My bento bags: cream-coloured Muji

Some readers have asked about my bento equipment, which I occasionally – only very occasionally – write about. Perhaps my favourite of all my bento things are my bags, a natural extension of my love of bags in general :). I love the shape of lunch bags and in my pre-bento past, have been known [...]

Where to buy takoyaki pans in Singapore?

This question has come up a couple of times in the list of search engine terms that have led to my blog. I haven’t answered the question directly in any of my postings so far (except in the now-defunct ‘Q&A’ page), so I’ll put it up here now.
Firstly, try the Japanese department stores – Takashimaya [...]

Konnyaku jelly with oolong tea and kiwi seeds

It’s ‘summer’ time again, or rather, the hot season in Singapore, which means that refreshing cool snacks like jellies are very suitable for tempering the heat. Last year I experimented with the wonderful agar-agar, which creates jellies that do not melt in the tropical heat, making them ideal for putting in bento. The texture of [...]

Urara galore!

I’m sorry this Daiso consumer watch is a month late – which means that Daiso is probably completely depleted of stocks by now, but please keep a lookout at the three Singapore Daiso branches :). [Daiso shopping tip: never go on weekends! It's too crowded to move and all the items are in a huge [...]

A guide to Daiso living

If you need ideas on how to incorporate into your daily life all those thousands of Daiso household items you had no idea you needed, or couldn’t figure out to use, this is the book for you: 39元的幸福生活 [39 Yuan Happy Living].
(Click on the link below to see more page views from the book.)

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Extinction of the fried egg stars

My beautiful fried egg stars made with this mould are now extinct. For some reason, the star-shaped mould can’t sit flat inside any of my frying pans (yes, I even tried more than one) any more, not that the Xmas tree-shaped mould ever did from Day One. Perhaps the heat of cooking has warped the [...]

Kitchen timer #2

I love my calculator-style kitchen timer as I wrote earlier. However, as Canton Pixie has pointed out in the comments here, there are times when you need more than one timer, and one can’t really afford to buy too many of those fancy ones.

So I was pleased to find these S$2 made-in-China ones at [...]

More on moulds (for fried egg, pancake etc.)

The fried egg star turned out really pretty but sad to say, the Christmas tree mould was another kitchen disaster (no thanks to Daiso once again :P).

While the edges of the star-shaped mould lie flat in the pan to stop the runny egg/batter from leaking out, the Xmas tree one is uneven and everything flows [...]

Fried egg stars

My breakfast. I swear they taste better this way (^_^)v. And a pretty addition to any bento too!
Star-shaped mould from Daiso. Don’t forget to oil the inside of the mould before you put in the egg (I learnt the hard way). A friend recently gave me a Daiso Christmas tree-shaped mould, which I can’t wait [...]

More agar ideas

I’ve written about agar-agar as a ‘miracle’ ingredient to me, and here are a couple more ideas for what you can do.
Agar idea #1: Tomato juice, corn & miso
(^_^)…. check out this inspired tomato juice & corn agar-agar from French Bento! Here’s a translation of the instructions:
1) Put 1 litre of bottle tomato juice [...]