Sports Day Lunch

I just finished putting together our "bento" for tomorrow's Sports Day ("Undokai"). After standing for so long in the kitchen, it seemed like a good idea to sit down at the computer for a brief spell and post a couple of photos.

Undokai is an old tradition in Japan, and the mid-day lunch is a very big deal. As you might know, Japanese women pride themselves in their abilities to create delicious and beautiful box lunches. For an event such as tomorrow's, the standards are even higher than usual. Many of the moms in the village have been talking all week about how they will be spending today (Saturday) preparing the food for tomorrow. Several people have asked me, also, to confirm that I, too, will be spending a long time making lunch.

My original plan was to make something sort of "in-between". I didn't really feel like cooking all day, and I needed to make food that jives with Aaron and mine's new eating habits (i.e. no breads, rice, or pasta). So, I started planning out some foods earlier in the week, and today I started to put it all together. After preparing the food (I actually only made two things - the rest of it I bought), I did my best to honor Japanese tradition and arrange our goodies nicely in the boxes we have. The only thing I packed that is remotely Japanese is some edamame (soybeans). The rest is strictly American, right down to the sugar-free Jell-O.

Anyway, here's a couple of shots for you; one of the food and one of Holt posing with the bento box all sealed up and ready to go tomorrow (so long as Undokai isn't postponed due to rain).

Oh, and here are some close-up shots of each box, just in case you are super-curious.

Mostly kid food

Mostly food for Aaron and Michelle

Dessert (the oranges and grapes were leftover from a party I went to last night)