I had a conversation with my 9 year old niece about my blog and things I wanted to make that I did not want to put on my blog. One thing I mentioned was a project to stitch a set of days of the week panties. I found it in the book Embroider Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp and the idea amused me. My young niece suggested that I stitch the days of the week on a napkin! I then thought about making a set of days of the week lunches. When I spoke with my 15 year old niece about the project she suggested that I incorporate the Japanese characters for the days of the week.

I used a flour sack towel to make and stitch the napkin. I created the text for the days of the week using Harrington font, size 36 and printed the pattern. I folded the napkin into quarters and ended up with 8 sides. I then transferred the pattern to the napkin by tracing with a water soluble pen. On each side I stitched a day of the week. On the 8th side I stitched a simple vine pattern.

I find the origin of the days of the week names to be fascinating. It is interesting that they are so similar across languages and cultures across the world. The sun, moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn are the basis of the names. The ancient Chinese referred to them as the seven luminaries and each represents an element in nature. The ancient Greeks and Romans referred to them as the seven planets.

(An exception is that some languages number the days of the week. An example from Russian – Thursday is fourth day)

Monday is Moon day so I made some phases of the moon out of cheese. I used a black food marker for the details. When I worked on this I thought about the saying – the moon is made of cheese. I drew the character for moon on a flour tortilla with a food marker.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Pizza: I used homemade pizza dough and topped it with homemade frozen tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese. Carrot lettering. Phases of the moon (cheddar cheese with food marker details).

Fruit: Raspberries

Vegetable: Salad with lettuce, carrot, and cauliflower

Tuesday is fire day. It is named after the planet Mars which is related to fire. I decided to just represent fire with the colors of red, yellow, and orange. I drew the character for fire on a flour tortilla with a food marker.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Vegetable: Mini sweet peppers

Fruit: Apple slices with lemon juice to prevent browning

Main: Quesadilla, carrot lettering, sunflower seeds

Wednesday is water day. It is named after the planet Mercury which is related to water. I colored the rice to represent water and added a whale. I drew the character for water on a flour tortilla with a food marker.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Main: Nishiki rice dyed with blue food coloring, carrot lettering, American cheese whale

Fruit & Nuts: Pear and toasted pecans

Vegetable: Mini sweet peppers

Thursday is tree day. It is named after the planet Jupiter which is related to tree/wood. I made a salad with a tree crouton. I drew the character for tree on a flour tortilla with a food marker.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Fruit: Apple slices

Bread: Homemade sesame bagels

Salad: Lettuce with sugar snap peas, carrot, and cashew nuts. Tree shaped crouton (wheat bread brushed with melted butter or margarine and baked at 300 for about 10 minutes. Carrot lettering on flour tortilla.

Friday is gold day. It is named after the planet Venus which is related to gold. I made some homemade bagels look golden by baking them with orange cheddar cheese. I drew the character for gold on a flour tortilla with a food marker.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Bagels: Cheese bagels (added slice of cheese on top before baking), carrot lettering on flour tortilla

Fruit: Clementine

Vegetable: Sugar snap peas

Saturday is earth or soil day. It is named after the planet Saturn which is related to earth. I added some cocoa powder on top of the bread to represent the earth and added a flower pick. I drew the character for earth on a flour tortilla with a food marker.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Sandwich: Wheat toast with cream cheese and apricot jam, carrot lettering, cream cheese with cocoa powder on top of the sandwich.

Vegetable: Cauliflower with small container of ranch dip (under tortilla)

Fruit: Clementine

Sunday is the easy one – sun day.  I represented the sun with cheese and added food marker details. I drew the character for sun on a flour tortilla with a food marker.

Container: EasyLunchBoxes

Vegetable: Cucumber

Fruit: Raisins

Main: Puffed pastry with spinach, cheddar, and Parmesan cheese. Sun (American and cheddar cheese with food marker details), carrot lettering.

Thank you to my two nieces who gave me the concept for this set of lunches and assisted me in planning the theme! Stitching the napkin, making and eating the meals, and writing this post was enjoyable. (One night my husband ate Monday and Thursday for dinner). Maybe more than stitching and wearing days of the week underwear would have been.

Resources:

http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowjpn.html

http://www.tondering.dk/claus/cal/week.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_days_of_the_week