My brother and his wife treated us to lunch at Fook Yuen to celebrate my mom's 85th birthday. We had Fish Maw with Crabmeat Soup.
Deep Fried Stuffed Tofu
Choy Sum
Dungeness Crab
Lobster
We also had fried rice, noodles, chicken salad and ong choy, but my mind musta blanked out when the crab and lobster came out, and I forgot to take more photos.
Me and friend Cleta met at Goma Tei this past Tuesday. We both opted for ramen with a shoyu-based broth. This is my Vegetable Ramen ($10.95). It tasted a lot healthier (not as flavorful) than my favorite Tan Tan broth.
Here is Cleta's Shredded Pork and Szechuan Pickle Ramen ($11.25).
I had a Longs coupon for "$4 off your next purchase" that was gonna expire yesterday so I went there to look for something. I got these . . . Altoids, not for the mints but for the tin to put watercolor paints in and a little glass container to store dipping ink. The Altoids was $2.59 and the container was $1.49. My out-of-pocket expense ended up being 8 cents. The people in line behind me laughed when one guy said, "I wish mine would cost that little."
And to add to the score . . . I got another $4 off coupon on my receipt!!
At Hokkaido Dosanko Plaza, an antenna shop for products from Hokkaido, there was a soft serve ice cream machine. There was a guy across from the machine who was eating exactly what I wanted . . . a melon/vanilla mix in a cup (not cone).
I asked him for help in picking which button I was supposed to press and he gladly obliged. I drew shades on him because he was such a cool dude.
You can see in his hand that he got a pack of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for his trouble.
A few days after coming home from Japan I went to Safeway to get a few things. Cool air rushed at me as soon as I entered the store. I hadn't realized how much I had missed that while shopping in Tokyo. And it was quiet. Nobody shouting words from behind counters. No high-pitched voices coming from sound systems. And no crowds.
Nobody blocking my way in tiny, narrow aisles.
And no looooooooooong lines at checkout. It was so nice being able to shop in peace. But don't get me wrong. I'd go back to do more Tokyo omiyage shopping in a heartbeat!
Me and numbers don't get along. Dealing with money in Japan is hard for me. If the cashier is especially fast and there's a long line behind me, FOGET IT. I go into Pressure Out Overload. I'm not ashamed to hold a handful of coins out and let the cashier pick them for me. I usually come home with a whole bunch of coins, but surprisingly these are all I brought back this time. I did good, hah!
Winnah Winnah Chicken Dinnah!! I think Wendell used to say that. Ever heard that saying before? Anyway, had planny people who entered this drawing. Wendell was busy hibachi-ing his bulgogi so I asked Landon to do the picking this time. I wish I could send everybody something, but got only one winnah. And da winnah is . . .
CHET!!! YOU DA WINNAH!! Can you email me with your mailing address? JalnaA@aol.com. Congratulations!!
Wendell made this a couple of nights ago. It was a little bit too spicy for me, but veeeery flavorful. He saw the recipe in a magazine in a doctor's office and took a picture.
Here are the art supplies that I bought in Japan. Would you believe that I was looking forward to buying art supplies more than anything else? These are from Sekaido. I had hoped to visit the main branch in Shinjuku, but the Ikebukuro store proved to be good enough.
These were from Tokyu Hands.
I picked these up from The Loft on our last day.
My haul included a whole bunch of white pens.
Because one can never have enough white pens.
This pen proved to be one of my favorite art supply buys.
It's actually a fine-tipped brush pen! Neat hah!!
It's good for doing fine line variations.
This is a .005 Zig marker.
So tiny!
I partially inked this Howl's Moving Castle just to show you.
I bought two versions of this Pentel brush pen.
They both have nylon bristles and a barrel filled with ink that you have to kinda press a little while using.
It took me awhile to get used to, but I think I like it. Only thing . . . the ink takes awhile to dry and it's not waterproof, but I can smudge it with my finger or use a waterbrush for shading.
This is a dip pen. The set I bought has 3 different type of nibs. I only got to try out the G nib so far.
It's fun to use . . . somehow very satisfying.
This thing is called a screen tone. It's a peel-off adhesive film.
Manga artists use it for shading, although I think it's probably old school now since most must draw digitally instead. I think it's cool. No?
The tone cutter on the left is veeeeeery sharp and needs just a little pressure to cut. The thing on the right is used to rub rub rub the film in place. Maybe not really necessary, but it was only 200 yen.
I'm really happy with my haul and can't wait to play with them more.
I recently found some scores at various Ross stores.
I got these Faber Castell gelatos (Hawaii Kai) for $1.99 each. The same gelatos on Amazon are selling for $14.59 each!
This Faber Castell stencil (Hawaii Kai) was $1.99. Similar ones are around $10.00 on Amazon.
This Faber Castell Texture Luxe (Hawaii Kai) is used to create dimension and texture in your artwork. It was $2.99. The same thing on Amazon is selling for $10.95. Marvy Uchida LePlumme II markers selling for $17.04 on Amazon were $5.99 at Ross (McCully). These Fiskars decorative scissor set (Kahala) was $2.99. Amazon sells it for $10.99.
Yes, I do spend a lot of my free time bargain hunting at different Ross stores. It's fun for me. I hardly go to Longs but I did go yesterday and look what I discovered. A Clearance section!! Hooo hooo!!
this and that
-
Tokyo People: this guy feeding the birds, he has bird feed in his fanny
pack and when no one is looking (except I saw him) he throws the feed near
the curb...
Mixed Plate Friday
-
Okay, today is more of a mixed bowl Friday cause I am just going to feature
one thing. Remember the cute miso soup I shared with you the other week!
Chan’s...
A Letter from Mazie
-
Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz are our United States senators from Hawaii.
I very rarely get involved in politics because most of the times I don't
think ...
Great quotes
-
I saw this great quote by Anthony Hopkins on Pinterest: “None of us are
getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after
thought...
Descanso Gardens, 4/2/24
-
Three out of four college roommates were able to get together. Our other
roommate, Mary, is from Mountain View and it would have been an eight hour
drive...
Surf Report 09-06-2023
-
Waves: 1 - 3 Feet Wind: Trades Light Trade winds are back but the waves are
still rolling in! It's not Uranus Gotta stop and smell the sunrise! Cotton
cand...
Business Launch Challenge!
-
Did you happen to read my last post? If not, you should watch this video
before reading on...
But if you're interested, there is a Business Launch Cha...