Trying Japanese Recipes

Dear Readers,

If you follow my Instagram account, you would see a sudden surge of food pictures.  I am trying to find new ways to add more vegetables to my diet so I tried to cook Japanese dishes.

It is really fun to discover new spices and ways of cooking!  Now I am addicted to the Japanese grocery store!  I can't read Japanese but the people working in the store are always very nice and they showed me where to find the food I was looking for!

At first I was a little afraid to see so many unfamiliar ingredients, sauce, and vegetables I have never heard of.  But the following websites were really helpful!  And their videos are really well-done and easy to follow.

Just One Cookbook by Namiko Chen 

Blog

Youtube Channel

Ochikeron by Ami Nishimura

Blog

Youtube Channel

These are my favorite go-to bloggers for learning about Japanese cuisine.  Their instructions are in English and their recipes are delicious!

I sometimes have to change the recipes slightly because of my diet restrictions.  In general, I would modify the recipes to use leaner meat cuts, less fat and less salt.

Below are some of the meals I cooked.  I didn't take picture of every single recipe I tried though.  Sometimes it's a miss and sometimes it's a hit!  It's all part of learning so I don't expect to like every new recipes!   

Do you eat Japanese food?  Would you try to cook them at home?

Soba noodles and Tsuyu soup base

Green tea soba buckwheat noodles with grated daikon, wasabi, scallions and tsuyu dipping sauce

Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) lots of cabbage in this!

Teriyaki chicken and shiro miso soup

Takoyaki (octopus balls)

Tamagoyaki (japanese omelette), steamed brocoli, fried okra, roasted seaweed, miso soup

Tempura shrimps and green beans with tsuyu dipping sauce

Mini Addictions Party Food Giveaway!

Dear Readers,

Something fabulous happened to me last week!  I won the miniature Party Food Giveaway from Lisa T's Mini Addictions!!!  Lisa T. is a really talented miniaturist and her blog MINI ADDICTIONS is truly inspiring!  I have been following her for a while now and her posts are always interesting to read and very informative.

Here below is a photo of the prize.  I am using her photo because it is so much clearer than the ones I took!  If you post this picture somewhere, please make sure to credit her!

Photo Credit: Lisa T's Mini Addictions

I was so surprised because I rarely win anything at all!  This set is so well made!  

Everything looks incredibly real!  Even my relatives, who are usually not interested in my miniature hobby, were in awe when they saw this food set displayed in my cabinet.  They were all asking how it was possible for somebody to create this!

And Lisa was even more generous and sent me the most adorable napkins held by a metal ring, a complete cutlery set, a candle jar and a super cute mini horse!!!

Here below they are displayed on the table in my mini kitchen.  The two blue plates are the only items on the table that aren't from Lisa.  I am not showing all the napkins and cutlery set that I received because the table was set for two people only.  

To give you a comparison view of the scale, I have added two Momoko Dolls to the scene.  Momoko are articulated fashion dolls from Japan and they are a little smaller than a Barbie doll.  They fit well in this display and the food set is perfectly scaled for them!

I will show you in another post more pictures of the mini kitchen and I will write in further detail about my new Momoko dolls as well.

Thank you so much Lisa for giving me the opportunity to own such a beautiful miniature set!  I hope you will get recognition for your amazing miniature work!

Re-ment Osechi

Dear Readers,

I hope you are all enjoying your New Year celebrations!  I am already back to work today but I did have the time to set up a photo to show the new Osechi Set from Re-ment.  My Sylvanian Families Rabbits have eagerly accepted to model in their best attire ^_^

Osechi are the traditional New Year food in Japan. Osechi are presented in special boxes called jūbako (重箱), which resemble bento boxes.  They include food that have a special meaning for the New Year. 

The Osechi boxes shown above come from the newly released "March Comes in Like a Lion - Kawamoto Family Dinner".  You can read a very good and complete Review of the Full Set written by Buzz Wuzzington III Esq on the Re-ment Addict Pool on Flickr. 

As soon as I saw the promo photos for that collection, I decided to pre-order the full set.  There are a few webshops that allow pre-ordering but I usually get mine from AmiAmi.com.  It was much cheaper that way than to buy on Ebay (especially with the Yen been so low recently!).  I paid between $35 to $40 for almost all my full Re-ment sets thanks to pre-ordering instead of waiting for them to be sold on Ebay or Amazon.

But of course, pre-ordering means you take a risk because at that point, there are no real pictures of the miniature yet and you have to trust the promotion pictures!  So far, I have happy with all my purchases.

I will eventually take a picture of the complete set for you to see but it will have to wait for another day because today I have to be back in the office!

I wish everybody a wonderful weekend!

Happy New Year 2015!!!

Wishing you all a fantastic New Year!

♥ ♥ ♥ HUGS ♥ ♥ ♥

SF Bear Family

Dear Readers,

I recently made a trade with Jennifer from PLUSHPUSSYCAT!  I received this beautiful Bear Family (probably the Petite Bear from the Japanese line of Sylvanian Families)!  they are so cute and I love their clothes!   They were much needed for my new dollhouse which I will hopefully finish decorating before Christmas!

The trade was only for the bears so I didn't expect anything else but Jennifer generously gifted me with beautifully photographed postcards!  How cute is Strawberry Shortcake and her friend Orange Marmelade!  

Thank you so much Jennifer for this awesome trade!!!

EDIT:   The cake featured in the birthday card above was made by the Mouse Market!  Sorry for the confusion!

Sylvanian Families Kitchen Cooking Set

Dear Readers,

I would like to show you in detail the Sylvanian Families Kitchen Cooking Set that I am giving away to one of my dear readers. This set makes a wonderful addition to either a home kitchen or a restaurant. I have displayed the items on a typical kitchen set from Calico Critters. 

Included in the set are :

• 1 kettle with lid
• 1 pot with lid and stew
• 1 pan with lid and 6 ravioli pieces
• 1 skillet with omelette
• 1 oven tray with 2 rectangular bread (or fish cakes?)
• 1 oven tray with 5 round biscuits
• 1 plate with pasta and tomato sauce
• 1 flour canister with a lid
• 1 salt shaker
• 1 pepper shaker
• 1 pair of oven mitts
• 1 spatula
• 1 ladle
• 1 kitchen thongs

But strangely, I cannot find the 6 ravioli pieces anymore!  I don't know what happened to them... Maybe one of my critter ate them all ^_^

All the lid and food items are removable which increases the possibilities of display.   I really like the soft green color of the pot, pan and kettle.   They look very similar to the life-size enamel cooking ware!  The word "COOKING" is engraved on the lid of the pot and pan.  I think that is a really nice design and gives the cooking ware a "real" look.

The scale is about 1:12.  It is made for the Sylvanian Families/Calico Critters but it will also fit small dolls that are 4 to 5 inches tall.  

My Littlest Pet Shop Blythe doll has nicely accepted to model the oven mitt for you to see.  She is a newcomer in my dolly world and I'll post more about her and her friends soon.

Little Dal Humpty Dumpty wasn't to happy though.  She wasn't impressed by the set.  Especially the omelette ^_^.

Another type of doll that fits well with this set is a Mimiworld doll!

The set that I will send to the winner of the giveaway will be in a brand new sealed package.

And you'll be sure to receive the 6 ravioli pieces that I was missing in my set!  You can enter the giveaway by leaving a comment in my post HERE or by leaving a comment in this post as well.  This giveaway is open to my present blog readers only to thank them for their continuous support!  Other prizes will be posted next week and it will be open to existing and new readers.   The participation period ends on Saturday 8th November 2014 at 9pm CET.   I will announced the winner that night (if I am still awake, if not, I'll announce on Sunday!).  

I was going to post a review of this set on the Sylvanian Families Forum but since it is missing pieces, I'll have to find another item to review.  Don't forget you can still have a chance to win a cute fridge (donated by the generous Mariana  from Sugarbush Valley: an Ideal Life) if you submit a review in the REVIEW SECTION of the Sylvanian Families Forum!  Closing date 23 November 2014.  Good luck everybody!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any stores or website. You may find a better store in your area.

Emma's Bedroom

Dear Readers,

I intended to make a long post to show you the dollhouse I have chosen for Emma, my new Licca Castle doll, but it was much too busy yesterday to take pictures of everything so I can only show you a few shots of her bedroom.

I bought the Moxie Girlz Jammaz House many months ago but I didn't want to post about it until I got Emma because she was just perfect for this house.

The Moxie Girlz Jammaz House was released in two different editions:  one with a bed and bath tub (which I bought), and one without those furniture pieces!  Since I don't know exactly what edition is sold on websites, I don't want to link them and confuse people as to what issue they will receive.  In case of doubt, it's always best to ask the seller before buying.

The vanity table is from an old Bratz furniture set (Bratz World Yasmin's House).  The cosmetics are from Re-ment.  I found out about them HERE thanks to Moonrabbit's Miniature World who blogs about Sylvanian Families, Re-ment, Blythe and Miniature in general!  You should check out her blog!  She takes gorgeous pictures and she writes detailed reviews

Now back to Emma in her bedroom.  When I set up the dollhouse on my table, I thought it looked quite pretty; the most elegant dollhouse I have ever seen.  Once I placed Emma in her bedroom, it became so much more!  She was the ONE for this dollhouse.  She just belonged there.

Emma in her dainty bedroom!

The bed came with the dollhouse.

View from the top

Full view of her bedroom.

The dollhouse has a lot more rooms/walls and I can't wait to show them to you!  But I need to have time first.  Baby didn't sleep until 10 pm last night and I was too tired after that to take more photos.  I took the photos while she was awake and it was something I will not attempt again.  She was constantly trying to grab the items from the table.  Although she was too small to reach any of the furniture, her constant hovering around the table made it difficult for me to set up the display.  I gave her another dollhouse to occupy her but she wanted me to play with her, so in the end, I could only take a few shots before putting away everything. 

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any stores or website. You may find a better store in your area.

Licca Castle - Special Toy Box

Dear Readers,

I have been dreaming of getting another Licca Castle doll and it was a difficult decision because there are so many pretty dolls to choose from.  I finally chose: Licca Castle Special Toy Box Doll .

The website describes her as having blonde-white hair with purple/brown eyes and pink lips.

Licca Castle dolls are more expensive than the Licca Playline dolls but they are worth it.  Their face-up is so much more defined and the quality of their hair is totally in another league.  Super smooth and silky.  

Licca Castle collaborated with 20 doll outfit artists and created dolls and outfits for their 20th anniversary special event.   "Special Toy Box" is one of the artists. She mainly makes Momoko's outfits, and they sell out very quickly when she opens her web shop. Below is her website and blog. 

special-toy-box.chu.jp/

specialtoybox.blog71.fc2.com/

Here is how the doll is packaged.

The inside panel slides out easily.
A white dress and white shoes are included.

The doll is held only by two cloth-covered rubber bands.

Yeah for easy unboxing!

Here she is!

Her end curls are a little messy.

She has such a sweet face. A subtle smile and a soft purple shade in her eyes.

With hair swept in the front.

I am so happy with this doll.  She looks so precious and dainty.  I was a little surprised when I first saw her because she didn't look like her stock picture.  But that was because her hair was messy in the box and her bangs were flattened by the plastic holder around her head.  But once I got her out of the box, she looked exactly like her stock photo.  Once noticeable difference though is that the dress she wears in her stock photo is not the same as the dress I received.  That is not a problem for me since I don't mind this dress.  It's well made, it's soft and it fits her nicely.

I need to take better pictures of her though because I took these photos really quickly yesterday.  I feel I am not doing her any justice with my terrible photos!  So hopefully she will get some deserved time in front of the camera soon!  And I think I will name her Emma.  Do you think it suits her?

Petit Jenny Dolls

Dear Readers,

Did you ever wish for a particular doll or toy but knew you had zero chance to get it because it was not on the market anymore?  Well that's how I felt about the Petit Jenny Dolls - Set A and Petit Jenny Dolls - Set B made by Takara.  To add to the difficulty, they were only released in Japan and even there it was difficult to find them at a reasonable price.

Well about six months ago, I did see one set for sale on Ebay but could not buy it because I was busy at work and missed out on the bidding.  I nearly cried.  I didn't but I was really not happy.  I thought I would never see them again until a few weeks ago another seller put them up for sale!  

I am truly trying to not spend too much on dolls anymore but I knew I had a very slim chance to find them on the secondary market again so I plunged and bought Set B.  After I got them, I wished I had bought Set A as well because they are really incredibly cute!

The back of the box shows the dolls in their "older doll version".

Here they are outside of their box but still attached to the backdrop.

It was fairly easy to unbox the dolls.  The back of the box is very bare compared to many other doll boxes.

Here is the backdrop without the dolls.  It reminds me of Burberry's trademark plaid design.

The dolls have a plastic wrap around their head to keep their hair in place.  Each doll wears a school uniform and comes with shoes, socks, white underwear, and their own mini doll stand.

There were only two ties.  One around the neck and the other around the ankles.

The first doll wears a navy blue sailor top with a tie and pleated skirt.  Her shoes and school bag are black.  She also has an English book made of cardboard.  She has an elaborate hairstyle and her hair is smooth and silky.

Notice her blue eyes and eyeshadows.  Her lips are full and red.

The second dolls wear a graduation gown and hat with a black dress underneath, with black tights and black shoes.  Her accessories are a diploma and a red ribbon to tie around the diploma.

Her hair is a little messy but they are smooth and feel nice.  She has dark painted lips and her eyes are blue with red eyeshadows.

The third doll wears a white top attached to a plaid pleated skirt.  She comes with a white sweater and brown vest, blue socks, brown shoes, brown school bag, glasses and a book.

Her hairstyle reminds me of my Licca's hairstyle.  Her eyes brown and her lips are very pale.

Here she is without her vest.  Her school uniform is so pretty!

Here she is wearing the white sweater.

Here she is with glasses.  So cuuuute! ♥

The Petit Jenny dolls remind me a lot of Licca's little twin sisters Maki-chan and Miki-chan.  I took a few close-up shots of Miki-chan with each of the Petit Jenny dolls to show you their resemblance and difference.

I think Miki-chan is much cuter than the Petit Jenny dolls because she is a toddler doll whereas the Jenny Dolls are like miniature version of the older Jenny dolls. 

There is a naked body comparison.  They look almost perfectly similar.

Their feet are also the same size.

But Miki-chan's shoes are much smaller.  I think the Petit Jenny's shoes are bigger because they wear socks whereas Miki-chan is barefeet.

They swapped clothes and you can see they fit each other's clothes and shoes without any problem.

I am very happy with my purchase and I think Miki-chan is very happy to have new friends :)