Bento #96 - Crispy Breaded fish and seaweed eggroll

Forgot to press the timer and the fish turned out darker than expected. Marinated the snapper fillet with some salt and black pepper overnight.

Dipped the fish into beaten egg and coat it with lots of panko. Thereafter fried it for about 3-4 min per side or till it turns golden brown.

For the seaweed egg roll, just use 1 beaten egg and add in some soy sauce and mirin, add in some potato starch solution also to stabilise the egg. (so that the egg sheet will not tear easily). Spread the egg evenly on the pan and leave it until it turns a bit brown and flip the egg over to the other side.

When its done, lift the egg sheet off the pan and lay it on a sheet of roasted seaweed. Roll up while it's hot and leave to cool. Cut it when ready to serve.

Also prepared this dish for my boys over the weekends. Breaded fish, scrambled eggs, cherry tomatoes and edamame beans with creamy miso macoroni.

#Bento 95 - Egg Mayonnaise sandwiches

My #1 loves egg mayonnaise sandwiches and I love them too because they are so easy to prepare and taste so wonderful. So I prepared these lovely sandwiches for our breakfast and lunches today.

Prepared one more chicken patty sandwich with cheese for hubby as his tummy needs more food to fill up.

This will be my lunch. Don't the sandwiches look cute?

Last but not least, my #1 breakfast.

#Bento 94 - Char Kway Tiao with Luncheon meat and egg

#1 requested for Char Kway Tiao for lunch. Wonder why recently my air fryer egg doesn't turn out runny anymore, did I get my timing wrong again? Sigh......Hope he enjoys this not so healthy lunch.

#Bento 93 - 肥肥的卤肉和猪皮

This bento makes me salivate. My boys and I are big fans of skins, all kinds of skins - chicken, pork and fish, fried or steamed.

This dish is also very easy to prepare. I cut the meat and skin the night before, throw them into my thermal pot. Add in generous servings of garlics, one star anise, dark soy sauce and some salt. Bring it to a boil and it will ready to be scooped into our lunchboxes the next morning.

In the news - 哺育后代 慈母胸怀坦荡 （联合晚报）2月22日2016年 (Interview by Lianhe Wanbao on my breastfeeding journey 22 Feb 2016))

哺乳辛酸路①：被嫌奶水不足    坚持哺育早产儿

月经失调，还曾停经一年，女教师奇迹怀第二胎，虽被儿科医生指奶水不足，仍坚持哺育两公斤的早产儿。

35岁的吴恺欣是小学华文教师，自发育期就患有卵巢多胞囊综合征（Polycystic Ovary Syndrome） ，导致月经不定、受孕困难。

尽管恺欣幸运在婚后第四个月怀第一胎，但第二胎一度遥遥无期。

曾试过停经一年的她坦言：“怀上第一胎已让我谢天谢地了。我将孩子视为上帝的礼物，什么时候能收到礼物，不是我能控制的。”

也因此，无论是六岁大儿子蔡责谦或三岁小儿子蔡德谦，恺欣都坚持给他们最健康的母乳，但她在过程中发觉，适应妈妈角色并不容易。

“头一胎碰到的问题是涨奶。因为吸乳器昂贵，原本想等到有需要再买。没想到一出院就开始涨奶，整个乳房硬邦邦的，只能赶紧催丈夫去买。”

由于母乳供应充足，她晚上每隔三小时就得醒来泵奶，一晚能供应约600毫升母乳。

但第二胎情况不同，由于小儿子早产，出生时体重仅两公斤，儿科医生的首要顾虑是增加他的体重。

恺欣忆述：“医生当时对我说：‘你的奶量这么少，给他喝有用吗？’每当我尝试哺乳，一些护士也会讲：‘他是早产儿，不要期望他懂得怎样吮吸。’”

她坦言，这些话令她感到很不是滋味，一度担忧母乳供应不足以增加孩子的体重。

“我担心儿子体重没增加，医生会怪我太过固执，所以每次喂奶都分三个步骤。”

她会将预先储备的母乳通过奶瓶喂孩子喝，再让他练习直接吮吸，最后还要泵出剩余母乳，以避免涨奶。幸好，小儿子的体重稳健上升，连医生都感到惊讶。

采访当天，我和恺欣“躲”在厨房聊天，客厅里不时传来爽朗的卡通配乐，提醒着我们，幸福来之不易。

返回职场首日  母乳量减25％

产假结束回校教课，母乳供应量第一天就锐减25％。

自2001年起，我国每10年进行一次全国哺乳调查，2011年调查结果显示，我国96％母亲在出院时以母乳喂养婴儿，其中50％完全不用奶瓶。

但过两个月后，这个比率就下降至80％，并且只有28％完全不用奶瓶。

到六个月，比率又进一步锐减到只有46％母亲继续喂母乳，只剩1％完全不用奶瓶。

共有1962名母亲通过电访接受这项调查。调查结果揭示，我国尝试哺乳的母亲人数虽多，持之以恒的却是少数。

恺欣是其中比较幸运的一位。

她透露，照顾第一胎时，她怀着紧张心情回到职场，经历母乳供应量锐减的情况。“原本一次能泵出200毫升，第一天回来上课，却只能泵出150毫升。”

除了供应减少外，她也面对没有适当地方泵奶的烦恼。

恺欣说：“虽然我的主任很体谅，建议我使用教师休息室，但我自己也不好意思一个人占用太久。”

幸好得到同事支持，除了隔桌的男同事不介意她直接在办公桌前泵奶，也有女同事帮她围起窗帘，让她在泵奶时能享有一定的隐私。

即便如此，恺欣坦言，职场压力还是影响了奶量，她最终只坚持哺乳大儿子到一岁左右。

生下二儿子后，为了与家人共享天伦，并坚持更长期的哺乳，恺欣在四个月产假之外，还请了一年无薪假。

她说：“要一边工作一边‘撑住’奶量，真的不容易。母乳实际上遵循着供应与需求的原则，一旦泵奶时间不固定，身体会误以为婴儿没有需求了，自然地减少供应。”

In the news - Interview by Straits Time on a special feature on several mum's hopes for their children - 30 Dec 2012