mashed blackberry sandwiches. I'd been thinking about this during the week and finally today had a good opportunity to do a peanut butter bento!

I cut each slice out first; 6 gingerbread men and 6 trees. Then I put the peanut butter on both sides, then the mashed blackberries went in the middle. My very nice Aunty Cheryl sent us her yearly batch of yummy Lilikoi and Jaboticaba Jelly jars and I wanted to use it, but my blackberries are getting rotten already, so I wanted to use as many as possible. Thank you Aunty!! We had just run out of grape jelly!!

On the side I have more blackberries and then some sliced apple cut out with more Christmas cookie cutters in the shapes of angels, holly leaves, and candy canes. I should have been more creative and made the candy canes out of the skin parts and then made stripes, but I got a little lazy halfway through. Maybe next time!!

Meatballs (157)

Last night Baby Girl had her Christmas program and she was chosen to be in the finale. They assigned her to carry the 'C' in MERRY CHRISTMAS and we were of course quite proud of this since not every child gets to be in the finishing number. They come filing out and she's looking looking looking for us and starts dilly-dallying until she lags behind so much that the sign now says MERRY HRISCTMAS and Mr. Pikko is laughing his ass off saying, "Our daughter ruined Christmas!" Afterwards we took his parents to their first trip to Genki Sushi, which was fun!

Having no leftovers to use for my bento I busted out my frozen Aidell's stash of meatballs and cooked a cup of rice for onigiri. I added carrot sticks and edamame but it still looked rather dull in color so I used some of my animal food dividers, which just waste away in my cabinet. If you listen carefully you can hear them all giggling with glee at being used in a bento!

My wonderful friend and co-worker Cem has very kindly taken up a campaign to get me more Bloggers Choice Awards votes for Best Food Blog this year and I felt that for his efforts in spreading the word about my blog I owed him a personal thanks here. <3! I have to admit I'd started to get a little sluggish on my bento enthusiasm after Fan Fest and with Christmas stressing and work overload, but seeing how much effort he put into getting people to read my blog and vote for me has brought back my bento drive.

Pot Roast (156)

My mother in law makes really good pot roast but I always love the vegetables in pot roast dishes the most. When I was packing up food last night I wasn't sure how I'd turn this into a nice looking bento since pot roast generally doesn't look very attractive. So to help offset the doodoo like characteristics of the meat and potatoes, I decided to make the majority of this bento focus on the salad instead. Lettuce and tomato always look really nice in a box (in my opinion anyway) and so I took a large portion of salad to go with a tiny portion of food. I figured this is healthier for me anyway.

I packed some Catalina dressing in the little lion container for the salad. Not my best bento, but it looks yummy to me! This is packed in my Doraemon box, which is a wonderful size!! On the side I have some blackberries we bought at Costco last night.

I don't know how everyone else is doing but I am slacking so badly on Christmas shopping. I've bought the exact same DVD set for both my parents and presents for Mr. Pikko, my mainland niece and nephew, but that's about it. I still have to shop for my brother, in-laws, niece and nephew, sitter, sitter kids, MY OWN KIDS, and my grandma. D: It's December 11, this is not going to end well!! Normally I'm so good about shopping in November, but my head has been scattered with too many things lately.

Beef Brocolli & Party Leftovers (154 & 155)

Last week Friday I can't even remember why I didn't blog my bento, which shows how the holidays are taking a toll on my sanity in addition to the transition to the new job and a Fan Festival writeup that is now over 3 weeks overdue. I had leftover Beef Brocolli.


It didn't have much color so I just put a few star shaped carrot slices onto the middle of it. It's a very easy way to brighten up a bento and so quick too! I have some Christmas shaped mini cookie cutters I'd like to try out on my bentos in the coming weeks, but I'm not sure what I'll cut out just yet.

Yesterday we went to my cousin's son's birthday party and they had food catered from a place called Tanioka's in Waipahu. The food was really good!! I totally snarfed down about 3 meals worth of food like the horrible WW cheater that I am lately. I bounce between 125 and 128 all week and at the end I can usually end up right back at 127. If I were to finally go back to my diet I think I'd have no problem getting to 120 at last, but I've just been so lalala lately that maintaining this way just seems a great way to have fun with food.

Anyway, we had leftovers to take home and I packed a lot into my bento because I didn't want it to go to waste.

In the back is some sliced steak. On top of that are two mochiko chicken wings, which though I know are so horrible for you, tasted oh so good. In the middle I have rice with little slices of baby carrot decorating them. Tucked next to that is a piece of lumpia and then a salmon patty. In the little yellow tulip bottle I put some soy sauce for the lumpia. I added the tomato and celery for additional color!

Leftover Panda (153)

No, I did not find, kill, cook, and eat a panda bear. Yesterday was radio day and Mr. Pikko took the kids to eat at Panda Express, which is one of those fast food Chinese restaurants over here. They brought me their leftover plates and I didn't really eat much of it and packed some of it up right away to eat for lunch today.

I couldn't stand Panda's food before but then they went through some kind of image re-working where they made some major changes to their dishes and such and the end result is some pretty decent fast Chinese food. I wish I could blog more today, but I'm trying to finish up a lot of work for my job right now so that when I leave this month, I can have everything in order. Please forgive me!

SUGAR BOWL

The ending of the first quarter at Saturday's game had us all stunned. We sat there in muted horror, unable to grasp what was going on. DOWN 21 to nothing? Was the scoreboard wrong? WERE THE WHITE JERSEYS A JINX??!?!?! (I seriously thought this at least 50 times)

And it rained. It was as if Hawaii was weeping and we were all bathed in its tears. We couldn't seem to get the ball past the 50 yard line. I took Buddy walking down to the other side and I talked him through the next drive. Colt will pass and the ball will go there. It happened. Again and again Buddy and I walked down and I whispered in his ear each time where the ball would go and that this was the drive we'd finally score on. And we did! He got a real kick out of me screaming and hoisting him up. He'd grin ear to ear and laugh and laugh and laugh.

It was truly a wonderful and memorable experience. I'll carry the memories of that game with me forever, just as I still carry the memories of that last catch of the Fresno State game years ago. When we scored to finally bring ourselves up we were screaming so much and so excited. Then to see the Huskies down at their own 4 yard line... it was too much. The thought of having to suffer through overtime was horrible!! Everyone was screaming "DEFENSE" but I was screaming, "PLEEEEEASE!" I really thought they caught that last pass, then to see it just bounce out of his arms and into the hands of Mouton... I thought I was dreaming.

I know the black box over her eyes is creepy, but Mr. Pikko is a privacy stickler. Just pretend they're sunglasses!

The kids were a real handful at this game and the monster sized Disneyland lollipop I bought for Baby Girl reeeeally came in handy, but we know that 10, 15 years from now our kids can happily say they attended that football game. And we have proof too! We watched the ESPN broadcast later and we're in a crowd shot at the end of the game. YaY! I look grouchy, but this is due to having to carry Baby Girl for almost the entire 4th quarter. That will make any person sour, trust me.

And the Warriors are bound for the SUGAR BOWL!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! GO WARRIORS!!!!

My mom came over to attend the game with my brother and they were in yellow CC, which I think was a good view even if they were in the nosebleeds. She dragged my brother down to Chinatown to get some char siu and spare ribs from her favorite place for Chinese food, Nam Fong. If you've never been to Nam Fong it's a little shocking at first. It's a really gross, bare place and the guy just takes it off the hook in the window and chops it for you right there. The char siu is SO good tho, I tend to nibble on the way home and that's a bad idea. It's possible to just stand at the container and just eat and eat. Anyway, I have some for lunch!

I have with it a flower shaped onigiri with ume in the middle, then a small piece of corn, char siu, spare ribs, and some sakura carrots. And in case anyone is still curious about my weight, I'm still maintaining at 127! :D

Game Day!!

Tonight the University of Hawaii Warriors play what is arguably the most important game in the history of the school. Washington has a terrible record, but we have so much to lose. I've been walking around with my head on backwards since yesterday because of the anticipation for this game. This morning Buddy shocked me by picking up a football and yelling, "GO BOW!!!" I was so stunned! Anyway, it's almost lunch and naptime, then it's off to the game for us. GO WARRIORS!!!!!!

Sandwich Kit (151)

I wasn't going to make a bento this morning either because my two devils were giving me complete hell for refusing to give them Goldfish crackers for breakfast. Surround sound screaming with PMS on the side makes me go insane, but then I had a sudden inspiration for a bento and I found that making it really calmed me down.

I call this a sandwich kit, mostly because making it into a sandwich beforehand would have looked rather boring. I cut one slice of bread into two Christmas trees using a cookie cutter then arranged it on top of some chopped Romaine lettuce. To go into the sandwich I have the last of my kim chee crab and some sliced avocado. I added in some black olives and the last of my tomatoes (which I picked this morning) for snacking and to make it look more attractive.

I wish I had more to blog, but I'm still so busy I can't even think! I have to get a lot of stuff done to transition to my new job. Plus I am totally stressing about this weekend's game. GO BOWS!!!

The Peas May Be Doffed

Mr. Pikko and I have come to the conclusion that our daughter is either going to win American Idol 25 or be the next Tori Amos with crazy lyrics that appear like they were read from a finished Scrabble game. After writing such lyrical masterpieces as "Cheese in the Box Doesn't Make No Sense" and "There's a Big Fat Hen", she's come up with something new which she debuted to us last night.

At least 200 times.

On the way home we were treated to her new song "The Peas May Be Doffed", which is a stunning remix of that wonderful Christmas song a couple of you might know, Felis Navidad.

I was putting Buddy to sleep and I could still hear her yelling it in Mr. Pikko's ear as he tried to read something on the computer.

THE PEAS MAY BE DOFFED, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
THE PEAS MAY BE DOFFED, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
THE PEAS MAY BE DOFFED, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
THE PEAS MAY BE DOFFED, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
THE PEAS MAY BE DOFFED, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
THE PEAS MAY BE DOFFED, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
THE PEAS MAY BE DOFFED, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
THE PEAS MAY BE DOFFED, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
THE PEAS MAY BE DOFFED, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

To answer your question, people-without-kids, yes they do this. And sometimes they don't stop until you look at them with fire in your eyes and ask them to please cease for the sake of your sanity. If you're lucky, they're scared enough to listen.

If you want to know how to sing with as much awesome as my daughter, when you sing Jingle Bells, end the song with "In a fun four-horned fin play!" The office people will love it, I swear.

I have no bento today since today is radio show day and I was lazy last night, still working on my 10k ding. I figured this story would be an amusing enough replacement.

Shoyu Chicken (150)

Sorry for the late posting, I've hit 9,999 posts on Allakhazam and I've been busy prepping what I'm revealing for my 10k ding. Today I had a three tier bento but don't let the pictures deceive you, this box is actually really small, maybe 5 inches long or less. It was a plain box that I got at Marukai this summer during E3 and I added a sticker to make it a little cuter.

This is shoyu chicken made by my MIL with some white rice decorated with mixed veggies. If you're thinking to yourself, "Geez I wonder if she placed those vegetables into her bento one by one", the answer is yes I did. I used chopsticks. In Allakhazam IRC yesterday we were all laughing at this guy who doesn't know how to use chopsticks. All in good fun, but I just wanted to mention how awesome chopsticks are. I even eat spaghetti with chopsticks; a habit I picked up from my friend Janis.

I packed more kim chee crab and avocado without lettuce. I found after forgetting the veggies that it's actually not too bad without it, especially if I don't have room in the box. I bought the avocado at Foodland on Sunday and I'm very proud to say that I chose perfectly. The next morning when I cut it open it was beautiful and the best possible texture for slicing. It looks exactly the same as yesterdays just with no tomatoes.

My tomato garden died while I was in Anaheim. Mr. Pikko claims, "Hey! I watered them!" but I have my doubts. The plants are all brown and I think they're unrecoverable. Not too bad though, I must have gotten like 200 tomatoes out of those plants and now I have the pot space to grow edamame!! Weeeee!

Finally I had pomegranate seeds for dessert. Actually I lied, I had some godly pumpkin pie for dessert. George at work brought by some pieces of this pumpkin pie that his wife made and holy omg it was divine. I asked for the recipe and hopefully I'll have that in my grubby little pumpkin pie loving hands soon. Yum yum!

Pork Tofu

As any Hawaii resident knows by now, the University of Hawaii Warriors are the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) Champions!!!! The game against Boise was last Friday and it overtook the Fresno State game I attended years ago as the most adrenaline pumped game I've ever attended at Aloha Stadium. There was a point during the game when the stands were just electric and the shouts and screams were deafening. It was truly magical to be there. This picture will be too big for my blog, but I wanted to put it up anyway:



We started chanting B-C-S and that gave me chicken skin! I feel so good for Colt and so happy that he came back. The season was looking kinda bleak with the injuries and all but now it just seems like this was all he could have hoped for. Baby Girl got into it too. I'd hoist her up and her job was to scream and wave the shredded ti-leaves we had. I can't wait for this week's game. GO BOWS!!!!

Last night I had to make something that I thought Buddy would gobble up because he's sick and hasn't been eating much so I made pork tofu. It was a lil lacking in taste so I think next time I'll use Kikkoman instead of Aloha. I'm also out of onion powder so I need more of that... It's the only way I can sneak the taste of onions into food because Mr. Pikko has the Ultra Onion Detector 3000 built into his tongue.


It looked real plain, so I picked some of my last green onions and cut them up with my scissors. When we had severe rains a couple weeks ago I looked out at my plants to see my poor green onions floating in a pot of water. They're still alive though, miraculously.


A KCCA salad, yay. This was all nice and good until I realized that I forgot to pack LETTUCE. hahahaha! So I guess I'm having this as sides instead of a salad. Good job, me!

Pork Chop!

YaY! Bentos are back! Well, only one for this week like I mentioned, but hey. Better than nothing!

My trip was ten kinds of awesome. I got to meet hundreds of people, signed 3 autographs, took pictures with Square Enix big wigs, and got to watch the UH vs. Nevada football game at the ESPN Zone restaurant in Downtown Disney with some random guy who JUST so happened to be from Mililani. He was even on the same plane ride home as me. Hawaii: too small! I don't know what his name was, but I thank him for being there. Watching those last two kicks wouldn't have been nearly as fun if he hadn't been there pacing around and jumping and screaming with me!


Today I'm having leftover pork chop with cabbage and rice. On the side I have a salad with some fancy pants greens that my MIL says she bought at Sam's Club. They're really yummy!! In the little blue container I have some Catalina Free dressing.

Tomorrow of course, is Thanksgiving. I'm going to try out a recipe for potato salad from the Harumi Kurihara book that I got. We're ordering from Zippy's this year, so I'll let all you Hawaii folks know how that turns out. Last year we ate from The Willows and not sure if I'm remembering right, but I didn't like their sides at all. I don't remember the turkey. That must be bad right? lol

Friday is Black Friday and although I was going to skip it for Wings of the Goddess, the PC version of the game got messed up and won't be here until tomorrow or Friday. I'm going to try my luck at CompUSA tomorrow night. If not, I will brave the BF crowds at Gamestop. I have no idea how their stores are on BF, but I guess I'll learn won't I??

A Quick Hello!

Hi bento fans!!

I'm just writing a quick note to say that I'm back home safe and sound, but haven't had the time to get back into the bento groove yet due to how much work I have left to do. My trip was awesome, I had a great time! If you want to check out my pictures you can do so here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pikkopots/sets/72157603237330925/

I may or may not have a bento tomorrow, but I have the day off Friday for football, so I'll have at the most only one bento this week. Yesterday I called in sick due to exhaustion and today I just didn't have time to do one. Check back soon!

UH Spam Musubis

Since I had no bento today due to the holiday, I'll be posting about my food for Saturday's football game. The Warriors played Fresno State and the stadium was almost sold out due to UH having a "rivalry" with FSU. The game was going really good until the second half when they changed their strategy. Then in the 4th quarter, Colt Brennan was knocked unconscious, which scared 48k people silly for quite some time. We're all still very concerned as preliminary reports had him with a "grade 3 concussion", which everyone was googling and returning back with phrases like "out for 6-8 weeks" and "career over" and "possible permanent brain damage". Colt's concussion has been downgraded to a "mild" concussion, but all UH fans are of course still concerned for his safety. I really do hope that he's as well as the University and Coach Jones say he is.

Me and my MIL got drenched in beer, so that was... interesting.

Okay so onto the food... this is the "something" that I've been mentioning for weeks that I have been trying out for football and finally I ended up giving up on what I'd originally planned, which was green musubis with the Hawaii H logo cut out of nori and put onto a plain triangle musubi. I found out that plain musubis don't taste that great at games. So anyway, this time I just went for the green look in a spam musubi!


I achieved this with simple food coloring added to the rice before cooking. You guys have seen my coloring rice in my 100 bento, but that time I had added the coloring to the rice after it was cooked. I made 10 musubis from 1 can and cooked 3 cups of rice (3 cups raw, 6 cups cooked) with 5 drops of green food coloring. This comes out to the perfect amount of rice for 10 musubis. (at least, the way I make it)

We went to the zoo today and I was wiped out and ready to leave by the time we hit the reptile house. Unfortunately for me we ended up staying there 3 hours. Still, it was fun. I'm packing up the remaining bento orders tonight plus burning the midnight oil finishing some hats for the ZAM people to wear at the festival. I leave in two days!!

Ige's Shoyu Pork (147)

I had another training session this morning and during that I found my first ever white hair!!! Proof that Fan Fest, The Mog House, and bento store orders are totally stressing me out!! lol I'm actually a little excited about it because I could only find one, so I'm going to call it my lucky hair now.


Last night my in-laws bought food from Ige's, something that Mr. Pikko has been wanting to try for forever because Bobby Curran on ESPN advertises their shoyu pork all the time. The taste is really good, but the food wasn't that hot when we got there, so it was a little on the hard side. I'm sure if you eat it at the restaurant it's much softer. To go with it I made two little animal onigiris, one rabbit and one bear. On the side are fresh tomatoes from my plants outside.

For my bottom layer I have persimmon and some jabon along with a tangerine to snack on later. Actually I should speak in past tense because I've already eaten all of these things as I type this. In addition to the training I had another job interview and guess what.

Mrs. Pikko has a brand spanking new job offer!!! :D I got along fabulously with the boss lady and she offered me the position right there. I of course had to discuss things with Mr. Pikko so I will let her know by Tuesday. YaY! I'm so happy because it looks like a really fun place to work with great people and lots to do. Family friendly, flexible schedule, and of course most importantly, a boss who LOVES UH football just as much as I do. LOL!

Gawd that stress off my shoulders is an immense relief. -_- Now I can buckle down, get this festival and expansion past me, and life can finally get back to normal.

Shoyu Chicken (146)

Sorry for the late post folks! My computer at home is out of commission to help repair our poor sick Series 3 TiVo and then this morning I had training to do for work. This is actually a bento that Mr. Pikko packed for me last night!!! OMG OMG OMG! lol

Of course, I had to do some cosmetic rearranging because the corn was sprawled all over the rice and I ate a little bit of it for dinner and all and he put the cover on upside down and stacked the lower tier on top, but overall the food was very nicely packed. What a guy!

Our FFXI radio show debut last night was riddled with audio issues but overall I was happy with how things went. We had a few weird silences here and there but I still got a lot of good feedback and people seemed to enjoy the show. Next week I will only have one bento as I am taking Wednesday-Friday off for Fan Fest and Monday is a holiday.

I might end up working something out with the people that have orders open with me as I have had zero time lately to do the bento store. :(

The Mog House

No bento for me today as I had a job interview (more on that in a bit) and then have to work on learning the broadcasting program for the radio show I'm starting tonight.

So I had a job interview at 10 am at UH. Yeah, had. I'm leaving the house when I slam the door and immediately I'm like OMFG my keys are in the house. *sigh* My MIL had to come drive out here with our spare house key to help me open the house had I rescheduled for tomorrow. Not a very good first impression...

Once again, tonight we're debuting our FFXI radio show, The Mog House, on Online Gaming Radio. To tune in simply go to the website at 6 PM PST and click on Listen Live! It's recommended you also join our chat as we tend to discuss what's going on in there during the broadcast. Wish us luck!

Tonkatsu (145)

Last night as predicted, I didn't feel like making a pumpkin pie. The good news though, is that I now have ground ginger! My mother in law lent me her bottle. I'm told I have two days to use the pumpkin before it goes bad, so we'll see what happens tonight.

We had tonkatsu for dinner and I took home two pieces for Mr. Pikko, who was home sick again. He didn't eat all of the second piece so I sliced it up and took his leftover rice as well.


In the little green container (which was a gift from one of my bento customers!!) is some tonkatsu sauce. I included the three tomatoes for color. I should have added some carrots too or used the orange sauce container instead, but I was in a hurry. I peeled some sections off the cucumber before I sliced it to give it that look.


In my second layer I have some sliced persimmon on the left. On the right side is a mixture of pomegranate seeds and blueberries. A very healthy fruit layer!! :D

Tomorrow I start off hosting a gaming radio show on the net at Online Gaming Radio. Yet another reason why I've been going cuckoo lately. The show is about Final Fantasy XI and is called "The Mog House". It will air live every Wednesday from 6 to 9 PM PST. My co-hosts are two of my fellow administrators at Allakhazam, ImperialNinja and Exodus. If you're into FFXI and are bored around this time, please tune in! Shows are available later as podcasts. To listen in just go to the Online Gaming Radio website and click on "Listen Live" at the specified time.

Teriyaki Pork and Pomegranate Salad (144)

Me and Baby Girl went to Costco on Saturday before the reeeeally soggy weekend kicked off and boy did me and her go fruit crazy. We bought a huge tub of big blueberries, persimmons (which we tried in store), a set of 4 pommelos, and a tray of gigantor pomegranates. Pomegranates are one of my favorite fruits to eat and each tray had 6 mega big ones. I was scared I'd waste a couple, but I ended up eating 3 this weekend alone, hahaha!! No need to worry about fiber now!

I'd seen a recipe by Nigella Lawson where she combined pulled pork and pomegranate seeds, so I thought I'd try something similar with the leftover teriyaki pork chop from last night's dinner.


I sliced up the chop cold this morning and arranged it on top of an entire romaine heart head of lettuce. I added some of my tomatoes (which are backing up) and then sprinkled pomegranate seeds on top. It added a nice bit of color and I was pretty happy with the way it looks. I didn't pack any dressing as I don't think it'll be necessary.

It rained and rained and rained and on Saturday night it was thundering like crazy. I just so happened to peek out at my plants and saw that the rain was coming down so hard that my green onions had been uprooted and were floating around in rain water 3 inches thick. lol I'll have to make some tamagoyaki to save them from being wasted.

Being rained in, we decided to clean house, which meant I had finally run out of excuses to start folding the laundry in the crib, where we have been dumping clean clothes for the last 3 months or so. After at least an hour, I still hadn't dented it, probably because I was folding like 200 little shirts and onesies which took up very little space. I did learn that we could forget to do laundry for the kids for a month and they'd still have enough clothes to wear.

I also baked two pumpkins in order to make fresh pumpkin pie. I went to Foodland to buy some pie crusts, came home, baked the pumpkins, then realized that I did not have ground ginger. Cursing myself, I put the pumpkin pulp away where it will probably rot before I have the motivation to make it into a pie again. I had used another Allakhazam admin's blog post about roasting the pumpkin and there's this one part where she mentions that cutting the pumpkin in half is "hard". This is apparently the way Alaskan people say, "You need a freakin' AXE to get this pumpkin open." Really, I'm surprised I have all my fingers today.

Fan Fest is next. freakin'. week. After working all day Sunday on my costume, I realized that I wasn't going to have enough time to finish it. *SIGH* I have to work on something else for everyone and the briault is just not going very well, so I have to abandon it. *sob*

Chicken Tofu (143)

The highlight of my day came this morning. I was just about to lie back and fall asleep on the way in to work when Kanoa Leahey (we listen to Leahey and Leahey on Mondays and Fridays) says, "Soon we'll be joined by Dana White, president of the UFC!" and both me and Mr. Pikko were like, "WHAAAT!" lol

It was a cool interview and Mr. Pikko had me call the show people (I talked to a screener) to ask them to ask Dana White if he was ever going to bring UFC to Hawaii. They did ask, whether it was because of my call, I'll never know, but he did say that perhaps in 2009 there would be a Hawaii UFC card. But yeah, possible third hand phone call question to Dana White was pretty amusing, haha!

Yesterday was a very rainy, gloomy, and chilly day so it was really cool to be greeted with the nice smell of hot miso soup yesterday evening. My MIL's chicken tofu is a really good rainy weather comfort food and though I wanted to make more miso soup and bring it in today, I ended up deciding I didn't feel like going through the hassle of making it this morning. There was a lot left over, so I took what I thought was a really small portion, but when I put it into the box it looked like a lot of food!


I cooked rice this morning for this, meaning it will probably go to waste. I always tell myself I should freeze onigiri, but I always forget cause my brain is so muddled lately. On the left side I have cucumber slices, some kamaboko, and okinawan sweet potato.

!!!SURVIVOR SPOILERS!!!




Two weeks ago I was fuming at the tv and cussing at the pompous and cocky attitude of Jaime, who thought she was so funny and clever to be throwing a challenge to vote off one of their new tribemates that she couldn't help snickering at the thrown challenge AND could not help laughing at tribal council. I was just like, what a freakin' bean!!! I hated her!! Things started to look up last week when Todd gave the hidden immunity idol to James with a plan to get rid of Jaime. That didn't go well since they didn't win immunity, so I was let down.

BUT THEN! Oh this week was such sweet television watching. I finally got to watch that snide chick get her bachi. She has in her possession what is a "fake" immunity idol, so she plays it before the votes are read. Jeff Probst says that if she has immunity, then all votes for her do not count, then he announces that it's NOT the idol and then throws her idol into the fire. HAHAHAHAHA! And then she gets voted off! Oh my gawd. Picture me on the couch rolling, dying, crying. lol

Man I <3 Survivor.

Veggies Bento (142)

Last night's trick or treating was so much fun! We left work early to take the kids out and it was still pouring rain all the way home, but when we got to MIL's house, the rain was just drizzling here and there. We ate dinner and got the kiddos dressed. Buddy was very resistant, protesting the entire time I took off his clothes and then finally took off running in just his diaper and I had to chase him around for a bit. He had some serious issues with wearing his costume and kept crying, "Nooooo! Nooooo!" whenever I tried to put it on until finally I said, "You want puffs??" (those star shaped Gerber things) and his eyes glazed over and he said, "Puff." He let me put it on no problem! Yay, problem solved right?

Everyone is dressed and standing against the wall except him, who his looking at the camera going, "Nooooo! Nooooo!", going limp, etc. I tell him, "Please just stand by your sister!" He is fussing fussing fussing then suddenly goes, "Puff?" As soon as the word "yes" escaped my lips he stood over by them and grinned ear to ear saying, "Eez!" Not even two and a negotiator already. :(

I had nothing but fruits and vegetables to put into a bento today, so that's what I ended up with. I've got a bunch of cucumber slices, which I will sprinkle with salt before I eat, then three colors of bell peppers with some fat free Ranch dressing in the little cup. It's oh so healthy, no??


Hahaha!! Second layer: NOT! I've got some Halloween munching to do and so I picked out one of my favorites, peanut M&Ms! I figure this is a much better portion than if I were to go buy a regular sized bag from the vending machine. I've also got this lil packet of sour apples and then some sakura shaped banana slices. There's also a little hidden Laughing Cow Light Swiss wedge in there.


Today is November 1st, I leave for Fan Fest in less than two weeks! Ahhhhh!! Panic panic panic!!!

Halloween Bento (141)

Last night I had a whole lot of stuff to do and so when I laid down with the kiddos to put them to sleep, I told Mr. Pikko that I *had* to get up again to work on that stuff, so he *had* to wake me up. I distinctly remember him eventually resorting to kicking me and I never did wake up, so I must have been dead tired. It all worked out though as when I woke up to set my alarm, I set it for 4:00 am, but I ended up waking up earlier than that anyway. This actually turned out really well for me and I think I may end up doing that whenever I fall asleep early. It gives me a ton of time to work on things.

All that time still didn't help us leave early though. I had so much crap to load up into the van this morning that I made no less than 6 trips to the car. I baked cupcakes for Baby Girl to take to her Halloween party today. I had white frosting that I divided into three bowls and then dyed it with food coloring to make purple, green, and orange frosting. I was quite happy with them and Baby Girl asked me 50 times whether she could eat them before we got to school and then Mr. Pikko pulls out this note from her backpack. It was from the teacher, asking parents to please tell her what they're bringing because last year they ended up with a TON of cupcakes. So I was like, damn it!! Oh well. :(


I suspect my daughter has a little child crush on a boy in her class. She's been telling us that her favorite boy at school is Ryan. One day when we picked her up, the two of them were sitting together on the floor outside their classroom. Yesterday on the way to school she told us that "Ryan is going to be Thomas the Train for Halloween." I asked her if she told him what she was going to be and she said, "No..." so I asked if she talks to him at all and she said, "Not yet." lol! They sat together at the Halloween program. lolol! This morning when I showed her the cupcakes, the first thing she blurted out was, "Can I give one to Ryan?" lololol! It cracks me up!!

She sits next to a different boy in class and one day when she went into the room, I saw him pull out her chair for her to sit down. I thought it was so adorable so I asked her about it and she goes, "He shouldn't have touched it, that's MY chair!" O. M. G. Women's lib starting in preschool, hahaha!!

Ok anyway, my bento. I still had a lot of fried rice left, so I used it as "dirt" for a carrot pumpkin patch and also as a bed for my witch. I had intended to chop the chicken up into bite size pieces for easy eating but then when I nuked it and took it out, it looked like a face, so I sliced off the excess and used it as a witch face. The hat is made out of baked Okinawan sweet potato and a slice of cheese makes the ribbon on it. The eyes and mouth are made out of swiss cheese and nori. I couldn't figure out how to make her a nose, so let's just say she looks pissed because someone stole it or something.


This is a very high points bento because of the rice, so I probably won't eat all of it. With the chicken being fried in vegetable oil and not olive, I can't just pass that off either, so I'll have to estimate this bento at maybe 8 points. D:

It was pouring this morning. How lame is that? Raining in Hawaii on Halloween. Boo!

Wraps & Watermelon (140)

I think this is my worst bento so far. It's terribly underwhelming but all I had the time for this morning. On Sunday I wanted to eat the turkey wraps from Costco again so this holds the last 3 pieces leftover. I cut them in half to stow them away nicely but it turned out to be a pretty boring display, so I added some flower shaped sweet potato slices to the top. It still didn't turn out as nice as I wanted it to, but oh well. It'll taste good anyway! :)


On the side I have some slices of watermelon that my mom had bought us at the pumpkin patch. It had tons of seeds so I removed all of them for easy eating while I cut it all up. It's super sweet!! I included a tiny pink fork to eat them with. I bought these back during my E3 trip this past summer when my cousin took me to Little Tokyo. It's so nice to finally put them to use! Aren't they adorable! I have white, green, and pink ones.

I've been debating taking my store down for a while since I am having so much stress lately. I'm thinking maybe I could open it back up after Fan Fest when things are much calmer. Right now, I end up taking so freaking long to ship things and I feel terrible about it. I'll let you all know what I decide. >.<

I've got a hilarious kid story to share today. My son does not say "grandma" yet and this drives my MIL nuts, so she's constantly pointing to herself and saying, "Who am I?" or "Who is this??". Yesterday we got home and she tells us rather dejectedly that he's been making this kinda grunting noise to refer to her, like Grt grt! or something. So she demonstrates for us and I about died right there. She was wearing a pink shirt with three piggies on the front. So whenever she pointed at herself she was pointing at the pigs and saying, "Who's this?" and so he'd grunt like a pig. LOL

Costco Fried Rice (139)

Today's bento is simple Costco Fried Rice, which I cooked this morning with bell peppers, sweet onion, and parsley. Buddy claimed he wanted some for breakfast, but it turned out he just wanted to fling it all over the kitchen when I was using the bathroom. Little twerp!!


I've only brought a small bento today since I've got this Costco thing of cashews to nibble on in addition to an orange and a bosc pear.

This weekend was the homecoming game for the UH Football team and what a fun game it was. We won 50-13 and it was windy, making for great confetti entertainment, plus it rained so Baby Girl was thrilled to use her poncho. We're ranked 14 in the BCS poll, which is of course going to make for 2 long weeks of speculation by UH fans until the Fresno State game in November. I'll be at Fan Fest when Hawaii goes away to their last road game in Nevada. I will have to find some way to watch that game!

We went pumpkin picking yesterday at Aloun Farms in Ewa and boy was that a dirty affair. It was completely dry and the dirt flew everywhere, but mostly into my poor contact covered eyes. I was crying almost the whole time and whenever I could manage to open my eyes again, more dirt would fly in. I'm amazed I didn't come home with a rotten pumpkin. The kids loved it, which was really cute. I told them to enjoy having so much dirt on them because that was probably the only time all year Mr. Pikko would let them get so filthy.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti (138)

Yesterday this really scary e-mail got sent out by Campus Security saying that some psycho was overheard talking to himself on a bus about how he was going to shoot 30 UH students, then he got off the bus at McCully, which is maybe a mile from campus. I work in a secure area, but Mr. Pikko didn't want to take any chances, so he asked me to leave work early (he was at home sick). So I did and was able to get some errands done, including returning $107 worth of merchandise to Sephora. Man, that felt good. I then went to Longs and bought mascara, eye makeup remover, and a foundation sponge for $17.00. All that cost less than the mascara I returned, hahaha!! My cheapo brain was positively beaming.

We ate Zippy's yesterday and I had to pick up this monstrous order for everyone. We discovered that their fried chicken is freakin' expensive!! 17 bucks for 10 pieces. I mean, it tastes really good but what the heck? Anyway, Zippy's now offers whole wheat noodles for their spaghetti, which I am of course a big fan of since WW noodles are a Core food. I've got some for lunch today with some fried bell peppers and sweet onion. I fry these in olive oil and pepper, so it's still a Core addition. Next to it I have a slice of toasted whole wheat bread topped lightly with spread and garlic salt to make some healthier garlic bread.

In my other layer I have the last of my kim chee crab and some avocado. The kim chee crab this time was a lil more expensive than usual, but I think it's because they used a better brand of imitation crab and you can really taste the difference. Hopefully Foodland will continue to use that one. Our avocado tree has reached the end of it's fruit season, so it's back to buying avocados for me. People seem to comment pretty frequently about how beautiful my avocados are and I'm a little confused by this. Are people admiring the way I cut them or are avocados just uglier on the mainland? Please fill this clueless Hawaii girl in please! :D

Halloween is coming... I must find somewhere or someone to dump all the Halloween candy on... I must also think of some appropriate thing for my kids to "buy" with their Halloween candy. A toy? A movie? Any suggestions on healthy alternatives?

Healthy Tuna (137)

When I used to attend UH Manoa, they had these great Marriott "cubes" which were portable food stands and they sold these really awesome sandwiches called "Healthy Tuna" and "Healthy Ham and Turkey" etc. They tasted really awesome because they had cucumbers, tomatoes, tons of crunchy lettuce, and whole wheat bread. Eating those sandwiches in college really got me into eating sandwiches and so today I made one slightly similar to bring back some old munching memories.


To make the tuna I used one can of tuna in water, 1 1/2 Tb of light mayo, onions, salt, pepper, and since I didn't have regular sized ones, diced tomatoes from my garden. Added in are cucumber slices and romaine lettuce. This sandwich comes out to a whoppping 5 points because each slice of bread is 2 points. :( Sadly, I was obviously cock-eyed when I cut the first sandwich piece because all the pieces are of different lengths. This is why I took the picture at this angle, to try to hide my noob cutting skills. lol

I've also brought some jabon with me to work to eat. People on the mainland call it pomelo and I just looove this stuff. Since it's showing up at the market that means Costco will carry them soon and that means the swap meat will have some soon! They're so awesome and I love both the white and pink varieties. The only downside to jabon are the "jabon farts". People who eat jabon know exactly what I'm talking about. LOL

My daughter will be taking a field trip soon, so a kid bento opportunity is coming up soon! The only bad part is, she's terrified of the thing featured at the trip destination. It's only a recent fear and we have no idea where it came from. And speaking of terror, boy did she scare the pants off me this morning. When you're on the freeway 15 minutes from your next stop, the words, "I have to go shishi." just strikes all the panic chords in your heart. (shishi is our Hawaii word for pee) All is well though, the carseat is dry. *whew*

Shoyu Chicken (136)

I went to Sephora yesterday to get a makeover and this nice pregnant lady named Maria helped me with a makeover then took me shopping. By the time I got to the register, the bill was a heart attack inducing $254!!! I got back down to earth when I got home and picked out three things that I'm going to return, which brings my purchase price down to a more reasonable $170. Still enough to cause my wallet to burst into tears, but I've been feeling for the last 6 months or so that I'm too plain and wanted to at least learn how. So... I'm happy. I just have to practice application now. -_-

My life has been consumed with Fan Fest and my bentos have been made in auto mode lately. I can't wait til this is finally over, then I can think about things other than FFXI and databases and websites and booth promotions and costumes etc etc. I've been slacking so badly on bento orders and for that I sincerely apologize. Fan Fest is just 3 weeks out, hopefully I survive until then.


Today's bento took me a shockingly quick 15 minutes to make. I had rice leftover for the onigiri but the nori face was frustrating me. I guess certain brands of nori just don't cut well. The chicken I let cook in Yoshida's sauce overnight on low, so it was pretty difficult to cut and still get them in nice pieces, they kept falling apart! My MIL usually cooks them in the sauce, adds a little water, then thickens the sauce, but I didn't have time to thicken the sauce so I ended up with what just looks like Shoyu Chicken. Still tastes good tho! The broccoli I heated up water in a pyrex and then let them sit in the hot water for a few minutes and the carrots and tomatoes were put in for color.


My second layer picture is terribly blurry and not very exciting, but it will taste great and give me a nice spicy boost after lunch!

Total points for this bento is 1 for the onigiri. The chicken is made from boneless skinless, trimmed thighs so I didn't count it, though I suppose I should. 2 points? ^_-

Chinese Leftovers (135)

So as you all know, I had a very good girl Core lunch yesterday and everything was going quite well and then suddenly, the CHINESE TAKEOUT DINNER OF DOOM struck! Before I saw an article in the paper about the intense calorie content of Chinese cuisine I'd always looked at Chinese food as one of the more healthier types of foods. Now that I know better I get so scared because not only is it full of calories, but it's so damned good too!

But fear not, I was good. I ate very little noodles and focused on broccoli and ong choi. I ate only until I wasn't hungry too, rather than stuffing myself until I felt full. So hopefully day 1 is not completely lost. There was a ton of leftovers so I felt obligated to take some. I took all veggies and a little bit of the noodles then added some rice that I cooked this morning. I've gone back to my old WW Core breakfast of scrambled eggs with sweet onion, bell pepper, and lean turkey slices and it was nice to be back to eating a hot breakfast again. I've been eating cereal every morning for about a month now and at least this way I'm fuller longer and it doesn't cost very many points.


From left to right I have white rice, broccoli, ong choi, and then the noodles in a cup on the right side. On the bottom layer I have:


This is the last of the shrimp I bought on Sunday. I have to use it up before it goes bad! The cocktail sauce is in the pink Hello Kitty cup. I have more tofu and then some edamame topped with a carrot flower. There's a little soy sauce bottle for the tofu. :D

I really really have to find the time to do my Dreamland again. I've been working so hard on Allakhazam while at home plus I've been trying to do more Pikko Pots updates so that by the time Fan Fest rolls around, I have a nicely updated site to show off. Then there's my costume and booth work... ugh. I really don't think I'll be able to find time to use all my spiffy tools and toys until after Fan Fest. This is just sucking so much of my time.

Core Bento (134)

After two days of sickness and a weekend of last minute naughty food gorging, I'm back today on the Core diet to lose the last 10 pounds to reach my goal.


On the left side I have some shrimp and in the little yellow container there is cocktail sauce to dip them into. I didn't get to photograph the egg too well, but this is from one of the new egg molds I mentioned last week. Next to the egg I have cucumber kim chee, then some small carrot sticks, and two small blocks of tofu. I've got a fish with soy sauce for the egg and the tofu, but now that I think about it I should have brought a piggie cause the fish isn't much sauce. Guess I'll eat the egg with salt!

I've also got a kim chee crab and avocado salad. I took a picture this time since it's been a while and people may not know what it is when I say KCCA. Foodland sells at their deli Kim Chee Imitation Crab and since it's spicy I use that along with avocado and romaine lettuce to make a dressing-free salad.


I'm starting this new phase of my diet at 129.5 pounds, so let's see how well I do by the time Fan Fest rolls around!

30k Winner & Lunch

Thirty five people entered my bento drawing this time around and this morning I wrote everyone's name on a lil piece of paper and ended up picking out:

Marie from California!
Favorite bento ingredient: cherry tomatoes

Congratulations Marie! I'll be in touch with some pictures so that you can choose your box. ^_^ Thank you everyone for entering! It was so nice to hear everyone's favorite bento ingredients, when I have time I'll post them up on a page. :D

I was going to have a korean food bento today, but I am le ill. So later on I'm going to eat some miso ramen to help my throat (not sure if it really helps, but it sure tastes good!) and I'll post a picture of it as an update to this post.

Update:

My miso ramen with sliced ham and scrambled egg as well as crab and green onion garnishes. This is the Sun Noodle brand sold at Hawaii Costcos, no idea whether they sell it elsewhere!

Hammy Sammy (133)

Last night we ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory at Ward Warehouse, which is... dun dun dun! right across the street from Marukai! Imagine my squealing when I finally saw what I've never seen at Marukai in like 10 trips so far: EGG MOLDS!!!!! Woohoo!! They were the star and heart shapes, which are coincidentally, the only egg molds I do not have. I was so thrilled! I bought one for myself and 6 to sell to people. I didn't get a chance to take a picture, but this is the one I'm talking about. If you want one, I'm selling them for $2.99 and I'd guess that with the lightness of the item, shipping/handling would be around $2.00 to the USA. I'm placing a limit of 1 per person on these as I don't want people buying them just to sell on eBay. E-mail me at pikkopots at gmail.com if interested. Also, don't forget to enter my 30k celebration drawing! See yesterday's post for details!


If I had been a good girl at dinner last night, I would have stopped eating halfway through the meal when I was full, leaving me with a yummy leftovers lunch today. Alas, the mizithra cheese grabbed a hold of my senses and shook me silly and I ate it all. I also could not resist and joked to my friend Doug that "mizithra" is like "mithra with zi!" and he was like, "Oh god, you had to Final Fantasy our dinner!!" Muahahaha!

Anyway, I made a ham sandwich for lunch today. I put in some swiss cheese, fat free Ranch (cause I couldn't find the mayo), sliced cucumbers, and lettuce. There was space on the side of this box, so I sliced 3 baby dills and tucked them into the side. I can't wait to eat this!! I bought these thick ham steaks at Foodland once and froze them and they taste really super in sandwiches. The last time I used one was for that Ham and Egg Salad sandwich and boy was that yummy!!

I also brought a box of more of the Greek pasta salad with a star shaped egg. I had wanted to take a picture, but Mr. Pikko snagged the camera for something at work.

Curry w/ Cream Corn Croquette

Wow!! It looks like I will be hitting 30k visitors very very soon!! I think to celebrate I will give away another bento box. :D I'm not sure which one it'll be, I guess I'll just let the winner pick from the Hello Kitty ones I have left or some of the newer 2 tier ones I've been too lazy to put up on the store. In any case, if you're interested in my latest drawing, email me at pikkopots at gmail.com the following info:

Name:
Address:
Your favorite bento ingredient:

If you submit this please know that I will probably eventually put up a page showcasing all of these answers. I will only include your first name and country.

In a stunning turn of events, I fell asleep early with Buddy last night so this morning instead of making a nice healthy bento I was glued to the couch trying to watch Heroes before everyone else woke up. The result is a bento of hastily prepared curry, which I just squeezed out of the bag onto some rice. I fried the croquette in about 5 minutes although it doesn't look very appetizing because obviously I wasn't babysitting it while it was cooking. I always keep a thick carrot ready for slicing and shaping in the fridge so that I can make flowers really quickly. You guys already know my love for parsley decorations too.


I've tried to grow my own parsley but for some reason the seeds I've tried to plant twice don't even germinate. I guess something is wrong with the packet I bought. Even the shiso seeds I planted didn't sprout up! :(

Tonight we're meeting some old college friends for dinner, so we'll see how good I am about restaurant food. Last week at PF Chang's I didn't really hold back to well!

I LOVE that people commented yesterday with COTTAGE CHEESE and THREE FOR NOTHING! lol

I have a couple of bento orders that I have been procrastinating on and will hopefully get out tomorrow. I updated my cosplay blog recently if the FFXI folks want to see an update on my costume.

Costco Bento (131)

I had a rather busy and calorie filled weekend, so I'm back up to 129.5 lbs this morning, which is soooo bad. I had thought walking around at two WalMarts plus Costco would provide me with enough exercise to help balance things out but eeps! When I saw the number on the scale this morning I was freaked out. I'd already made my bento from the night before though, so I didn't want to waste things.


Everything except the tomatoes and parsley are from Costco! We'd gone to get a rotisserie chicken but they were sadly all gone and Costco was closing, so I bought a box of their turkey wraps, some Greek pasta salad, a spinach salad, and fruits. I have one black grape tucked in between the two rolls and even that is from Costco. The raspberries were pretty cheap, so I bought a box of those.


The pasta salad was pretty good, but the olives were horrifying, so I avoided taking any of those.

The UH football team is now 7-0 and undefeated in the WAC. The game was on Friday and boy was that a heart stopper! Our first ESPN game of the season and the field was a mud pit, Colt was throwing terribly, passes were getting dropped, we were down by 14 in the last 5 minutes... I was so down. Colt threw his 4th interception late in the game and drooped his shoulders down in defeat and I thought it was over. I had such a hard time watching. But then a miraculous fumble, an insane catch, Colt ran into the endzone to tie it, we scored in OT, then intercepted on San Jose's OT turn. It was so storybook and me and Mr. Pikko were yelling at our place like crazy people. I even saw someone taking their dog for a walk looking peculiarly into our place.

It still brings a grin to my face. There's a good recap video here.

THREE FOR NOTHING!!!