Week 5, day 5. The End of the Challenge.

Look what turned up yesterday - 2 kg (4.5 lb) of cherries …


… and 2 kg of apricots:


The first fruit delivery of the year from the orchard that supplies us. I think I ate a kg of cherries yesterday, they are gorgeous. And they go mouldy quite quickly so they have to be eaten. I don't think I'll be losing any weight this week somehow.

Today's lunch is exactly the same as yesterdays, minus the tomato. The veges are hiding under the sausage and meatballs.


I now have a bit more space in my freezer, and a pile of empty plastic containers so I can fill it up again.

Bulghur = 96 Cal
carrot mix = 70 Cal
50 g sausage = 130 Cal
meatballs and sauce = 100 Cal
mushrooms = 20 Cal

Total = 416 Cal

Today's furoshiki is the one I made from fabric with creepy-crawlies on it. I photographed it lying flat so you can see them properly:


I suppose some people may prefer to wrap their food in something different.

Week 5, day 4.

I have a terrible compulsion to use anything new I get immediately. When I was small it consisted mostly of demanding to wear my new shoes home from the shop, this week it has been to use each new furoshiki ASAP. This one has Happy Hens on it. The original ceramic Happy Hens are made by a lady who lives just five minutes from me on the Otago Peninsula.


My lunch is bulghur with furikake, Thai green curry sausage; a tomato; meatballs from my freezer stash, with Burning Desire barbecue sauce on them (the company which made this delicious smoky sauce seems to have gone out of business, so I am rationing my last bottle); and some of the carrot and capsicum, and some of the mushrooms, that I made the other night.


Bulghur = 96 Cal
carrot mix = 70 Cal
50 g sausage = 130 Cal
meatballs and sauce = 100 Cal
mushrooms = 20 Cal
tomato = 3 Cal

Total = 419 Cal

I am displaying a great deal of willpower, as an old friend is here on business from Auckland, and another old friend is here from the USA (unfortunately because of a death in the family), and I am not meeting them for lunch. I am giving them time to eat and then going over to join them for coffee.

I may have to rethink my bento ingredients a bit too - my interstitial cystitis is flaring up. Usually it is well controlled by restricting my coffee consumption to one or two cups a week, and only espresso. Maybe the flare up is hormonal, but maybe it is all the spicy food I've been including in my bentos! Or perhaps it's the sugared tamarind I bought the other day? I have always eaten a lot of spicy food so it shouldn't be that really. Whatever, I need to do something about it.

Week 5, day 3.

I have discovered that photos are a lot less blurry when you have the focus set to "auto" rather than "manual" and are expecting the camera to focus itself! I forgot I'd changed it.

Another new furoshiki today - the ornate capital letters one:


And inside it there is one of my Hakoya boxes with bulghur, half a sausage, beans, the other devilled egg from yesterday, and some of the carrot and capsicum vege mix I made last night.


Bulghur = 96 Cal
carrot mix = 70 Cal
50 g sausage = 130 Cal
egg = 100 Cal
beans = 27 Cal

Total = 423 Cal

A bit better than yesterday. Not such a long walk today though. I went into town and bought a 700ml thermal lunch box from Kathmandu (an outdoor wilderness sort of shop). As well as keeping lunches warm, I think it'll be good for making yoghurt.

Week 5, day 2.

I don't know what's happened to me recently, all my photos are coming out blurry. Is it the old-age shakes, or have I changed a setting on my camera I wonder?

I'm using my new orange furoshiki today, to match …


… my orange balloon bento box. I have 3 pieces of nigiri sushi, a small capsicum in slices, half a Thai green curry flavoured sausage (homemade from the freezer, I'm trying to clear out a bit of freezer space), pickled onion (another fridge jar emptying project), cherry tomatoes, and a devilled egg. I haven't had a devilled egg for years; I had a sudden yen for one so I made a couple, being very frugal with the fat-laden yolk-moistening ingredients. The little plastic mayo containers hold miso and some dehydrated seaweed & spring onion stuff to put in the soup. I've also tucked a few fancy carrot cutouts in the gaps. I was testing out some little cookie cutters I bought.



1 egg plus 2 g butter = 105 Cal
1/4 cup of rice (raw measure) = 179 Cal
3 prawns = ~ 20 Cal
small capsicum = 15 Cal
miso (1 heaped tsp) = 18 Cal
50 g sausage = 130 Cal
pickled onion = 10 Cal
tomatoes = 12 Cal
carrots, nori etc = ~ 5 Cal

Total = 495

That's getting up towards the maximum I want to eat at lunchtime - but I knew it would happen, it's the sausage. I have more of it to eat over the next few days too. Longer walks may be the answer, but then the sushi rice is all gone now too, so maybe if I have bulghur as my carb things will settle down.

Week 5, day 1.

Yay me, I lost 900 g (~2 lb) this week. That's been 2.7 kg in 4 weeks so far; pretty good - let's hope I can keep it up.

Today's photos are a bit blurry, sorry about that. I used my new strawberry furoshiki to wrap my lunch …


… which consists of brown rice (testing Maki's pressure cooker technique, very good it was too) with wasabi furikake (bought), mussels, the last gherkin, some of the chicken I made last week and froze, tomatoes, slices of lotus rootlet, sushi ginger, capers, and runner beans - which you can't see because they're under the chicken and tomatoes.

brown rice = 180 Cal
mussels = 50 Cal
gherkin = 17 Cal
3 cherry tomatoes = 9 Cal
100 g chicken stuffed with carrots = 160 Cal
1/2 cup beans = 25 Cal
1 tsp capers = 4 Cal
1 tsp pickled ginger = 5 Cal
lotus rootlet = 4 Cal

Total = 454 Cal

That's less than I was expecting. And I walked uptown today to buy some lining fabric and tape so I can finish the two dresses I made on Saturday. That's about a half hour walk.

Week 4, day 5. On holiday.

No work today (Waitangi Day), so no bento either. I can show some of my lunch though - I ate nectarines from my tree:


I'm very proud of this tree, it grows in a pot on my deck, and is not more than 4 feet high. This year it produced an alarming number of nectarines - most of which have been eaten.


I spent the day reorganising my shoes, wondering what to make out of some cool tartan fabric I bought, and and hemming furoshiki. There are three New Zealand themed furoshiki; one with tuis and pohutukawa, one with Happy Hens, and one with giant wetas, snails, and lizards. One furoshiki has celtic initials in gold and white on black, and four of them have fruit or vegetable patterns - a little more appropriate for wrapping your lunch in than giant wetas. I made a couple of bento belts out of black elastic, with bits of fabric appliquéd over the seam. I need to find some coloured elastic though - the oranges wouldn't look right on black.

Week 4, day 4.

The only interesting thing about today's lunch is where I ate it. It is so beautiful today, not too hot, but lovely and sunny, that I decided to take my lunch with me on my walk and eat it in the Botanic Gardens.

These are the "Professorial Houses"; houses that were built for the first professors at the University of Otago. I love them, and wish they were still available for living in. Unfortunately they are offices now.


This is the view from the first steep bit of walk up to the Rhododendron Dell (my work is a block to the left of that long orange roof):


The rhododendrons finished flowering a couple of months ago, but it is still a lovely walk:


I found a nice old park bench in some shade just by the Central Dell …


… so I sat there to eat my lunch looking out into the sunny garden:


My lunch is another of the Thai steamed curries, more dry vegetable curry and quinoa, some tomatoes, a gherkin (still emptying fridge jars), some feta, and some of the dried tofu/carrot/cabbage kinpira I made last night. I think I actually quite like the tofu; it takes a bit of getting used to, but it's OK.


Thai steamed curry = 100 Cal
vege curry & quinoa = 200 Cal
tofu/carrot/cabbage kinpira = 50 Cal? at a rough guess.
2 cherry tomatoes = 6 Cal
gherkin = 17 Cal
25 g feta = 75 Cal

Total = 448 Cal

Then I went on my merry way, down the hill to the more populated bit of the Gardens and to the supermarket to get salt and rolled oats. And came away with two grocery bags of stuff! I have to get out of that habit.

Week 4, day 3.

So far today I haven't been for a walk, but will go as soon as I finish this - so long as no one comes with more things for me to do.

Today I had some of the dry vege curry with quinoa and one of the steamed curries I made on Sunday. I also have some feta, three cherry tomatoes, the last of the zucchini and mushroom stir fry, and the last little bits of pickled jalapeño from the fridge. The jalapeños are delicious though, so a new jar will be arriving in the fridge soon.


Thai steamed curry = 100 Cal
vege curry & quinoa = 200 Cal
zucchini and mushroom = 20 Cal
3 cherry tomatoes = 9 Cal
jalapeños = 10 Cal
25 g feta = 75 Cal

Total = 414 Cal

Week 4, day 2.

Today I'm having one of the steamed curries I made on Sunday, and beans! Last night while wandering around the garden I discovered that my scarlet runner beans had started beaning, so it was beans for dinner last night, and leftover beans today. Scarlet runner beans are just about my favourite vegetable.

I also have the last of the sautéed curry shrimps, some feta, a couple of tomatoes, barley tabbouleh, and mushrooms and zucchini.



Thai steamed curry = 100 Cal
barley, 1/2 cup = 100 Cal
35 g shrimp stir fry = 50 Cal
zucchini and mushroom = 8 Cal
2 cherry tomatoes = 6 Cal
runner beans = 7 Cal
25 g feta = 75 Cal

Total = 346 Cal

And I discovered an unexpected taste sensation - I ended up with a couple of shrimps and a bit of feta left, and ate them together. I would never have thought of combing the two, but it was scrumptious.

Week 4, day 1.

Maki's challenge for week four is making bentos for other people. A bit difficult for me; my son and granddaughters live in another country. I live by myself, apart from the cats, and I think they'd wonder what had happened to me if I started making bentos for them! I shall just have to continue with what I've been doing so far, and make "thought bentos" for the little girls.

Well, last Tuesday's free fatty dinner did me no good at all - I weighed the same this morning that I did last Monday. Oh well, at least I didn't put any on.

Today I am having the vegetable curry I made yesterday with quinoa (rather flattened), and some tomatoes, shrimp curry stir fry, a bit of feta, and some zucchini and mushrooms.



vegetable curry and quinoa = 200 Cal
35 g shrimp stir fry = 50 Cal
zucchini and mushroom = 8 Cal
4 cherry tomatoes = 12 Cal
25 g feta = 75 Cal

Total = 345 Cal.

And I went for a walk to the far away supermarket before lunch today.

Week 3, day 5.

Today is a good day; I've succeeded in all of Maki's goals for the week. I have a Middle Eastern themed bento, with vegetable protein in the form of falafel and hummus, a yoghurt tzatziki sort of sauce, carrot salad, tomatoes, and tabbouleh made with whole barley:


The hummus is heart shaped because I froze it in one of those silicon ice tray things - a batch of hummus is too much for me to eat at once. I put the little heart-shaped blocks of hummus into my bento still frozen.

barley, 1 cup = 194 Cal
carrots, 100g = 41 Cal
oil & lemon juice dressing = 33 Cal
falafels = 80 Cal
4 cherry tomatoes = 12 Cal
hummus = 50 Cal
tzatziki = 10 Cal?

Total = 420 Cal.

Not too bad at all. I bought some Cruskits at the supermarket today, I might have one of those as well - that will be another 21 Cal.

Today's lunch is wrapped in a furoshiki with paua on it - that is abalone to the rest of the world.

Week 3, day 4.

It seems to be a week for failing at Maki's goals. Today I have no vegetable protein at all, although my bento is pretty thrifty. I'm using up the last of the poached chicken, some shrimps from the freezer, some of the sushi rice I made and froze at the weekend, shredded cabbage, spring onion, and gherkin and pickled jalapeños from the fridge jars I'm trying to empty.

50 g shrimps = 50 Cal
30 g chicken = 63 Cal
rice = 180 Cal
cabbage = 10 Cal
jalapeños = 10 Cal
gherkin = 17 Cal
spring onion = 5 Cal
Eta lite cole slaw dressing = 30 Cal
Pam's lite & free Thousand Island dressing = 20 Cal

Total = 385 Cal.

Not much at all, which is just as well because I have a meeting over coffee at 3. No doubt I'll see something sweet and delicious at the coffee shop and be unable to resist it.

Week 3, day 3.

This week's goals are supposed to be thriftiness and trying to use more vegetarian protein, while keeping up with the weight loss. Last night I scored extremely well on the thriftiness scale, but failed miserably on weight loss; I went to a company presentation which included free food and drinks. Everything was either deep fried or encased in pastry! And delicious too, so I ate quite a lot.

Today's lunch has more of the roast vege & bulghur salad, a little poached chicken, a hard boiled egg, 3 of the small baked falafels I made at the weekend, some broccoli, three cherry tomatoes, and some gherkin and pickled jalapeños. Very similar to yesterday's in fact, but with falafels insted of mussels.


roast vege salad = 200 Cal
egg = 88 Cal
30g chicken = 53 Cal
gherkin = 17 Cal
broccoli = 5 Cal
3 cherry tomatoes = 9 Cal
jalapeños = 10 Cal
falafels = 60 Cal

Total = 442 Cal

I may go for a walk later on, but my car is in getting its biannual checkup and Warrant of Fitness so I walked from the mechanic's to work this morning, and will walk back to pick up the car later on. That's a good 30 minutes all up.

Week 3, day 2.

Today I am having what should have been yesterday's lunch. I have broccoli, marinated mussels, cherry tomatoes, gherkins & pickled jalapeños (using up fridge supplies), roast vege and bulghur salad, a little poached chicken, and hard boiled egg. It's in one of my nice Hakoya boxes, and was wrapped in the cheerful red furoshiki:


roast vege salad = 200 Cal
egg = 88 Cal
30g chicken = 53 Cal
gherkin = 17 Cal
broccoli = 5 Cal
4 cherry tomatoes = 12 Cal
mussels = 50 Cal
jalapeños = 10 Cal


Total = 435 Cal

That's quite respectable. My walk will have to be postponed today though - it is bucketing down outside. It's supposed to clear up later on.

Week 3, day 1.

Good news and bad news today. The good news is that I weigh 1.2 kg (2.6 pounds) less than last Monday. The bad news is that I left my lunch at home in the fridge this morning. I guess this is the downside of making it the night before.

However, I resisted the temptation to buy sushi and went off to the supermarket where, in addition to the cherry tomatoes that I needed to buy anyway, I bought two corn cobs ($1.25 each, still rather expensive because early in the season), two apricots, and a pottle of yoghurt from the short-dated bin. Three minutes in the tearoom microwave for one of the corn cobs (I'm saving the other in case I need a snack later on), then peel and salt. Delicious. Here is a photo of my non-bento lunch:


corn cob = 83 Cal
6 cherry tomatoes = 18 Cal
2 apricots = 60 Cal
yoghurt = 67 Cal

Total = 228 Cal

Cost = ~$4, which is half what sushi would have cost.

I'll definitely have to have the other corn cob later on though, 228 Cal is not enough to keep a sparrow going for an afternoon.

Week 2, day 5.

Breakfast every day this week. Yay me.

This furoshiki has kiwis all over it. The quilting shop has quite a few New Zealand themed fabrics. I must get some of the pohutukawa fabric, it's lovely.


The other day I bought a 250g packet of what claimed to be frozen whitebait. I knew it wasn't what we Kiwis call whitebait because it was only $6.95, but I thought it was worth a taste. I made some fritters last night, and included some in today's bento. It was OK, but nowhere near as good as proper whitebait. There is also a mini frittata, a few bits of feta, some coleslaw, two chilli marinated mussels, some bean sprouts, and five cherry tomatoes. I put a bit of Thousand Island on the fritters - which goes to show how much it was not like whitebait.


coleslaw = 82 Cal
mini frittata = 90 Cal
fritters = 100 Cal
mussels = 30 Cal maybe?
tomatoes = 15 Cal
feta = 75 Cal
bean sprouts = ~15 Cal?
dressing = 20 Cal

Total = 427 Cal

That's pretty good, but it has to be because I didn't go for a proper walk today.

Week 2, day 4.

This is the fourth day in a row I've had breakfast, so doing well with this week's goals.

Today's furoshiki is a pretty green pattern …


and is a necessity, because the pastel green bento box doesn't have a belt.
I have a mini frittata, some roast vege salad, 50g of shrimps, a cheese-filled belle pepper, two artichoke heart quarters, some coleslaw, and a few bean sprouts. I also put a bit of lite Thousand Island dressing on the shrimps.


coleslaw = 82 Cal
mini frittata = 90 Cal
shrimps = 50 Cal
artichoke hearts = 9 Cal
roast veges = ~40 Cal
pepper = 15 Cal
bean sprouts = ~15 Cal?
dressing = 20 Cal

Total = 321 Cal

Not very much. I can have a snack later on. I went for quite a long walk too - looking for shoes and bags. Buying shoes and a bag. Nothing fancy though.

Week 2, day 3.

Today's furoshiki is black with little white polka dots:


And the bento box is a cheap one I bought in Auckland at Christmas. It says "the life that bounced" around one of the balloons. Lunch is some of the Korean Barbecued Beef I made on Saturday, coleslaw, cherry tomatoes, a couple of artichoke hearts, some of the roast vege salad I made last night, and one of the "would be a quiche if it had pastry" things. I must think of a proper name for those. Mini frittata?



coleslaw = 82 Cal
tomatoes = 15 Cal
mini frittata = 90 Cal
beef = 130 Cal
artichoke hearts = 9 Cal
roast veges = ~40 Cal

Total = ~ 366 Cal

I went for a walk to the further away supermarket, through the Botanic Gardens. The ducks were out in force:


The construction fencing has finally been removed from the fountain in front of the willow behind the knot garden:


And the roses, although past their best, were lovely.

Week 2, day 2.

It hasn't been a very good day today. I have just been at the vet's, holding Timothy cat while he was euthanased, if that is the right word. He was very sick, but I've had him for 14 years so it was a bit traumatic.

Today's bento is wrapped in a cheerful red furoshiki. I've made quite a few of these out of "fat quarters", at least I think that's what they're called - 50x50 cm squares of fabric from the quilting shop. They add another layer of security between the runny contents of your bento box and your bag.


The bento box is another of my favourite Hakoya ones, holding 530 ml. The lunch itself is coleslaw, a hard boiled egg (one day I'll make a "cute bento" using egg halves for the eyes), a cheese-stuffed belle pepper, some left-over potato salad, and some of the Thai-flavoured beef I made at the weekend:


coleslaw = ~82 Cal
egg = 88 Cal
beef = ~128 Cal
potatoes = 67 Cal
aoli = 40 Cal
tomato = 3 Cal
feta = 50 Cal
pepper = 15 Cal

Total =~473 Cal

Not too bad, but I'm not going for a walk today - I spent my lunch spare time at the vet's.

Week 2 day 1.

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself today, I weighed myself this morning and I was 70.8 kg, that's 700 g or 1.5 pounds lighter than last week. And I ate breakfast this morning too.

Here is today's cute wee bento box:


It only holds 400ml, but the lid becomes another bowl when turned upside down.

I have chicken, capsicum slices, toasted cashews, and bean sprouts in the non-leakproof bottom bowl, and glass noodles in the fish sauce/lime juice/garlic/ginger/sugar dressing in the leakproof-ish middle container. The little plastic pottle things contain miso and dried seaweed/onion/bread curl stuff to put in the miso soup I shall make in the lid/bowl:



It was a whole lot easier to put all the salad ingredients into a large bowl to mix and eat, so I did:



35g cashews = 194 Cal
75g chicken thigh, poached = 133 Cal
40g dry weight glass noodles = 150 Cal
coriander = nothing much
capsicum = 18 Cal
bean sprouts = 25 Cal maybe - they aren't very sprouted so quite dense.
dressing = maybe ~15 Cal - there's no oil in it.
miso soup = 30 Cal

Total = 535 Cal

That's quite a lot, but a lot of it is the cashews, and they're so delicious AND good for you. I'll have a virtuous dinner tonight.

Today's walk was to the closer supermarket, where I bought a pot of coriander plants to keep in the office and a cabbage with which to make salad.