Lately...

Things have been a little crazy for me lately. In a forty day span from mid-September to late-October I spent only fifteen days in Ann Arbor. Honestly, I am a bit exhausted and looking forward to being back home for a bit.

The traveling kicked off when Frank and I flew to New York for a few days. We ate some wonderful dinners at Blue Ribbon and Mission Chinese and had a decadent brunch at Norma's. We visited the Whitney Museum to see a wonderful Edward Hopper exhibit and then paid a somber visit to the 9/11 Memorial. We also snuck in some time to visit the Feast of San Gennaro and pick up spices at Kalustyan's. One of the big highlights was that we got to see my favorite play, The Glass Menagerie, being performed at the Booth Theater starring Cherry Jones and Zachary Quinto. It was really quite amazing.

That Saturday we then drove to Connecticut to see Michigan play U Conn. It was an ugly football game but thankfully Michigan pulled out a win.

After being back home for two days I flew out to Japan for work. That weekend I had time for sightseeing and started my Saturday morning by going to the Osu Kannon flea market and picking up a few fun items.

I then took the Shinkansen south to Himeji to visit Himeji Castle. The main keep has been under restoration since April 2010 continuing through March 2015. I had previously visited the castle in September 2008 before the restoration began when I was living in Japan and my sister came to visit. I decided to visit the castle again so that I could see the restoration process. I also spent a little time at the nearby Japanese style garden, Koko-en.

On Sunday I spent the day in Kyoto. I was with my friend from work, Cassie, who had never been to Japan before so I took her to see a few lovely temples and shrines. We visited the gorgeous golden Kikaku-ji followed by the amazing rock garden at Ryoan-ji. We then visited the sand gardens at Ginkaku-ji and ended the day by visiting my favorite place in Kyoto, Fushimi Inari Taisha, to wander through the brilliant crimson torii.

After a long work week I was ready to head home that Friday. I went to the airport to see if I could get on the non-stop flight to Detroit, but unfortunately I was stuck with my connections through Honolulu and LA. I had some time before my flight so I headed to Arimatsu which is known for its special technique of tie-dying fabrics called shibori.

I finally got on my 8 pm flight and after a three hour layover in Honolulu (where I got breakfast at Nico's Pier 38 and wandered the airport gardens) and LA (where I grabbed dinner at Encounter in the Theme Building) I finally got home at 6 am on Saturday morning.

The following weekend Michigan was playing Penn State so off we drove to Happy Valley for the weekend. We had a fun day tailgating but lost the game in the fourth overtime.

After a week at home I was out in Arizona this week past week for work. It was very busy with long work days but I did get to see some friends who live in the area in the evening and satisfy my fix for In-N-Out Burger. Also, when driving to work one day my co-worker and I saw some hot air balloons and one even landed near the road we were on.

As you can imagine, not too much has happened on the home front with all this traveling going on. There are two items of note, however.

First, right before all of the traveling started all of the rough inspections for my bathroom and laundry were approved. Now I just need to get some time to start closing the walls up!

Second, the house paint was looking a little faded and there was some peeling that needed to get addressed so we hired a guy to paint the house. We are keeping the same basic color scheme but going with bolder, darker shades. Below is an example of the new paint on the left and the old paint on the right. It makes a world of difference and I can't wait until it is done.

Anyway, that's what I have been up to lately. I'm looking forward to some time at home to get going on finishing up the laundry and downstairs bathroom. On top of that I have a bunch of apples and sugar pumpkins that I bought yesterday that I plan on making into applesauce and pumpkin puree.  Have you been doing any traveling or working on any fun projects this fall?

Osu Kannon Flea Market

Things have been crazy busy for the past few weeks. Two days after getting back from New York and Connecticut I headed out to Japan for a business trip just getting back this weekend. Even though I was tired, I always make the most of my weekend time when I am in Japan and this trip was no different.

I am a sucker for flea markets and lucked out that the Osu Kannon flea market was being held the Saturday while I was in Nagoya. The market is held on the grounds of the Osu Kannon temple on the 18th and 28th of the month. Since it often falls on weekdays I only ended up being able to go once during the time I was living in Japan, on the day that I was moving back home to the US.

Last Saturday I arrived at Osu Kannon about 8:00 am and it was already bustling. With the temple in the background and trees lining the courtyard the flea market setting is quite pretty. Just about everything under the sun can be found as you walk around the stalls from used modern goods to antiques.

I loved this carved wooden roof ornament but it was enormous so there was no way for me to take it home.

This basket was super cool and I thought it would be great in my laundry room as a hamper but again there was no way for me to possibly take it back with me.

These children's learning blocks with hiragana (Japanese syllabary) were adorable and if I had a little one I would have loved to pick up a set of blocks to spell their name. 

These glass light fixture shades were really neat and taking a pair home would have been great but I thought they were too fragile to make it back in my luggage.

Now that I've shared the items that I loved but couldn't buy I'll move on to what I did end up buying to take home. My first purchase was a bamboo vase that has a copper lining so that you can put flowers in it. It was a little scuffed so I talked the seller down from ¥500 to ¥300 (about $3 US).

Next were a set of mid-century glass Japanese baby bottles from Kobe. I already have an antique Japanese milk bottle with red writing on it and I thought these would be a cool companion to it. 

Ever since I got my first SLR I have been a Canon camera lover so when I saw this old Canon camera with a leather case I had to get it, especially since I was able to talk the seller down to ¥800 (about $8 US). 

I also bought one of these large Japanese spools called itomaki (糸巻き). I have several already and love using them as stands to display items in my house.

My final purchase was a small flat handwoven basket that I thought would be cute for the house.

Overall, I am super happy with my Osu Kannon purchases and can't wait to find homes for my new treasures.

Although my favorite flea market in Japan, the To-ji Flea Market (held in Kyoto on the first Sunday of each month), is much bigger, if you are in Nagoya on the 18th or 28th of the month I would definitely recommend a trip to the Osu Kannon flea market.  

To get to the flea market take the subway to the Osu Kannon station (on the Tsuramsi line). Leave out of Exit 2 and continue walking on the street, turning left at the Seven Eleven convenience store. The flea market is on the temple grounds right ahead.

Kalustyan's

A few year's ago my friend, Sarah, visited me in Ann Arbor. Her friend and her friend's college friend (both Penn State alumni) happened to coming to Ann Arbor that very same weekend to watch Penn State play Michigan in football. Having a big house all to myself I invited them to also stay at my house and the four of us had a lot of fun making dinner together and hanging out.

Knowing that I love to cook, one of ladies, who was from New York, mentioned that next time I was in New York I should really go to Kalustyan's as she was sure that I would love it. Of course I went on my next trip to the city and ever since I've made it a tradition to stop there every time I am in New York.

Kalustyan's is a specialty food shop that has all sorts of wonderful goodies, especially from India and the Middle East. The narrow aisles are lined floor to ceiling with just about every dry good imaginable. On top of the wonderful selection the prices are really great as well.

The best part of Kastulyan's for me is the amazing selection of bulk spices sold by the bag. The store smells amazingly fragrant with all of the spice smells mingling together.

Frank likes Kastulyan's because it is the only place other than a few expensive online sites that he has been able to buy smoked paprika, which is a staple in his cooking. Just as an example of the extensive selection of spices, the picture below is only showing different types of paprika that Kastulyan's stocks.

Although we could have easily bought out the store, Frank and I settled on getting two large bags of smoked paprika, pickling spice and some chia seeds. I've never made anything with chia seeds before but I thought they would be fun to try.

Before leaving Frank and I headed upstairs for a stop at the deli. Along with olives and cheeses, they also have a selection of vegetarian and meat options that make a great lunch.

Frank and I shared a combination plate of chick peas, grape leaves, a samosa and kasseri cheese. We enjoyed our delicious food while sitting in the window overlooking Lexington Avenue.

The most surprising thing happened after we had paid for our spices and headed outside to hail a taxi. Although I have been to Kalustyan's several times I never noticed before that there was a New York Historical Society plaque outside providing a little background to the building.

It turns out that at that spot on September 20, 1881 Chester A. Arthur took the oath of office to become the 21st President of the United States after President James A. Garfield was assassinated. William Randolph Hearst (inspiration for the famous movie, Citizen Kane) also later lived in the building. Fabulous spices and some history, too!

If you are in New York and love to cook I would definitely recommend a stop at Kalustyan's located at 123 Lexington Avenue. At the time of this writing the hours are Mondays - Saturdays 10am-8pm, Sundays/Holidays 11am-7pm.

Feast of San Gennaro

Frank and I have been visiting New York for a few days and while we were in town we decided to visit the Feast of San Gennaro, Patron Saint of Naples. Immigrants from Naples brought their tradition of celebrating San Gennaro's Feast Day with them to the new world, with the first in New York City happening along Mulberry Street in 1926. Originally observed only on the feast day, September 19, it has now stretched to an eleven day annual festival.

Frank and I started at Houston and wandering south down Mulberry Street, which is closed to traffic for the festival. Everywhere you look things were festooned in green, white and red, the colors of the Italian flag.

Although the food vendors had just about anything you could think of, Italian specialties, like sausages with peppers and wood fired pizzas, were prominently featured.

On the dessert side we saw several delicious looking cannoli and torrone stands. 

Unfortunately, we were already stuffed from having just eaten at Kalustyan's, but I was set on getting a cannoli at the festival. My mind was changed, however, when we happened upon a cronut stand.

A cronut is a hybrid croissant-doughnut that was developed by Dominique Ansel for his bakery. Although these were clearly knock-offs they looked irresistible. Frank reasoned that getting one filled with cannoli cream would be a good substitute for a cannoli and I was sold. As a person who loves her sweets and has high standards for my sugar filled treats, it is not lightly that I say that this was one of the best desserts I have ever eaten. 

Mixed among the food and souvenir stands there were also a number of booths featuring carnival games.

Several restaurants set up covered seating along the street for people to get out of the sun and enjoy a meal or drink.

After walking all day, Frank and I were enticed to make a stop at one of the covered tents and relax with a few drinks: him with a cold Peroni and me with a glass of homemade sangria.

Refreshed after our drinks we continued walking south along Mulberry Street.

As we neared Canal Street off to the right was Most Precious Blood Church, where a celebratory high mass is held on the official feast day, September 19, followed by a religious procession with the statue of San Gennaro through the streets. A second procession with colorful floats and music, called the grand procession, had been held the Saturday prior to our arrival in New York. 

Although we didn't have a chance to see either processional, Frank and I did enjoy the festive atmoshphere at the Feast of San Gennaro and had a great time wandering around people watching. We also learned our lesson that we should have shown up hungry!

Backyard Celebration Party

Since Frank and I had a tiny wedding this summer with only sixteen people we decided that it would be fun for us to have a casual barbecue in our backyard to celebrate our marriage with some of our local friends. We hosted the party this past Saturday after the Michigan vs. Akron football game.

Since Frank was busy with preparing for the tailgate before the game (he made a bunch of delicious pizzas with his Pizza Kettle) I worked on doing some party set up on game day before heading to the tailgate later and then left the game at half time to finish getting things ready. The game was pretty ugly with Michigan barely pulling out a win so I was actually glad to have an excuse to head home.

Last time I shared about our backyard on the blog we only had the cuddle set under our new pergola. Since then we added a dining table that I found on Amazon as well as a set of eight outdoor wicker chairs that I got at an end of season sale at Meijer. This provides us with a nice permanent outdoor dining area that we made use of for the party.

For some decoration I dressed up the pergola by hanging a bunch of paper lanterns in different sizes and colors. I used fishing line to tie the lanterns to the pergola in random spots and slightly different heights. I thought it added a festive touch to the yard.

We were expecting a lot of guests so we set up two pop up tents and some additional seating in addition to our permanent backyard furniture. 

I used two white table cloths to cover a few of Frank's tailgating tables and set out white Terje folding chairs from Ikea. In the center of each table I laid out red Marit table runners. For center pieces I put out red metal bins with yellow mums flanked by lanterns. Both the red bins and lanterns were from the Target One Spot purchased last year. The lanterns were a light brown but I spray painted them oil rubbed bronze. Now that the party is over I plan to plant the mums in my front garden beds.

I also did a little decorating with the seating area on the patio behind the house setting out another table runner and more mums.

When Frank got back from the game he fired up the grill and made hot dogs and hamburgers. I had found red fast food baskets which I lined with red checked wax paper to serve them up.

In addition to the burgers and hot dogs I set up a table next to the grill with other food and some drinks.

I put out condiments in small carafes which I placed atop pillar candle holders that I found on sale at Target and spray painted silver. I also had small bags of Cracker Jacks that I set out in a silver mesh bin. I popped some pop corn and put it out on the table in red and white stripped popcorn boxes.

The night before I made a few salads for the party including rosemary potato salad, pasta salad with feta, oregano, bell peppers, tomatoes and olives and a salad of spring greens with pecans, bleu cheese, dried cranberries and raspberries.

I also made buttermilk chocolate cupcakes that I iced with buttercream frosting and topped with sprinkles and maraschino cherries.

For drinks I had sangria in a pretty drink dispenser that Frank and I got as a wedding gift as well as some flavored sparkling lemonades and cokes on ice. To keep the sangria cold I cut up orange slices that I had frozen the night before. For fun I set out red polka dots and red striped straws with the glasses.

The barbecue was a lot of fun and we ended up having over sixty guests. It was so nice to hang out with everyone and finally break in our new side patio and pergola with a party.

Michigan Tailgate Cake: Under the Lights II

This past Saturday Michigan played Notre Dame in Under the Lights II. Two years ago, Michigan Football had their first ever night game where they played Notre Dame in a game called Under the Lights. For that game I recreated the logo for the tailgate so I thought that I would do the same thing with the new logo for this game's tailgate cake.

I made a two layer chocolate buttermilk cake and iced it with buttercream icing. To recreate the logo I printed a copy of it scaled to fit the top of the cake. I then cut out the elements and traced around them on rolled out marshmallow fondant.

The letters were too small and difficult to do like that so I cut a rectangle shape that was the size of each of the letters and then free hand cut each letter from the rectangle. This made sure that they were all the correct height and width. I am not going to lie, this was pretty time consuming but in the end I think it turned out really cool and was worth the effort.

Frank made food poking fun at Notre Dame including chicken hash (since Michigan's head coach Brady Hoke said that Notre Dame was chicken for backing out of the annual match up after next year) and fried catfish sandwiches (in reference to former Notre Dame star Manti Te'o getting catfished last year).

Frank started tailgating by 8 am which meant that he was out there for twelve hours before the game. I felt that showing up in the afternoon for five hours of tailgating was more than sufficient. As always we had a lot of fun, hanging out and of course eating.

The game had an 8 pm kickoff but before the game Michigan Football legend, Tom Harmon, was honored. After a video highlight film his son, Mark Harmon (of NCIS fame), spoke as they added a legends patch to the 98 jersey that Tom Harmon wore.

The sun had just set when the team entered the field. During the first half Michigan was pretty dominant not allowing Notre Dame to get a first down on their first two possessions and ending the half up by two touchdowns.

Throughout the game during timeouts different Michigan sporting figures were recognized including the 2012-13 basketball team that made it to the National Championship game in April and 1960s basketball star, Cazzie Russell.

At halftime the Michigan Marching band performed a medley of Beyonce's songs with a video message from her prior to them taking the field. Before the game blue LED wrist bands had been passed out to fans so when they dimmed the lights for the halftime show it was cool to see the pinpoints of blue light throughout the stadium.

The second half was a little tough to watch as Michigan made some errors that looked like they were trying to give the game back to Notre Dame. In the end, however, the team pulled out a 41-30 win over Notre Dame.

It was a very long but fun day. Luckily next week the kickoff against Akron is at noon!

Picture of the Day: Books For Sale in Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
7.23.2013 

Preparing the Bathroom Floor for Tiling

After the building inspector approved me to close up the floor I was excited to do just that. I cut some pieces of 3/4" subflooring to size and patched the areas of the floor that I had previously left open for the plumbing.

With the subfloor complete I moved on to preparing the floor for tiling. Having a properly prepared underlayment will make sure that you don't have issues with cracking down the line.

I chose to use 1/4" HardieBacker for my floor. The sheets are 3' x 5' so I needed two for my floor. You need to have a small gap from the edge of the HardieBacker to the walls and since my framing was just a smidge over 5' it was perfect for me to lay one full sheet in the front of the room.

The first step was to spread a layer of thinset over the floor with a 1/4" square notch trowel. Since I was laying a full sheet I marked on the subfloor where 3' was so I knew how far I needed to spread thinset.

I then carefully laid the HardieBacker into position making sure I had a small gap to all of the walls. I then scraped up the extra thinset that extended past the HardieBacker since I didn't want it to dry while I was screwing in the board.

To firmly anchor the HardieBacker to to subfloor I used 1-1/4" screws designed specifically for cement board. HardieBacker has handy little circles on the boards to indicate the spacing you need for your screws. After about a million screws I had the first board in place.

Next I moved on to the second piece which had to be cut down. For the straight edge I simply scored the board a few times and snapped it like drywall. For the toilet drain hole I used my jigsaw. Because of the particulate from cutting cement board with power tools you need to be very careful to use a face mask.

I did a dry fit of my second piece to make sure it was the right size and then spread down more thinset. I put the board in place, again making sure of the small gaps to the wall, tub and first piece of HardieBacker and then screwed it down again. I still need to tape the seam between the boards before I tile, but that is for another day.

Here is a sneak peek at what I am thinking of for the tile floor. I am planning to make a border around the room with black and white square tiles and then have 1" white hex for the field tile. I think it will add some fun to this small bathroom. I can't wait to start tiling!

For other related posts about this bathroom renovation check out the history of my downstairs bathroom, fixtures for my bathroom renovation and plumbing in the downstairs bathroom. If you are interested in my completed master bathroom renovation check out master bathroom renovation recap.

Michigan Tailgate Cake: Luau Theme

Saturday was the Michigan Football season opener so of course we were tailgating bright and early. Frank has not missed a Michigan Football game (home or away) since 1999 so if I want to see him it the fall I am out tailgating and cheering with him.

Frank's tailgates are pretty involved with a large number of people and ridiculous amounts of food and a theme, of course. This week was a luau theme so I made a pineapple cake with coconut cream cheese icing. To decorate the cake I used marshmallow fondant to make a Block M and then made a little hibiscus flower to go with the luau theme.

Frank featured foods with lots of pork for the luau tailgate starting with a pork hash with bacon in the morning and a suckling pig and ribs in the afternoon.

With a 3:30 kickoff against Central Michigan, we had a nice long tailgate. Several people wore blue and yellow Hawaiian shirts for the theme and there were a lot of leis as well. It was really great to see a bunch of the other tailgaters that we don't get to often see in the off season.

The game itself was pretty relaxing because Michigan pretty handily dealt with Central winning the game 59-9. Although watching exciting, nail biting games is fun, sometimes it is great to just sit back and watch your team dominate. It was a nice way to kick off the 2013 football season.

Next week Notre Dame!

Plumbing in the Downstairs Bathroom

Progress is being made on the downstairs bathroom! The plumbing is in and has passed rough inspection. After the plumber passed his rough I had the building inspector take a look at things (a partial rough inspection) and he said that I can close up the floor and walls where there is no electric since the electrician hasn't been able to get in yet.

While this doesn't look like much, it has been a long time coming. As I mentioned before, I had done a little sprucing up of this bathroom before, but it wasn't until the pipes burst and opened up the walls that I discovered that it wasn't up to code in many ways.

The primary thing was that the bathroom was built on a platform to bring it up to the level of the hallway (the bathroom was in a part of the house that was a porch that was later enclosed). The joists of the platform were built parallel to the floor joists underneath and was resting on sheets of particle board. It was dangerous and I'm not sure how there wasn't a problem before.

This meant that I had to take down two walls of the bathroom as well as the platform and rebuild it all. I built a platform using 2x10 lumber with the joists on 16" centers. This lowered the floor a bit and helped with the ceiling height problem I had. Bathroom ceilings are supposed to be 6'8" throughout, but due to the slope of the ceiling I was a little short in the back. I spoke with the development official who approves all the construction permits and he said that as long as I maintained the clearance over the fixtures he could approve my plans. The slightly lower platform and moving the back wall in just a bit allowed me to do that.

For the two walls that needed to be reframed I sketched out what I wanted (exact spots for the shampoo and soap nook in the shower as well as the medicine cabinets over the sink and toilet) and hired someone else to frame it and hang the drywall on the outside to save some time.

With the plumbing and bathtub in place it is starting to look like a bathroom. The room is small so it is hard to get a full shot but here is one with my new wide angle lens.

I can't wait!