Today we met in a different area of the park, so we could utilize the picnic tables to make lunch for everyone. Typically we purchase half price sandwiches from a bakery on Mondays. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we bring bento. And on Thursdays and Fridays, we eat soup or other food cooked on the fire at Piyo Piyo (the outdoor playgroup). This week, Piyo Piyo isn't meeting because it is winter break from schools. However, we still wanted to cook meals together. It is so much easier to cook in the park, as well as much less expensive! For example, we made an amazing clam chowder last week that cost the price of one vegetable contribution (I brought a mix of onion and corn that I already had at home) and ¥215 ($1.90) per family! It was so delicious.
Today's menu was curry udon. Everyone brought their own udon noodles and a vegetable for the curry. People brought cabbage, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and corn. Someone bought the rest of the ingredients at the store. Three people brought single burner stoves that use little cans of propane to heat up the soup base. We had one of these in the US, but we never used it at the park. It was specifically for special Japanese recipes that we would cook in the middle of the table. Lunch was delicious. My son asked for seconds. Luckily another mom had brought extra noodles to oblige him. (Sorry, no photos.)
While we cooked and chatted, the kids played. There were loads of leaves on the ground and they were endlessly entertaining. They climbed trees and chased each other around quite a bit as well. One of the moms brought some sand toys that the kids used to dig in the dirt with. There were also some construction trucks working on a project across the way that the kids enjoyed watching.
We also built a small a fire in a little fireplace stand that we later used to roast marshmallows. I enjoyed watching the kids run around to find the perfect marshmallow roasting sticks. We laughed hysterically when one little girl brought a huge stick over an inch thick. She's 2.5 and didn't understand why it wouldn't work. At one point a mom brought her marshmallow back to the table and put in between two butter crackers (similar to a Ritz). I raised my eyebrows and she smiled, saying "S'more!" I said "Where is the chocolate?" and she just laughed. At first I thought maybe this was just her thing until a second mom did it as well, and everyone shouted "S'more!" I think they missed the graham cracker memo. That is often the case when running into something seemingly so American - copied, but tweaked. It's like the recipe was written down wrong and then distributed.
It was a wonderful 7 hours of fun and exploring a different part of the park.
What a fun group!
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