Bento leftovers – what to do with them?

Whilst packing bentos, a little of this and that are used to decorate the bento in the hopes of making it prettier or more appetizing. For me, usually a lot of bread are cut away to fit the bento box size, bits of cheese for decorating facial expression and so on. So what happens to the rest? What do you do with them – do you keep or chuck them??

1) Bread – If they are pan fried with butter, the sides always gets eaten (afterall they are the yummiest and most crunchy part, definitely a shame to throw them away)!! For ‘normal’ soft bread, I usually bag the leftovers in the freezer for my MIL’s friend to be used as animal feed. Other alternative uses are to make croutons or pulse them a food processor into breadcrumbs to be used for other dishes such as burgers.

2) Nori seaweed – I actually have lots of leftovers especially from facial cut outs using carla punchers. I usually kept them all together in the box and reuse the same piece of seaweed until every bit is used, then I pass it to MP who will gladly munch on it. My seaweed container is like a treasure box, you never know what to find inside it!! Older cut outs which didn’t get used earlier would be a grateful find later, especially earlier odd shaped cut outs that wasn’t used earlier could be just the perfect fit!!

3) Cheese – Leftovers are usually kept in a container. Sometimes they are eaten, other times they are great as toppings for grilled sandwiches or even pizzas. Afterall once they melt, no one will know or notice that they were once chopped up or in odd pieces!!

4) Cold cuts or cooked ham – No leftovers for these as they all usually get gobbled up. If you could only see the tussle for the leftovers!! ha ha ha Other times, they could be the 'filling' for an additional sandwich for DH *sssshhh…but don’t tell him ok*!!

5) Fruits – Again, no leftovers as whatever is cut gets eaten or shared among the adults.

6) Vegetable or fruit peels – These go in a separate bag as they are just prefect for organic garbage enzyme or if you are into making your own organic compost.

7) You know, leftover vegetables (eg. corn and carrots) and meat are just perfect for fried rice!!

Ok that’s all I’ve got to share on what I generally do with leftovers which as you can probably tell is not that much since most of the times, I really try to use as much as I need. That’s probably why I think my bentos are not as interesting as others :( Otherwise they usually go into the 'tummy garbage disposal unit', mine of course!! ha ha ha

Gonna tag Susan next and ask her to share what she does with her bento leftovers!

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Tagged:
1. javapot
2. susanyeun
3. list goes on...(I'm sure you get the general idea)

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Story of 'The Pit'

Ok just stuffed my face with one gigantic cinnamon roll and sipping my freshly brewed coffee, caught up visiting some blogsites and feel a little refreshed to share my rather ‘hectic’ weekend.

For more than two months over (gee, time has passed so quickly), we’ve been putting up with the ugly and pitiful sight of the grey ‘pit’. Absolute gets on my nerves when other contractors think it’s an ideal and convenient place for rubbish!!! Anyway, when the main contractor finally came back to touch up a few things, got him to transport our teak tree from M’s place and so the motion begins.

The Pit.

The pit may look small but do not be deceived. It took me 4 trips to Sungai Buloh Nursery and whopping total of over ‘200’ bags of soil to fill the pit!!! Just don’t ask how much toll charges I paid that day. I’m also surprised by the number of bags purchased and so tired of making the trips back again and again. If I had known so much soil was required, would have definitely made other arrangements. Think the suspension on my poor car is all but koyak (Malay term for ‘busted’). The nursery sales person enquired why I need so much soil (as I keep coming back for more and MORE)….am I burying something or what? If I was Vietnamese, it could probably be gold but nope, all I wanted to do was to fill the pit…with some soil.

Of course, not all the trips were a waste as it gave me a chance to look at some plants. All lush, green and beautiful, it was just so tempting but had limited available space in my tiny car. At the end of the day, I had one simple criteria: it had to be a hardy no-fuss plant. As much as I really wish/want, I simply do not have the gift of ‘green thumbs’. In fact plants do the opposite of ‘flourishing’ under my care. Yes, please do fear for the safety of the plants!

M firmly believes that plants grown on our positive vibrations. In fact, the plants that she gives more attention by talking seem to grow better than those she don’t!! Well, I’m no plant whisperer and only hope they can amuse themselves with the pack of dogs (last count was 4) that permanently roam up and down thinking they own the b###*@@ entire street!! (But that's another story).

Here’s what the pit looks like now (as of yesterday). Still needs a little twigging with a few more plants as there are some gaps here and there.


D reckons that I should have just planted some shrubs or something, just to avoid heartaches of any vandalism. Well since the private security just started around my area, I can only hope and pray for the best – more for the plant survival than anything!! Ha ha ha

So I’m a little sunburnt, sore all over with gritty finger nails (never knew soil could be so staining) and my car interior is a total mess but am very glad to finally be rid of the former unsightly pit!!!

On a final note, I’m pleased to share that the kitchen fittings are finally finished. There have been a few delays in particular my kitchen hood bought a while back was out of stock and after a month of ‘chasing’ and calling, it was finally delivered and installed!!! *jumps for joy for a second or two....until I realize the cleaning up task ahead, groans!!*