Bento ~ O'bento

I think I was just hit by the Japanese mom craze of making obento! I have been reading up about this for several years but never really had the urge to do it, until I started making lunch for my kids... You see, when they were at public school, I just had to send them with $1.50 (.75 cents for breakfast and .75 cents for lunch)... however, now, they are at Ladera, and lunch there costs $3.00 , so to help save funds.... I decided to pack lunch for them every day!

Because I am packing lunch, I have tried to get more creative, in order to please their appetites, both their eyes and there tummies! So, last Saturday my three boxes came from Japan! It is like scrap booking, but except my medium would be food! Today is my first day in making fancy obento, so here it is:

I made salmon onigiri shaped into bears, hearts, stars with some unique faces, and also some fried crab claws... I can't wait to do tomorrow's obento!


Eventually, I want to make obento like these, perhaps in a few months! or maybe weeks!

Bear?

Cat? Well, I am not sure if I really want to eat this! Perhaps it may give me the idea that I am eating a cat, but imagine the time and artistic talent that was spent into making this yummy lunch!

Perhaps, this is good for a computer tech, or an I T position?

Cute for the kids... check out the heart made of hotdogs!

I bought some other molds that I will be trying this week and perhaps next.. hopefully, I will have enough creativity for this! If you have any suggestions, email me !

ENJOY!
si, marianne

Christine's Shower

My cousin Christine had a surprise baby shower last Saturday (08/16/08). The party was packed full of people, the food was delicious, and the ban was super loud, so in essence it was a good party!

This is my cousin Paula and her mom, Auntie Arlene, soon to be grandma and aunt!
My son and I... waiting for FOOD!!!
Raymond and my mom... waiting food!!
This pina's for you! Auntie Arlene and Auntie Gloria... Auntie Gloria got caught sneaking away a piece of fresh pineapples...

Here is Christine!!

FOOD,, FOOD,, and more food!
Sushi...
cakes.....
Christine and Evelyn, waiting while Pale Jesse blesses the table!
Kiki and Babe..
Me'Mong..
Mom...

Shabu ~ Shabu

SHABU SHABU DINNER...

No,I am not talking about amphetimines, I am talking about a Shabu Shabu dinner. Have you ever had it? It is so delicous! Well, it depends on where you go to eat Shabu Shabu, because there are some chinese restaurants that I have tried but weren't as good. So, for some good shabu shabu, go to Mistue. It costs like $40 for one pot, which usually can feed a family of atlest 5. However, my family eats so much!! so, my mom ordered two shabu shabus.. yummy!

First, you have to grind up your seseme seeds and then you mix it up with a black miso. This is some really good miso, I have tried to replicate this at home but was unable to find the exact miso they use..... anyway then you toss in your meats and your veggies and wala.. a shabu shabu dinner.

A nice gesture

So, two weeks ago, as I went to visit my dad's grave, I saw a new basket of flowers laid nicely on the left corner. I looked at the card and it stated "Came to see you brah, but you were already gone" and a name.

I looked up at heaven and fought back my tears. It was so wonderful for a person to take the time out and come and visit my dad at his grave site and give a basket of flowers. Now, usually some of my dad's repeater customers will come to Saipan hoping to go diving and or fishing with my dad, only to their surprise that he is no longer here. These customers will request for us to bring them to the burial site, to which we do, and it is touching to see them cry, and pray for dad.
Now, the most touching part is when we happen to come to the cemetary to visit dad, and we see a Bangladeshi guy standing at his gravesite, praying for him, or when we see a poor guy burning stick candles and aplogizing to my mom that all he can afford were stick candles instead of glass candles. These are all heartfelt and really appreciated, and it helps with the healing process.

Missing my sister

I miss my sister Bobbie who is in Oregon! I miss her kiddies and my godson, Jun. I miss all the jokes and how we would harass her son Jun. Whenever he would make us mad I would tell Jun "Your Mama!" and he would be even more furious with me! I would do it just to see the anger in his face... call me a bad auntie, or call me a bad nina, but for some reason, I thought his mad face was kinda cute.. for his age.... wait till he gets bigger.

Anyway, my sister is enjoying the mainland life, but every once in a while she will miss our island life here. When she tells me they are at the strawberry patch picking berries, I would say I just ate a carabao mango! When she tells me how cheap the fruits are, I would say how cheap "free food is here" you know, the kind when you go your family's house and see what's cooking! LOL. When she tells me how cheap her power bill is there, I tell her how we would have power outages here and skyrocketing power bills......

Anyway, just wanted to say that I miss you my dear sis.....

missing my sister

Tears........and fishing buddies...

There are times when the going gets tough and these times are especially hard when dad isn't around. For those times, I just shed some tears, say a prayer, take a deep breath and then go on with the day. Today, I thought I would post a photo of dad..

Dad always loved the water......

Here is Bonita she has also passed away shortly after my dad's passing.

This is Grande' my dad's employee and also fishing partner. Grande was killed
in a hit an run on May 4, 08. (Read my previous blogs on Grande Nonan)

Now the three of them are all

fishing up in heaven!

Last night, my kids were doing homework and then the power died! So, they had to do homework in candlelights! Well, Raymond was sleeping already so I did not want to go up to the third floor to start the generator, nor did I know how, so I used CANDLE LIGHTS!

I should start investing in a good bike as the gas prices are still higher than usual, especially higher than this time around last year!

I better just sit back and drink some water..

as that may be the only thing I can afford!

Little Marianne in training

*L I T T L E M a r i a n n e *

Here is my little girl........ always asking to use the camera and to take photos. In fact, every time I open my camera phone she has already snapped several more photos of herself! She is trying on different "teen" pose as popularly seen on my space.

So, I am on a hunt for a smaller camera for her, something that she can use and loose without it hurting the pockets so much!

si, marianne

24th Annual Saipan International Fishing Derby

Banquet Time....
Every year, the Monday preceeding the derby would be the banquet for all the fishermen, both skippers, anglers, and Captains! We knew our fish did not make the cut for a prize, but the trio wanted to go anyway to represent! Last year, my beloved father was honored with a plaque at the banquet. This year, the late Jacinto Taman was honored.

Here we are "TEAM RELAX"

My cousin Jun and his wife Tomoko
My uncle Leo and his wife Auntie Velma
My loving husband Ray, who won a door prize! He won a water jug, some tickets to the wax museum, a chamorro burger from hard rock, and some other stuff...

si, marianne

Saipan International Fishing Derby

This past weekend, August 9 & 10 was the 24th Annual Saipan International Fishing Derby.
My husband Capt. Ray, and my brother, Capt. Lawrence and my cousin Jun joined the derby again this year. So, the three went off early Sat morning (6am) and went fishing, hoping to have luck on their side. They came home with one small tuna.

If you can remember back to the 21st or the 22nd Annual Saipan International Fishing Derby, the trio reeled in a 1050 lbs pacific blue marlin. The world record at the time was set at 1055 lbs which was caught off the waters of Hawaii. So, for the trio to catch that was a once in a lifetime chance. Their big prize fish was not recognized because they came in 30 minutes late (they were fighting with the fish for over 3 hours!) and therefore did not get the $10,000 grand prize.

Sunday, they went out fishing again and landed a marlin. The marlin however was small, weighting in at only 99.5 lbs.

Ofcourse we also said a special prayer to our beloved father, whom loves fishing! So this is in memory of you dad... we miss you.

In Memory of +Vicente Manglona Concepcion (Ben-Ki)

A man with a heart as large as the ocean and enjoys life's simple treasures...

dinner

It has been a while since I have updated my site, therefore, my pictures are all mixed up.. so this was our dinner on July 14th.....

Birthday

This was my birthday dinner at Cappricciossa... on July 29th!






On July 30th, we had my second birthday dinner at Tony Romas!
It was always good... except.. our waiter was perhaps not having a good day, so the service was not that good. But then again, it is the same service we get from her everytime we go there... Ofcourse my daughter's smile always cheers the night.....