This being exam week, I decided to motivate my kids to do well by making their ‘baon’ (brown bag meal) a little more special. And when I think of something more special than the usual pack of Oreos and peanut butter sandwich, all I can think about is a bento. It’s something I’ve wanted to do as a project anyway. In Japan, mothers pride themselves in making artistic bento meals for their kids. I like the fact that preparing a bento can be a good venue for creative expression as you plan the colors, textures and shapes that should go into the box. There is also room to include everything in the major food groups, rather than the junk food that our kids are bound to have. With the right presentation, kids can change their mind about eating healthy fruits and veggies after all.

My Pinoy Bento with Pokemon

I call this our Pinoy bento which the kids had as a meal in the house.

What went inside the box:

braised pork adobo with hard-boiled egg
lumpiang sariwa (fresh egg rolls made of ubod or palm tree trunk) with brown sauce
buttered mixed vegetables
cupcake with chocolate swirl (bought from our local bakery)
rice with fish ball decor

hello Kitty bento

The Hello Kitty Bento which the kids brought to school:

Spaghetti
Chicken Nuggets Fun Shapes
Mixed veggies
Star- Shaped Mini-Pancakes with syrup

veer away from the usual round pancakes by shaping it with a cookie cutter!

The almost-Pinoy Bento

I’ve added a new category in the blog for “bento.” I loved the challenge of doing this and will definitely be creating some more in the future.

Beautiful eyes

Good that my foodie twins loved it. Bon appeTITE!

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Posted in Bento, The Day-Off Chef |