I am an idiot... o_O; Has anyone else realised this? I've been putting the date as August when it's Sept already (not in this entry though, cos I realised that... o_O) so according to my last few entries, I've been reliving the past month =3

Anyways, since I never got round to blogging about this, I will talk about my day in London, which followed a very exciting day at my friends house where we got stuffed, laughed, and had a chocolate fountain--yum.

So, I started the day off by waking up at 7:30. Yes, 7 freaking 30, on a weekend and during my holiday period. Shoot me, I say. After rushing myself and managing to catch the Megabus on time (it's cheap) I arrived in London (although like... half an hour or so later than the ticket said I'd get there, and Steven who was picking me up ended up waiting like... an hour >_<). It was actually the first time I'd ever been to London alone. All the other times I'd either gone to perform with the Southampton Phoenix Arts Group or went with my family.

So yes, mixups and more waiting occured, and we finally met up with the whole group. It was a get-together of part of the China crew from last year's Summer Camp, which, I must say, was absolutely amazing... every day was so fun <3

It was me, Zoe, Jesi, Ben, Steven and Alan =DDD We had much fun... spent practically the whole in Trocadero (arcade) and played games though haha XDDDD

Although, seriously, I don't understand what was wrong with me... >_>; half way through, I just felt so... lonely... x_x; I'd bought pocky--lots and lots of pocky--before we met up with everyone, so I didn't have that much money left and didn't really play any games in the arcade, which I guess was really all my fault that I couldn't join in, but the pocky was worth it!

But yes... =sigh=... I dunno, I felt left out. Half way through, when they were all going on the bumper cars, I went outside to get some fresh air... Well, as fresh as air could get in over-rated, polluted ol' London... Seriously, England is too over-rated.. I don't understand why some people want to come here...

The "sites" are horrible, the weather's worse, and everything is just so over-priced it's not even funny ¬_¬;

Although I'm glad I went out for a breather though. I came back in and bought a gorgeous dance fan. It cost me £5 (I haggled a little and got about 15-20% off or something) but I thought £5 was worth it, otherwise I would have haggled more. The lady at the counter liked me though, so yeah. It really was a lovely dance fan, and since I do dance, I can tell it was good quality.

It was light, easy to open/close, and very pretty. And blue! ^_^

It was a shame Ani couldn't come... but I knew she couldn't anyways cos she had to do something at college... =sigh= if she'd come I'd have felt a lot less left out, cos Zoe and Jesi are like the best of friends, so they did everything together, and then there was me =/

I'd have to say one of the highlights of my day was finding and buying pocky. They didn't have green tea flavour, but they had *so* many flavours of pocky I was just drooling... lol. They're so expensive though >_< But I still managed to get almond-milk tea flavour, normal almond flavour, black sesame flavour (<333333), strawberry with bits, and caramel flavour. Yum, yum.

And the second and probably biggest pleasant surprise for me was bumping into Chris and Carmen at the Trocadero... Seriously, I thought I'd never see him again since I'd moved, and it was so weird cos a couple of weeks or so before we'd had another coincidental meeting when I was visiting Southampton! That was so cool =D

I'd lost touch with them for *ages*... seriously, years, and all of a sudden, I see Chris twice in a month! And in London of all places =O They went ice-skating the day before and stayed over there with a massive group of friends. One of their friends was so good on the dance mat it was insane...

If I thought Ben was good, I hadn't seen *real* good... O_O; but then again, they're like... clinging to the bars at the back trying to get all the steps right on an insanely fast song with steps you can't even see, whereas Ben's properly *dancing* on the dance mat...

Both are very cool ^_^

Fun was had, and another brilliant highlight of the day was that we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner! <333 Yum yum! And that was where I got my grass for my latest bentos from XDDDDD

Gosh, it was SO hilarious that day, I must say I spent so much time laughing my jaw hurt by the end of the day, but it was worth it. Ahhh, some of the stuff Steven said got us girls into such hysterics...

And at the restaurant, they gave us a blob of wasabi with our sushi... the others were like -get a little bit- and I was like -grabs half the wasabi-... we had to ask for more haha. They dared me to eat half the wasabi on it's own... so I did! And it was quite yummy too XD Steven was like 'right, keep it in your mouth for 5 seconds' and when he saw it was absolutely no trouble at all for me, he was like 'fine, 10 seconds.... 15... 20! 30! 50! One minute!' I was laughing at him by now and if I didn't swallow I would have choked, but the wasabi was actually quite yummy XD

And then Kloe (Zoe's sister) called! XD And pranks galore! XDDDD

Hardest part of the day was trying to get from one area of London to my bus stop in time... Steven and I practically ran the way back! (Okay more like I ran and he walked fast... darn that my legs are so short!!! >_<) And thank God I made it in time... =DDDD *JUST* in time, too... less than a couple of minutes later we'd left lol... I'd just collapsed as soon as I got on the bus ^_^;;

Yes... Such a very fun day cut so very short... but no need to hear me ramble so much ^^;;

Oh yes, some of you asked me how I got the stuff in the onigiris: Well, I had a heart-shaped cookie cutter, so i just layered it--the bottom with rice, some salmon in the middle, and top layer with rice too (and rice at the edges) ^_^ very simple =D

Plugs to the beautiful: ikimashokie, dave, Chloefoxx, The-Muffin-Man, frostbitten, Silver-dot-, hikarixgaki, thisdisease, okidpokie, little-b, Princess_00

L8r,

Oh. My. Word. I just made Bento #06 because I just couldn't wait to make it cos of all the delicious ingredients in my fridge, and now I hate myself. See, I thought this would be my best bento yet, and I was correct. It *is* my best bento yet, and it looks so pretty, in my opinion.

So why do I now hate myself? I'll answer you when you've seen them first:

Top: 2 Onigiri with salmon inside, and one with crabstick inside. Heart shaped =D

Bottom: sushi!!!! Home made!!!...ME made!!! XDDDDDD, and cucumber and tomato slices ^_^ I'm wondering how on earth Kitchen Cow manages to slice her tomatoes so perfectly though... it's so hard to slice at the end... O_O (although her tomatoes are larger than mine though, I guess...)

Left: Mr. Kipling's... I forgot-what-it's-called-but-it's-delicious (so Japanese haha), a couple of strawberries ^_^

And here I give you a few close-ups:

And I have to wait till tomorrow to eat it!!!!!!! =cries= (Yes, reason I hate myself.)

My parents went to a Church prayer meeting after Church today, I generally don't go to those, so yeah, here I was, at home... just *itching* to make Bento #06, and here it is, made... tempting me to go and eat it... cos I haven't had dinner yet...

AAAAHHHHHHHHH I can't wait till tomorrow!!!! ;_;

Plugs to the beautiful: Silver-dot-, ikimashokie, The-Muffin-Man

<333333

L8r,

First I would like to say... I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! <333333

OMW I got 100pps!!! That means I was in the top 5!!! =OOOO <33333 Thank you all so, SO much!!! And thank you all for commenting too!!!! Which is what I'll be talking sorry, I mean blabbing about today ^^;;

After realising it was *WAY* too confusing to go to each member who commented's site and reply to what they said and answering their questions about my bentos (if any), I decided to post the replies here, cos I realised that I was going to someone's NuTang thinking I was replying to their question, when I was actually also replying to another question someone else asked when I checked back to my comments x_X;; Oops...

So yes, from now on, if there are more than 3 questions asked or 5 comments written or any repeat questions, I will answer them in my next blog (after I blogged), so when I go to your site, I will be commenting about your latest blog entry instead of what you wrote in mine, since I update this thing regularly, k? ^_^

A question beforehand though: how come, even though I ended up in the top 5, I didn't show up on the map as green? o_O... or do you only go on the map as green *whilst* you're in the top 5...?

Ah! And I will also use the lovely Kirei's idea of putting up plugs at the end too! So! Replies, replies, replies to my wonderfully little commentors!

@dave, ah I already replied to this one, but others might like to know too! You can find it on jbox.com, an online store if you search 'Bento' ^_^ although I was looking on Ebay yesterday - thank you for your suggestion (I'd completely forgot about it when my daddy didn't check for me) - and the one there is cheaper... well, for the moment, at least...

But I don't think my daddy will buy that one for me though ;_; he doesn't think it's worth it, and if you add p&p... =sigh= although, I managed to nag him enough last night to buy me cutely shaped vegetable cutters whilst he was testing me on my hiragana chart (which I now know left->, up->down, and now down->up, and I expect he'll want me to do it right->left, backwards, from the middle->out, and randomly chosen before he's happy--he wants me to learn it thoroughly if I'm gonna be taking Japanese x_x =dies=)

@Silver, hehe thanks XD and it's an interesting and original comparison, though, you have to admit ;)

@Kirei, thank you! =D although... arg! I'm so jealous! You have a Japanese store near you ;_;

@ikimashokie, hehe thank you ^_^ ahh~ don't worry, practise makes perfect! =D (Actually I'm not that used to using these Japanese style chopsticks either... a Chinese pair are more flat so easier to pick things up with...)

@The-Muffin-Man, hahahaha! XDDD Bento #6 will probably be my best bento creation yet, cos we bought so much yummy food yesterday (well, more like I went and grabbed and shoved in our shopping trolley hehe) Lol, I'm not the cook at all... I only did it cos I got a little inspiration from Kitchen Cow ^^;; most of the time, I just throw a bunch of ingredients and shove it in a pan in some order, and hope all goes well haha... luckily it does XDDDD though I have been known to burn a lot of things... o_o;;

@invisible, thank you! =D Lol I did read the manga originally but yeah, Aku-Tenshi scanlated too slow for my tastes, then it got liscenced so I gave up on it... =sigh= also I'm personally not a fan of love triangles ^^;; but the anime is just so funny, you actually can't not watch it! XDDD

Yes! Bleach is amazing, you should definately check it out. Bleach Portal is an excellent place to download it, if not you can just watch off youtube ^_^ (I recommend the manga after the fillers start in ep 66). You too! =D

@Chloefoxx, thank you ^_^ @thisdisease, hehe already replied to this one too, but so others know if they are also wondering (quote from comment): Well, on average... I've no idea, it depends what I'm making and how pretty I wanna make it. The last one, I made the onigiri (no they were empty, I wanted to get the shape before trying anything) the night before, which took about 30 mins? Then the next day making the other foods took around that amount of time too haha, so I'd say... an hour? ^^;; (I spent like... 2+ hrs on my first one tho, cos it was the first one I'd made, and cutting out the carrot shapes took for-absolutely-ever x_X) ^_^;;

@NuTang, thank you! And same as above ^^;;

@LostSoul13, lol I wasn't sure how long you'd been here for, sorry ^_^;; and well, you have now! XDDDDDDD

@hikarixgaki, (yes this is where I realised I'd answered the wrong question to two people ^^;; -dies-) nope, they were empty, cos I wanted to try making the shapes first, and they worked! Yay! =D I might try putting something in there next time... I bought some ready-to-eat smoked salmon, I'll put some of those in (well, try to at least)! And add nori next time! XDDDDDDD

Hehe yup! The taste will make up for the awful lack of beauty in a plastic lunchbox... I'm still nagging my parents. I think they're giving in slowly! =D

@Kirei, hehe cool XD I do too, although some Jrockers like Gackt, some of his songs sound like Jpop (Vanilla, for example) ^_^;;

Plugs to the beautiful: dave, Silver-dot-, Kirei, ikimashokie, The-Muffin-Man, invisible, Chloefoxx, thisdisease, NuTang, LostSoul13, hikarixgaki

<33333

L8r,

Okies, I actually made this yesterday, but I hadn't uploaded it yet ^_^;; I also made a mini dessert-bento, which would act as a bottom tier, cept I don't have a proper bento box set >_< ...yet! =3

Hehe I was quite pleased with this one actually, because I'd finally made *onigiri*! YAY! =DDDDD Well, I didn't have any nori, but I had the shape right at least... =/

Anyways, here it is:

Left side: Broccoli on the top, egg-fried-tomatoes (yes I know it sounds weird, but it tastes very, very good =3) and cylindrical onigiri to separate the two in the middle.

Right side: Triangle onigiris! =D

And the dessert bento:

Lots of jelly, and a strawberry fruit bar... we didn't have much left in our kitchen... =/

Anyways! Some brilliant news and some not-so-good news today... I'll deliver the bad news first.

My parents said I'm not allowed to get that bento box down there because it's too expensive and they don't think it's worth it at all . They took me to Wilkinsons today to try and find a good bento box to try to compromise, but all I found were ugly, boring, plain, plastic boxes that were either too big or too small. I wasn't impressed. <-- Imagine the pokeball as my parents trying to persuade me to buy a horrid random lunchbox.

However, there are some other bento box sets on that site that they might let me get, potentially, I guess, cos they're cheaper... maybe... hopefully...

Okay, now, good news: I may not have a decent box, but we went grocery shopping today!!! And so I tagged along, and bought LOTS and LOTS of yummy food!!! I FINALLY HAVE NORI!!! YAY!!!! I'm very pleased with that. Oh yes! XD

And do you guys know what that means? ...Yes!!! A SUPER, WONDERFULLY YUMMY BENTO ON MONDAY!!!! WOOT! (<-- Hopefully won't look like that though o_o;; >_>)

Oh, and have you guys realised? I've started to use smilies

L8r,

Okies, so, since a couple of people asked me how to put images into their entries, I wrote a mini-tutorial. You can find it under my 'writings' =3 Most people won't need this, but those who are new to html might find it useful somewhat ^_^;;

Anyways, oh my gosh oh my gosh!!! Okay, some of you may have seen my Bentos that I've made, and you may have realised that I am *desperate* for a bento box, and now that school is starting, I really want to make my own bentos, so I am now even *more* desperate for a bento box.

I have one that I have my eyes on, but I can't afford it! The only way I can buy it is with your help. Yes, *your* help. Look at it, it's so beautiful:

And there's even a matching gorgeous bag for the set!

How do you help, you ask? Simple! Visit my NuTang more often! =DDDDDDD That way, I will be able to earn money and buy it! =D The more you visit my NuTang, the more money I earn, and soon, with your wonderful super-de-dooper help, I will be able to buy the bento box set of my dreams!!!

Okay... I expect you want to know the price of it... -inserts majorly blushing Kuri- Altogether, it's $40 ^_^;;;;;;;; And I know I'm hardly very rich right now, and if it were up to me I'd probably *never* get that bento box set any time soon, so here I can strike a deal with Daddy.

*Hopefully*, if my popularity and my money rises, I will be able to have earned that $40 before a year's up... or less, hopefully, I can get him to pay for it first, then I will pay him back. What do you guys think? Can I do it? I mean, I've almost, almost made $1 (okay so I'm still a few hundred hits away from that $1... but I'll get there...) and I just came here at the beginning of Aug... Please, please, please help me!!! >_<

Remember: if you will help me get more money, I will make more bentos and be sure to post them up! =D That way, I'm happy, and you get to see more of my yummy-looking Bentos!

Gosh, you guys, I really am depending on you now... Please don't let me down...

<333333333333333333333

L8r,

First of all, a challenge for all you patient people: I challenge you to read -->this entry<--. It is the longest entry in my entire blog, so if you manage to read it, I will link you in a module on this front page =] If you've read it, leave a note and a comment XD

And now, the exciting part...

Okies! Well, a few of you know that SOON, very soon, I will be launching my site hosted on my new domain, which, of course, will be accompanied by a new layout, YAY! =D

Well, I received an email from my beloved hostess, Teddy, yesterday saying that she'd made my new domain!!! YAY!

Now all I have to do is launch it XD

I'm so happy and excited! =D Well, you'll have to wait 'till Sept the 9th, though, because that's when I will be launching my new site hehe! =D

Why Sept 9th? Well... doesn't it sound cool? XD 09/09/06! =D YAY! (That, and I have a thing about matching days and months cos my bday's 04/04 ^^;; Yes, I'm weird =P)

Hehe I'm all excited now! I will go put final touch-ups on my new layout, which this one was derived from, so soon, you get to see the proper thing! XDDD

Oh! And I also did a few touch-ups on this one, you guys like? ^_^

L8r,