Wedding Album for Ryan & Tsukasa

At the end of this summer two of my friends from my time living in Japan, Ryan and Tsukasa, got married in Nagoya and I was honored to be able to attend and be a part of their special day. Being back in Japan this week was the first time I've been able to see them since they were married and have a chance to give them this this album I made with pictures I took at their wedding.

To create the album I started with a small album that had a chipboard cover and 4-1/2" x 6-1/2" accordian pages. I removed the rings from the covers and adhered grey patterned paper to each side using an X-acto knife to cut out the holes for the rings. I reassembled the album and tied a dark grey bow of satin ribbon to the rings.

To decorate the front cover I added a strip of white pearlescent paper and finished it with a rub-on swirl embellishment and Ryan and Tsukasa's initials in grey chipboard.

For the inside of the album I wanted to keep it simple to keep the focus on the photographs so I just added grey patterned paper to every two or three pages. After adding the pictures the album was complete.

I am so happy for Ryan and Tsukasa and I hope that they have many years of happiness and joy ahead of them. 

Picture of the Day: Coastline of Roatan

Roatan, Honduras
11.2004 

Misadventures of Lisa & Trisha: The Great ATM Debacle

Going to the To-ji Flea Market this past weekend made me reminisce about the first time that I went there.  I had been living in Japan for a little over a month and it was cherry blossom season.  Over lunch one day, Trisha, another ex-pat, and I decided we should go check out the blossoms in Kyoto that upcoming weekend.  I already had plans on Saturday but Trisha wanted to go for the whole weekend, so I met Trisha early Sunday morning at Kyoto Station.

I had read about the flea market at To-ji that is held on the first Sunday of the month and since it was happening that day and To-ji is not too far from Kyoto Station we decided to start our day there.  We had an awesome time looking through all the fun items and finding treasures.  We happened upon a lady selling a wide selection of beautiful scrolls and Trisha found one that she loved.  It was expensive, however, and Trisha had already used most of her cash to pay for her hotel room the night before so we set off to find an ATM.

We asked directions to the nearest bank, but despite trying a few times, Trisha's bank card didn't work. There was another bank right across the street so she tried there with still no luck.  She then tried an ATM in a convenience store but got denied there as well.  As it turns out, her bank had a holiday that day and in Japan that means you cannot access your money in any way, including ATM withdrawls.  Being Americans, Trisha and I were completely caught off guard because ATMs are always available in the US. Since my bank was the same as Trisha's I was stuck in the same situation of not being able to withdraw any money.

I had headed off to Kyoto without much cash planning on taking some money out when I got there so  between the two of us we had only about ¥3000 ($30 at the time).  In the US that wouldn't be a big deal since you can use a credit card for just about anything.  Cash is king in Japan, however, and you can't use credit cards in a lot of places.  Luckily, we could buy our shinkansen train tickets home using a credit card but we had to make do with cash for everything else.  With entrance fees for our planned stops running ¥300-¥500 each we were on a tight budget for the day and buying anything else at To-ji market was out of the question.

We went back to scroll stand to explain that Trisha would not be able to buy the scroll after all.  The lady seemed to indicate that Trisha could still have the scroll. "What is she saying?" Trisha asked me.  "I think she is saying that if you give her your address she'll send it to you and you can pay then," I replied, "but I could totally be misunderstanding her."  Trisha figured it was worth a shot and after writing down her address we were on our way. 

For the rest of the day we scrimped by walking everywhere and eating a lunch of America Dogs (Japanese for corn dogs) from a convenience store.  We went to Nijo-jo castle to wander through its famous cherry tree groves and then headed to Maruyama Park (free!) to see its huge famous weeping cherry tree.  Maruyama Park also turned out to be great for people watching with thousands there for hanami (blossom watching) parties with food and drinks spread out on blankets beneath the trees. We splurged on a yatai (food stall) snack at the park and headed up the hill to Kiyomizu-dera.  The sun was low in the sky at this point and we had picture perfect views of the sunset over Kyoto and the temple ringed by blossoming cherry trees.  It had turned out to be a great day despite our morning mishap and we headed back home happy but ready to get some money out first thing on Monday.

A few days later Trisha's scroll showed up in the mail as promised and this time she was armed with the cash to pay for it.  As for me, from that point on I always made sure to have plenty of cash on hand because you never know when a bank holiday can creep up on you and catch you unawares.

Picture of the Day: Seagulls on Miami Beach

Miami Beach, Florida
01.14.2011

2011 Season Michigan Wolverines Tailgate Cakes

In honor of Sunday night's announcement that Michigan is going to the Sugar bowl, I thought I would share a few of my favorite cakes that I made over the course of the season for the tailgate that I am a part of.

I already posted the Ohio State cake for the final game of the regular season, but here are the rest of the 2011 home game cakes.

The picture to the left is from the Eastern Michigan game.  The tailgate theme was Far Eastern so I used fondant to cut out the Chinese characters for Michigan to put on the front of the cake. To top it off I made a fondant fortune cookie and used a food write to write "Michigan will beat Eastern" as the fortune.

For the collage below I'll describe the cakes top to bottom, left to right.  For the Nebraska game I decorated the cake around their mascot by making corn stalks out of fondant and writing "Beat the Huskers" across the top of the cake.

The Minnesota tailgate had a Mardi Gras theme so I made a doberge cake and decorated it with a harlequin pattern and a mask.

The first ever homegame at Michigan Stadium played at night was the Notre Dame game and there was a lot of memorabilia being sold with the "Under the Lights" logo emblazoned on it.  I thought the logo looked neat and recreated it out of fondant for the top of the blue velvet cake.

The Purdue game was on Halloween weekend so I made a pumpkin cake shaped like a pumpkin. I used some brown edible glitter to give the cake some dimension, made the stem and leaves out of green fondant and finished it off with a big block M on the front. 

For the Luau themed tailgate for the Western Michigan game I made a pineapple cake with coconut cream cheese icing. I completed the cake with a block M on the top and a border of blue hibiscus flowers made of fondant.

The San Diego State game had a Mexican theme so I cut my cake into a block M shape and wrote "Vamos Azul" across the banner (Go Blue in Spanish).  

Making the tailgate cakes is a lot of fun for me and gives me a nice excuse to bake.  I'm sad that the regular season is over but I am excited about heading down to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. Go Blue!

Picture of the Day: Mucha Stained Glass in St. Vitus

St. Vitus Cathedral
Prague, Czech Republic
05.2006

Autumn in Kyoto

Although I've been to Kyoto several times, I've never been during Koyo (colorful leaves) season so I was happy to have the chance to do so today.

First things were first, however. To-ji in Kyoto has a wonderful flea market on the first Sunday of every month so I stopped there before venturing out to see the autumn leaves.  

I always have fun when I go to the To-ji flea market and this time was no exception.  I ended up buying a small abacus (¥500), five glass balls (¥2000), an old milk delivery box (¥2000), and a set of enamel ware soup spoons (¥500). I can't wait to bring my newfound treasures home.

After getting my fill of browsing and bargaining, I headed to Tofuku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera which are Buddhist temples in Kyoto famous for viewing their autumn leaves.  The temples were swarming with tourists so moving around was slow, but the inconvenience was more than made up for by the beauty of the vibrant colors.  My favorite part was the view of the leaves from the bridges over the ravines at Tofuku-ji.  

North American maple trees in the fall are beautiful but there is something especially lovely about the tiny, delicate leaves of the Japanese maples. 

If you are interested, check out the rest of my December 2011 Japan Trip here: Visiting Hieizan Enryaku-ji, Kobe: Luminarie + Beef, Favorite Eats in Toyota-shi, Centrair Airport Bath 

Picture of the Day: Roofline of Wat Xieng Thong

Wat Xieng Thong
Luang Prabang, Laos
08.16.2011 

Kobe: Luminarie + Beef

After spending the day at Hieizan Enryaku-ji I headed to Kobe to see the Kobe Luminarie.  I had been to Kobe before but never had the chance to see the Luminarie so I was excited to be able to do it on this trip.

The Kobe Luminarie is a light festival that began in 1995 as a way to commemorate those lost in the Great Hanshin earthquake.  Held for a few weeks every December, the Luminarie has now also come to celebrate the rebuilding of Kobe.

I had heard from a friend who went last year that the line to get to the Luminarie was very long so I thought that if I arrived at 5 when the lights first turned on the wait would be a little less.  Unfortunately, I was wrong and it took an hour to make it through the line.  Luckily for me I had a companion while I was waiting.  When I left the Sannomiya train station and was trying to figure out how to get to the Luminarie I asked a girl for help and she said that she would just show me since she wanted to go, too.  Unfortunately, my Japanese is not as good as I would like so our conversation was pretty superficial but I learned that Satomi-san lived in Kobe and was in school studying how to make Japanese sweets.  She even gave me a sample sweet that she had made that day in class which was very kind.  It was fun to practice my Japanese and made the wait seem much shorter.

Finally arriving at the lights was impressive.  Huge illuminated gates arch over the street so it looks like you are walking through a tunnel of lights.  The end of the street opens up to a plaza which is decorated with more lights and is ringed by yatai (Japanese food stalls).  Normally I love eating at yatai, but I was in Kobe so I had other plans.  After thanking Satomi-san and saying goodbye I headed to Moriya for a dinner of Kobe beef.

I'm the kind of girl who buys her clothes on eBay and doesn't hesitate to stay in hostels to save money, but I love food and am willing to splurge for nice meals. I chose Moriya because I had read some good reviews and it was conveniently located by Sannomiya station.  I got a 130g A5 Kobe tenderloin that included a crab appetizer.  The server brought out the steak to show me before it was cooked and then I got to watch the chef prepare it.  It was absolutely delicious and made for a wonderful cap on the end of my day. 

If you are interested, check out the rest of my December 2011 Japan Trip here: Visiting Hieizan Enryaku-ji, Autumn in Kyoto, Favorite Eats in Toyota-shi, Centrair Airport Bath

Visiting Hieizan Enryaku-ji

Whenever I come to Japan for work I usually make the most of my weekends by traveling around and this trip was no different.  I decided to spend my Saturday by visiting Enryaku-ji, which is a Buddhist monastary on Hieizan (Mt. Hiei) overlooking Kyoto. Founded in 788, Enryaku-ji is home of the Tendai sect of Buddhism and one of the most important monastaries in Japanese history.

To get to Enryaku-ji I took the train to Sakamoto and from there caught a cable car up Hieizan.  When I first arrived it was a little misty, but within about 15 minutes a steady drizzle began and a heavy fog rolled in.  On the one hand I was a little dissapointed because you had to be nearly on top of something to see it, but on the other hand the fog lent a serenity to the mountain top and drove away some of the other visitors.  It was enchanting to be walking along and see a gorgeous, ancient temple materialize from the fog as I walked toward it, almost as if it appeared from thin air.

My favorite temple that I saw was Kaidan-in, which is where aspiring Tendai sect priests are ordained by receiving the commandments of Buddhism. I was particularly struck by the beautiful but simple doors and I loved the worn patina that the paint had developped over time. No one else was in the grove where the temple is located when I visited which made it even more special. 

On a side note, the walk through Sakamoto between the train and cable car turned out to be a beautiful, unexpected surprise.  The main road was lined with lovely Japanese maple trees that were at the peak of their color making it a lovely walk and adding to my trip.

If you are interested, check out the rest of my December 2011 Japan Trip here: Kobe: Luminarie + Beef, Autumn in Kyoto, Favorite Eats in Toyota-shi, Centrair Airport Bath