Aladdin insulated bowl -artist series collection

Say hi to my new bowl-to-go. This is aladdin insulated bowl with lid, artist series collection. The lid cover was designed by Amy Ruppel. Well, I personally like the colour. 

I've been waiting to have this for quite some time. This particular design was actually from 2009 ! Well, I can't remember since when I have spotted this in local Ace Hardware. But it's currently on sale with special price. So I better grab it before it's too late.

Some highlights from this product include dishwasher safe (don't have one), easy-grip lid (okay..), no spills (good to know), cool-touch exterior (even with hot content? that's nice), and microwave safe (don't think I will do it anyway).

I'm a person who thinks the non-ceramic or non-glass ware shouldn't ever put into a microwave. The heat will detoriate the product or at least there'll be chemical reaction or some sort. Well, I have tried it once (using product from different brand), and the food smell funny.. plus a smell of burnt plastic. Perhaps I set the temp too high. Anyway, I better find a ceramic plate or bowl for microwave reheating.

Back to this Aladdin bowl. I will use it as a lunch box for salad or noodle soup. If I took a salad, I will need seperate mini container for the dressing. See ya after Ramadan.

Aladdin Crave water bottle

This is Aladdin Crave water bottle. Like it cos it's purple. Like it cos it has a glass on top of it. 

Perfect size, 500 ml.. so it won't be too bulky nor too small.
The bottle is leak-proof even if it filled with soda / carbonated water.

I bought it in Ace Hardware, much lower price than one in Metro Dept Store.

This product is listed on the European Aladdin's Catalogue 2014 in pdf format,
but strangely not found on its website.

Bento&Co.

My main reason to order from Bento&Co was the Kaoiro stamp. Kaoiro is a rolling stamp for face expression we use for texting. For example (-_-") or (>_<) and many possibilities we can make from different combination. Actually, we can also find the stamp on the official gung website.. but Bento&Co offers free shipping for order more than 50 USD. So I take this chance to buy some other stuff ;)

Apart from Kaoiro stamp, I also bought mini washi tapes (in lot of four), deco rush (in set of three), a yellow onigiri box and Totoro utensil set (chopsticks and spoon). All of them finally exceed 50 USD.. so the shipping cost was free.

The shipment was quick. It was just a couple of weeks to arrive safely in my place. Really can't wait to try the stamp. I'll review and share about it later when I have time. \(^_^)/

garlic bread

Honestly, I don't like whole wheat bread. I prefer white bread. But I must get use to eat whole wheat bread for health concern. So I packed them on my lunchbox, with peanut butter and jam or butter and chocolate sprinkles, or any spread.. I could never finish one.

One day my mum told me to make a garlic bread instead. Here goes the trick. Spread the bread with margarine (or butter if you like), sprinkle with ground pepper and garlic powder. Then put it in the oven for 5-10 minutes, medium heat, and ready to eat.

The salty umami seasoning from garlic and pepper has infused into the bread, make it easier to taste. If you like a whole meal to pack into the lunchbox, add some tuna spread and coleslaw. That would be perfect company. And I guess this time I could finish my lunch.

oshibori

Oshibori adalah handuk kecil yang lembab untuk lap tangan (dan wajah). Disebut juga hot towel atau cold towel karena oshibori ini bisa berupa handuk hangat ataupun handuk dingin. Biasanya handuk dingin diberikan saat cuaca panas. Selain terdapat di restoran, orang Jepang juga sering membawa oshibori ini bersama dengan bento atau lunchbox mereka.

Menurut saya, oshibori ini sangat menyegarkan untuk lap muka. Cara menyiapkannya pun mudah. Basahi handuk muka (maksimal sekitar 20cm x 20cm) atau saputangan tebal dengan air, lalu peras hingga air tidak lagi menetes. Gulung dan masukkan ke dalam wadah plastik kecil (tertutup) lalu simpan di dalam kulkas. Saya menyimpannya di kulkas rumah dan kantor. Saat tiba di rumah atau kantor, oshibori ini langsung dapat digunakan untuk lap tangan atau menyegarkan muka. Jangan lupa segera cuci, peras, dan masukkan kembali ke wadahnya.

Apabila ingin dibawa kemana-mana, oshibori dapat disimpan di wadah plastik yang kecil, lalu bawa dengan blue ice di sekitar wadahnya. Jika ingin oshibori hangat, tidak perlu membawa es karena cuaca di Indonesia sangat panas; dan pada akhirnya oshibori tersebut menjadi hangat seperti keluar dari pengukus.

super snack

Saat belajar, ada kalanya kita bosen dan pengen nyemil. Tapi cemilan yang biasanya tersedia (keripik kentang, misalnya) bukanlah makanan yang sehat. Sering kali minum kopi jadi pilihan, biar nggak ngantuk. But coffee is not the best option for our brain. Well, I have found this article about Super Food Alternatives on lifehack.org by Michael Cheng. This infographic will tell you to take these alternative snacks which may boost your brain power.

Some of those items can also be packed on lunch box, so you can always have a healthy snack on the go.

no brainer biryani rice

Here's the story. That night I was sooo hungry that I decided to have nasi padang for dinner. A set of nasi padang (rice + meat or chicken + cooked cassava leaves + curry gravy) would be overwhelming when we buy for take out. The rice is always double portion when we buy for take out. The result is either we eat too much or there are plenty of rice left untouched.

So that night I ate only half portion (from double portion, which means one) then I stored the leftover on the rice cooker. Press "warm" to avoid the rice for becoming spoiled.

In the morning, open the rice cooker. The rice of nasi padang usually the long grain ones, and mostly stained by the gravy of curry when packaged.. makes it perfect for flavourful rice such as biryani or rice pilaf. Just add some margarine (couples of spoon should be enough) and raisins. Mix them well on the pot.. and ready to serve or put on the lunchbox. 

If ever you want to make rice pilaf but can't find any padang restaurant around (for having gravy), I believe you still can make it using this simple steps.

Let say you already have the rice in your rice cooker and have the machine set to "warm". Add some margarine, raisins, and curry powder. If you have stock cubes or powder, you may add it as well to enrich the flavour. Mix them well, and they're ready in a minute.

fuel lunchbox

Searching for the right lunchbox would never comes to an end. Well at least for me. Have different kinds, shapes, brands, quality.. it's really good to appreciate what we have. Whether local or global brands, they all have uniqueness -and flaws- but I'm here not to judge the negative side. Those critics should be addressed straight to the company, to the production dept, to the directors, the decision makers.  I write about lunch box to share what I have and my personal opinion about it.

One of lunch box I came across recently is called Fuel from Trudeau Corporation . I think it's one of the ingenious design I've ever seen in lunchbox.. or I should say lunch-bowl ;) The official website call it "Soup on the go" container.

I got the picture from Amazon India few months ago, but it's no longer available.. anyway, I bought the bowl from a local Ace Hardware store (the one in Grand Indonesia). Got the kinda same colour (teal blue), but the set didn't come with the spoon like the one on the picture.

To carry this bowl, I think you'll need a seperate mini tote bag. It's too bulky to get into your bag, though I managed to tuck it onto my backpack. As you can see on the picture, there are 2 compartments. One is the bowl and the other is a round dish on top of it. So you can have soup or liquid food on the bowl and keep the dry ingredients (such as crackers) on the top compartment. This is perfect for Indonesians who love to eat congee (rice porridge with shredded chicken) and kerupuk. Bon appetit..

More about Trudeau Corporation : http://www.trudeaucorp.com/ca-en/default.html

commuter tumbler

This tumbler is actually has its own name as Tupperware Commuter Mug. It was love at first sight when I saw this dark purple colour.. it looks so sleek and elegant. Okay, enough about colour scheme, let's move to technical specs.

I haven't tried this tumbler neither for hot or cold drinks, but it would be suitable for both, I guess. The inner lining is also from thick plastic just like my old Aladdin flask. The diametre is 7,5 cm with 19 cm of height, and it can store approximately 360 ml of liquid, according to its specification. Anyway, I like how it has easy-to-open spout and the strainer. This is definetely one of the suit-me-best tumbler I've ever had.

things inside my bag

First of all, sorry for the green batik cloth for the background. As promised on my previous post, the picture above are things which can be found in my bag these days.. and they all can fit in my LeSportsac everyday bag. The numeration goes from left to right, started from the top row.

1. Small pouch for girl things
2. Small packet of tissue paper. One shown here is Tessa, but I also buy Paseo quite often.
3. Different kinds of mini bottles : Safecare aromatherapy for motion sickness, Nivea facial foam, a mini bottle of liquid soap, L'Occitane hand cream, Roger & Gallet lotion (which I picked from a hotel) and a Handy Clean hand sanitizer.
4. Hobonichi planner 2014 with red Camelia cover and a Zebra 4-colour-ballpoint pen
5. Greebel half-watercolour pencils - mostly used for hoboniching
6. Red Maglite mini flashlight and my LeSportsac wallet
7. Pink hairclip
8. Samsung Galaxy Note 8
9. Beige LeSportsac pouch to carry my red moleskine
10. Mini Tupperware tumbler to have freshwater all the time
11. Mini lunchbox I got for buying Sunlight. I use it to keep my medicine : vitamins, Decolgen, Biogesic, Diatabs, Simvastatin, a sachet of Tolak Angin (herbal syrup for cold), etc.
12. LeSportsac pencil case. Mechanical pencil, highlighter, eraser, different kinds of pens and a glue stick can be found inside.
13. Black-and-white stripes pouch to protect my small digital camera
14. Samsung travel charger which can also be used for most of my gadgets
15. Samsung Galaxy Chat and  Blackberry Curve.. yes, these two are giving me headache with their slow response as they're getting older. Should've get more reliable ones, but I need to save up some money first.
16. Reusable shopping bag - bought it from Monoprix Paris in 2010
17. A cute card holder for those membership / reward points cards and such
18. Victorinox Swisscard Lite which is very useful everytime I need, especially for cutting / clipping pictures for hoboniching on the go ;)
19. Omron pedometer, which many times attached in my pocket, to count how many steps I walk every day
20. Pink Philips earphone (which can be used for mobile phone's handsfree), a pink Sony walkman mp3 player and a flashdisk drive
21. Commuter train multi-trip card
22. Passcard and keys to important places

empty lunchbox

Pada suatu waktu, kita pasti pernah berada di salah satu situasi berikut ini : 

• Terlalu banyak pesan makanan di restoran atau karena porsinya terlalu besar, jadi nggak habis. Trus minta dibungkus.
• Acara arisan atau kondangan atau semacamnya, dan makanannya sisa banyak karena tamu undangannya nggak banyak yang dateng. Trus kita boleh bawa sebagian dari makanan itu untuk dibungkus dan dibawa pulang.
• Jadi student yang duitnya tiris atau anak kos yang kelaperan, dan berhasil dapet akses masuk ke suatu acara besar yang makanannya melimpah. Kalo semuanya dicicipin sedikit2 pun, bisa2 nggak sanggup jalan saking kekenyangan. Trus mendingan sebagian dikantongin aja.
• Maen ke rumah temen atau sodara trus dibawain bekal makanan untuk di perjalanan atau untuk di rumah. 

Kalo udah gitu, pasti yang kebanyakan dipakai untuk membungkus adalah kantong plastik sekenanya atau rantang yang musti dikembalikan ke pemiliknya. Well, beberapa restoran biasanya membungkus makanan dengan baik.. tapi pada akhirnya, semua pembungkus sekali pakai (disposable box) berdampak buruk dan kurang ramah terhadap lingkungan.

Ada baiknya kita mulai peduli sama lingkungan sekitar. Kita bisa koq, mengurangi sampah plastik dkk itu dengan membawa kotak makan. Jadi, sewaktu2 ada makanan yang perlu dibungkus, dapat langsung dibungkus rapi di kotak makan. Sekarang ini banyak jenis kotak makan yang menarik di pasaran, seperti yang pernah dibahas dikit di post lunchbox.

So, this is what we can do :

• Have a small empty cleaned lunchbox in our bag. Anytime we found leftovers, allez hop, straight into the box. Bawa kotak makan yang kosong dan bersih. Sewaktu2 ada kesempatan untuk membawa makanan, langsung beres dalam sekejap. 
• Hal tersebut berlaku sama dengan membawa tempat minum isi air. Also carry a water tumbler at all times. Whereas the water keeps us hydrated, we can refill the tumbler when we found a free water fountain or water dispenser. In case there are some refreshing drink treat leftover, such as es kelapa muda or fruit punch, we can throw the water into a pot plant or sink, and use the tumbler to take home some cool refreshments.

Using lunchbox means less trash. Pakai kotak makan akan membantu mengurangi sampah. Mengurangi jumlah pohon yang ditebang untuk kertas pembungkus, mengurangi jumlah plastik yang mencemari lingkungan dan sulit terurai dan mengurangi zat kimia yang merusak lingkungan sekitar. Membawa kotak makan juga membuat kita makan secukupnya. Kita cenderung menghabiskan semua makanan meskipun sudah kenyang, karena tidak mau menyia2kan rezeki makanan yang ada. Nah sekarang, kalo udah kenyang dan masih bersisa, bisa langsung bungkuuuss.. pakai kotak makan. 

Let's do something nice to our environment. Mother Earth will appreciate it and hopefully we won't face such a horrible disaster in the future.

coleslaw

Here goes another simple lunchbox recipe. Coleslaw is kinda shreded salad and quite easy to prepare. Menurut gue, bahan2 untuk coleslaw tuh mirip ama asinan. Ada kubis dan wortel serut.. eh tapi nggak ada tauge dan sawi asin tuh hihihihi.. Berikut ini adalah resepnya yang dikutip dari buku "Healthy Lunchboxes for Kids" by Amanda Grant (2008). Credit photo : Tara Fisher. I took the snapshot photo from the book and kinda edit it. This recipes serves 4.

1 small head or half large white (or green) cabbage
2 carrots, peel and grated
1 red pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
a large handful of raisins
a large handful of peanuts (optional)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise or salad cream
1 tablespoon natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon runny honey
freshly ground black pepper

Cut the cabbage into quarters, cut out the hard core and then thinly slice the cabbage. Put it into a bowl together with carrots, red pepper and raisins. 

In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, yoghurt and honey; season with a little black pepper. Add to the cabbage bowl and mix well. Store in the fridge, ready to serve.

simple tuna spread

Few days ago, I had a small talk about lunchbox / bento with my friend Rita on facebook. It ends up with an interest in tuna spread a.k.a rillettes de thon. I used to make this simple spread - or some say, tuna salad - using canned tuna chunks, mayonnaise and a bit of mustard. However, the french recipes use crème fraiche or even fromage frais instead of mayo. I think this shouldn't be a big deal. In the end, you'll be the one who eat it, so the taste has to be right for you.

Here I share you my simple recipe, and feel free to modify it.

- a can of tuna chunks (in water or in vegetable oil - whatever), drain it from the liquid

- 2 or 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise

- 1 or 2 tablespoon of mustard

- a dash (or a teaspoon) of ground pepper

(1st method) Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix them using fork. Make sure everything has mixed together and it's all set.

(2nd method) Alternatively, you can put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Run the machine for few seconds and they're ready.

The first method is more suitable if you want to have it with a bowl of salad.. there you have salade niçoise. The second method is for a smoother result which is easier to spread into a bread for sandwich or as a dipping sauce (with crackers, carrot or celery sticks) on apero.

Have it a try and tell me about your creation ;)

healthy lunchbox

These days, recession is everywhere. I also have to tighten my spending on foods, especially for breakfast and lunch. Also a gently reminder to eat healthier and in reasonable portion ;) So, I've been googling around for lunchbox ideas and stumbled in this article from BBC about "What's in a healthy lunchbox". Although it's for school kids, but at least this is a good thing to know of what to pack. 

Pada dasarnya, makanan sehat yang semestinya dibawa untuk bekal makan siang terdiri dari :

• Protein (daging, ikan, kacang-kacangan)
• Karbohidrat berserat (nasi, roti dari gandum utuh) untuk energi
• Sayuran dan buah (berupa salad atau utuh)
• Air minum (boleh juga susu, jus buah, yogurt cair atau smoothies)

Sedangkan makanan / minuman yang sebaiknya dihindari adalah :

• Permen dan cokelat
• Cemilan (keripik kentang, keripik buah yang asin/manis)
• Minuman bersoda atau kadar gula tinggi
• Gorengan dan daging yang telah diproses (sosis, daging asap)

Sering kali, kita kehabisan ide untuk bekal makan siang. Di artikel tersebut, ada file pdf packed lunch menu untuk menu lunchbox selama 3 minggu, lengkap dengan beberapa resep makanannya. Jadi mulai sekarang, mari berusaha hidup lebih hemat dan sehat dengan membawa bekal makan siang setiap hari.

Packed lunch menu and Photo source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8454692.stm

lunchbox

The thing I always itchy to buy -beside stationery- is lunch box. 

I always intrigued by different shape of lunch boxes. I also can spend many times in this area of every store I ever visited. Rubbermaid, Rosti Mepal, Thermos, Tupperware, Lock n Lock.. are some brands I am familiar with. I personally think few of them are quite pricey. On the other hand, Indonesian brand for lunch box such as Lion Star is very affordable and colourful, though their plastic is not quite thick.. So if I have to choose, Lock n Lock would be on top of the list. They’re sturdy and and zero worry to spill. Even when you fill the box with soup or other liquid, the rubber seal and clip lock will protect the content from sipping out. I will review some of my lunch boxes.. some lunch box ideas and recipes too.. Be patient, guys. Am just blogging one step at a time here. For more infos about the brands, here are the links…

Lion Star <http://www.lionstar.co.id>
Lock n lock <http://www.locknlock.com.au>
Rosti Mepal <http://www.mepal.com>
Tupperware <http://www.tupperware.co.id>
Thermos <http://www.thermos.com>
Rubbermaid <http://www.rubbermaid.com/Category/Pages/Category.aspx?CatName=FoodStorage>

blue ice

While some of you may have familiar with it, some other might still wondering. This is Blue Ice, the reusable ice pack. For more info, this is the website of rubbermaid blue ice .

I believe this is one of indispensable school stuff. At least for me. This is very useful to keep your lunch fresh and cool. Especially for salad, dressing / sauce, yogurt, milk and other dairy products. Just make sure you have it stored in your freezer over night, then it will be ready in the morning to be tucked into the lunchbox.

no brainer nasi goreng

Still have no gas in my appt, so I gotta maximize all the appliances I have for cooking. A simple nasi goreng without sauted them with a wok and flames. How? Just mix some leftover rice in the magic jar (rice cooker) with margarine, instant seasoning of bumbu nasi goreng, a bit of chili powder and shredded leftover fried chicken. Et voilà..

note : in case you have no seasoning of bumbu nasi goreng, you can use a bit of minced onion, a pinch of salt, pepper and sugar.