Kuya liked our The Maya Kitchen Baking Workshop experience so much that he was looking forward to another mom and kid workshop to be organized by Mommy Bloggers Philippines. A few weeks after, we learned that there would be another, a Bento Workshop by Frabelle Foods Corporation, which Kuya would like to attend because it would be all about food preparation.
I discovered that Kuya would prefer cooking activities so I immediately signed up. An opportunity like this should never be ignored. It was also timely because Kuya was requesting me for the longest time to prepare BENTO (noun: a lacquered or decorated wooden Japanese lunchbox; a Japanese-style packed lunch, consisting of such items as rice, vegetables, and sashimi or raw fish with condiments- Source: Google) lunch and snacks as baon for school. I was already gifted with bento tools by my good blogger friend, Krisna Mesa of Stuffify PH. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I failed to put my heart into creating bento because I had no first hand training to do it. I knew for a fact that there were so many video tutorials in YouTube about bento but due to mom duties, I couldn’t find time watching some to get more ideas.
I am a combination of kinesthetic, auditory, and visual learner. I learn effectively through hands-on activities. Frabelle Bento Workshop was the perfect venue for me to do it.
It turned out to be fun and exciting because Kuya and I learned once more with our mommy blogger friends and their kids.
My sincerest thanks to Frabelle Foods Corporation Marketing Team, including Chef Donne, for the well-prepared and organized workshop. There was never a dull moment.
The bento design ideas that we learned looked so difficult to do but they weren’t. They were quick and easy to do and #SadyangPinasarap. Let me share the ingredients and steps so that you could do them too in the comforts of your home. Take note that all the veggies except lettuce were boiled/blanched/steamed while the Frabelle products were either fried or steamed. We used uncooked spaghetti noodles to bind ham flowers.
Captain’s Catch Cheezy Tuna
Nuggets Seascape Bento Box
Ingredients
Captain’s Catch Cheezy Tuna Nuggets
Frabelle Foods Sweet Ham
apple
lettuce
carrots
broccoli
cheese
fried egg
fried rice
Procedure
1. Using a butterfly cutter, cut out butterfly-shaped cheese and Frabelle Foods Sweet Ham.
2. Stick the cheese and ham on the Captain’s Catch Cheezy
Tuna Nuggets.
3. Arrange
the apple, lettuce, rice, egg, and Frabelle Foods Sweet Ham in the lunch box.
4. Using a
fish-shaped cutter, cut out fish-shaped carrots. Lay the “fish carrots” on top
of the egg.
5. Finish
the bento by laying the Captain’s Catch Cheexy Tuna Nuggets on top of the
lettuce.
Frabelle Bossing Burger Lady Bug in
Paradise Bento Box
Ingredients
Frabelle Foods Bossing Burger
Frabelle
Foods Bossing Sweet Ham
pandesal
cheese
grapes
orange
carrots
broccoli
fried egg
lettuce
nori paper
or black sesame seeds
Procedure
1. Using a knife, slice the pandesal at the center but leave an inch uncut.
2. Add
lettuce and Bossing Burger patty.
3. Add
cheese for the arms and carrots for the head of the lady bug before putting the
sliced pandesal on top.
4. For the
eyes, cut out cheese using a straw and add sesame seeds or cut nori wrapper.
5. Cut out
Bossing Sweet Ham using the round end of an icing tip and put on top of the
pandesal.
6. In the
bento box, place the nori wrapper, lettuce, grapes, and burger.
7. For the
final touch, try to add rolled Bossing Sweet ham, egg, and orange.
Frabelle
Yummy! Jumbo Hotdogs Piggy in a Bun Bento Box
Ingredients
Frabelle Foods Yummy! Jumbo Hotdogs
Frabelle
Foods Bossing Sweet Ham
buns
scrambled
eggs
black sesame
seeds
slices of
orange
broccoli
nori wrapper
watermelon
slice of
cheese
mixed
vegetables
Procedure
1. Cut the end of the hotdog to about 1 inch.
2. Cut the
sliced hotdog diagonally to about the size of the bun.
3. Form the
cheese using the raindrop food cutter.
4. Position
the cut cheese to resemble ears and paste it using mayonnaise on the first cut
hotdog. For the eyes, cut the nori wrapper into small circles. Make an oblong
shape from the cheese and add two black sesame seeds or nori wrapper to
resemble a pig’s nose.
5. Use
uncooked spaghetti noodle to position the head to the diagonally sliced body.
Put inside a bun with lettuce.
6. Use
Bossing Sweet Ham, scrambled egg, fruits and mixed veggies to liven up your
bento.
Frabelle
Foods Seaglow Baymax Bento Box
Ingredients
Frabelle Seaglow Squid Ball
Frabelle Seaglow Orlian
Frabelle
Bossing Sweet Ham
lettuce
omelet
nori wrapper
apple slices
orange
slices
steamed rice
Procedure
1. Start with Baymax’s head. Using Frabelle Squid Ball, place two small nori wrapper circles and connect them with a thin line cut from nori. Brush the squid ball with mayonnaise or oil to make nori cut-outs stick, if necessary.
2. To make
Baymax’s body, put steamed rice in a plastic wrapper and form it into a ball.
3. Place the
shaped Steamed Rice below Baymax’s head.
4. Place the
scrambles egg on the steamed rice. Of course, don’t forget Baymax’s shoulders
and arms! Shape another set of Steamed Rice for these.
5. Place
punched small stars from nori wrapper on the omelet blanket. You may decorate Baymax’s Sleeping Bento with orange and
apple slices and Frabelle Seaglow Orlian.
Not just the fruitful learning experience that made an impact on the kids but the thoughtfulness of Richprime Global, exclusive distributor of Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Qixels in the Philippines. Miss Paula Apostol of Richprime Global Marketing Department, surprised our kids with toys! Kuya was fortunate to be given an opportunity to choose after answering Miss Paula's question correctly.
Frabelle also made sure that we would bring home a bagful of delicious goodies that we could use in our bento preparation at home.
Our brains were filled with bento knowledge and happy memories while our tummies were filled with scrumptious lunch prepared by Frabelle using its own products.
We were treated like VIPs. We were fetched and dropped off to a designated area by Frabelle and this was the opportunity for mommies to chat while kids play.
After posting some photos of this workshop on Instagram, some of you were asking me when would be the next bento workshop? I will keep you
posted, promise!
