of lunch and bags and lunch bags

Youngest pooled his Christmas money and did some research and bought himself one of these:



It was expensive but his decision. It does pose some problems though. First of all, Tuvaluan children seem to carry more books than Japanese children, but he's working on that. The other problem is that his usual brown bag lunch does not fit in his shiny new Japanese school bag.

This issue stirred a steaming pot of research soup, as it were, and prompted a visit to a new Asian market nearby.

I thought he might want one of these rigs -



as he is enamored of all things Japanese, but somehow, it didn't appeal to him.

I'm guessing I'll end up going this route:



and I'm wondering if it will inspire me. I hate packing lunches you know. Maybe if I fill each of the little boxes with something interesting I will hate it less. Maybe not.

I had one of these in my cart for a while -



but decided against it, with K's help. Youngest didn't like it either.

The new Asian market was fun. It was full of mostly Chinese products and we don't know much about Chinese things.



My favorite WTF moment.



K wanted this very badly. I wouldn't let him buy it. YOU WOULDN'T EITHER. IMAGINE THE SMELL?



I swear, if he SAW this? He would have bought it. Fortunately for me, and the children, I did not create a fuss when I spied it. Which is why the picture is out of focus. I told him I needed his phone to make a call. Nothing holds less appeal for me than a gallon of fish gravy. Except, maybe, Japanese cars.



They had some lovely twine. But I didn't buy any. My spool of red and white bakery string is going to last at least ten years.



For ME, two for a dollar makes this particular item LESS appealing.



Tempting, yes, but I didn't buy any.



My (Freakin) Shaldan turns up in EVERY FOREIGN MARKET WE VISIT. What do they know that we don't, about the Shaldan? WHAT? Why did I not sniff the squash scented one?
The world may never know.



Seriously? This was the biggest rock candy I have ever seen. Each nugget was the size of K's fist. There's no way you could get them in your mouth - although it would be fun to get a bunch of people together and have them all try.



If this product had anything to do with steamed potatoes I might have purchased it.
It doesn't.

It was all I could do to get K out of there. He was completely enthralled with the duck parts and fish faces.

He plans on experimenting in the field of wonton soup sometime soon.

I bought a bag too, last week.
I had seen this one:



and I liked it.
However, I BOUGHT this one -



for SIX DOLLARS. The only draw-back is the velcro.
I'm hoping my pal Wendy can help me figure out what to do about that as the ripping sounds and difficulty of use are getting on my nerves.

In the meantime, I've packed a semi-Japanese lunch in a flat plastic container. Don't worry, you won't be finding any of those impressive bento box posts over here....