Banzai Brighton and moar goodies

Sad news; the Banzai 99 cent plus in Brighton Beach seems to be closing and most of their *cheap* stuff is getting sold out. Some of the items there are more discounted than usual so you should go visit! But among the coughdustcollectingcough items there, I found an awesome suribachi! (Traditional Japanese mortar) It was only $.99 and the sides are a bit lower compared to the traditional suribachi. Sadly, it didn't come with a surikogi (pestle). I went to MUJI last month and saw separately sold suribachi and surikogi for about $9 each and that's just a rip-off. I went to Sunrise Mart last friday and found a suribachi for $6 and was planning to buy it. But I'm happy with the one I have now, and will buy the cleaning brush from Pearl River Mart in SoHo; $1. Yes... I'm such a money-minded loser.
















On Christmas, my mum told me to bake something and we were kinda short on butter. I dug in my bookmarks and found a recipe from Lovescool for Green Tea Sweets. With my new gingerbread man cookie cutter, I cut out two gingerbread man-shaped cookies and with the rest of the cookie dough, made leaf-shaped cookies. Oddly, I didn't think my family would like it much, but I got a lot of praise and the kiddies were running around the house with cookies in their mouths. YAY. I would've loved to make gingerbread cookies, but the spices are damn pricey and I'm too lazy to buy molasses, ground ginger, and all that other stuff. Maybe next year, along with a gingerbread house. Thank god for the $4 matcha bags at Sunrise Mart.















On Friday, I finally bought a candy thermometer from that shop in Little Italy to make marshmallows. That's right. MARSHMALLOWS. Those sweet, white lumps of airy goodness made its way into my home and I plan to never buy the Jet-Puffed and even the Krasdale stuff again. It was a lot of work to cut them to pieces with a knife (when I should've used the scissor) then cover and remove excess confectioner's sugar from each and every marshmallow. They were a bit larger, but they're very satisfying, so I cut them a bit smaller to portion out. mm.. :9















Next up: Mushi Manju with homemade shiro-an!

Happy Christmas!

Wishlist

A wishlist of things I want, but may never get this year.
★　Rilakkuma bag: a b
☆　Black Rockinghorse shoes: ★ b
☆　ロリタ: MFTjskblack AaTPring darkgreyjsk(#2)+parasol Putublack
★　Lucky Pack: Strapya Supsystem AngelicP Putumayo
☆　Waffle maker: a b
★　お弁当: にこパンチ　たまご　ドリーム　kit
☆　Books: a b c ★ e
☆　Cake pans: bundt, springform, madeleine, square

☆　Silpat: ★ b
☆　Taiyaki mold: a
☆　Takoyaki hot plate: a

pre-christmas sandwich bento and meringues

I was up pretty late making peppermint meringues and they didn't turn out the way they should've... oh well. The taste was exceptional, though I'm never gonna add candy canes to meringues again.
















Hehe.. A croissant sandwich with the gingerbreadman-shaped meringue + vanilla ice cream + butter crunchers cookies = best lunch at school ever. I was so sugar high on Friday and DIBO (chorus) had us sing and gave us free snacks; I grabbed the 100 calorie packs XD.

NYAF '07

^___^ I've been anticipating this meetup since summer and I really have to thank Amber for arranging everything and helping me order my clothes. I got a lot of good comments and I've gotten to know more people. I had such strange meals; kinako with toast for breakfast, belgian waffles for lunch. *drool* The waffles were yummy. coughbaconandpancakescough But uh.. yea.. I never thought being at an anime convention would be so awkward. So wish I had bought the G&L Bible before the boystyle model did (o__o forgot her name) and that copy of La Vie en Rose. The Tokyopop lolita models were really nice, but what was up with the swing and the wedding arch?
Azumi looks gorgeous. I obviously cannot pose for pictures well @__@

a beard?

I am so full of fail =___=
But anyways, I'm gonna be going to NY Anime Festival tomorrow in loli (yesss) and prancing around in it for a day... then sneaking back home in jeans and goods from the Dealer's Room. <3
I'll post photos from the con when I come back, if I'm not too lazy.

late cookies

I baked these cookies... last month and I forgot to post:

















Shortbread Cookies from Simply Recipes.
The first batch on the right turned out ok, but took really long. Rolling cookie dough on wax paper and plastic wrap isn't easy. Most of the cookies were given to Niki for her birthday.
The second batch was for my brother and me, but my mum got one too. I could've used less lemon juice since the lemony taste was a bit strong. It also could've been better if I had made the cookies as thin as Elise made them, but I had a hard time transferring them from my table to the pan. I should try experimenting with other spices in the cookies.

Macy's Rush

I had a terrible time shopping today. Macy's had their two day sale thing and a buy-$75-of stuff-and-get-a-DVD-player-for-$20 again. And then I'm wondering, how many frigging people are in the store? It was so crowded too. The knife set that my mum and I wanted were sold out when we arrived. The $19.99 memory foam pillows disappeared off the shelves by the time we got to the 6th floor. Those pots that we weren't even gonna buy were completely cleared off 4 shelves. And the entire time, my mum was trying to be a thrifty asian: On the 9th floor, this lady was handing out $10 off coupons. My aunts got three, my mum got... five of 'em and was trying to make me get more. And the DVD players? We waited in line to get FOUR of em (with help of aunts). We were buying shit like crazy and she already bought over $80 of cookware and bakeware the day before. We left with 3 shirts, a colander, four DVD players, and a bar of Godiva chocolate, which took around 4 hours to run around and buy.

A few hours ago, my mum tells me that she wants to buy this $50 eau de parfum from Diesel. A few hours after that, I tried to convince my mum to help pay for cheap-loli w/ paypal. Within 3 minutes, she refuses completely. So now I'm off to pay on my own and hope that she won't dig in my half cleared closet going, why is there a lot of lace in your closet? Explaining accessories is easy. I bought 2 pyramid spike belts, a pyramid spike bracelet, a bracelet with gothic crosses, and a vial of black nail polish when I was in middle school. My mum is perfectly fine with it. Clothing is completely different.

omigah~ meh shoes

These are the only "loli-shoes" I have so far. @w@ and cheap too. I do wish that Payless would have more of these, but I bought this last year...
Below is the outfit I'm buying this year... ;o; that's almost $200

Lolita + something to ignore

For the Lolita newbies: Lolita fashion originated from Japan for girls/women to dress like French nobility of the 18 century (Rococo era) **but in modest attire similar to Alice in Wonderland. A few famous lolita designers are: Akinori Isobe (Baby the Stars Shine Bright), Mana (Moi-même-Moitié), and Kuniko Kato (Manifesteange Metamorphose temps de fille). A common misconception is thinking that lolita fashion has to do with Vladmir Nobokov's novel Lolita. It doesn't. You'd probably find more articles relating to this elsewhere so do that. **So this originated as a Japanese fashion, but girls and women wear lolita throughout Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas.

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So here I am, trying to be Lolita and thinking that I'll buy these clothes. Then I think, will I really wear these clothes after HS? When I get a job, would I incorporate it into everything I do? Would I be able to keep it up for very long? and most of all, Will my family accept that I like this kind of thing? About every one of my cousins on my dad's side of the family is obsessed with being "gangsta" and crap. Somehow, I dislike this kind of thing without any clear reason. Not that I hate them or anything, just that it's hard to open up to them when what I view as their negative qualities is all that I see. Sometimes my aunts and uncles say something about me that I find really offensive even when I'm in the same room. But I can't say anything back in my defense because I'm not that verbal with my own feelings; I don't show any sign of distress and I tend to lock everything up and use it as a reason to hate people. If you think that's total bs when I tell you this, ignore what I say. I'm not a very beautiful and elegant person, nor am I someone that everybody likes. But when my aunts criticize the way I dress and even my body, they try to change me into something that THEY want to see. And if my hair is done badly, they tell me that it's ugly- they don't try to be considerate or even try to give me something to fix it up. My hobbies are pretty damn expensive and everyone can agree on that. But if THEY're gonna view what I like and comment on that, why do they bother buying $400 handbags? Even BABY's bags don't exceed $250.

I'm not that loud of a person and I talk even less with my relatives than my friends. Most adults outside of school see me as "quiet" and even "smart". Then when I hear that and reflect I realize how different I view myself. I have to admit it. I am very hypocritical and I have something of a superiority complex. It wouldn't kill me for other people to tell me that I can be really harsh with my words, but that's the way I am and I don't really want to hurt other people's feelings.

"cupcakes"

Banana cupcakes with kinako frosting
Creds to Anjali of Giant Jeans Parlor/Delicious Coma and to Orangette!

I made this a few Sundays ago and had been dying to to make the frosting. Sadly, I hadn't been paying attention to the cream cheese and when I reached for it.. oh god, it was one of the most disgusting molds I had ever seen. NEVER ever leave cream cheese in the fridge with the wrapper already opened.
But hey, the cupcakes tasted fine without frosting. And maybe it was the lack of sour cream because the texture was too muffin-ish and looks muffin-ish.
Thanks Momo for wolfing down what I offered.
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My goodness, the first marking period has already ended. I've been doing terrible in school. My brother tells me, even if I do badly in homework, tests matter more. But... I've failed almost all my tests so far- math, Spanish, biology.. But somehow my PhysEd grades aren't that bad. I do rather well in running compared to my classmates and we have weight training gym now- time to tone down my flab ._.

One of the things I do like about Tech is... it's within a few blocks from TWO malls. I go home via the Atlantic Ave. Station which allows me to wander around the mall for half an hour and then run downstairs to the subway. How convenient! I get to poke around Target for whatever amount of time I choose to wander around. Which reminds me.. I want that $20 waffle maker, whether it's the plain metal one or the Hello Kitty or maybe even the toasters (1,2) . Christmas is coming.. I'll go ask my parents.

A Lengthy Post

Through the few blogs that I've had, none of them are that great. My writing style is pretty much crap compared to other bloggers. It has taken me 14 years of my existence to realize that my life is quite dull and my strange obsession over lunch boxes has caused some of my friends to shun me. I'm not a smooth talker and yes, I'm quite sensitive (another point that has lost me many more potential friends). So from now onwards, I shall strive to perfect my writing and find some more hobbies.

Now that I think about it, this was supposed to be a food blog. Recently, I haven't posted much on bento and I've been pretty lazy. I'd post the hell out of the LiveJournal bentolunch community if my computer would somehow allow me to post more than comments on other people's blogs. Blogger is the only website I can blog and post pictures on whilst I stalk other peoples' fine blogs.

I tend to talk to people a lot online- people I don't know who seem to take an interest in me. Isn't that awesome? Pft. Of course not. I talked to people when I was in middle school and had conversations flowing for 2 days or so until the question about my age pops up. I'm strangely honest sometimes and my mum scolds me for being honest, which is absurd. So right when the question about my age pops up, I answer honestly and they respond with silence. And they leave. On rare occasions, the person on the opposite end has already been informed of my age and just some of those people choose not to ignore me, though I get a lot of 'lol's as a response to anything else I say afterwards.

Which reminds me of something that happened during the summer: During the Independence Day of '07, I decided to spend a day with my friend at Coney Island. While I was looking for my friend at the beach, this guy walks up to me and starts preaching about god. Right after saying that he'd give a blessing for what I was searching for he asks for my name. Whatever I was feeling at the moment somehow made me want to ask him, but my nonreligious self held back and I told him my name was Elizabeth. So this guy shakes my hand and I tell him that I don't want a blessing and I walk away. What was I supposed to do? I was 13 years old, standing in a crowded beach with this stranger walking up to everyone to give blessings. But I'll aways remember these awkward moments wondering what smart aleck comments I could've made.

This concludes my lengthy post. If you've actually read through all my crap, you should give yourself a pat on the back. If you think all that I've been typing is crap, leave. Now.
Thanks for reading anyways. Wanna give feedback? Do so. Have a happy fucking day.

random picture uploads

CAMWHORAGE! o__o

More food! :D

This weekend I've made: Kingyou Kan, a Japanese jelly made with agar-agar, Japanese Curry, and MokoMoko Chiffon Cake: Sadly, I cannot make the cake like in the pretty picture and CM

Chocolate Mousse

My first time making chocolate mousse- A success! I got this recipe off of "Usborne First Cookbooks- Sweet Things" and this is the recipe:*this recipe is best for chocolate lovers since semi-sweet may be a bit too strong for others. Try substituting semi-sweet for something else*
ingredients:
4 squares (which I supposed was oz) semi-sweet chocolate
4 eggs
1 T water
-Break the chocolate into a bowl. Add a tablespoonful of water. Heat some water in a saucepan until simmering.
-Stand the bowl over the pan. When the chocolate melts, stir it until smooth, then put it to one side to cool.
- Separate the egg whites from the yolks. To do this you need two bowls. Crack each egg over one of the bowls, then slip the yolk from one half of the shell to the other. The white will slip into the bowl from below. Put the yolk in the other bowl.
- Beat the egg yolks until smooth, then slowly stir them into the chocolate.
- Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk them until they stand up in peaks.
- Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and turn it over lightly until it is evenly mixed. Do not beat it.
- Carefully pour the mousse into a serving dish and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours. When it is set, sprinkle grated chocolate on it. Serve it with cream.
1. Stirring melted chocolate
2. Whipping egg whites
3. Mixing chocolate mixture with whisked egg whites
4. after all ingredients are incorporated
5. After 3 hours of refrigeration

New bento boxes!

Just yesterday, I went to Japan Home Center after summer school to check if they had anything new..and they did! There's a whole line of microwavable plastic kitchen items, including rice cookers, water boilers, pans and the bento box set that I ended up buying. What I really liked was the fact that the set came with all the necessities for a two-tier bento- an inner divider, an elastic band, chopsticks, an inner sealer lid for the bottom tier, chopsticks, and even a kinchaku; $5.15 (full price with tax)
*The second bento box was purchased by my friends at AnimeNEXT, which I actually didn't get to go to.. Love ya Pauline+KT!