Oh yes, finally the interview with The Star newspaper is published, both in the paper (14^th July) and online (12^th July) in parenting column.

I made a full copy of the article here from ParenThots (the parenting column of The Star Newspaper) for your viewing pleasure.

You can view the original post either in The Star newspaper parenting column, or online from The Star Online -> Lifestyle – > Parenting.

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Try Bento For Picky Eaters

Article from The Star-Parenting (ParenThots Features) – 12 July 2010

By ZIEMAN

Some of the bento lunch boxes prepared by Chef Ai Ping at the House of Ingredients.

It all started with friends asking Chef Ai Ping for food ideas for their picky children.

Sharing recipes with friends and family members soon became a routine in Ai Ping’s life. That was how she was inspired to come up with the bento box idea two years ago.

“I started blogging first (www.kidsdreamwork.com) with the intention of sharing everything about food and children. The blog was a platform for parents to exchange ideas,” says the soft-spoken Ai Ping who has two boys – Liew Jia Yu (JY), five, and Liew Jia Qi (JQ), two.

After starting her blog, Ai Ping discovered there were so many interesting things happening during a child’s growing phase. So, she decided to jot down everything as part of her diary for her kids.

Since Ai Ping and husband Liew Chee Wah, 36, share the same interest in creative and cute food presentation, they decided to include in their blog posts about “Kyaraben” or “Charaben” (Character Bento) food for children.

Bento, or boxed lunch, has a long history rooted in ancient Japan. It originally began as a simple meal but today it is a vibrant artform which has become a trend worldwide.

Ai Ping explains that Japanese art bento has its own set of guidelines. Traditional bento follows a couple of basic rules – part rice, protein, vegetable, and one part “treat” (usually either pickled vegetables or something sweet).

Chef Ai Ping uses her creativity to make her bento set look attractive and enticing to children.

“You can design your bento and personalise it. It’s not only fun but attractive, too. There is an art to packing bento boxes for adults and kids. Since I started coming up with bento box lunches and blogging about it, it’s been so much fun and a great creative outlet for me,” says the Penang-born IT consultant.

Before she knew it, Ai Ping was regarded as an expert in bento food for kids and she’s even been called on by the House Of Ingredients in Sri Damansara to conduct cooking classes and demonstrations. “Sometimes, readers share their own creative spin on one of my ideas. That is truly inspiring for me …,” says the creative bento maker.

“Encouraging my son JY to eat was a way of getting my creativity out. In a way, he inspired me to come up with more cute faces on buns, croissants, cakes and muffins for his bento.

“These days, JY works with me to create more bento ideas with rice, seaweed, raisins, cheese and other stuff,” says the bento expert whose full name is Goh Ai Ping, 33.

Ai Ping who learned the art of bento from Japanese cookbooks, videos and attending classes, loves creating new recipes for kids, too.

“JY loves suggesting new ideas and my hubby is most supportive. So I am geared to do my best. All four of us, including the little one JQ, are so involved when I’m doing my bento sets,” says Ai Ping.

According to her, to help kids have an appetite to eat, mothers have to be more creative with food presentation. And this where the bento boxes come in.

“I remember buying a croissant from a local bakery to make my son a croissant bento. So, I made a cheese teddy bear peeping out from the croissant bread.

“The facial details were cut from nori (edible seaweed), while the hands were from part of the croissant itself. I gave the bear a little crown, which I think made it look more like a lion.

“JY loves the croissant bentos I make. What I wanted to do was to show him how to have fun with meals,” recalls Ai Ping who has a stack of wonderful bento ideas for kids.

Ai Ping volunteered to give some pointers to help picky eaters:

“Perhaps you could incorporate some cartoon characters which your kids love like Hello Kitty, Bob the Builder, Tinkerbell or any other characters. It takes a while to make perfect bento. But as they say practice makes perfect,” says Ai Ping who turns to the Internet for inspiration on healthy bento ideas.

She believes you can tempt kids with a bento set packed in attractive and colourful bento-style boxes.

So what do you pack in a bento lunch for kids?

“You can start by putting fruits like grapes, easy to eat finger foods, mini sandwiches, pasta, vegies or other treats,” she says.

Ai Ping suggests those who want to get started on bento kits to try and get cute bento boxes, bright picks with fun shapes and cookie cutters to create the fun shapes out of rice, cheese, meat, vegetables and fruits. The rest is up to your creativity ….

“You have to be creative and read up about bento boxes if you want to craft beautiful bento sets,” she adds.

According to Ai Ping, she gets more inspired when she gets a positive and encouraging comment or email from a reader in response to a bento recipe she made.

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Reading this article reminded me about some of my old bentos, I recalled these few bentos I made some time back, which JY loves so much. Just to share with all here.

• Bob The Builder
  

• Bear In Croissant
  

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