mitsuwa bento

my sweet husband surprised me last week with a new bento box (he saw it at a store when he was looking for something else).  wanting to use it, and finding ourselves with more time on our hands than usual due to the three-day weekend, we decided to take a trip to edgewater, nj to go to the fabulous mitsuwa marketplace — a veritable wonderland comprised of a full-sized japanese supermarket as well as a food court and a number of specialty shops and stands.  more on our trip, after the jump.

first of all, it’s a good thing we don’t live closer, because i’d be obese.  between the redonkulous black sesame soft-serve ice cream at ito-en (the teahouse), the beautiful wagashi at minamoto kitchoan, and the delicious patries (especially the eclairs and cream puffs) at yokohama st. honore, there is no way i could control myself.  i would also be poor!  i bought some really cool (but rather expensive) e-mooks at sanseido bookstore, and could have gone nuts at the shiseido store as well.  anyway, it was a fun trip, and i also stocked up on hard-to-find-in-brooklyn japanese groceries and pantry items.

tomorrow’s lunch is made mostly using those grocery purchases.  i have three onigiri made of brown and white rice mixed with a packaged seasoning mix from mitsuwa, which is actually designed for chirashi (scattered sushi).  it’s a little bit sweet/tangy, and has bits of nice veggies (lotus, carrot, radish) — yum.  i’ve also got some shibazuke wakame (seaweed salad) — i believe it’s artificially colored, not made from a rare red/purple seaweed.  this box also contains some mushi kuromame (steamed black beans), topped with a few lemon slices, and some nukazuke (mixed pickled vegetables) from the extensive selection at the pickle stand (heaven!).

pretty low calorie, actually, and will be a nice way to re-live the fun trip once i’m back at my desk tomorrow.  here are the stats:

• three “chirashi” onigiri - 235 calories (1.2 g. fat [0.1 g. sat.], 268.8 mg. sodium, 51.5 g. carbs [2.3 g. fiber, 4.8 g. sugar], 4.2 g. protein, 2.8% iron)
• approx. 2 oz. mushi kuromame – 60 calories (810 mg. sodium, 12 g. carbs [4.5 g. fiber], 4.5 g. protein, 6% iron)
• approx 1.75 oz. shibazuke wakame - 60 calories (3.0 g. fat, 724.1 mg. sodium, 7 g. carbs [6.6 g. sugar]
• approx. 2 oz. mixed pickles - 15 calories (0.1 g. fat, 266.5 g. sodium, 296.5 mg. potassium, 2.7 g. carbs, 0.7 g. protein)

TOTAL: 360 calories