Lunch bento, December 5, 2013

Tom likes to hike even in below-freezing temperatures. He usually makes a sandwich or grabs one at a store, but a warm lunch must be nice on a cold day. So here we tested a new thermos lunch box to see how warm the food stays.

• Gohan /steamed rice (208 g; 366 kcal; sodium 0mg)
• Ebi no amazuan / shrimp and root vegetables in sweet and sour sauce (170 kcal; 226 mg)
• Fu champuroo / stir-fried gluten cakes with vegetables (1/4 of recipe; 76 kcal; 75 mg)
• Steamed baby taro root with dengaku miso sauce (30 kcal; 50 mg)
• Hijiki no itameni, chikuwa-iri / saute-simmered hijiki seaweed with fishcake (1/3 of recipe; 49 kcal; 134 mg)
• Daigaku-imo / candied sweet potato (1/4 of recipe; 59 kcal; 21 mg)

Total calories & sodium content: 720 kcal; sodium 506 mg

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Tom was happy with the thermos performance but said he wanted more rice.
200g of steamed rice is basically 2/3 of a cup* of rice (120 cc or 100 g dry rice); it seems a lot, but he needed more to maintain his energy level on a snowy day with the temperature in the 20s F.

(*1 rice cooker cup = 180 cc)