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Japanese Cooking: Bento Love

With less than a month left to go in Japan, I've been Japanese-mook shopping, as my past few posts have shown.  We pack out tomorrow (great reason for me to be blogging right now, huh?!), but I wanted to show off one of my recent purchases.  Enjoy!

 

Actually, I've never gotten very good at bento preparation, but I plan to keep learning and trying!  Incidentally, if you can get ahold of any of the titles in this Orange Page series, I recommend them highly.  They're inexpensive but have wonderful photos of recipe prep and all the finished products, presented in a lovely, quirky manner.

Now, back to cleaning...

Helena Christensen at Home

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I think that Danish supermodel Helena Christensen is just too cool.  A real gypsy-globetrotter, she has her own super-cool shop, Butik, in NYC, and now a feature in Paris Vogue on her super-cool West Village loft.  Check out the photo spread (I'm in love!) in The Selby.  By the way, if you aren't familiar with The Selby, you really should subscribe by email (a funny quirk there:  if artwork involving an unclad female exists in someone's home, he will photograph it--I've started to think that having said artwork is a prerequisite for inclusion in The Selby!).  Anyway, I'm really glad to see Helena's funky country-brocante world-home style featured.

Eco Chopsticks

Well--sort of.  They're plastic.  But if I can remember to keep them in my bag and use them when I'm out and am offered those horrible disposable wooden chopsticks I never can break right, that'll be good for the environment, right?

I especially like this set because you can put together not only chopsticks, but a fork and spoon. Good for upcoming impromptu picnics in Germany, I'm thinking!

Here's a site where you can buy To-Go Ware's reusable bamboo utensil set along with a great little stainless steel tiffin--perfect for a cold meal or one you can reheat on a hot plate or the stovetop. 

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The Buying Has Begun

Now that we know we will be moving from Japan in June, we should probably start to think about cleaning and getting our house ready for packout.  But we have chosen instead to focus on a much more important task:  buying Japanese stuff we like and won't have easy access to in the future.  Oh, we do love, and will miss dearly, our Uniqlo clothing, 100-yen goods (useless and otherwise), and our (meaning "my") Japanese mooks.  I can contemplate the impending separation from Japanese bookstores only by buying and setting aside a good-sized stash of mooks before we leave.

I never cease to be amazed by the greatness of mooks.  Check this one out--it's all about cute (kawaii!) ways to recycle Japanese food packaging.  So clever, ne?

Now, will Her Highness, Queen of Trash Separation and Disposal (that's me!), manage to remember to set aside some cool Japanese trash for this purpose?  Only time (the next month or so) will tell!

I Heart the Farm Chicks

I waited a while for this book to come out, then I snapped up a copy in its first week on Amazon.  I've followed the Farm Chicks for several years, especially their features in Country Living magazine.  So I knew that a cookbook by Serena and Teri would be something special, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.  In fact, after having the book just a few weeks, I've already managed to make six of the recipes!  That's right, I haven't just been ogling the photos!  But speaking of photos, here's a handful:





I can personally vouch for this Cherry Crumble Pie (though mine did not look this pretty!), as well as the Pumpkin Waffles, Roasted Chicken and Pesto Hoagies, a slightly altered Pesto Pasta Salad, Dark Chocolate Butter Cake, and--okay, maybe I've made five of the recipes, not six.  Well, I'm trying the Cherry Breakfast Swirl next weekend for sure...

I should probably mention that this is more than a cookbook, with recipes for breakfast, appetizers, lunch, and dessert (my only question: doesn't dinner feel left out?).  It's really a lifestyle book, with Serena and Teri's own "stories," decorating/craft ideas, and even a free apron stencil and free-subscription card to Country Living!  Gosh, you can hardly afford not to buy this book!

Now, in addition to buying the book, head over to their adorable blog.  I must try the breakfast scones soon, very soon!

A Break and Some Bookshelves

Sorry I've been away.  I took a bit of an unscheduled blog-break just before and during our Spring Break.  I had a darned good reason, I think--not travel, which is my usual excuse--rather, the Fam has been feverishly celebrating, planning, and researching our upcoming move in August to the countryside of far-western Germany!  We got the word just over a week ago and are quite excited, though we will miss Japan terribly.

Of course, I'm already thinking about our future home.  Wouldn't I love to have some wonderful bookshelves like any of these?  Oh, yes--I would!

RIP Domino mag...

Cozy Asian Boho Bright

A good description for this, yes?

It's from someone's Domino My Deco File, but I'm unfortunately unsure of the original source.  I do love it, and it's nice to see on a day when I'm looking for something to pull my out of my inspiration-less funk...

The Crazy Cookbook Lady

Here is a very small percentage of my cooking literature (the one on the bottom isn't quite a cookbook, but it was sitting there, so I let it stay for the photo).  I may be just a wee bit compulsive about cookbooks.  I love to buy them, for sure, but I don't exactly go for quantity--meaning I won't buy just any cookbook, regardless of how cheap it is, though goodness knows cheapness is a big draw for me.  The cookbooks I buy must be beautiful.  But while I love the appearance of my cookbooks and often treat them as totally fit for coffee-table perusal, I do indeed use them.  It just takes me a while. 

Sometimes I go months before I actually drag a book to the kitchen for the first time.  But by that time, I have had months of enjoyment from simply looking at the books' covers, touching them lovingly, and flipping through them (possibly while salivating).  So yes, I'm a bit weird.  And yes, I'm thinking about how many I'll have in twenty years.  Someday someone will likely have to dig me out. 

Cath maniacs unite!

Sure, there are plenty of people in the U.K. who love their homegirl Cath Kidston, but were you aware that there are a great many Japanese "Cath maniacs"?  Me neither!  But there are, as evidenced by the recent appearance of this great little mook that I couldn't help buying the other day.  Hey, it came with a free bag, and I do love free!

I was drawn in by lovely photos of Cath's home...




...and photos of her myriad products for sale--a handful of them here:

It's a great mook.  Hooray for Cath maniacs!  And go here for more Cath.

Birthday Present

My lovely lamp was found in a shop on Hollywood Road during our recent trip to Hong Kong.  It's made from an antique Chinese ceramic pillow (yes, pillow!), Thai silk shade, and Korean (or Chinese?) silk butterfly tassel.  This shop has gorgeous, earthy antiques and plenty of wonderful lamps similar to this one (believe me, it was hard to choose just one!).  We found an inexpensive shipping method available to us--I'm so happy the lamp and some other purchases arrived in Japan intact!

Incidentally, when we travel, I adhere to a wonderful philosophy Jane Brocket calls "travelling with a template."  This means travelling with a certain agenda in mind--one that provides a great opportunity for keeping an eye out for interesting things for one's home--cake tins, art books, buttons, tablecloths, clothespins, and yes--lamps--the choices are pretty much endless!  I love how Jane talks about travel as an extension of domesticity (page 256 in the British edition of The Gentle Art of Domesticity).  If you don't have this book, I'm afraid I have to insist that it's a must!