Kyoto Part I Shinkansen!

 Sato didn't eat breakfast, because he woke up last minute so he had to buy a bento. These are kind of expense, but they are known to be pretty good!

 The inside of Sato's bento! In the store (which is on the train platform) you usually can see what the bento has inside. They have either pictures or a mock up of the inside. If you aren't picky and you have no dietary restrictions just pick one and see how it goes! You may be surprised.....in a good way!

 This is about 10 mayyyybe 15 minutes later. Sato was hungry.

 The inside of the Shinkansen! It kind of looks like the inside of an airplane. Especially with the fold up trays on the back of the seats.

 The Shinkansen leaving after we got off at Kyoto Station!

This is what the main entrance of Kyoto station looks like. It is enormous, especially since it has a lot of different stores inside and some department stores. A trip from Nagoya to Kyoto costs under 5,000 yen, which is much cheaper than going to Tokyo!

Monta Is Getting So Big!......and a little weird

 Look at how big his face has gotten! He's grown so much in the last month! He's practically full grown now!

 See he is definitely no kitten and he is so friendly now compared to when I first brought him home! I can actually take pictures with him now. Yay!

 This is Monta looking like an insect...or maybe he's doing "The Robot"........(-_-;) He's a little weirdo and I will show you another picture to prove my point.

Now, isn't this the weirdest way for a cat to use his litter box? I mean really, is it necessary to have all four paws on the edge of his litter box? Apparently, he doesn't want to dirty his paws by keeping them in the litter box while he does his business. Then when he is done he attempts to cover his business by scraping the area OUTside of the litter box......like there is a button that will automatically cover the present that he left inside...."yeah, there's no button! I don't care how many times you scrape the carpet or the outside of your litter box! Your BUSINESS is STILL....VISIBLE TO ME!!!!!" (o_0*) /

Sheeps and Owls Pillowcase

 So here is the front side of my patchwork pillowcase! This is my first try so forgive me for the squares not matching up quite right. lol But, even with that I like how the color combination turned out!

 This is the backside of the pillowcase with nothing inside. It is an envelope style, but I made mistake. I will need to remake it with the overlapping fold closer to the edge so I can get it over the pillow!

 See, this is as far as I can get the pillowcase one. It probably doesn't help that it is a buckwheat filled pillow so it is extra fat.

 Here's a close up of the fold and pillow.

 I used a golden thread to do the quilting over the squares.

 Here are the sheep for counting when you can't get to sleep.

The pillowcase all in all turned out pretty good! I'm actually proud of myself for having been able to make it fairly well. I will now attempt to make another one that has the exact same size squares and maybe a little bigger for the pillow.

I bought all the materials at Otsukaya. This is my new favorite store! If I could I would live in this store! It has about 5 or 6 floors of everything related to crafts!! It is located close to Chikusa station or Kurumamichi Station, depending on what train you use to get there. The idea of the pillowcase came from Design Sponge a blog about anything related to design, including how to make things. On Design Sponge this is called the "Color Spectrum Pet Bed" for those of you looking for the How to's on this project. One way to locate this blog is through Bloglovin.com, which is how I found it! Happy Sewing!

Knitting Project

 I knitted this baby blanket for my cousins who are about to have a baby anyday now. I bought this really soft yarn from a store called Craft World in Sakae. They waiting till the baby is born to find out if they will have a boy or a girl so I knitted in gender neutral colors!

 I added accents on the corners for a little extra fun. I made sure that the two bear shaped buttons would be too big for a baby to even try to swallow these buttons in case they came off. I even sewed them on with a lot of extra thread....call me paranoid, but I rather be safe than sorry!

 Here is a close up of the bear shaped button. There were so many buttons to choose from in the store, but I thought this was the best option! I also used some silk kimono fabric that I found at a kimono store in the same building. I wanted to add a Japanese flair to the blanket and so here it is!

 This is the blanket folded into a square, but you can pull the one corner to the diagonal corner and button it and then wrap your baby in it. I used a big knitting needle so it didn't take too long to finish! I just had to keep it up and away from Monta while I worked on it.

Here are all for corners. I used to types of silk fabric and I actually like how it all turned out. I already sent it off to my cousins and they seemed to be happy with the blanket. I just hope that they will actually be able to use it for their baby. For anybody in Nagoya looking for a craft store check out the store in Sakae. It's in the Skyle building on the 6F or whatever floor is below the Daiso that is in there. It is called Craft World and they have a lot of different things for crafts. I also checked out the Tokyu Hands at Nagoya Station since it is much bigger than the one in Sakae. They have more options than Craft World, but it's a little bit further for me to get there. I tend to stick with Craft World.

Devastation in the Tohoku Region

I know everyone has heard already about the news in Japan. The news here censors a lot of the really terrible images that may be seen in the US or other countries where it's not as strict. I have to say though that even with the censors it is still devastating and gut wrenching. Luckily, Nagoya only felt a slow trembling that lasted a long time, but I can't express any kind of relief when I think of the sheer number of lives that have been lost or affected by this disaster. Now, on top of the earthquakes (which seem to still be occurring in some cities) the Nuclear Power Plant up north has had all four of their buildings (which contained the nuclear reactor) explode. Because of the earthquake the reactors had shut down, but this also caused the water cooling system to shut down. I can't give exact detail since this is from what I can understand and from what I have heard from others. Now on top of having to deal with the aftermath of the earthquakes and tsunami some areas now also have to worry about radiation poisoning when it rains.

As I am writing this I am feeling an earthquake.........it was a small one, but now it makes me worry that in a different city that it wasn't that small......like last time. I'm thinking it will be beneficial to put together an emergency kit, and soon!


Photos courtesy of Madperspective

Kachaguri Restaurant かちゃぐりや

The master at work! It was very entertaining to watch him work while we ate！

The aquarium where they hold fresh fish and then the shellfish case.

This is the view I had all night. I felt like I had front row seats to a concert or something!

Some sashimi......

some squid with fish cod roe and seaweed......

four oysters, we had three choices of sauce. I had both of mine with ponzu sauce and Sato had one of his with salsa.......

mmmmm oysters........

some grilled oysters, these were very good too! Grilled oysters taste a little different from raw oysters.....

fresh aji, so fresh that the fish was still twitching a little bit on the skewer........

grilled yellowtail, it was so soft and we ate it in no time........

the making of the Anago dashi tamago.......

a close up of the Anago dashi tamago, this is a Japanese style omelet with Anago placed in the middle before it is rolled. Usually there is no Anago in the middle. Anago is a type of eel.

Chirashizushi.......This was very good! I normally don't like leek, but the leek was so thinly sliced that it wasn't overwhelming. The rice had a nice flavor what with the green onions and vinegar......mmmmmmm......

The hippo statue at the entrance to the building that the restaurant is in. You have to go down the walkway to the back to find the restaurant. It will be on the left side with the Japanese style door. If you are in Nagoya and want to check out this restaurant I recommend making an reservation. The restaurant isn't all that big and it fills up fast. Here is the tel number (052) 586-3653 for anyone who is interested!

View of Nagoya Station Area from the 14th Floor

So I went to Nagoya Station a few weeks ago, because I don't go in that direction very often. I spent most of the day in this one department store and still didn't see everything that was in here. I saw this view and could not resist taking a picture, especially on such a beautiful day! I could have gone up higher to the Sky Deck, but I didn't feel like paying for the view. I had just eaten lunch and the fee was about the same cost as my lunch, which is to say that my lunch was a little expensive.......but it was good. Although, it wasn't a "Oh I have to come here again!" type of good. It was more of a "if I really tried I could probably make this at home", but it would have taken some time and effort.  Either way, I hope you like this shot as much as I do.