One of my blog readers, Cathy, contacted me a few weeks back and asked me if I ever taught classes on how to make bentos. The answer (up till that point) was no. Since she lived very close by and it did sound like fun, I agreed to try it.
I met up with her & her friends last Saturday for a quick bento ideas class. After talking with Cathy, we decided to concentrate on cute & easy ideas to prepare, without a whole lot of special tools. I did bring egg molds to try out, because who doesn't like an egg shaped like a cow, but for the most part, we worked used things I bought in the Dallas area instead of online.
We did shaped & decorated sandwiches, some cute fruit & veggie ideas, egg faces, and just some overall presentation & packing ideas; lots of simple, yummy food that can easily be spruced up for a cute lunch!
One of my bentos from the class, it's a mix of some of the ideas we tried--kitty shaped sandwich (although his face got smooshed in the picture, some sandwich "sushis", face egg, cute cantaloupe bear, inside out cucumber hearts, and some assorted grapes, cheese & strawberries to hold it all in place.
Fruit & veggie shapes, I love inside out fruits & veggies, they look so cute in a box. And a kitty shaped egg, we used straws for the eyes/nose versus a punch, things you probably already have in your kitchen!
More inside out fruits & veggies. If things are sized right, you can swap the middles without wasting the extra pieces (or you can throw them in the salad of someone who doesn't care if his food is cute).
Another bento from the class--dinosaur sandwiches with grapes & blueberries up top, fruits & veggie shapes on the bottom
Another class bento--Lunch Punch fish shaped sandwiches, kitty egg, cucumber/carrot inside out hearts, and a flower tomato!
It was a ton of fun, I really enjoyed meeting the ladies. Cathy, thank you for inviting me and opening your home for this! :o)
I met up with her & her friends last Saturday for a quick bento ideas class. After talking with Cathy, we decided to concentrate on cute & easy ideas to prepare, without a whole lot of special tools. I did bring egg molds to try out, because who doesn't like an egg shaped like a cow, but for the most part, we worked used things I bought in the Dallas area instead of online.
We did shaped & decorated sandwiches, some cute fruit & veggie ideas, egg faces, and just some overall presentation & packing ideas; lots of simple, yummy food that can easily be spruced up for a cute lunch!
One of my bentos from the class, it's a mix of some of the ideas we tried--kitty shaped sandwich (although his face got smooshed in the picture, some sandwich "sushis", face egg, cute cantaloupe bear, inside out cucumber hearts, and some assorted grapes, cheese & strawberries to hold it all in place.
It was a ton of fun, I really enjoyed meeting the ladies. Cathy, thank you for inviting me and opening your home for this! :o)
Sounds like a success! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a lot of fun!! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteYou may have answered this before and I'm missing it..but what is the green stuff you use to make the faces (eyes, nose, mouth, etc?) on your eggs and all?
ReplyDeleteCute! I wish I lived closer so I could come to a class. LOL
ReplyDeleteOn a seperate note, I was perusing your blog an came across a picture of one of Faith's lunches that had Mango Pudding? My kids love mango and was wondering if that was a recipe of yours or something you purchased?
Erin, you can use bits of dark lettuce, spinach, arugula, things like that. I use tiny bits of cucumber peel a lot, since we always have cucumber and don't always have lettuce varieties. It cuts a bit nicer too.
ReplyDeleteKelly, the mango pudding is from the Asian grocery by us. I don't even know the brand since the writing isn't in English, I just know what the containers look like.
These bento ideas are great for beginners! And as much as I love cute little Japanese bento boxes, I also love repurposing other containers to hold bento lunches. It sounds like your class was super fun!
ReplyDeleteShannon, we had a blast! Thank you so much for coming and teaching us!!!
ReplyDelete