The Megs Wallace Blog

So Busy....

2010-02-15T09:32:00.001-08:00

NCLEX exam (which I passed!) led to my birthday, which led to Thanksgiving, which lef to Christmas, which led to my sister's baby shower(that I was hosting), ect, ect, ect... I can't believe how busy I've been! I have been maintaining a deviantART page ( http://lostfallen-angel.deviantart.com/ ) and I have been keeping very active in bento (I haven't missed a work-day lunch in months!) So, I guess, I'll post some of my favorites since October...

Another one of hubs. My mom bought cupcakes so she could give me those picks!

Contents

-Rice

-Cheese

-Apple Gummi/Strawberry Milk Candy

-Pumpkin-shaped Egg
-Orange Slice
-Pot Stickers
-Lettuce

Hubs Christmas Bento - I made the rice balls using a cookie cutter

Contents

-Onigiri (filled with ham & mayo)

-Carrots, Pickles, Edamame
-Cheese, Crackers, Dip
-Candies

Made for hubs during a rough week

Contents

-Ham/Mayo /Onigiri (with cheese & lettuce)

-Carrot Hearts & Cauliflower

-Almonds

-Dried Fruit Mix

One of mine made it! I just find this bento to be lovely, and it's a truly rare thing for my bentos to be pretty than hubby's

Contents

-Lettuce & Star Carrots

-Hard-Boiled Egg w/ Pepper

-Hamburger w/Ketchup

-Rice

-Hidden Dressing!

World Market has been carryi.ng tiffins! Hubs, sort of, broke one of his bento boxes >.<

He claims he will fix it, but we have yet to see (it's been almost a month). I really like packing the tiffin and hubby seems to like the size & that it nests. My new theory is, the rounder the bento box the more fun and cute it is to pack! This one was made yesterday.

Contents

-Potatoes & Carrots with Apple/Honey Curry

-Rice w/Sesame

-Milk Jelly w/Mandarin Orange(recipe from Kawaii Bento Boxes)

-Pretzels

-Tomatoes

-Dressing

-Carrots (under all the goodies ^-^)

So, I'm hoping I can get back to updating on a more regular basis. I've been doing lots of stuff (if you care or are curious, see my deviantART page). By no means can I put everything on here (especially with all the jewelry I've been making!)

Up to Lots of Stuff! Kanzashi & Bento!

2009-10-01T06:59:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been a busy week - but I've still been crafting and cooking, and wanted to share a little of both! I finally took the plunge and started a kanzashi that's not cotton!

I made a cotton iris a few days before this project, and hubby & I decided it would be perfect to make one as a pin for my grandmother (as a Christmas gift). I decided I was going to try hand-dying the one I'm making for her, to make it extra special. So, here's the petals pinned and in their rice glue setting (you can see a second gift-in-process in the upper corner). To dye, I watered down acryllic paint (which hubby & I have MORE than enough of) and applied with a paintbrush. I haven't put it together yet due to a combination of being busy and needing a smaller gauge floral wire.

Also, up in Wisconsin it's been cooling off quickly - and I've been craving every warm and filling comfort food in the world! I've been making lots of pasta, curry and even cabbage soup! However, I did get around to one of my fall favorites - Russian Fluff. That's it (with the tomatoes on in) in the hubby's bento.
Anyway, I thought it would be worth the time to share Mom's recipe. I'm guessing on the ingredient amounts, since the recipe I have doesn't have them.

Russian Fluff
Ingredients:
6 serving sizes Minute Rice OR 2C. regular rice
1lb. hamburger
1 can peas
1 can tomaotes
2tsp. onion powder
1tsp Lawry's seasoned salt
Pepper to taste

Make rice
While rice is cooking brown hamburger with onion powder, seasoned salt and pepper
When browned add tomaotes - smash if whole (I used a 4C. bag of frozen tomatoes and drained off the extra juice!)
Put into casserole and add can of peas(drained) and rice (when finished cooking)
Bake covered at 375degrees for 1 hour

This packed GREAT in bentos - I just heated it in the microwave for about a minute before packing. However, make sure you pack a fork - it's very difficult to eat with chopsticks!

Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy Partial Review (Sort of)

2009-09-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

So, hubby picked up this game about a month ago. We were both excited since there are 2 different characters with different storylines, so we wouldn't have to watch eachother replay everything.
You get the choice to play as a student enrolling in Al-Revis Academy. You can be Raze, the combat student, or Ulrika, the alchemy student with a mana egg. I chose Ulrika (which I later found out is the more difficult storyline, though I had little trouble) and hubby picked Raze. My only complaint with her is her ungodly redneck accent - it was a little overdone >.<
In some ways, it's an improvement from the first Mana Khemia game. Instead of the line type grow book (where you would get stuck with recipes that you couldn't get until way late in the game) it's an actual book with cards! Each card can unlock independantly of the others. Also, the 3rd slot can only be activated by an ether level 100. I'm a total synth junkie, so I LOVED this feature.
Also, instead of just slashing enemies, when you run into one, a little bubble with one of the controller buttons (square, circle, triangle or x) will appear over their heads, and you need to press this.
The game has also moved above and beyond finishing moves with the inclusion of intamacies. These work with a succession of two characters peforming support moves. I found this infinately more useful than finishing moves (which I found difficult to actually execute). The best part was defensive intamacies!! I used these more than anything. In Ulrika's party they either buffed or healed (and one character even restores SP!). Not sure about Raze's party yet, I haven't gotten that far with it.
The best part is that there is new game+ content! You can do the other character's storyline keeping all synthesis recipes, items and equipment!! It is so awesome being able to fend off everything because you have end-of-the-game calibur armor and accessories. I'm told after you do both storylines you get ALL TEN CHARACTERS at once. I haven't gotten this far, but am more than a little excited at the prospect.
Just a side note, as far as good things go, the character Pepperoni's synthesis active support skill "Gift From the Earth" is the most AMAZING thing ever!
My only real complaint is the storyline is definately lacking. It seemed more like it was playing on the fact that Ulrika is a dummy with mysterious conversations by other manas about Uryu (Ulrika's mana). In fact, I didn't even realize the end boss was the end boss - I figured I had, at least, two more guys to go!
Did I still like the game overall? Absolutely! I love side quests in video games, and if you're a gamer who does I reccommend this game. Hubby commented on the fact that I once spent 2 hours JUST SYNTHESIZING, but it never felt that long. First play-through took me 40 hours, with as full as possible grow books with everything learned (I only had one grow book item I couldn't get to ether level 100). I found the goofy characters in Ulrika's workshop (mainly Pepperoni and Goto) were very endearing. They all, also, featured lovely character design (as seems to be the normal for this series).
I could talk about this all day, so I'm going to stop here. I hope to be able to offer a more full "review" when I finish the other storylines.

Day Off = Kanzashi

2009-09-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

It was my day off yesterday, the house was clean, and I didn't feel like playing video games (currently Mana Khemia 2) so I decided to make some more kanzashi. This is my third batch, and I can see that I'm very much improving.
For those of you not familliar, kanzashi is a Japanese craft in which one folds fabric squares (usually silk or chirimen) into petals and glue them onto a base to make a flower. So far, I've only used cotton. If you're interested in the process I suggest you check out this youtube video.
The beige and gold flower was actually made with a wide ribbon. Instead of using one of my templates I just folded it over to make squares. It had some wire on the edges, so it held its shape really well. I think it will be nice at Christmas-time
The red/white one is my first successful attempt at round petals. I got the idea from kurokami-kanzashi's deviantART page. I really like how the center turned out.
The multi-colored pastel one is my favorite. I used a sparkly butterfly print cotton for this. My inspiration was the beautiful dahlias that started blooming in my mom's flower beds. Unfortunately, I didn't get the look just right - I'm still too much of a novice to figure out how to get downturned petals. I plan to use this design, on a smaller scale, to make my niece a set of flower clips for Christmas.

Penguin Bento

2009-09-16T10:21:00.001-07:00

Well, Hubby had to work today but I didn't. So, even though I got up a little later than normal I still had extra time to pack a lunch. I was going though my produce (finding the carrots to make butterflies, and red carrots to make tulips) when I thought I should make penguin onigiri!
I don't have too much else to say about it, besides this is the first time I've made onigiri that nori is wrapped around (huge pain-in-the-butt). Also, I kinda phoned it in on the faces because I was starting to get short on time...
I really hope he enjoys it. Actually hope he eats it while he's helping out at one of the other stores in his district - those guys would freak out. Truthfully, I think this will make him as happy as finding out that a baby Platypus is called a Puggle.

Bento Contents:
-Lettuce - for pretty filler
-Penguin Onigiri
~Cream Cheese Filling
~Nori Eyes
~Orange Pepper Beaks/Feet (actually inspired the bento!)
-Red Grape Tomato Balloon (I think they were called Candy Tomatoes)
-Yellow Tomato Ballon (Italian Ice)
-Cucumber/Tomato Salad with Black Pepper
-Orange Carrot Butterflies
-Red Carrot Tulips
-Heart Cup of Dried Spiced Apples & Giant Craisins
-Blue Cup of Salted Almonds

Welcome! Let's Start Out With a Bento Post!

2009-09-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

So, a few weeks I was on one of my favorite food blogs (AnnaTheRed's Bento Factory) and she had a really simple how-to for making Domo-kun croquettes! My husband and I love Domo (we even collect the plushies) and I was dying to make this for him.
I made croquettes using the described method the night before, for dinner, and set aside a few nice ones to fry up the next morning. I had a mental plan - unfortunately, it didn't work out.
The original plan was that the two Domos would be fighting over the ice cream cone egg. However, I added too much rice and couldn't postion the little guys correctly. Also, I was stating to run short on time (since I bento in the morning) so I couldn't take out some rice and rearrange.
However, I still think they turned out cute, and hubby loved it ^-^

Bento Contents
-Rice with Salt & Pepper
-Cucumber Butterflies
-Food Color Painted Ice Cream Cone Egg
-Steamed Broccoli
-Domo-Kun (hamburger) Croquettes
~Nori Eyes
~ Provolone/Red Pepper Mouths
-Steamed Dragon-Tongue Beans
-Carrot Tulips