On a "Naturel" journey

This morning began in a rush. There was a Bento box to be packed for #2 and yoghurt blended smoothies to make. To top it all off, I was going to attend a"Kids eat right with Naturel Bento" workshop at Bayan Indah to be facilitated by Rohani Jelani.

(My pictures still suck! I was running late and I simply took picture of this morning's Bento!)

This Bento was filled with some brownies, some ham sandwiches and a mixed veggie and fruit slaw. There was a piece of fish pie from last night - recipe, courtesy of Gordon Ramsay from his book : Passion for Seafood

This event was organized by "Naturel" produced by Lam Soon. I always had this impression of Lam Soon being a very China man company and so I was quite surprised when I found out that they produced Naturel! LOL!

I've been using Naturel for 2 years and I really prefer it to most oils. In fact, I switched to Naturel at the advise of family friends who had business in the cooking oil industry.

I was informed that Naturel was made of 100% pure and natural ingredients with a balance ratio of Omega 3 and 6. Incidently, it's supposed to be cholesterol-free!

The Omega 3 and 6 are Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) that cannot be produced in the body but must essentially be obtained from food. Naturel also contains monounsaturates and are also suitable for vegetarians.

At the workshop, there were about 16 bloggers who were invited to this event to have a hands on cooking session to put together a healthy lunch box.

It was a simple task for four of us to a work station, cooking two seperate recipes. I was paired with Intan from The New Straits Times and mother of 3 kids.

We baked some "doughnuts" (don't be confused with it's name because it tasted more like a tasty piece of cake than a "doughnut" - some would look at it as a good alternative as it is baked instead of deep fried!).

We also made some minced prawn tamagoyaki and some Onigiri with Salmon Teriyaki filling.

This picture shows Intan making Onigiri.

Picture shows the lovely Rohani Jelani helping out with the minced prawn Tamagoyaki

Meeting Indra Balaratnam, a Consultant Dietitian was a personal affirmation for me that packing a balanced and nutritiounus meal for my children to bring to school was the most important decision I have ever made!

Sometimes, I may cook Burgers and chocolate chip cookies, home made bread sandwiches with roasted chicken/ham or Spaghetti Aglio Olio with home made carbonara sauce and currently lots of home made Yoghurt! These may seem "commercial styled" but these are mostly home made or home cooked and definitely a "better alternative" than the same type of food bought over counters.

Our lunch boxes displayed!

When the organizers asked me if I used Naturel oil, I said that I'd been using it the last 2 years. What I didn't realize was that Naturel also produced EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), my favorite kind of oil!

Honesty be told, I liked it when I tried it but found it expensive, like most premium brand of Extra Virgin Olive Oil after it's promotion price! So I wait for promos to make my purchases by the half dozen bottles. People argue about how good stuff comes with a price, but consumers like us have a budget to work within and every dollar makes a difference, especially now with the ridiculous inflation. My eldest daughter once spoke to me about how some of my friends wouldn't flutter an eyelid to purchase a 8K handbag but whine and grumble about the price of groceries even though they are stick thin and look like they are hardly the same people who would consume any food at all! I guess cheap or expensive is really relative to what is ones priority! LOL!

Rohani got her team to cook a variety of a mostly vegetable lunch for all of us, using Naturel oil. There was herb rice, pasta topped with a mushroom and tomato sauce, grilled fish and pepper on skewers, some salad and vegetable popiah. It was a light and refreshing meal.

It was an enjoyable experience and a pleasant one at it.

• Thanks must be mentioned to Josh and his team at Advertlets who consistently kept in touch and kept us updated.
• The team from Jireh Consult and Miss Tania Lee were ever so courteous and helpful.
• Thank you also to Rubbermaid who generously sponsored a wide range of containers for the bloggers to pack their food.
• Last but not least, thank you Lam Soon for producing Naturel!