Quiet Afternoons

Looking forward to Spring

2012-02-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

Despite a sudden burst of winter snow recently, my thoughts are turning to Spring. Maybe because the sun feels a big brighter and warmer now when it's shining.

I'm looking forward to a new season of plants on the balcony. What seeds should I order this year?

I always grow morning glories to cover the rails and give us some privacy. The grow so vigorously and flower so abundantly they are always a favourite of mine.

Other contenders are cosmos and sweet peas, or maybe I'll try something new this year like miniature dahlias or marigolds.

In addition to flowers, I always make room for some basic herbs like mint, thyme and rosemary. Last year I tried dill for the first time. I didn't use it very much for cooking, but the flower heads were very pretty - like fireworks.

I'm hoping the lavender I started from seed will come back this year. With the mild winter we've had I think there's a good chance!

With plants, come insects. Some are troublesome, like aphids, but beneficial insects are great, such as big bumblebees and ladybugs. Last summer, I was so excited to find these ladybug eggs on the underside of a morning glory leaf:

The ladybug babies (which don't look anything like ladybugs - they look like strange lizards) would soon hatch and munch away on the pesky aphids. Natural pest control.

Sometimes the garden vistors are surprising. This spider who was hiding in the the rails was huge - about an inch long:

He was so furry, like an old man spider. I kind of hope he visits my garden again this year!

Souvenirs from Tokyo #4

2012-02-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

Tokyo has lots of lovely, well curated vintage shops stocked with old timey goodies from North America.

Sometimes it was a bit surreal to be surrounded by items from your childhood even though you're on the other side of the world. For instance, at a shop in Shin-Koenji, I found school desks exactly like the ones I used in kindergarten. They even had Irish Spring soap (my dad used this in the 90s) and Lip Smackers (remember those?). It was a trip down memory lane.

This shop even had the twin of a Fireking mug I've had for years and years. Of course we bought it, and now they are a happy pair.

These cheery McDonald's mugs also came home with us:

We stumbled on these Yoshitomo Nara cups in Shimokitazawa. They're sold as one cup sake drinks and were only about two dollars each. The sake inside wasn't great, but the cups are adorable. We brought them home to use as drinking glasses.

That third one has the remains of last night's wine in it.

Brown Tweed

2012-02-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

While watching a bunch of River Cottage episodes, my attention was occasionally drawn away from the food and farm animals to Hugh's tweedy English sweaters and vests.

It took a while to find a tweed I liked. It had to be 100% wool and I wanted the flecks of colour to be harmonious with each other, instead of loud, garish colours that looked too busy together. In the end I chose the new Rowan Tweed in Keld, a chocolatey brown with flecks of dark red, golden brown and dark brown.

The pattern is the Seamless Raglan from Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmermann. It's my favourite sweater pattern. I like pullovers with no waist shaping and seamless sweaters are so comfortable to wear since they stretch and move in all directions. This time I made a double thick folded crew neck opening - I like how plush it is!

Undo and Make New

2012-01-03T18:24:00.000-08:00

Something I really love about knitting is how easy it is to undo. Undo a little to fix mistakes, or even undo the whole thing.

A few years ago I made a garter stitch scarf. I was teaching myself the continental knitting style, doing row after row of knit stitches, but my gauge was too tight so the scarf ended up a little stiff and consequently little worn after completion. Over the holidays I wanted to make a new cabled scarf, so I got out the neglected old scarf, found the end of the yarn, and...

...rip, rip, rip. Undid the whole thing, row by row. Soaked the wool and let it dry to relax the kinks a little. Then rewound it into new balls of wool and knit it all into something new:

The wool is Highlander by Alpaca With a Twist, a blend of alpaca and merino. It's soft, has a nice drape and knit up quickly on size 9 needles. The colour reminds me of cookies and cream ice cream.

Warm and thick with cabled goodness. Perfect for today when it was -27°C outside with the wind chill.

Snacks

2012-01-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

Two delicious snacks I ate recently:

1. Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookie
A huge, dense cookie from my local coffee shop with the perfect amount of chocolate and sea salt on top. I'm not really into cookies (is that crazy?) but this cookie was seriously good. The best cookie I can remember eating in fact!

2. Muscat Grapes
I've eaten Muscat grape flavoured gummy candies in Japan (where gummy candy flavours get that specific) but I've never come across them in fresh form until last week. Very, very low in acidity, these grapes were so refreshing, mild and sweet. I couldn't stop snacking on them.

Favourite Cleanser

2011-12-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

I finally found a cleansing oil I like as much as the DHC olive oil cleanser I tried in Japan. It's the Origins Clean Energy cleanser.

The oil is great at removing dirt and the cleanser also contains emulsifiers that react with water so it rinses off easily. This is a blend of different oils (olive, sesame, sunflower, etc.) and no parabens, artificial colours or perfumes. That cheery yellow colour is all natural!

Small Signs of Older Age

2011-12-13T13:51:00.000-08:00

Small changes I'm noticing as I get older:

1. The weather affects me a lot more than it used to when I was in my 20's. Now cloudy days genuinely bum me out.

2. Baby toe nail is getting weird. It's not non-existent yet like my mom's, but it's definitely looking a bit...different.

3. I've changed my mind about some foods I thought were gross as a kid. Like persimmons (the soft, mushy kind.)

Udon

2011-11-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

The fanciest dinner I made last week was probably this udon. I went on a bit of a cooking rampage, making side dishes for this dish and the rest of the week including a big batch of tofu fritters and shiitake mushrooms simmered in sweetened soy sauce.

Toppings are shiitake mushrooms, a tofu fritter, green onion, chopped pickled plum and seaweed.

My husband had udon noodles, I had soba.

Impulse Buys

2011-11-27T12:29:00.000-08:00

A small bottle of perfume by Philosophy and travel sized hand cream from L'Occitane. My hands get so dry in the winter so I'll carry the hand cream around with me in my bag.

I can't remember the last time I bought a perfume. This one smells kind of like nice, clean soap and the tiny bottle is cute!

Breakfast

2011-11-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

For big days at the office, a big breakfast:

Thin slice of ham, eggs, fried tomatoes and onions, rice and maple beans.

More Patchwork

2011-11-18T14:09:00.000-08:00

This was finished early in the summer after I got annoyed at our drawer of plastic bags which sometimes got jammed with errant bags. I've been using it happily ever since for storing and dispensing small plastic bags. The pattern is from Machine Made Patchworks 02 and the fabrics are bits and bobs from other sewing projects.

You stuff the plastic bags through the opening at the top which is held shut with velcro:

And pull them out of the bottom when you need one:

Peabody

2011-11-18T13:56:00.000-08:00

Finished a new sweater. I mostly wanted to use up some leftover wool and found a pattern that matched: Peabody by Brooklyntweed.

I barely had enough wool to finish this so the sleeves are a bit short. The yarn is Briggs & Little Regal in Midnight Blue which is a hardwearing, rustic sort of yarn made in Canada. Not soft and a bit scratchy, but very warm which is appreciated greatly in our climate.

Fish for Breakfast

2011-11-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

Good tasting, but badly unbalanced breakfast:

Fish shaped pancake/waffle with red bean filling. Called taiyaki (baked sea bream) in Japanese or 붕어빵 (crucian carp bread) in Korean. (Not sure how to Romanize the Korean...boong uh bbahng?) Funny how it's named after different fish in Japan and Korea. I wonder if the molds for the batter are different...

Anyway, had two of these for breakfast. The edges were very crispy. The filling was warm and sweet.

Ideas for Winter Dressing

2011-11-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful Fall day, but Winter will be here soon enough. Some cold weather clothing inspiration from Dandelion:

1. Layer like crazy.

A lot of clothing squeezed onto one person: two coats, two scarves,
two dresses/skirts, tights, socks, belt, mittens, furry hat and shoes!

2. Wear bright colours.

Especially when it's gray and gloomy.
The eyes get a bit starved for colour during the Winter.

Souvenirs from Tokyo #3

2011-11-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Some souvenir gifts from friends...
A perfect, little wooden spoon from Yuko and Naoya:

I think it was hand carved - there are tiny, tiny chisel marks on the surface.

Also, they gave us these little cubes for decorating. They are made of metal, but the painted surface makes them look like soft, worn squares of chalk.

I like to change their arrangement every once in a while. The colours are so pretty.

One of the gifts from our friend Aya was this masu:

You can drink sake out of it, or use it to measure rice. That's what we use it for. Since I make rice almost everyday, I often reach for this and am reminded of friends in faraway places.

Red Maple

2011-10-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

My view lately:

This maple tree turns a glorious red every Autumn. When the sun is out, the light reflecting off of the leaves fills the living room with a warm red glow.

Souvenirs From Tokyo #2

2011-10-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

Over two trips to Japan, I now have a small collection of books purchased in Tokyo. I feel both inspired and nostalgic when I look through them now.

Hamburger magazine (filled with places to eat the best hamburgers in Tokyo), and two cookbooks by Harumi Kurihara that I found in a small bookstore near our hotel.

I was really excited when I picked up the cookbooks because they're bilingual! Every page is in both English and Japanese.

Camera Biyori (Life with Camera magazine), Flat House Life (filled with cozy, stylish bungalows), Michikusa (illustrated walks around Tokyo) and Chibi Maruko-chan (comic book).

Photo book the eyes, the ears by Rinko Kawauchi (we saw her photo exhibit at Foil Gallery), and two books documenting interesting apartments.

Arne magazines. I wish I had more of these. Basically a woman made a very good zine about things she liked.

The photography is modest and lo-fi. This issue is all about food. Every step is detailed.

Travelsands and Dandelion. Travels books by Aoi Yu (actress) and Yoko Takahashi (photographer). One is in California, the other Siberia. Siberia looks stunning in the photos but must be absolutely freezing. Aoi Yu always has the best clothes! Some of the outfits in here are amazing!

Books for knitting and sewing. It was hard to limit myself in the crafts section of the Kinokuniya bookstore. Very, very hard.

Maybe it seems strange to buy books you can't really read, but I think it reminds me all the more of the feeling of being in Japan, where most of the time I didn't understand the language around me. Not understanding everything, but being fascinated and interested was part of everyday life when I was there, and I got to bring a bit of that back with me.

Fritters

2011-10-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

At the Nara Cafe in Tokyo, they have a delicious lunch set that usually comes with a small side dish of simmered ganmodoki (tofu fritters). I tried to make some the other day. One of the ingredients I used was hijiki seaweed. Out of the package came these long strings:

They colour the water while soaking. Eventually they really swelled up a lot!

The recipe was combined from a book and some online recipes but some of the ingredients are hard to find here, so these don't have quite the same texture as the ones I had in Japan. But I think fried tofu tastes delicious even when plain, so these with all the other veggies in them taste really great.

They make a nice snack!

Fall Mums

2011-10-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law gave my a big bucket of red and pinks mums from her garden.

Enough for small, medium and large bouquets!

New Hat

2011-10-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

It's full on Autumn now so it's time to think about hats, scarves and all that nice stuff. It gets pretty cold here in my part of Canada! This is a hat pattern from the Purl Bee called Simple Pleasures. An easy knit but I made some changes to the pattern (details on Ravelry).

I used one skein of Malabrigo lace I had lying around. I usually don't buy random skeins of wool because it's hard to find projects that use just one and I feel guilty if my yarn stash gets too big but I couldn't resist the colour.

The other yarn used is Rowan Kid Silk Haze. I really like the marled affect of the two yarns together.

Souvenirs From Tokyo #1

2011-10-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

The best holidays I've ever had were in Tokyo. I have been there twice and I can't describe in words how amazing it was...

One of the things we brought back from our most recent trip was tea from a fancy tea shop down the road from where we were staying. This is a blend of green tea, matcha and roasted brown rice. I love it because the flavour changes over time. The first cup from the teapot tastes bright and green from the matcha. As it steeps in the pot, the taste changes and later cups are mellower and nuttier from the brown rice.

The little teacup is from a small shop in Shimokitazawa. The wood tray is from Muji.

Blue Gingham Shirt

2011-10-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

Summer clothes sewing recap #2. Made with a linen cotton blend from Tokyo which was great for the crazy summer heat we had this year. Somehow both light and breezy, but not sheer or flimsy feeling. Pattern from Stylish Dress Book 3. After making this shirt I had enough fabric left to make a little tank top too and wore both a lot this summer.

Ceramics Class

2011-10-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

I'm taking pottery classes again. I really look forward to each class, but always leave feeling a bit frustrated. As a beginner, you have to have different expectations of what is possible, but I haven't made one piece yet that I feel content about. The shape, size, evenness, colour and behaviour of the glaze all have to come together. There are many steps to completing a single piece and many things can go wrong (a messily run studio makes things even more difficult!) Anyway, here are a few pieces I brought home with me:

Rice bowl. Should be more red, but came out rather dark.

I like the shape and character of this one, but it's a bit heavy
and the glaze has pinholes and came out too brown.

Cute and chunky rice bowl. A bit small. A bit crooked.

Actually...they all look nicer in the photos than in real life! Believe me, they are very amateur, but that's to be expected. Maybe one day...

Nani Iro Shirt

2011-09-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

It's time to start putting away our summer clothes here. I did a bit of summer sewing this year with fabric I purchased in Tokyo back in the Spring. I brought back some lovely Nani Iro double gauze and made this short sleeved shirt with it using a pattern from a Japanese book (also purchased in Tokyo). I wish I had a touch more fabric so I could have made this a tiny bit longer...

The double gauze is very soft and comfy.

Patchwork Pillow

2011-09-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

More sewing with scraps! I cut a bunch of identical squares a long time ago in order to tidy up my stash of scrap fabric, and decided to make a little throw pillow out of some of them. I took some stuffing from an old, unused pillow and wrapped it in some new batting to slip inside.

Breakfast

2011-09-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

Plain, organic yogourt made from non-homogenized whole milk, sliced organic strawberries and honey.

The strawberries had real strawberry flavour. As you can see, I filled the bowl a little too high - the first couple of spoonfuls were tricky!

Lunch

2011-09-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

My lunch today:

This tofu dish has become a favourite. Mushrooms, tofu and scallions in a thick sauce seasoned with dashi, soy sauce and mirin. I adapted a recipe called "Kuzu Tofu" from a book I bought in Tokyo called "Your Japanese Kitchen" by Harumi Kurihara. In addition to some ingredient substitutions, I made mine on the stove instead of in the microwave.

The squash salad recipe is from Ai. I just mixed cooked squash with Kewpie mayo and salt. Yummy. It would taste even better with proper kabocha squash which I couldn't find at the market today.

Making New Plants

2011-09-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

I took some cuttings from the chocolate mint plant I have outside in order to propagate some smaller plants to grow inside during the winter. They root so easily - mint is a trooper!

Yarn Samples

2011-09-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

So many possibilities...so many nice colours...I could look at these all day.

From Briggs & Little. Some more yarn samples from Blackwater Abbey:

New Houseplants

2011-09-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

For something green to look at during the winter months.

Spider plant:

And prayer plant:

I didn't know when I bought it but the prayer plant's leaves close up a little bit at night and splay out during the day.

Both these plants are supposed to be easy to care for so I hope they do well.

Lilac Lamb

2011-09-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

A sweet little present from a pair of friends who live too far away.

Looking at him makes me want to knit a lilac sweater!

Small Things From the Garden #2

2011-09-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

A little herb bouquet I picked earlier this summer - dill and Thai basil flowers.

Quilted Pouch

2011-09-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

Making something from things you already have and being resourceful feels great.

I needed a new zippered pouch for cosmetics and things when travelling, so I made one out of bits of scrap fabric. It's fun to look at the different fabrics and remember the various projects and memories attached to each.

One day I would like to make a quilt from scraps...

Tea Experiment

2011-08-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

I didn't have seasonal allergies when I was growing up, but now I do. It's very uncomfortable.
Nettles apparently contain antihistamines so I'm trying nettle tea instead of taking allergy medication.

So far I like it. Symptoms are less bothersome. And drinking tea is always nice.

Especially from a small, crooked tea cup that I made myself.

Unwelcome visitor

2011-08-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

Every year at this time a few wasps wander into our apartment through the open balcony door. They never remember how they got in, instead spending hours flying against the glass window, getting angrier and angrier.

I now have a method of trapping them when they're inside. It involves a wide mouth glass jar, tin foil and the freezer. I usually catch at least a couple really big ones - I suspect they're queens looking for a new place to make a nest to overwinter in. Not in our house please!

Small things from the garden.

2011-08-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

Dried poppy pods and the first ripe Thai chilies.

Summer is ending.

2011-08-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

I can hear cicadas outside. Amazing how an insect can produce such a loud sound.
The summer sun is still shining, but there is a coolness in the air. Autumn is coming.

Suddenly I want to start knitting again.

Here goes...

2011-08-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a blog. I'm not sure why.

Just to share some nice things about day to day life I suppose...