Udon

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

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

For big days at the office, a big breakfast:


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

More Patchwork

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.