Bento Challenge Week 3: My Report

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My Challenge Week 3 [6] in a nutshell: Did pretty well, but exercise remains an issue. Spring couldn't come fast enough for me!

This week, I focused on trying to make budget bentos by making all of my bentos vegan or vegetarian. 4 out of the 5 bentos were indeed vegan. As a rough estimate, none of them cost more than 2 CHF (about US $2) per bento, despite the fact that I used a premiums brown rice, and expensive-for-me Japanese ingredients like natto and kouya dofu (free-dried tofu). The exception was Friday's 'bento' (more like an extended snack ^_^), which was not vegan.

Monday's bento, which is described in detail as Bento no. 59 [7]:

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Tuesday's bento, also described in detail as Bento no. 60 [8]:

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Wednesday's bento. Brown rice and gomashio go so well together! I'm still working out a few kinks with the 'mochi kouya dofu' recipe, but will post it soon. (I took the idea from the Mochi Chicken recipe [9] posted by SojoMojo in the forum, and adapted it.)

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Thursday's bento also has an item made with kouya dofu (mixed with regular tofu). I'll post this recipe shortly too.

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Friday's 'bento' - well, what happened is that I got a sudden Urge To Bake Now around midnight, and made this savory cake. For lunch I just cut myself a piece, then another piece, etc... I ate about 4 pieces, which is 400 calories right there. It was so good, and very filling too. Because this has cheese and other not-cheap ingredients in it like pesto and sundried tomatoes, I think my lunch cost was around 3 CHF (around $3 US). Still a lot better than a storebought sandwich!

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I am still having trouble exercising regularly. This week I only attempted it twice! I just do not seem to be taking well to indoor exercise...or it could be that I'm just bored with the WiiFit. (But I can't do any exercise DVDs at the moment since I've packed them away already, ready for the move!) I really can't wait for warmer weather when I can plug my iPod earphones into my ears and go for a nice long walk. On the other hand, packing for the Big Move may be giving me some exercise of the weight-lifting kind.

Still, I lost another 1/2 kilo / 1 lb or so. Overall I think it was a successful week.

How was your week? Come and share with other Challengers in the forum [10]!