猫のお弁当 Neko no Obentou

Strapya!

2012-01-13T20:36:00.000-08:00

WOW I have not been on this blog for a whole year... kind of a shame, as I still do make food and all sorts of things. Anyhow, this whoole post here is to review a Strapya World purchase that I made a few months back!

If you are my friend, you are more than likely to know that I am a huge huge fan of Rilakkuma. I squeal endlessly upon seeing new Rilakkuma artwork on the San-X page and I check Strapya always for new Rilakkuma products. Now one of my all time favorite collections? was the Rilakkuma bunny one, with Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma wearing fleece-y bunny suits. Super cute~ I was very happy to see that Strapya sold items from this collection, on top of having the POCHETTE!

*SQUEAL*

Unfortunately, the Rilakkuma version was sold out by the time I made my order. So much for owning both ;___;

Anyhow, this bag is just too soft, too cute, and I'm so terrified of ruining it.

Seeing that it was a shame to simply keep it as a keychain/ bag decoration, I also decided to crochet a strap for the bag as well; then I can wear it PROUDLY around my neck... which I haven't really been doing lately.

Bonus picture: in my pjs. DON'T JUDGE

Even as a college student now, I will still melt over this adorable and lazy Japanese bear (my
brother too)! My brother actually convinced me to get this bag. :D

Thank you Strapya World for making San-X products available for international customers! Would buy again with discounts and shipping deals (sorry I'm cheap too).

Breaktime

2010-11-30T19:35:00.000-08:00

It's 10:35pm on a school day. I should be continuing to write college essays right now, but I'm taking a break at the moment (*coughprocrastinating). Just yesterday, I was skimming through some old posts on this bloggie and randomly checked out the blog of White on Rice Couple, who commented some time ago xD. I'm so addicted! I love reading food blogs and the photos (and of course the writing!) especially have my attention.

Right now I'm reading their Portrait of a Gourmand post. Again, such adorable family photos! I absolutely loved reading about Gluten-Free Girl and The Chef's story of how they met. I love their family philosophy and I'm mighty envious of their daughter, Lucy. She's blessed with foodie parents and my gosh, she even helps them in the kitchen! Did I mention that she's two years old?

A little far into the future, but someday when I have children of my own, I'd like to teach them to love food and keep them involved with each process. My mom took great pains to get my brother and me to eat healthily and she's succeeded with me- no skipping meals, no eating excess junk, increasing intake of water, fruit, and vegetables... Since my dad is a cook and my mom cooks for a hobby, I've come to love eating food, exploring new foods, and sharing what I make. After all, what is life without good food? My children too should be able to realize this :)

Laaazy post

2010-11-28T15:26:00.000-08:00

As usual, I've been making random food but haven't had time to post them. I'll just cram them all into one post.... :D

For my friend's birthday in July, I tried my hand at making white chocolate macadamia cookies. Firstly, I'd like to stress how expensive macadamia nuts are and how hard they were to find outside of Whole Foods. Secondly, I'd like to mention that sugar is not to be underestimated. I added so much sugar to these poor cookies... the other people I gave the cookies to were afraid to eat them, for fear of diabetes. =w=

oof and please forgive the camera quality. I need to get some sort of a lens cleaner already...

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In October, my parents bought way too many asian pears at home. As a result, I made spiced
pear jam to go with waffles. I'm still not finished with the second jar though...

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Stacy's pita chips are kinda expensive for me (I'm a sucker for cheap things :P) so I was thrilled to find Sahadi's. It's a great Middle Eastern grocery store located in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn and they have the cheapest possible pita bread that I've seen- ONLY $.75 a bag for 6 pitas. Along with cheap pita, I made my own hummus, which is so much more cost effective even compared to buying it from Trader Joe's! I recommend using dried garbanzo beans as it saves cans AND it's... cheap. I just can't stop using this word!

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I've been looking for silicon baking cups for the past few years and usually they're $20 for 12. Can't have that... Then I found some for only $2 at Jack's 99 cent store~. But I haven't been making cupcakes at all so I finally found a use for them; mini quiches. I'm too lazy to make/ buy crusts, so these are sans pastry. Basically I grated cheddar cheese, layered chunks of spam and onion, and added a whisked egg with milk. The little toaster oven baked them in about 10 minutes? if not 15. Aren't they adorable?

Ginger what?

2010-08-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

If only I had time to take photos, buuuut yesterday I attended the Asian American Restaurant and Food Fair at Flushing, NY! Unfortunately I was there volunteering at the Good Tea and Water tables and never got to sample all the foods. My team and I were busy brewing and serving maybe 3,000 cups of tea...

(I'm not pictured here though)

Of all the memorable foods that I DID have, the ones worth mentioning are the watermelon gazpacho (can't remember the restaurant), flan and coconut pudding (Sato Japanese and French fusion cuisine), and Ginger Ale (by Bruce Cost).

So right in between the Twin Marquis noodles table and the SOYA soy milk table, was this ultra cool Ginger Ale stand. When I was a kid I asked my brother, why is this soda called ginger ale when it doesn't really taste like ginger? Well by now I've tasted the Canada Dry brand's, Schweppes, Seagram's ... but Bruce Cost's is the answer!

If I weren't holed up at home today, I would run straight to Whole Foods to buy myself a bottle! This stuff is made with actual unfiltered ginger root and it tastes way more genuine compared to its mass produced, high fructose corn syrup counterparts.

Para mi (yes, spanish) downing this ginger ale is a somewhat masochistic experience. The distinctive taste of ginger slightly burns my mouth. BUT IT FEELS GOOD. Really. In the end it soothes the throat as well. It also comes in Jasmine Green Tea flavor and Pomegranate, both of which have a bit less of that burning sensation and tastes great~

For now I'll stick to freezing my mouth with Coconut Ice Pops at home though... will be dreaming of ginger ale for the rest of the week.

Happy Independence Day

2010-07-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

Belated anyways.

For one, I didn't party up a hooplah like everyone else in America did. I stayed home, made dessert and ate. That was my entire day. But I did manage to snap some pics of the gelatin I made!

The top layer is a watermelon gelatin (recipe from Martha Stewart's FOOD magazine) and the bottom is a blueberry gelatin that I tried from scratch. I bought a box of blueberries that same day on a whim and after I decided not to make blueberry mini-pies, I remembered a watermelon gelatin recipe I photocopied a few years ago. I only thought of layering the two when I discovered that the recipe didn't completely fill 7 ramekins and 2 plastic donut molds (I ran out ramekins!)

The verdict? Very light and fruity. I never realized how pasty blueberries got when blended, so that was pretty much the texture of the blueberry layer. Not even sure if it needed much gelatin to keep it that way and it is most certainly not your average powdered Jell-O mix. The watermelon was alright with its subtle sweetness.

I've been making some pretty heavy desserts lately.. ya know, butter and cream. This came as something of a surprise to my family though they didn't seem all that pleased with it.
Me: Sooo dad how was it?
Dad: Too fruity. But I added some vanilla ice cream :D (coming from someone with a hugeee sweet tooth)
I personally liked it though ; w;

So recipe? I guess I'll post it.

Blueberry Gelatin
This recipe should fill approximately 10- 6oz ramekins halfway
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 Tb lemon juice
1 packet gelatin
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar

1. Blend 3/4 cup of blueberries and lemon juice in a blender. In a sieve, strain the seeds and other hard bits.
2. In a small saucepan, mix water and gelatin and place over medium heat until gelatin dissolves. Stir in sugar and close the flame when all the sugar has dissolved.
3. Stir in blueberry puree and divide mixture into ramekins. Divide half of the remaining blueberries into each ramekin.
4. Refrigerate 3-4 hours or at least an hour or so if you are layering.

Watermelon Gelatin (from Martha Stewart)
- prepare as directed in link (didn't want to copypaste everything..)
- pour mixture on top of the blueberry layer, divide remaining blueberries into watermelon layer and refrigerate 3 hours.

I did once aspire to be a pastry chef ..

2010-03-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

Just a simple list of to-make foods:

biscotti
macarons
improved crepes
molten lava cakes
butternut squash anything
cinnamon rolls
... anything else to suggest? I'll be sure to take photos when I do make it

Soo just a small update today and a look into my life as-of-current.

Over Christmas, I did make a few goodies for my friends, which I'll get around to posting pics of sooner or later. I haven't made any bentos for quite some time =w= will try again sometime soon.

For school, I've joined my school's musical production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. So I've been busy with rehearsal everyday + junior year= VERY busy indeed. But yah if you're around Brooklyn Technical HS around the 23th of April, do come and see the show. ;D

tata for now then~

Sweet Sixteen

2009-09-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

I'm finally 16! Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday this year and everyone who's been so supportive of me. To those who spent time with me today, I want to express all my love and thanks ; w;
I had so much fun at the beach and recieved all sorts of great presents (and so much Rilakkuma DDD: <333) Also hoped everyone had fun too!

Almost bento

2009-08-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently purchased a bunny-shaped onigiri mold for me.
Making use of my new onigiri mold and egg mold...

Recent Bento finds with photos

2009-07-30T19:35:00.001-07:00

Kam Man (Chinatown) :
Rice molds, egg molds, sushi molds, grass sushi dividers, takoyaki pick $3-5 range

Takoyaki Pan $20

Various imported Japanese bento $10-20 range

Pearl River Mart (Soho):
Hello Kitty 2-tier bento, deer bento, rabbit bento, matching utensil set $3.75

Vegetable cutters $4 range

Imported Cram Cream bento $15 range

Oh finally a bento update- Kam Man Foods

2009-07-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

Or store location rather. All my years that I've lived and grown up around Chinatown, the one store I forgot to check was Kam Man (or Golden Door lit translated), a long standing supermarket on Canal St. On their window display, they have the typical Japanese dishwares and chopsticks that were located in the basement. Little did I know their basement also had a crapton of cookware, sushi supplies, and most importantly Japanese bento. These aren't those cheapy Natural Lunch boxes, but uh.. better and much cuter. Most of them are two-tiered with some sort of plastic seal that keeps light oils and a bit of sauce from leaking; roughly $15 for most bentos. The only downside is that everything here is covered in a layer of dust, which is a shame speaking that they have such great items.
*Note they also stock the small rectangular $6? and heavy square tamagoyaki pans $15?, takoyaki pans $20, japanese fish grills, and some other bento supplies that I haven't had a good look at. I'll be near there tomorrow so if I remember, I'll have some photos as well. Stay tuned~

Turnovers and Pizza

2009-07-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

Another invite-a-friend-over-to-bake session some weeks ago. :)
Struggling to find a quick and easy to prepare recipe, we finally decided on a Cherry Turnover recipe I found in my FOOD magazine. I've finally come to appreciate the existence of premade puff pastry as my last attempt to make it was an outright failure. But admittedly, the overall taste of the turnover was mediocre and bland, speaking that we only used puff pastry and pie filling. At least it looks quite nice :D

My Independence Day was spent stuck at home with my mom and brother since everyone else was busy with their own barbecues and whatnot. Another internet search led to my first homemade whole wheat pizza dough and several hours later, a slightly overbaked pizza. The dough was definitely too thick and the pizza lacked a bit of everything. There's a first time for everything...

new

2009-06-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

To make up for a lack of recent posts, here's a pic of the avacado plant we're growing. It's actually a lot bigger at the moment as this photo was taken weeks ago. Someday we'll have avacados at home :)

Recently

2009-04-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, my mom decided to make a bucketload of red bean paste, causing a slight overflow of items in the fridge. I decided to use some of it up by making some sort of bread and I came across a recipe for Dou Sha Bao (red bean buns). Resulting in *drumroll*

So they're not the prettiest things and the tops are supposed to be completely sealed, but you can ignore that. The dough was mediocre so hopefully I can improve it. Overall it was pretty tasty. Props to mom for making the bean paste better than I can.

In my Spanish class, mi profesor allows for us to earn extra credit for our grade by preparing a Spanish dish and then presenting to the class. I grouped together with a few of my classmates on Monday to make Salsa and Magdalenas. The salsa turned out really well; would make again ;o The taste of the magdalenas was pretty good too. This goes to show that making food with other people is fun and makes things taste better. Posts following this one will probably be with friends again. Stay tuned~

Baking Day at Aya's House

2009-02-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

Our story of a failcaek. Enjoy

Yum... slightly burnt chocolate cake

Covering mistakes with chocolate frosting and bananas

Strawberries save the day :D

Bonus: crepes!

:< sad news

2009-02-14T13:36:00.000-08:00

Japan Home Center has shut down for good.
I bought my first bento there, walked around the store every week in middle school, and always came back to see what new items they had in stock.
Were they doing so badly that they had to close down? I wish I had taken photos of it before everything was gone.
I hope they sprout out again somewhere in NY or somehow reopens again.

Pita Bread and Hummus

2008-12-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

Just recently, I discovered hummus. Not that I haven't heard of it before or anything, but I've never had the chance to try it. I was at Costco a few weeks ago with my mum and they had these pita chip + hummus samples... D:

I became addicted

I went on a hunt for good spots to find ingredients and on Yelp, I found a five-star specialty foods store called Sahadi's, which was a half mile from my school. So I made my journey and found the spot. It was $2.19 for a half pound of Homous (D: why are there different spellings?). If you want it a bit cheaper, hummus is $1.99 at Trader Joes, but the stuff at Sahadi's is said to be the best.

For the bread, I found a recipe on The Fresh Loaf. If you'd rather make the pita using this recipe instead of buying, make sure to read the comments.

First batch:
Had to slit the pockets myself and the pita was thicker than it should've been.
The filling here was salmon and baby bok choy. At the time, I didn't buy hummus yet so I filled it with whatever food I had on hand.

Second batch:
Mixed whole wheat flour into the dough although most of the bread formed small pockets rather than a whole pocket. :P
So the key here is to roll out the dough as flat as possible. Feel free to experiment with different types of flour while remembering that most of the dough needs to be all-purpose flour.

今日の料理 Today's Cooking

2008-10-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

After finally mustering up the courage to finally buy a frying pan, I decided the first thing I wanted to make were crepes! Only recently have I tasted French crepes from Macaron, so I got a reputable recipe from allrecipes. It's simple and doesn't take very long to prepare- a plus!

The second recipe I wanted to try for lunch for a really long time was omurice.
=w= It doesn't LOOK as nice as the one I ate from Tokyo Bar a few months back, but it does taste pretty darn good. Recipe from Just Hungry.

French Macarons

2008-09-27T11:08:00.000-07:00

I don't remember when I started craving for them, but did spend a while searching for good recipes for French macarons. First of all, American 'macaroons" are quite different besides the extra 'o'; do not mistake the two. I haven't tasted [coconut] macaroons before but people who have had the real deal swear by macarons.

Several months ago, I was out on a search for Go Go Curry (as recommended by Leena) and due to a lack of navigational skill, got lost. While I was running down 36th st, I saw a nice big sign: MacarOn.

(insert epic macro)

My brains exploded

I walked inside and lo and behold, a big big BIG array of macarons awaited me. They're heavenly and I do recommed you to RUN to this place right now. Of course, if you can spare $1.75 for a cookie, go for it. There are some pretty long lines sometimes but I haven't ever come across anything longer than 3 people. Being a pretty cheap and jobless student, It's kinda *cough*hard for me to shell out $2.50 or even $5 for one of those macarons at La Maison du Chocolat plus what better than to grab a big juicy macaron(s) after a day's worth of shopping at Herald Square. (Their sandwiches have good reviews too :D)

Nevertheless, it's a convenient location tucked away safely away from tourists (haw haw haw) and if anything, try a macaron. There are samples on plate sometimes so if you're lucky you get to try a piece before you buy any.

other reviews
(Yelp)
*plugs* Yanise's

http://www.macaroncafe.com/

161 W 36th St
(between 7th Ave & Broadway)
New York, NY 10018 (646) 573-5048

Oh sh*t I'm older now

2008-09-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

That's right people, I'm 15 years old :D
For now it feels *ahem* good to turn older but I'll probably be thinking a little differently in a few years or so. (oh wait I'm not that old right now anyways)

For people who gave me birthday wishes and presents and whatnot, why THANK YOU
It was the best birthday I've ever spent even though I had to hold my party the day before school started.

Complimentary photo:

For those who have known me before HS... I've changed a lot haven't I? :D
I'm truly proud of myself.

*must work harder in school now!*

Tokyo Bar

2008-07-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

If you're in NY, you should check out the Chopsticks NY magazine. There are tons of listings of restaurants and such through which I've found Tokyo Bar plus a few other places that I plan to visit.

SO if you're craving some good Japanese "comfort food" try Tokyo Bar. A and I saw an ad for Tokyo Bar and decided to try their early bird dinner special. Both of us chose an omu-rice and a green tea dessert. It was really filling and most definitely worth the money :D

Mango Panna Cotta

2008-07-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to make another panna cotta since the last one I did wasn't much of a success. So I took this recipe and replaced the lemon rind with mango puree then topped it with... mango chunks. Forgive my shitty picture quality; I don't know what I did to the camera but it's blurry even after I wiped it with a lens cloth.

Purikura at Flushing Mall

2008-07-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

D: sry for the blurriness

Independence Day

2008-07-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

I was at the Nathan's hotdog eating contest with a few friends yesterday. Basically... Kobayashi won 2nd place again with Joey Chestnut first; both ate 59 hotdogs in 10 minutes but Kobayashi lost by 7 seconds.
Plus there were SO MANY fans of K. there cheering including us. Wherever we moved, there was some amount of Japanese women cheering for K.
So yeah. \o/ Kobayashi was really cool about it even thanking people for supporting him and his last words: "I love you guys" :DDDD
We headed towards the beach afterwards, had a small picnic and frolicked in the water (and got a tan DX).

Yukata Sets at UNIQLO SoHo

2008-06-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

giant sushi platter

2008-06-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

D: It was really good. That's all I can say.

International Lolita Day at the Met and Kinokuniya

2008-06-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

=w= mugged some photos from Nancy... hope ya don't mind, dear

shop updates

2008-05-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

Twins 99 cent store is having a 50% off sale on (some?) items. I'm not really sure of the details but ask if you must.

Japan Home Center currently stocks Clickety Click boxes and putifresh utensil sets as well as more rice molds.

My brand has arrived! :D

2008-05-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

2008-05-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

Sakura Matsuri meet

2008-05-03T18:43:00.001-07:00

Thank yuh, Erin/Erika for organizing this meet~! :D it was fking awesome
My bento: shiso onigiri with lop cheong and daifuku.
Moar pics here.

's come true!

2008-04-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

Sakura Matsuri on saturday with the local lolitas~! Though Erika said we might not be able to eat picnic food there depending on the security guards, I'm definitely gonna bring my sakura bento there.

I should be doing my homework now, but I want to plan ahead so my friday won't be as stressful. I might have to ask around other people to see what they're bringing. But so far, I'm planning to make potato/cream corn krokke, small fruits, tamagoyaki (if I can somehow master making it with the wok...), small sandwiches (filling suggestion anyone?), spam musubi, dango/daifuku (if time allows), chikuwa stuffed with(?), and onigiri if anyone else isn't planning to make any.

I would love to hear some more suggestions. ^^

edit: It might rain that day D:
... I might only make dango and ~~spam musubi~~ onigiri.

shop updates

2008-04-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

Check the shops section for updates on Elizabeth Center and Japan Home Center.

bento picnic

2008-03-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have this great longing to have loli picnic or even a regular picnic with all my bento boxes. I have more than enough boxes to serve food for at least 6 or so people. After seeing sets like these, I've been planning a bit. It would be great if I could make different things per box, or even buy more of my sakura boxes and fill them with lots of yoshoku food like omuraisu and hambagu.

Store updates; Chinatown + Koreatown

2008-03-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

Check the shop section for updates on Japan Home Center. ^__^

edit: +Morning Glory and Han Ah Reum

D: Leena... where did you get your $2 furoshiki and tamagoyaki pan? I was too busy staring at all the Korean BBQ places and the hot guys who kept smoking (D: ew).

Easter Lolita Meet

2008-03-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

The meet today was fucking epiccc. I'm too lazy to post everything that happened word for word, but basically, we went to the easter festival on 5th Ave, hung around central park, went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, watched a show and left home. I took a hell a lot of pictures+vids but I can't upload vids on this computer. I'll link to other pictures taken by Nancy or whoever else later. So yea... FOOD PORN <3

Flushing

2008-03-17T17:50:00.001-07:00

No photos of the wedding party I attended yesterday, but I went to Flushing, Queens for the first time (technically my 3rd) and actually got to walk around a few stores. ~~This one building.. I can't remember the name of the building, but~~ there is a Korean-Japanese restaurant, a Sbarro, Bali BBQ, a Paris Baguette being constructed, and a tea room called Rose House. I wish I could've stayed longer to actually EAT at Rose House. I'll find some time to go back there. There were WALLS filled with teacups and boxes of tea leaves and as far as I could tell, it looked expensive. Has anyone been here who can give a decent review besides this? I would also like to know the actual address of Queens Crossing so I can search it on hotstop... or even better, actual directions from subway station to Rose House.

Thx vrymuch Amberrrr

2008-03-10T20:48:00.001-07:00

Finally getting my first brand piece and dream jumperskirt since I watched Shimotsuma Monogatari; So I won't be getting the onepiece from Anna House.

I'm so happy ;A;
~~Hopefully Mai will win the auction, though there's still 2 more days before it ends.~~
Mai won the auction! JSK is mineee

amani (11:16:43 AM): it'd be pretty good

amani (11:16:54 AM): red tartan jsks + bows are hard to come by

nekohana x3 (11:17:00 AM): mm

nekohana x3 (11:17:10 AM): + new

nekohana x3 (11:17:16 AM): with tags

amani (11:17:55 AM): mhm

amani (11:18:05 AM): so if you were to sell it, you can easily sell it as a set

amani (11:18:14 AM): for the same price if not more

nekohana x3 (11:18:47 AM): <3

East Village exploration

2008-03-07T16:05:00.001-08:00

On Fridays, I often go out into the city somewhere and find new places to eat and buy cheap groceries. So today I hit the Sunrise Mart on Stuyvesant St, Panya, and Whole Foods. Check the Japanese stores and bento supplies section for more details on Sunrise Mart and Panya.

Yelp and HotStop are my most helpful resources when I find places. The reviews on Yelp are quite interesting to read and since I have such a terrible sense of direction, I found many a place via HotStop complete with which subway exits to leave by, where to walk, and how long the walk+ subway ride will take.

;A; Whole Foods is an explosion of about everything I want. The artisan breads, the two-bite confectioneries, the big stacks of fruit... but it's so popular, that I have to squeeze past people at every shelf and leaving is just as big as a problem when billions of people are flooding in every second. The register system I haven't been through yet, but oh my god.. I want to run up to the lighted register numbers and the giant screen and just poke and prod them. I should get my mum to start buying stuff there.

This week I've lost: My gym lock, my ID card, my cellphone plushie (AI-CHAAAAN D;), my MUJI mech. pencil. I can really compile a list like this every week; shame on me.

Beard Papa's bliss

2008-03-01T21:29:00.000-08:00

Jenny gave me my first cream puff today. The crunchy outer shell, the huge mound of real vanilla custard cream all in:

OMGWTFBBQ where can I get this big beast of a cream puff? check here

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Went to 8th Ave today; walked a mile to kill some time and I found some pretty neat stores that I'll actually revisit. If only there was purikura... somebody needs to start one.
I also found this one lady who sells cell phone plushies in front of one of the bakeries. She had 4 huge garbage bag size bags full of plushies and her kid had one on his zipper too. They were fairly cheap and she told me shipments come in from korea every week. I found a black Ai-chan plush and bought it immediately. But after walking around 8th Ave, I realized how much the Koreans mass produced her. I wonder if Otsuka Ai is aware of that. edit: are they actually factory rejects (they're not very perfect ie. crooked ear, glue not strong)?

(Ai-chan; bunny)

EC

2008-02-29T21:07:00.000-08:00

I finally decided to check out one of the Japanese clothing boutiques in Elizabeth Center. I freaking love the place that I went to. They don't have much room for window shopping, so you either go in or run away. 's the one on the far right of the ground level. They always give their stores such god awful names so I'm not mentioning this one...
So a year ago, I went to this shop with Mish and I found a sweater I really wanted; blackxred stripe with cat ears on the hood; $48. I didn't have any money on me at the time and the next time I visited a few months later, it wasn't in stock anymore.
Back to now; they only have a few punkish hoodies as the lady claimed. She's changing all clothes to the more mature styles so the hoodies are on sale; half off until they've all been sold. Since she had so few customers and I really wanted another hoodie, I bought a grayxblack stripe with bunny ears. YES bunny ears- with grommets. To my shock, one of the ones she's not gonna stock any more is GLP (Gothic&Lolita Punk). Their hoodies are actually nice, but don't fit me.
There was also another one with a brand I didn't catch, but the zipper didn't zip that well and it was HUGE on me. Even my brother can wear it with no problems.
my mum keeps telling me how long the sweater is. 's not that long is it?

btw. YaYa Tea Garden= Tic Tac Toe; their takoyaki gave me tummy ache D:

edit: Quality of sweater is so-so; not as good as brand. Hopefully, it'll at least keep me warm in spring weather.

2008-02-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Sarah of BentoTV,

Your most recent episodes have disappointed me. You're repeating things you've done in previous episodes and it's not much more helpful. Second of all, those chopsticks that are the size of your head are for EATING. People do eat with LONG CHOPSTICKS and I wish you'd hold them right. Third of all, fruit juice + tapioca pearls =/= Bubble Tea. Well gee, I didn't know it used TEA. I only continue to watch because you have nifty things and a big bento collection that I want badly.

I'd send this to her, but no. I really don't need to talk with her. At least she doesn't speak Wapanese on her posts.
I'll stick with Just Bento and Bento Corner...
-------------
3/6

Um... yea. Please do your research; your pronunciation doesn't matter as much since you're not a nihonjin. But seriously. Gomasio?

classic

2008-02-25T17:10:00.001-08:00

When one skirt isn't enough... just gotta buy a dress.
Anna House NEEDS more skirts and start stocking jumperskirts! I emailed Miva to ask whether or not they were gonna release a jumperskirt soon and she said yes... Turns out it was actually a onepiece dress.

D:

Miscellaneous thoughts

2008-02-23T11:47:00.000-08:00

I'm always bummed when I realize I have to grow in some way.

I always get flashbacks from years back; I wish I could relieve certain moments.
I know I'll look back to this moment.

Youtube brings back a ton of memories. When it just started, C. linked me to a lot of things and eventually I found a ton of artists I like a lot even now. Despite how childish Morning Musume sound at times and how strange Gackt is, I love listening to them.

Music is a big part of my life, though I forget sometimes..

I hate thinking about the future. I hate people who've already chosen their path (only because I'm jealous). I'm neither rich, nor as hardworking as some people yet I'm spoiled.

In middle school, I often felt isolated.

I'm sick right now. First it was a fever, then it was a sore throat. Now my nose is running like crazy and I don't leave my room because there's no heat in every other room.

shop updates

2008-02-19T21:26:00.000-08:00

Big news:
Pearl River Mart in SoHo now have MANY different Putifresh and V-Color bento boxes for under $3 each.
*check the NY bento store post from May '07 for more on PRMart, MUJI, and Kinokuniya

mum's flowers

2008-02-14T15:52:00.000-08:00

My BPN goods from Kinokuniya

2008-02-13T15:28:00.001-08:00

o 3o After staring and groping brands for an hour, I decided on the top and socks. I hate myself a bit for not buying the ALGONQUINS suspender skirt (which Anna ended up getting before me) but hey... I saved me some monies. At the rate I'm going, all my new years money will be gone in less than a month. So for now, I'll only invest in Anna House and RHS...
(does my brand virginity count as broken yet?)

SURPRISE! The middle and sides are adjustable. Can't believe I didn't notice before I bought it. Again. When I bought my Hurley sweater, I didn't notice the thumbholes in the sleeve. Makes me all the more happier in a sad way.

Chinese New Year

2008-02-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, my mum dragged me to Chinatown to see the parade and lion dancing. But damn, did we come late and it already started to snow. So while we were walking down Hester, we went to see some rat-themed costume contest. Wasn't that bad at first. The third girl who walked up was 6 years old and her mum made her a whole costume with make up. Adorable yes!
Until I saw this white lady run up the stage.
with
a
TAKE OUT
costume
and
wooden chopsticks..
and she was baring those teeth of hers like YUMYUMCHINESEFASTFOODD

She ran up to cameras and clacked her chopsticks at the crowd, photographers, and the people on stage. D:
I was ready to shout GET THIS FUCKER OFF THE STAGE! SHE'S KILLING MY COUNTRY'S 4000 YEARS OF HISTORY! But I left dragging my mum. No way am I gonna watch this takeout rat, no fucking way. Then I heard: I'M CHARLOTTE'S WEB'S RAT :DDDDD
the fail oh god...

found while doing bio project o

2008-02-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

MY BABY

2008-02-06T19:34:00.001-08:00

good things

2008-02-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

~~Today,~~ I've had the most fun since forever. Even though I went to the Alice's Tea Cup on the wrong side of Manhattan and had to chase a crosstown bus to get to the east side... even though I had to through Chinatown and SoHo to get my mum's metrocard then run to Sunrise Mart..even though I had to run 10 blocks down Lexington to find Amber, it was loads of fun. ~~burando grope~~
Good things: I got to know the other lolitas more, I got to eat good food at Alice's Tea Cup, I ate my first scone: pumpkin. Best of all, my mum finally got to see my Anna House skirt. Her reaction was, it's pretty... but up close, it's SO WIDE.

Which reminds me. While I waited for my mum at the Canal St. station, this blue-haired anime fangirl took one look at me and shouted, OMGGOTHICLOLITAAA.. then ran away.

My cup of tea :U I like it with as little sugar as possible, but man does this stuff smell fine!

Amber, you make me cry; 4 packets of non-sugar sweetener in a single cup of tea.

consistency

2008-01-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

This has urked me for a long time; every time I bake cupcakes I can't divide out batter evenly. When I make cookies and pie crust, I roll the edges out too flat and every other side is a different thickness. Is there any foolproof way to to make everything even? I've seen these pie crust rolling rubberbands, but the only setback is the price. There's no way in hell that I'm gonna pay $8 for four rubberbands that don't look like they'd stretch enough to fit around my large rolling pin.

and man do I suck at frosting...

There's more than just that, but it's slipping my mind at the moment.

omgwagashi

2008-01-26T16:41:00.000-08:00

I is punk-rori enough?

2008-01-26T14:20:00.001-08:00

2008-01-24T19:05:00.001-08:00

:D I make peanut butter with my suribachi! weeee

CTown Purikura, shrimpies, hotcake

2008-01-24T12:07:00.000-08:00

I finally found an excuse to go to the purikura (print club) shop at the back of the Elizabeth Center Mall; Pauline Bertha-Mae and I met up afterschool to hang out together since we didn't get to for Bertha's birthday. We were so immature though; BALLS.
Warnings: Tic-Tac-Toe's takoyaki is crap; too soggy and undercooked. I paid $4 for 6 OCTOPUS BALLS (xD;;). Though it was funny how the wind/heating was blowing at the bonito flakes which made it look rather alive and moving. Sent us into giggling fits haha.
The purikura place charges $20 for the small photo set. I don't blame them too much, since the rent is expensive, but still. The most you can take with the small set is 7 photos and we ran out of time trying to decorate the photos. YES it's timed.

The purikura place I went to in China with my cousins were a lot different. We chose about 10 frames for the sticker photos from albums with numbers, stood in a long line (very popular place), the photos weren't timed, we could choose what to laminate the photos with, and the price was CNY $5. Cheap, friendly and *o* beautiful frames.

☆☆☆

Recipe from aunt. おいしかった！

☆☆☆

ホットケーキミックス（Hotcake Mix) was on sale at Sunrise Mart and I paid for it immediately. There's a certain charm to the packaging that I really like about it. Not just the happy kitchen utensils in the how-to make the pancakes part of the bag. Unlike your average American pancake mix, this big 800g bag comes pre-measured, so all you have to do is take out a 200g bag, measure out milk and add an egg. There's less hassle and it comes with additional recipes you can use with the mix like... donuts and bread. The recipes are also available online! The Nipponese seem to like it a lot and I see from tv shows like 二人ごと　(Futarigoto). Aibon makes a heart-shaped pancake and Yaguchi Mari also makes some before Aibon's turn.

Psssst Aibon's also the reason why I bought that box of MokoMoko Chiffon Cake Mix a few months back.

For the sake of excitement

2008-01-21T12:16:00.000-08:00

After a year of waiting, I've finally gathered all the ingredients I needed to make Anjali's Kurogoma Cupcakes! *o* Not only is it tasty, but even my picky older brother likes it. Thumbs up man! D: dunno, but every picture I took of the frosting turned out lighter than it really is...~~I'll post it in a bit, but not now since I'm not done frosting every one of them in the luscious, creamy matcha frosting.~~ YES I made real frosting too. Now I'll cross my fingers and ~~hope my mum eats the frosting and doesn't yell at me for mugging half of the black sesame seeds.~~ Remembered that she can't eat butter ;o; lactose intolerant.

And yesss I actually cooked a whole meal for my family the other day. Happy mum= happy day. But of course, it makes her so happy she has to tell every person who calls her that Amy MADE DINNER. So the recipe I tried (which my bro ate all of it) was another of Anjali's: Agedashi Tofu. But I used firm tofu in place of the cotton tofu and pan-fried it in our big flat-bottomed wok. ; 3; It makes me so happy to see that recipes I've bookmarked a year ago can actually be used and very much worth the wait.

Also forgot to mention that I *tried* to prepare soba noodles for lunch.. my brother didn't like it; too bland. Also 'coz it's omgmadHEALTHYFOODdesu~! (；ﾟДﾟ) ... and it was the cheapest bag of soba from Sunrise Mart.
To the people who have actually eaten soba the right way, point out anything that seems... off (besides the lack of kaeshi cups...)

Favorite foods at hand, bento storing, homemade butter

2008-01-09T16:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Yoplait,
I love you very much! Will you stay in my fridge forever?

favorite flavor: Whips! Chocolate Mousse Style

Haw Flakes are the bomb.

GOOD (and cheap) curry. I bought it on sale and my brother and I secretly eat it when our parents are out :x And if the box behind the curry roux? That's the "ichigo dessert" that I also bought on sale. Promise me that you'll stay the hell away from it; flavor=ok, preparation= convenient, aesthetics=questionable. That stuff was NOTHING close to the bright pink in the picture. I would've been a lot happier if it made more since it's regularly priced at around $2 plus it's just a pouch of jelly that you mix with milk.

How I store my bento collection:

The blue lunch bag is now used to hold my fake lacquered sakura bento, my oshibori, green baran(plastic divider) that's kinda visible on the netting, candy thermometer, suribachi, and Japan Home Center bento.
Outside of bag: (top right, down) 6 clear boxes used for dividing up snacks and one of them containing sakura denbu, 3 jars of furikake (bonito, beefsteak plant, and salmon), plastic cup holding 3 sets of mini chopsticks with one いただきます chopstick missing and a mini grater.
2nd row; blue Japan Home Center kinchaku, blue Feel at Ease bento, green collapsible Putifresh bento, green tight Putifresh bento, Totoro bento still unused(ilu P&K) , mini Comment vas tu? bento.
3rd row; 5 different rice molds, V-Color forkchopstickspoon case, 2 i.kotoba blue and pink bento.
random: packaged mochi for shabu-shabu/okonomiyaki/etc, dashi soup stock set (wakame, bonito flakes, dashi kelp), nori (upper shelf), tempura batter mix.
******
Homemade Butter: Fill a small glass jar half way with heavy cream and add a pinch of salt. Shake for about 20 minutes or so until butter lumps form. The rest of the liquid left behind is buttermilk, which can be used in other recipes. Place butter lumps on a seive/ collander to let drip excess whey. You can spoon the butter into a mold or a small bowl covered in plastic wrap, then cover and refrigerate to allow the butter to solidify.
recipe from Oishii Eats
---
picture: butter made yesterday and cheap ready-to-bake buttermilk biscuits from C-Town. Cheap food; 99 cent carton of cream + 3 tubes for $1.39 (30 biscuits)= biscuits that feed a crowd with pretty good health stats (if butter is substituted) and decent taste.
I still have some shiro-an (white bean paste) left over from making dorayaki and stuffed a small ball of the paste into a biscuit. D: I really need sugar.

Banzai Brighton and moar goodies

2007-12-31T10:21:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-12-25T06:21:00.000-08:00

Wishlist

2007-12-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-10T15:59:00.002-08:00

^___^ 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?

2007-12-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-17T21:36:00.001-08:00

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

2007-11-17T18:34:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

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

2007-10-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

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 .

-------------------

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"

2007-10-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

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.
--------------

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

2007-10-08T10:49:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

CAMW HORAGE! o__o

More food! :D

2007-09-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-18T12:39:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-08-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

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!

Re: June post, previous bento and 4th of July cake

2007-07-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

Here's the souffle that I attempted to make in a custard cup (I ate some before the picture was taken so..yea ._.), the last photo I took of my daily bentos, and a small cake I made for my friends on the 4th of July.

Store updates and more

2007-07-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

O~su! I'm finally back and I've updated the store section again and if you're too lazy to scroll down, here are the updates with some additional comments:
Japan Home Center: (Chinatown, NYC)
tamagoyaki pan (is under $3, is more sturdy than the $1.99 tamagoyaki pan sold at Banzai99 and is sold in CHINATOWN *coughmichellecough*)
sushi roll molds (There are two different molds for this just for you know- the smaller one is for single fillings and is $2.50; the bigger one is $3 and yah.. it holds several fillings. Note that they only make the kind of sushi with the nori on the outside.)
Sunrise Mart: (SoHo, NYC)
new discoveries: Plastic sushi grass is sold for $.99 by the pocky section. Pocky sale; $.99 per box (contains 4 packs inside). I've read from other people that Sunrise sells Panya cookies for $.99 in huge bags after 9PM. Note that there are two Sunrise Marts in NYC and they close at 10PM on weekdays, if i remember correctly.

I have this obsession with Mont Blanc pastries and wagashi now. Somebody seriously has to help me buy chestnuts and kanten so I can make them~ ;o;

New Post of the Month

2007-07-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Hehe.. I havn't updated for a while.
Summer: Moving on to HS, Summer School in Chinatown until mid-August, volunteer work at Day Care Center afterschool, almost no time with friends, tons of *gag* summer hw..
At least I can still find the time to make a bento everyday ^_^;;

Crazed

2007-06-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

It's the end of the school year and in 2 weeks, I'll graduating from middle school. 3 years passed by pretty quickly and there are a ton of people I'll miss including teachers D; My senior friends are graduating too and srsly... you guys will be missed by me a lot. I wouldn't even have joined any clubs if you guys weren't around so yea. Call me any time.. I'm not online as often as I used to be so keep that in mind..

At some point now I will feel mildly depressed and alone so if you're with me please try your best to include me somehow...

I'm a bit lazy right now and my own computer is pretty much half dead and won't stay on for more than 10 minutes. I won't post any bento pictures and I couldn't take a picture of the last bento I had in Anime Club. I did take a picture of a souffle I made today from a recipe from Cooking Light (Apr 2007) but that'll be posted later.
--------------------------------
News and Updates:
Shop section updated- Sunrise Mart (SoHo, Manhattan)
Off to AnimeNEXT: July 6-8 (Somebody suggest an easy character to cosplay on the 6th and 8th?) 12012 playing in the evening of the first day! :O concert is free with purhase of convention admission ticket.
Smashing Pumpkins new album will be out in July 10th.
No Lindsay playing at Club Europa at 10:30pm on July 11th.

Baked goodie and some news

2007-06-02T11:57:00.001-07:00

Orange_Dream_Tarts
._. I spent several hours making this. Since I didn't have a mini muffin pan, I had to use my regular sized pan and had to fix the portioning myself. They turned out pretty well though and my parents really liked them. For me, the recipe only yielded 10 tarts, but I suppose you could make one more tart if you used even less of the filling and pastry in each tart.
----------------------------------------------------------
Ok. So I just came back from my 8th grade graduation trip which wasn't so great. Why? Well my school had us pay over $200 to spend only 2 days and one night at Washington DC. We mostly went to monuments and memorials. The places that actually required for us to pay money was for the bus ride to and from school, at the hotel (which we shared a room with 3 other people), our bagged lunch for the first day and bagged "dinner" for the second day and at two food courts. My bus' air conditioning kept breaking down and the emergency exits at the top of the bus had to be opened. Little did we know, there was going to be rain and lightning a few hours later. My teachers couldn't reach the latch while the bus was *moving* on the highway and even after we got off at school at 10pm, we still didn't get to close the darned things. The bus ride was a bit boring except for the occasional strange events (a car on fire on the opposite lane on the highway) and talking with my seat buddy, Nathan who was in my homeroom 2 years ago.
Psh..I know nobody really reads this blog unless I make them read it don't tell me that I have no life because that's already a known fact.

*Check Cassadaga post and shop guide for an update; Banzai 99cent Plus.

Bento Collection

2007-06-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

I recently went to Banzai and bought about $15 worth of bento supplies~ :D
So here's my latest collection:
Photo 1: Most of my collection
Photo 2: My collapsible sandwich bento, a matching side dish container and a HK sauce container.
Photo 3: The collapsed version of the sandwich bento
Photo 4: My first bento with a handsewn elastic and a blue i.kotoba bento
Photo 5: 2 green Putifresh bentos
Photo 6: My trusty flat utensil set
Photo 7: All my rice molds
Photo 8: My trusty lunch bag; fits 2 bento boxes, my utensil set and 2 side dish containers
Photo 9: My *o*ful sakura bento (that's actually plastic ;o;)
Photo 10: somewhat matching kinchaku that actually fits both tiers for my sakura bento
Photo 11: My wonderful $2 tamagoyaki pan
._.ll I still don't understand how to post pictures on this blog..

Cassadaga

2007-05-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

Just today, i bought Conor Oberst's new cd Cassadaga. It is AWESOME. I've been listening to it over and over for the past 2.5 hours. But what's amazing isn't just the music, but the cover art. It's beautiful and it makes me think. What i really like about the cover is that it comes with a decoder.
I've taken a picture a part of the front cover:

Random thought: I should make profiteroles during the weekend... and more meringues :9

Japanese bento/ food/ kitchen supply stores

2007-05-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

This is for self reference and also a guide to stores to visit.
Keep in mind that some of these items may be gone or replaced since this post was created years ago.
Warning: walls of text. You can search for these locations on Yelp if the address isn't listed.

*bento items are italicized*

Last Updated: Feb 14, 09

New York City
Chinatown:

Twins 99cent Plus: fairly expensive, has a lot in stock though the aisles are cramped. Nothing there is 99 cents though. Has: Rice molds ($4), sandwich boxes, Lunch bags (large cloth zipper bags; $5 and plastic Shinkansen lunch bag; $3), kid sized bento boxes; $4, side dish containers; $4 , basic kitchen supplies; $2-14 (whisk, knives, pots and pans, cutting board), cake pans; $5, metal drink thermos; $20, large oshibori with cases; $6, Japanese snacks (pocky, yan yan, etc), small childrens' toys, chidrens' backpacks, bowls, disposable chopsticks, utensil sets; $4 (chopstick, fork, spoon) , DIY crafts, stationary, soap, lotion, chairs, rice containers, rice cookers, clocks, beauty supplies, Pingu bento box, Pingu kinchaku, V-Color tight bento boxes in 3 colors. On Grand St. b/w Mott St. and Mulberry St.
Japan Home Center: *CLOSED* Everything isn't very expensive and is usually around $2.50. Has: Mugs, bento boxes; $3-3.50, onigiri mold (available), side dish containers; $2.50, sushi mats, cooking utensils, laundry bags, coasters, stationary, pots, shelving, desktop organizing baskets and drawers, cd cases, slippers; $2.50 , bowls, sushi molds; $2.50 and $3, tamagoyaki pan ($10?), plastic measuring spoons; $2.50. On Elizabeth St. b/w Hester St. and Grand St. Recently, they have been stocking the good quality kind of frying pans and tamagoyaki pan that the Sunrise Mart in the East Village sells; $15. They also sell small V-Color boxes, V-Color utensil sets, and $5 insulated lunch bags (the shiny kind). Hello Kitty furoshiki; $2.50 and suribachi. Clickety Click bento boxes, putifresh utensil sets, pudding molds, and more rice molds.
Tongin Market: Sells Japanese food and other things related. Has: instant soup mixes, condiments, Japanese snacks, furikake, miso paste, nori, cooking wines+vinegars, daifuku, dango, fresh sushi, sushi/soba plates, sake cup sets, mochiko, natto, noodles, gyoza, kamaboko+ other surimi products, tempura batter+panko, takoyaki batter mix, hot cake mix, Japanese beverages, inari, umeboshi, kampyo, sakura denbu, frozen takoyaki, yukimi daifuku. I've been here many times and I know what they sell now. Ask if there's something you're wondering that they sell. The kamaboko and the chikuwa here are cheap. The furikake's kinda expensive compared to where I usually buy it in Brooklyn unless u just wanna buy the onigiri mixes which are $3 i think. They also sell some organic stuff like wheat or frozen edamame. The shop owner there is Japanese and he's pretty helpful (but creeps me out when he stares too much). ;_;. On Mulberry St. b/w Canal and Bayard. BUT if you're willing to save a little more money, go to Sunrise Mart, which is about a half mile away.
Elizabeth Center (basement level): Almost all the stores here sell Japanese stuff, whether it be anime, Gundam models or Sanrio stationary but there's only one shop there that sells small oshibori cloths (2 for $1) , which is on the left side of the escalator when you walk down. The stuff there's pretty cheap; plushies, pillows, footrests, photo albums, phone straps, DIY accessories, jewelry, knitting needles, etc. Sandwich size bento boxes; $3, and utensil sets; $3. New! ;U Cinnamoroll shaped bento box; $5. On Elizabeth St. b/w Canal... and yea ._.
Romantic: This store's been around, probably before I was born. They sell a ton of cute stationary stuff, cards, anime stuff, totes and handbags, giant plushies, notebooks, Hello Kitty bento boxes (lots!), utensil sets, chopsticks, lots of San-X and Sanrio stuff, cellphone straps, origami, pocket tissues, and wallets. Across the street and around the corner on Mott St. from Twins 99cent Plus.
Tic Tac Toe: A small vinyl collectibles and cafe run by Chinese people. The menu doesn't have that much food, but considering the amount of space they have, it's pretty good. The store looks bright and modern and they sell a lot of Japanese snacks. I've come here for a chicken yakisoba which was fairly good and was pretty damn big for $4.95. They also have a variety of teas that you can order. But I'm not the tea-drinking kind of person. They also have several kinds of shumai, edamame (o_o;; $2- go to Sunrise instead), takoyaki (gave me a stomach ache ;o;), onigiri, sandwiches, gyudon, and tempura/curry/chicken with rice. It's on Hester St. b/w Elizabeth St. and Mott St, so if you're in the area you should take a look around.

Brighton Beach:

Banzai 99cent Plus: *closed* A wonderful and inexpensive store with a lazy shopkeeper (never tells where anything is). So here's what they sell: plastic bento boxes;microwavable and non-microwavable(my sakura bento);$1.39-1.99 and 9.99, plastic mayo and soy sauce container sets; $.99-1.99, tamagoyaki pan; ;1.99, rice molds; $1.29-$1.99, side dish containers and sets; $.99-$14.99, basic kitchen supplies(cutting boards, pastry brush, knives, measuring cups, pot holders, sauce and spice organizers), disposable bento/sushi containers;$.99, pencil holders, candles, grill racks, kinchaku(one color and size only-see collection post from 6/2/07); $1.49, chopstick sets(with and without cases), rice paddles, Hello Kitty bags, side dish containers; $.99, chopsticks, forks, mayo/soysauce containers, paper(with wax coating) food dividers;$.99, and mini thermos, paper lanterns, slippers, beauty supplies, serving trays, bowls and Japanese snacks (at the counter).

SoHo:

Sunrise Mart: I've just found another favorite place to go to~! ^_^ Sunrise Mart is an authentic Japanese store run by Japanese people with pretty affordable and reasonable prices. The workers there are mostly youthful and they greet most customers that enter the store. Aside from prepackaged and frozen foods, they have fresh bentos, sushi, bread and more. This is the only place I know of where i can buy a takoyaki hot plate ($22.95 on the second level) but they also sell frozen takoyaki in the back freezer aisle. There's also a ton of Japanese snacks and drinks like Pocari Sweat and Pocky. They also sell some pretty neat fuzzy stickers of food. I don't remember too much of the pricing but I did buy a pack of 8 sauce and dressing containers with caps for $1.99 and frozen takoyaki for $3.99/3.95 ._. (forgot which one). The only bento containers that they have are the Zoijirushi thermos kind that are around $50 and 2 different guy bentos (black with chopsticks included). By the back of the store, there is a table with a lot of stuff on sale that are about to expire. Most of the stuff here is $.99. I managed to snag Pretz for 2 for $.98 a few months ago. Anpanman childrens' bento, 1 more black guy's bento with kinchaku and a female orange and white (bubbles?) bento. :U they sell $6 suribachi, but no surikogi ;o; but it's bigger (and better) than the one that MUJI sells.
MUJI: ok, well they do have Japanese kitchen items like their $8 suribachi (mortar [and pestle]). Everything else is expensive, but nice to look at anyways, in case you pass by the store. White compact and the slightly bigger bento box with not so pretty furoshiki sold separately. The boxes are $13 and $15 respectively and look pretty. (and they come with inner dividers!)
Kiteya: This store on Broome St is pretty cool to check out. They sell children's shirts, wooden geta, tote bags with traditional designs, phone straps, fabric, ornaments, furoshiki; $60 D: I must say, this place is pretty expensive, but nice to look at. The women who work there are really nice too.
Pearl River Mart: That's right, I just went there. I buy my mini bento chopsticks here, but didn't see the bento boxes in the basement until NOW. There's 2 or 3 different colored V-Color brand boxes, but with different shapes and covers that are wonderfully simplistic and cheap. They also sell the apple/cherry? and green grape putifresh boxes in the two tiered and tight boxes. All the boxes are under $3, so if you're looking for something cheap and long lasting, this is the place. On the ground level, they sell Joyce Chen brand sushi molds, chopsticks, etc which are a bit pricey, but in the same section, they sell fruit shaped ice packs for lunch that are... $8. Chopsticks are between 50 cents and $15? and the 50 cent ones are in the basement only.

East Village:

Sunrise Mart: Comparing this to the SoHo store, it's much more cluttered, prices are on the shelves and not on every item, the lighting is slightly dimmer, and the prices are jacked up at least 20 cents or so. But they do sell nice cookware and dishware. If you're looking for a big tamagoyaki pan for under $20 bucks, this is the place. They also stock a few items that Banzai has like their wire straining basket and mini suribachi(Japanese mortar). But here, the suribachi DO come with surikogi(pestle) and for a little more than $3. Their bento are less cutesy and extensive than the SoHo location, but they're the tight bento kind and are pretty sturdy and white (though I forget if SoHo stocks some of them too). They sell the red/blue ITADAKIMASU chopsticks for a bit pricier than Pearl River Mart, some cutesy bunny print and traditional Japanese print on other chopsticks. Their rice molds though, are CHEAP; under $2. There's the double onigiri, the 4 mini (star,heart,etc) mold, and the kind that you scoop the rice with the mold itself (has a handle) in flower and heart shape like this.
Panya: A pretty decent Japanese bakery. I've only bought the chestnut cream (mont blanc) but it tastes so good. Some of their better items that I hear of like the krokke were sold out, but I'll check next time. Their breads seem bigger in the actual bakery than the ones distributed to the Sunrise Marts. The location is a lot smaller than I expected it to be, but no matter. From other reviews from Yelp, the coffee isn't very sub par and their drinks are a bit pricey so keep that in mind. website here, complete with menu and prices.
Otafuku: Authentic Japapanese takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and yakisoba. The food is pretty good but it's a hole-in-the-wall type eatery so don't expect to find seating here.

Koreatown:

Morning Glory: Bento boxes: $5-8, bento bands: $2, V-Color waterbottle:
$3, Monokuro Boo furoshiki: $5. Basically, it's what you can get in Chinatown, only the price is a bit more. The rest of the stuff sold here: towel cakes, stationary, origami/pastel stars, totes, cell phone accessories, breakfast bowls. btw, the downstairs level has a lot of cute hats and hair accessories.
Han Ah Reum (H-mart): A Korean supermarket that stocks a lot of Japanese food. Come here for cheap kamaboko, pre-sliced sashimi, kimchee, umeboshi, snacks, and Mr. Bento.

Uptown:

Kinokuniya (Ave. of the Americas)/ across the st from Bryant Park: I seriously love this place. I could spend a whole day here without complaining. Read for several hours in the basement, then go to Cafe Zaiya, which is just up a flight on an escalator, and walk around that floor reading manga or whatever. Right next to the escalator, they sell summer yukata and geta... they're over $60, so I'm gonna stay away from them. But in the same section, they sell furoshiki! They're the traditional kind, so they should go well with something like a juubako or like in some of the pictures hanging around Kino, use it like a purse (add bamboo hoop handles). Oh and they also sell traditional juubako that are displayed in a glass case by the entrance. They're very pretty, but I don't think that many people want to pay so much for them. The basement level sells traditional furniture; $1000....
One section I'll always hang out in is the basement; they have San-X stuff, but you'll find me by the recipe books, even if I can't make out half the words. They have some pretty recent bento books like Watashitachi no Obento and books for the calorie conscious. Monokuro Boo furoshiki and traditional Japanese print furoshiki (directly below basement stairs); around $10.
Kinokuniya (W49th st): They're closed
I bought the Japanese Family-Style Recipes book by Urakami Hiroko during their closing sale, which has a ton of recipes written in Japanese on one side and English translation on the other side. They point out in certain recipes, like the onigiri recipe, whether or not they are obento friendly and there are tips at the end of each recipe to help beginners. Color pictures in the front with handy conversion chart and index in the back; I seriously recommend this book. I got it half price, but with tax, it's still $9.10. It's worth the investment, especially at half price.
Minamoto Kitchoan: I didn't get to stay for that long, but it's a very pretty and Japanese style wagashi shop. They have blinding lighting to showcase each and every wagashi, from senbei to kasutera. Everything's over $2 a piece and like traditional wagashi shops, most of the wagashi are prepared fresh instore within several hours (for a ...40 piece box I think. I was standing next to a few people who were ordering urgently. alas, everything was too expensive and I left.
Cafe Zaiya: (41st st) Alas, this place must be heaven on earth; Fresh Beard Papa's cream puffs served everyday, as well as other bakery items on the other side of the cafe.

Flushing, Queens

Banzai99: Basically the same items as the Banzai that was in Brighton. They also have some pricey yukata in the upstairs level.

Edgewater, NJ

Mitsuwa Marketplace: Possibly the best place to find Japanese ingredients in the East Coast. The meat and fish are fresher than what you'd get at Sunrise Mart/Jas Mart/M2M/etc. The food court has a pretty good variety of food although after I've tried the katsudon here, I can say I wouldn't have it again- the meat was disappointing. There's a bakery here as well as a taiyaki/obanyaki/creamyaki stand which I do recommend. As well as I never really took the time to check out the bento here but in the next building there's Utsuwa no Yakata who sell juubako and Japanese dishware. Next to Utsuwa is Mars, which has a good variety of putifresh, sanrio, and rilakkuma bento although pricey. My friends also found a $27 taiyaki pan here.

More to update: The Daiso, Ichiban Kan (for all the cheap under $2 Japanese goodies~), Mitsuwa Marketplace (NJ) for Taiyaki,

fifth bento [with meat! :D]

2007-05-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

My first time making an obento that actually has meat! I never have enough time in the mornings to cook meat and i just happened to have enough leftovers from the night before, though this bento was from 2 days ago.

top tier: pickled vegetables with a sliver of beef, steamed tofu with shredded pork, sweet and sour cucumber slices, umeboshi, aka (red) kamaboko in a sakura shape with sesame seeds and kamaboko bits as a border and edamame on toothpicks
bottom tier: white rice with sakura denbu, edamame and bonito flake furikake

meh... the lighting was really bad at 6:15am and i was in a rush...

2007-05-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

First blog post since forever! *cheers*
this is... the first onigiri that i made a month ago and didn't get to post
i know it sucks 'coz i molded it with my hands...

猫のお弁当 Neko no Obentou

Strapya!

Breaktime

Laaazy post

Ginger what?

Happy Independence Day

I did once aspire to be a pastry chef ..

Sweet Sixteen

Almost bento

Recent Bento finds with photos

Oh finally a bento update- Kam Man Foods

Turnovers and Pizza

new

Recently

Baking Day at Aya's House

:< sad news

Pita Bread and Hummus

今日の料理 Today's Cooking

French Macarons

Oh sh*t I'm older now

Tokyo Bar

Mango Panna Cotta

Purikura at Flushing Mall

Independence Day

Yukata Sets at UNIQLO SoHo

giant sushi platter

International Lolita Day at the Met and Kinokuniya

shop updates

My brand has arrived! :D

Sakura Matsuri meet

's come true!

shop updates

bento picnic

Store updates; Chinatown + Koreatown

Easter Lolita Meet

Flushing

Thx vrymuch Amberrrr

East Village exploration

Beard Papa's bliss

EC

classic

Miscellaneous thoughts

shop updates

mum's flowers

My BPN goods from Kinokuniya

Chinese New Year

found while doing bio project *o*

MY BABY

good things

consistency

omgwagashi

I is punk-rori enough?

CTown Purikura, shrimpies, hotcake

For the sake of excitement

Favorite foods at hand, bento storing, homemade butter

Banzai Brighton and moar goodies

Happy Christmas!

Wishlist

pre-christmas sandwich bento and meringues

NYAF '07

a beard?

late cookies

Macy's Rush

omigah~ meh shoes

Lolita + something to ignore

"cupcakes"

A Lengthy Post

random picture uploads

More food! :D

Chocolate Mousse

New bento boxes!

Re: June post, previous bento and 4th of July cake

Store updates and more

New Post of the Month

Crazed

Baked goodie and some news

Bento Collection

Cassadaga

Japanese bento/ food/ kitchen supply stores

fifth bento [with meat! :D]

found while doing bio project o