Sumo Boy

One of A-chan's favorite books is 'Sumo Boy' written by Hirotaka Nakagawa. It's continually been one of her favorites for well over a year now. At one point she had expressed the wish that she could someday grow up to be a Sumo wrestler. I believe that she has since changed her mind, but she is still fascinated with all things sumo. In honor of Sumo Boy I have turned what might have been a boring sweet potato bun into a glorious Sumo hero! My sumo boy doesn't look anything like the one in the book, however.

In the bento: A sweet potato bun surrounded by a layer of rice covered with green peas, sesame carrots and baby corn. On top of the veggies are provolone letters.

I am not sure if the word 'sugoi' has anything to do with Sumo or not, as far as I'm aware it's the equivalent of 'cool' or 'awesome'. I couldn't fit 'Dosukoi' in the space I had, though!

Sumo Boy's mawashi is made from strips of nori, as are his facial features. The nori is secured with my new incredible nori-glue, otherwise known as strawberry jam. (While cleaning sticky jam off 6 year old fingers I had a revelation, lol ) His cheeks are also strawberry jam, dipped from the jar with a toothpick. The jam seems to work just as well as mayo but is a lot less troublesome than the honey I sometimes use. It is nice to have an alternative to mayo when securing decorations to sweet foods!