chalk....

What do you use yours for?

For a friend far away...

I got this fabric in a swap and as  soon as I saw it I thought of a certain friend, for some reason these colour remind me of her. She was planning to come and visit this year but due to the earthquake and illness she didn't make it this spring. I made a scarf backed with Thai silk and then I added a bit of freehand embroidery. I hope she likes it!

Our latest gadget - Zoku review

Pinterest has a lot to answer for! I spotted this a while ago and was intrigued. Our freezer is not very big and it is difficult to make ice lollies in it so when I spotted this I was so happy. Yes, it makes ice lollies BUT you put the zoku, empty, into the freezer, it needs to freeze for 24hrs. Then when you are ready for your ice lolly, take out the zoku, pop the stick in, pour in your juice or whatever, wait 10 minutes and it's done! Yes, it freezes it on the counter top.

Now, before you rush out to buy one, let me explain some more. It is easy to make fancy lollies and a different style of lolly for each person. You can slice fruit and before you put your stick in you put it in the zoku, it sticks to the side. They do sell a pack of gadgets to make it easier but I can wield a pair of chopsticks just as well as that old fella from karate kid and have a draw of bento goodies I can use so I just went for the basic set. I have found that choco chips or candies don't stick well but if you dip them in the liquid you are using first, then they do. Remember to pop your stick in before pouring in the liquid.

Stripes - easy peasey, pop your stick in then add a small amount of liquid. Wait a couple of minutes, test to see if the layer has frozen then add another, continue until you are finished!

Some of the lollies I have made so far....

1. Hogwarts stripes made from orange juice and mixed veg juice

2. Pineapple pieces and mango juice

3. Super sour - a slice of lemon and grapefruit juice

4. Superlicky - orange juice and milk with food colour added

5. Choco banana

6. Strawberries and honey milk

7. One of the first a mix of juices food colour and milk I think

8. Stars and stripes mixed fruit juice, milk and candy stars

9. Watermelon flowers and mango juice.

And that brings us to the top three so far in no particular order (as voted by Ebi-kun and myself!)

1. Red veg juice and sweetened milk with cherries

2. Yuzu marmalade with orange juice - just stick some marmalade to the outside then pour in the juice

3. Banoffi pie - slices of banana, milk and condensed milk, chunks of caramel and a biscuit layer

I am pretty impressed with it all, you can make 3 lollies at a time and make a second batch before you have to re-freeze the zoku. I usually buy a couple of those little cartons of juice in different flavours to make the stripes.

The good points...

• It doesn't take up that much space and it is always ready so you can make a lolly whenever you like.
• You can control exactly what goes in your lolly - would be great for those with special dietary requirements.
• You can make a different lolly every day and never get bored of it!
• seasonal lollies!
• No more leaked juice in the freezer draws!
• No more fights over who gets the last xxx lolly, you can make them to order!

The bad points....

• The blurb says it freezes in 8 minutes, it doesn't it takes longer and if you are doing something fancy then expect it to take 15 minutes.
• It takes 24 hours to re-freeze so if you want a lolly in the morning and again in the afternoon it won't be frozen properly to work.
• For me this isn't really a bad point but it maybe for some, the liquid you use has to have natural sugar in it, you can't use any type of artificial sweetener. If I am using yoghurt or milk I add some condensed milk and we use 100% fruit juices. We don't drink pop (soda) but you can use flat pop to make lollies.

I bought mine on Amazon jp for those in Japan, I am sure they are pretty easy to get hold of elsewhere. They also make a storage case if you want to make some ready to go but you need extra sticks. There is a recipe book too but it doesn't look like it is available in Japan.

Just so you know, this is an independent review, zoku have not paid nor bribed me to write it!

For your inner PunK rocker....

sometimes, well, quite often if we are to be honest, I have the need to put on some punk and bop around the living room, I would quite happily add all these to my shopping basket, especially that Green day bag!

For your inner punk rocker

Cheese Making....

I have been making cheese regularly for quite some time now, ricotta and mozzarella mostly, Ebi-kun wanted to learn how to do it so we had a ricotta cheese making date.

What you need:

1.8l of pasteurised milk*

1/2 - 1 tsp citric acid**

1/4 cup water (60ml)

1/2 tsp cheese salt (coarse, iodine free salt)

a large pan, enough to hold all the milk and some space to spare

fine cheese cloth

thermometer

colander

large spoon

Measure your citric acid into the 1/4 cup of water and stir. Pour your milk into the pot and put on the stove, pour in the citric acid solution and the cheese salt and stir.

Gently heat the milk to 85degC to 90degC (180deg F -185degF) stir slowly to prevent scorching.

The curds should separate from the whey and look like this, make sure the whey (the watery bit) is no longer milky then turn off the heat. Allow to settle for 10 minutes.

Place your colander over a large bowl or pan then line it with the cheese cloth. Carefully pour the cheese into the colander. Let it drain for 20 minutes, if you like your cheese dry then leave it for longer. Whilst it is draining gently lift the corners of the cheese cloth and rock the cheese to help unblock areas.

Store in a cover container in the fridge and it will keep (in theory, it gets eaten too quickly here) up to a week.

* You MUST use pasteurised milk, UHT or sterilised will not work. If you are in Japan you want the milk that have 66 deg C 30分　on the box, the one we buy is made by Takanashi, you will need 2 cartons.

**start with 1/2 tsp of citric acid, if the cheese is the right temperature but not separated try adding a little more.

Sometimes the cheese doesn't turn out as expected, maybe I heated to high or added too much citric acid or some other reason I haven't figured out, but it always tastes good, I made some one week which was just like feta, not sure how I managed it but it was delicious!

Hey, what do I do with the whey? Don't chuck it out! The whey has all the good stuff in it. I put mine in a jug and stick it in the fridge then I use it instead of the milk and water when I make bread or pizza dough, you can also use it for soup stock or boiling pasta in. The bread and pizza base definitely tastes better when made with whey. If you are looking for a kit to get you started, I got mine from Urban Cheese Craft (if you order one from her, tell her I sent you!)

Ricotta stuffed chive pancakes have become a summer favourite in this house so Ebi-kun carried on and helped prepare the rest of the meal.

I think it is great for kids to make a meal from scratch, not only to they learn cooking skills, weighing and measuring, science they also learn how long it takes to prepare a meal and the care that goes into it. I certainly don't make every meal from scratch but I do try and make as much as possible plus I am rather skeptical about the amount of 'crap' that goes into processed food. Ebi-kun will ask to help quite often or sometimes he will get his cook book out and ask to make a specific recipe - usually when I have non of the ingredients in, sods law! Do your kids like to cook? What do they like to make?

Cafe Restrant (no, that is not my typo)....

Saturday was a pretty busy day, started with taking Ebi-kun to the dentist for a check up - all ok, his teeth are beautiful! He had football practice in the afternoon so we decided to try out a new cafe which was on the way. The Earth Cafe Restrant! 

It was a nice little place, friendly staff but the service was slow and they didn't have the excuse of being busy. They did have a corner set up with handmade zakka items for sale.

I love these tiny books, bookmaking is something I want to learn more about, I have been looking at books on the subject but can't decide which would be a good one to start with, if you have any recommendations please let me know.

Lunch arrived, daddy-ebi ordered keema curry, he said it was very good but the portions were very much a ladies lunch size not a strapping bloke size.

Ebi-kun and I had sandwiches, he couldn't eat all his sandwiches so daddy got to finish them for him.

After lunch we headed down to the park for football. The previous day had been so hot, record temperatures, 39.4c in Saitama but Saturday was much cooler. I don't always go to the football but because it had cooled down and I had been stuck in the house all week I thought it would be a good chance to catch up with the other moms and do a bit of hand sewing. It wasn't to be, just as the kids started to play the heavens opened, they got soaked, we got soaked, but they carried on regardless.

I had to strip Ebi-kun down and get him changed before he got in the car, on the way home he said he really enjoyed playing in the rain 'it was like playing in a national match like the professional football players do', I am glad he enjoyed it, I wasn't so happy about having to wash his manky strip!

If you haven't done so yet, please remember to vote for Ebi-kuns fabric (he has some tough competition!)

Observation day...

Friday was observation day at the yochien. The kids have free play time until all the buses have arrived, when they first get to the yochien they go and say good morning to the menagerie of animals and to the god at the shrine, put their bags away, take their jacket off, go to the toilet and then then can play. At 10am the sensei gathers their class and then everyone does the morning taiso (exercises) which includes running laps of the yard to the can-can being played over the loud speaker. Then they go inside, toilet, wash hands and get ready for whatever sensei has decided they are doing.

This year Ebi-kun is learning how to write hiragana (the first of the 3 Japanese scripts). It was interesting watching sensei, this yochien has a reputation for turning out kids with nice hand writing so the method must work!

After writing practice the kids got out their crayons and sensei put a box of snails on the table for the children to study. A couple of weeks ago they were studying turtles, the children get to pick them up and look at the closely. 

They also go down to where the birds are kept and draw there, they have a parrot, peacocks, chickens, ducks and swans! Then later in the year they go out and study cows, it is a great way for them to improve their drawing skills and learn about the animals.

After all that it was time to tidy up and the parents were asked to go down to the hall and make paper flowers - we seem to do this everything we go! I imagine these are for the festival next week. I snuck back up to see what they were doing and the kids were playing a game with hajiki (flat marbles). At noon there was a lot of comings and going in the corridor, the children were collecting the lunch from the kitchen. They take it back to the classroom and then sensei dishes out the hot food but a couple of the children are appointed servers and take the bowls to the table. 

On the menu was haiyashi, similar to beef stew (anyone form Stoke, the dish tastes just like lobby which was one of my school favourites) and they take in either rice or bread, fruit for pudding and a cod liver oil tablet. The drink is mugi-cha (barley tea). 

We left as the children were finishing off, they have to clean up and take everything back to the kitchen and then brush their teeth, once they have done that they can go out to play. I'm not sure what time but at some point there is an announcement so the kids have to go in and collect which ever bags they need to take home and put their jackets on. They sing some songs and then it is home time. The kids who catch the late bus have some extra playtime. This day was so hot! there is no aircon at the yochien but a nice breeze blows through as they have all the windows and doors open, there was a fan in the class, just above sensei's piano! It is no wonder he comes home a stinky sweaty mess each day, I couldn't wait to go to the cafe for lunch so I could sit in a cool space, I am such a summer wuss.

A new style of bag...

Not my usual style of bag making but I wanted to try out a new technique. Although it is very simple is style it was actually quite a faff to get it all aligned 'just so'. The main part of the bag is made from a thick fuzzy type of felt, it is lovely to stroke and lined with a polka dot print. I was really happy with how it turned out, I need to get some more of the felt so that I can tweak the design a bit.

I think sewing is one of those arts that one will never completely master, there is always a new or old technique to learn and new materials to try out which in one of the reasons I love sewing and am addicted to buying new sewing books...

Teddies For Tohoku....

A few days ago I saw a message on MIJ requesting teddy bears to be donated to children in the badly affected area of Rikuzentakata in Iwate. It was one of the towns that almost wiped out completely by the tsunami as you can see....

photo credit : Socks For Japan

I contacted Rosemary and asked if I could help by spreading the word on my blog. Rosemary wasn't in the country when the quake hit, she was with her sick mother but when she returned to Japan she bought a pile of teddy bears with her with the intention of giving them to the little children affected by the disaster.

But after giving out the bears she realised that the amount she had was totally inadequate, she wanted every child to get their own bear.

And so she started asking her friends and family to donate a bear and help spread the word.

So, do you want to get involved? Here are a few words from Rosemary...

Hello, my name's Rosemary Chiba and I live about an hour away from Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, one of the towns that suffered most horrendously from the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. People are helping in all sorts of fantastic ways but it all needs organisation. My own concern was for the children who might have been traumatised by what they witnessed, or even suffered physically. Many will have lost family, friends and home. So, teddy bears came to mind, huggable and soft, for children to trust and I gathered some together. Here's what I said to the hoikusho (kindergarten) children:

"Teddy bears are very special. They love children. They always hold out their arms to hug you. They listen carefully when you whisper to them. You can tell them anything at all, sad things and happy things."

I linked up with a local volunteer who's been working flat out to help in Rikuzentakata and knows where to go and who to meet. Sadly, the initial few bears were totally inadequate - at least 500 were needed for that town alone so there will only be a few token bears for each hoikusho.

So, should you feel moved to help bring more bears to more children, please send teddy bears to my address below.

Rosemary Chiba,

Aza Katsuraishi-15,

Hiraizumi-cho,

Nishi Iwai-gun,

Iwate-ken〒029-4102

tel: 0191-46-4712

e-mail:rosemary@galaxy.ocn.ne.jp

Guidelines for sending bears:

* must be new and unused (to maintain a consistent level of hygiene and quality)

* should be of a moderate size (neither too big or too small) so they can be

easily cuddled

* should not contain any kind of sound emitting or recording device out of

consideration of the effect sound could have on others

* if you send them via the Post Office, you can request the P.O. to send you a

notice of delivery postcard (for those in Japan)

* if you'd also like me to contact you about the arrival of your bear/s, please

send your email address too

If you know anyone elsewhere who would also like to send a bear, please spread the word. I can't promise a perfect photo of a-child-with-your-bear, but will most certainly ensure that they are donated, no matter how many trips it takes. It will take some time, spread over many visits but this problem is not going away fast anyway.

Let's all hope these loving, caring teddy bears will bring much needed solace to small hearts.

Rosemary Chiba

I know many of you like to sew and would prefer to whip up your own bear, so I have been trawling the net for bear patterns, there are patterns for all different abilities, some of them look a bit on the small size so you would need to resize the pattern. If you do make one, please remember they are going to little kids so make them child friendly (no button eyes to swallow etc.)

Free Sewing Patterns

sew bear-Y sweet pumpkin bear, simple bear, Baby Pip Teddy Bear, Goldie, Teddy Bear, 9 free bear patterns, little bear, Urso de tecido - instructions in Portuguese but step by step photos, Sweet Tidings Japanese Bear , Cashmere sweater bear, Galloping bears.

The weird thing was that the day before I had seen Rosemary's message I had been working on a project making squishy bears...

These little fellas need their faces sewing on. So I will be sending all these up to Rosemary. I haven't figured out how yet, maybe through Etsy, but if you want to buy a bear then I am happy to make one for you and send it (with your details). To be honest the shop has been very quiet since the earthquake so you would be helping me and donating to a small child, drop me a line if you would prefer to do it this way, especially those who live in countries where international shipping is expensive.

Finally, please help spread the word, I have put up a badge for you to copy onto your blog which will link back to all the info here, just copy and paste the HTML in the box under the badge, it is on the top right of the blog. Those who are teachers, maybe you could organise for your class to donate a bear? Let's try and get every little kid up there in Tohoku their own bear to cuddle and tell their secrets to.

An interview with a new fabric designer...

I noticed that Spoonflower were having a design comp for kids under 12 so I told Ebi-kun and asked him if he was interested in designing something. Of course he was and off he went. When he finished I asked him a few questions about his design.

Jo: So, Ebi-kun what is the theme for your fabric design?

Ebi-Kun : Dinosaurs, I thought about robots too but dinosaurs are cooler.

Jo: Can you tell me about your design?

Ebi-Kun: All the boys in my class like T-rex the best but I like saichania because he has armour and a cool tail and if he had a fight with T-rex he would win. Unless a meteorite fell down then they would both die. When saichania lived there were lots of volcanoes so I drew lots of red dots for exploding lava, the green is for leaves and plants, saichania was a herbivore.

Jo: Very inspiring, if people buy your fabric, what do you think would be good to make with it?

Ebi-kun: I would make a bag, that would be very cool and now it is getting very hot so shorts would be good too and a nice sun hat.

Jo: Thank you for your time, do you have anything else to add for the blog readers?

Ebi-kun: Vote for me pleeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeeee *collapsed into a a fit of giggles*

If you would like to vote for Ebi-kun's fabric click HERE. About 8 designs are shown per page, when you click on the design you like it will have a green box around it, at the bottom of the page click through to the next page until you get to the end, the final page will tell you which fabrics you voted for. The rules for this competition is that the image is hand drawn then scanned and has minimal adult intervention, I could have had a field day 'improving' Ebi-kun's design but we stuck to the rules and other than scaling it to make it into a repeat I didn't do anything else to it.

Shhh don't tell anyone but I ordered some fabric so I can make him something for his birthday, it's a secret.

Introducing Zon.....

The other day we watched ATOM (Astro Boy) this fired some sparks and it wasn't long before Ebi-kun was rummaging through the recycling bin... 

 The glue gun was out and in next to no time we had a new member in the family

 Here he is - Zon the Robot Boy

 Whilst Ebi-kun was at yochien, Zon got busy with the washing up

and the dusting

 then sorted the laundry, folding all the T-shirts

then he got down to cook the dinner

Obviously this wore poor Zon out, 

I found him on the sofa watching a Samurai drama and drinking beer!

To be honest, if it costs me a can of beer a day to have the 

house clean and tidy and dinner cooked I am happy to pay.

making umeshu

Umeshu or plum wine is one of my favourite Japanese drinks, it is thick and sweet, warms the cockles of your heart drunk neat in winter and is surprisingly refreshing when you add soda and ice for the summer. Right now is umeshu making season, I know this because all the supermarkets have a section dedicated to it and you can buy everything you need in one go and they even package everything in the right sized bag so you don't have to weigh or measure anything.

You need:

A large screw top jar around 5l

a bag of ume plums

a bag of rock sugar (500g)

a large carton of white liquor (2l)

at least 3 months worth of patience

Gently wash the ume and remove the brown bits from where the stem is attached with a tooth pick. Discard any bruised ume or ones with broken skin.

In your big jar place a layer of ume then a layer of rock sugar and repeat until you run out.

When you have made your layers pour in the liquor.

Make a prayer to the ume liquor gods, put on the lid and store in a cool, dark place for at least 3 months, longer is better if you can wait that long.

Come back here in October and if you are lucky I will show you the finished result!

Spider webs

Those of you who have been with me a while might remember the wooden thingy, it resides in the living room and comes out quite often with a basket of elastic bands. This time I gave Ebi-kun a ball of yarn and left him to see what he would come up with, spider webs, that is what.

The yochien garden...

Ebi-kun had yochien on Saturday, he usually goes twice a month on a Saturday but we decided before he joined that we wouldn't be tied to the yochien schedule so if it falls on a 3 day holiday and we have camping plans then camping is what we do. Anyway, hub and I went and did some child free shopping, a much nicer experience if you ask me then having a whining child in tow, then when we were done we dropped by to pick him up and we had a look at the kitchen garden while we were at it. Each class has a set of veg pots with pepper, aubergine, mini tomatoes and cucumbers plus they have their own flower pots, they all grow their own morning glory (which they use to make iro mizu) and the class has their own sunflowers too.

They also have a couple of small rice paddies, they grow potatoes in here in the winter then plant rice late spring. A couple of weeks ago Ebi-kun came home with a small bag of potatoes and some aubergine, the three older classes had dug up all the potatoes then they were shared between all the kids at the yochien. For the veg the kids did rock, paper, scissors to see who took what home.

Hubby and I were laughing at the sorry state of the cabbages when the head sensei came over to say hello, then he told us that they don't grow the cabbage to eat, they grow them so that they get lots of butterflies flying around the yochien - sweet!

Rainbow shopping...

I still have a thing for anything bright and cheery, looks like it is catching on in the stores here too, I *need* that rainbow laundry hanger, anything is better than the droll usual blue ones!

How about helping to fund my rainbow addiction by buying some rainbow goodies from my shop?

Go on... you know you want to!