Trip to Japan ~ Simply, Food

When people ask me what I miss the most about Japan, one of the first things that comes to mind is FOOD. Seriously, isn't that a basic need and desire of human nature? There are some Japanese foods that I could buy where I live, but not like actually living there.

When I had a family trip to California a couple years ago, I made sure that we would hit the Japanese grocery stores there. I was amazed with the selections... yeah... I was in heaven!

For the first time in 11 years, I was actually in Japan. Not in California, not in little Tokyo... real Japan! You might laugh at me, but I had a list of things I wanted to eat while I was there. I felt like if I miss this chance; who knows when my next chance will be?

My family and friends laughed at the list at first, but they were really helping me to cross the items off the list.

They took me to "kaiten-sushi". It is a sushi restaurant that you sit around and a conveyor belt brings the food and you grab a dish with sushi on it. They are so much cheaper than traditional sushi restaurants. Most of the dishes are 105 yen (which is about $1.35 right now). You may not believe me, but I can really pack them in when I am hungry. :)

I was so surprised to see the restaurant. There were few things that had changed since I left; the lay out of the seating arrangement was different, I mean instead of sitting around facing the conveyor belt;, there are booths around the belt, and you can order whatever you want from a touch screen at your booth. The dish stops at your booth and the light flashes to tell you that your sushi has arrived. Things change so much in 11 years! I had to take a pictures at this new found Japanese culture.

You just order what you want, and they will make one right there for you.

There were really good selections. Yeah, they are not same as you eat at real sushi restaurant, but they are pretty good. If you take someone like me, who was starving for Japanese food in general, I was like a kid in a candy shop.

Mmm... Am I done? Well, let me rest for a minute, I think I can go for some more.

When I had small class reunion, we met at an awesome restaurant, there I had bunch of yummy food (which I was able to cross some stuff off my list as well)...




When my mom and my sister took me out for shopping, we had lunch at the restaurant as well... Oh, they were so good...

Am I done yet? No, no way, I had to eat some Japanese junk food as well.

There were LOTS more other things that I ate, but forgot to take pictures because I was too excited about it. Such as ramen, Japanese style Chinese food (oh, they are soo good), very yummy cakes, and best of all, the home cooked food by my mom and my sisters. They are all excellent cooks, and I was so spoiled while I was there. Thank you everyone for feeding me!!

Has reading about all this food given you heartburn yet? There are a couple more pictures to share with you...

Tada! You know what, they are not real food. They are actually samples made out of wax to show what you can expect when you order that dish. I believe this was invented in Japan, and pretty much any restaurant you go to, you see samples like this in front of the place.

Japanese style kid’s meals... I was missing my family and wanted to show this to my kiddos.

I ate so much while I was there. I am paying the price for it right now, but it was totally worth it!

ADAC Opens its Doors

If you live in Atlanta and are exposed on any level to the world of design, then you most definitely have heard of ADAC.  Until now, ADAC was a place for designers to visit, but the general public wasn't allowed access.  As of tomorrow, October 1st, any and all will be welcomed inside the campus consisting of 550,000 square feet with 60 showrooms offering 1,200 of the industry’s finest product lines including furniture, fabric, rugs, lighting, accessories, floor and wall coverings, antiques, fine art and framing, kitchens, bath, tile and stone, and home theater product.  It is an exciting venture for ADAC and the entire design community.

To kick things off there will be two weeks of events open to the public as well as designers.  For a detailed calendar of events you can visit ADAC's website.  You can register for any of the events listed by going here.  On Wednesday, October 10th, I'll be speaking along with five lovely ladies, Shelly Hart of Design Indulgence, Erika Ward of BluLabel Bungalow, Claire Watkins of High Gloss Blue, and Helen Young of Whitehaven; moderated Wendy Shannon at With a Southern Twist.  We'll be dishing about what is in, what is out and what is hot in the world of blogging and design.  Please join us!  It's a really fun group and I'm sure you will be entertained.

Link Love No.83!

So, I have been sharing the stories of my trip to Japan, and there are many more to tell. Also, every year I have been doing a Tea Rose Home blogaversary giveaway in September, but I haven't done that because I have been away... I am going to do that with some goodies I brought from Japan soon! So stay tuned. :)

Are you ready for the link love for this month?

I have seen so many bookends before, but this one is such a cutie! Annemarie's Haakblog shared these crochet bookends. Things like this put a smile on my face.


Have you already decorated your house for the upcoming season? Cherished Bliss used orange and aqua to decorate her home for the fall and shared the pictures on her blog. You should visit there to see them, because they are stunning!


If you are a biker or not, you will love this picture drawn by Grow Creative. I love the use of colors, they are simply adorable.


Blue Bird Sews shared this great tutorial for stretching wonky stars to make a baby quilt. I LOVE the fabric she used for this project, and the quilt design goes so well with it.


I love projects that use something worthless or ordinary and come up with jaw dropping creations. Carolyn’s Homework has done just that... She used brown paper bags from the grocery stores and created this amazing faux bay leaf wreath! I would love to give it a try.


Thank you everyone for sharing your talents!

I will be back with more stories from trip to Japan this week, see you at the next post. :)

What Do the Yankees See In Andruw Jones?

            There is no measurable statistic that supports Andruw Jones’ spot on the 2012 New York Yankees roster. None.  There has to be something that I am missing so if somebody can explain it to me, I am all ears. More importantly though, someone needs to tell it to Girardi.  Don’t get me wrong, he was fantastic last year in his role. Against southpaws, Jones put up an OPS of .923 as well as an OBP of .384 in 126 at-bats.

             

            It is now September (almost October) 2012, and for the life of me, I cannot wrap my head around the reasoning behind him getting playing time. He should have been shown the door a long time ago but if he is still here on September 29^th, I do not expect him to be cut with only one series left in the regular season. What the Yankees can do though is not put Jones on the postseason roster. It won’t excuse the ridiculous amount of leeway that he has received from the organization, but at least he won’t be able to hurt them when it matters most.

           

            Against lefty pitching, Jones is sporting an OPS of .713 to go along with an OBP of .297. Since the All-Star Break, those numbers turn into .524 and .262. Just for kicks, check out his numbers in September. If you don’t feel like it, .593 and .259. He has walked more than he has struck out but when you are putting up numbers like that, there is not even a way someone can say “Well at least, he has drawn a couple walks.” The more you break him down, the worse he looks, and that is not even taking his lack of hustle when he does play. On the rare occasion when he has to hustle, we’ve seen him strolling down to first seemingly without a care in the world. I know that is just pseudo-psychology on my part, but I am just sick to death of watching this guy play.

           

           I just cannot understand what the Yankee brass sees in this guy. I would kind of understand if he was a lifetime guy like Jeter or Posada but if the Atlanta Braves can let him walk, I don’t see why the Yankees can’t. Let Melky Mesa get some at-bats, he is an upgrade over Jones. His base running blunder aside, he has excellent speed, can swipe a bag, and play great defense while showing some good power. I would be fine with Chris Dickerson playing, I don’t really care who it is. When you consistently do the same thing over and over again while expecting different results that is insanity.

             

           The New York Yankees need to keep him as far away from the postseason roster as possible but I doubt that will happen. For some reason, they think that being a veteran trumps inexperience even if that veteran is completely useless.

Teixeira Played in Simulated Game on Thursday

From George King:

Because running is considered the biggest test for a lcalf problem, the news was positive Thursday out of Tampa where Mark Teixeira participated in a simulated game.

“He looked good, he ran about 75 to 80 percent,” said minor league head Mark Newman, who watched the workout. “He swung the bat well, hit some line drives.’’

According to manager Joe Girardi, Teixeira played an inning at first base but running will dictate when he returns.

“To me, the biggest test is running the bases,’’ Girardi said before the Yankees' 6-0 loss to the Blue Jays. “I think he can protect it a little bit in the field if he has to. Sometimes you get in a situation like he was in Baltimore and your mind tells you, ‘I got to go.’ ”

...

Girardi said Teixeira would play in another simulated game but wasn’t sure if it would be Friday or Saturday. While it’s likely he could join the Yankees during the four-game series against the Blue Jays, it’s more likely he will be back with the club Monday when the Yankees open a three-game series with the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.

”You would like to know that he is 100 percent,’’ Girardi said. “But I don’t think you are going to know until you get into an intense situation.’’

I wouldn't push things, especially with those games on the Tampa turf coming up. Save him for the Boston series and hope those three games are enough to get his timing back.

Nova May Have Pitched Himself Off The Postseason Roster

From Wallace Matthews:

Last October, when the New York Yankees needed one more win to extend their season another round, they asked Ivan Nova to get it.

This October, they may not even invite him along for the ride.

Thursday night, facing yet another golden opportunity to create some separation between themselves and the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees turned to Nova.

And as he had in the fifth game of the 2011 American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers, Nova turned to stone.

His frustrating, mistake-riddled performance, in which he allowed four runs and failed to last five innings, not only sliced the Yankees' margin over the idle Orioles in the AL East back to a single game, it also raised doubts about the value, if any, of including Nova on their postseason roster, let alone in the starting rotation.

...

The manager may have bigger fish to fry but that doesn't stop us from questioning whether Nova finally succeeded in not only pitching himself out of the playoff rotation, but right off the postseason roster.

Despite his supportive words, Girardi clearly doesn't trust him anymore in a big game -- he pulled him with one out in the third five days ago against the Oakland Athletics, and yanked him Thursday with two out in the fourth -- and his facial expressions tell you something his statements try to cover up.

Nova's maddening inconsistency is driving him bananas.

"He was big for us at the beginning of the year," Girardi said. "He ended up going on the DL, and after he had that great start against Tampa, we were hoping he could get on a roll. He hasn't."

Now, he has one start left this season, Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox in a game that in a perfect world really should be meaningless to everyone but him. And yet, there is every indication that it will wind up being important, and no guarantee that Nova will get the ball again.

"We'll see. We'll see," a tight-lipped Girardi said. "That's five days away. I have to worry about tomorrow."

At this point there's really no reason to start him once October rolls around. He hasn't been the same pitcher he was last year and the only consistency we've seen from his is consistent disappointment. I'm pretty comfortable throwing out a 4-man playoff rotation of CC, Pettitte, Kuroda and Hughes, although Hughes does scare me. But with that said, I'd even put David Phelps higher up on the pecking order than Nova.

As far as his start in Boston goes, to me that all depends on how important that game becomes. If it's a make or break game for the division I don't see how you can hand Nova the ball.

This and That........and Giveaway Winners

This has been a good week. Lots of things going on around here, but all good. Gorgeous fall weather has swept through Chicago and I'm loving every minute of it. Fall is definitely my favorite time of year, how about you?

This past weekend it was the perfect weather for us to go on our annual apple picking excursion. Our regular orchard wasn't open this season due to the unpredictable, crazy weather we had this last spring. But we decided to try a new one that turned out to be lots of fun.....

Gigi (Brett's mom) came along on our fun apple picking adventure.

Earlier this week, we made a giant apple pie from the apples we picked. I went back and forth about whether or not I wanted to do a crumble or crust on top, but I ended up doing a crust since our apples were almost falling off the top of the pie. This was only four of the apples we picked....they were huge! And the pie was delish!

Instagram Photo 

(follow me @thecottagemama)

We also brought out all the fall decorations so our house looks nice and cozy. The girls had so much fun sipping hot chocolate and helping me decorate. We made this vintage yo-yo garland together and I think it turned out really cute.

These pretties arrived in the mail this week from Riley Blake Designs for my next Design Team Project. This is from the line "The Sweetest Thing" and the small little flower print is the new knit fabric they are carrying. I've already washed it and it came out beautifully. I can't wait to start creating my next project!

There has been A LOT of sewing going on this week as I prepare for our first styled book shoot this weekend! I'm so excited to meet all of the little models and work with my book photographer. Fun, fun!

We have had quite a few giveaways in the last couple weeks, so it's probably about time that announce the winners. Sorry to keep you hanging. Here they are.........

Jo Totes Camera Bag:

Simply Color Charm Packs and Jelly Roll:

Modes4U Japanese Fat Quarter Bundle and Washi Tape:

Congratulations to our winners! Please email me at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com with your contact information and we will get you your prizes as soon as possible! Don't worry if you didn't win, just keep trying. We have more giveaways coming up and you just never know when the random number generator might pick you!

So that's what has been going on around here. Some of those pictures are from Instagram and if you want to check out our daily life around here, you can follow me @thecottagemama. I hope you all had a great week and are finally getting a little taste of this beautiful fall weather.

Happy Weekend!

Trip to Japan~Bite of Japanese Pop Culture "Purikura"

I shared about one of my sisters several times on my blog. I have another sister that is 20 years younger than I. Yup, you read it right, 20! I got married and moved away when she was 2, so I really wasn't there to see her grow up. Also it was hard to have a "sisterly bond" with her.

One of the things I wanted to do during the two week stay was to spend some time with her and get to know her more.

Many nights we stayed up late till 3, 4 in the morning and talked a lot. She cooked for me (she is an excellent cook!), we watched movies together, went shopping... and we did "purikura" together.

What's purikura? Basically, it is a very high tech photo booth. I found a link that explains it very well, so if you are interested you can read all about it. Purikura is VERY popular among teens, and there were lots of pictures in my sister’s room as well.

I watched a documentary about purikura once on TV, and they were saying that it is so advanced that it will automatically make your skin look prettier in the photo, allow you to play around with the photo before you print it out, and send the photo to your phone too.

So, I am a very curious being, I decided to investigate this very popular pop culture of Japan...

Well... there were lots of young girls taking pictures as they were talking and laughing in their high pitched voices... I was a little embarrassed to even be there but decided to have fun with my sister, and I did it!

These are the pictures...

There is a suggestion on the screen of what kind of pose you should do for each shot. I really didn't know what to do, I just followed the instructions.

After taking the photo, we can choose the background, add or write things on the photo.

We had so much fun doing this together, we were laughing throughout the whole thing.
I think this is actually our first photo together in so many years.

As I saw on TV, purikura took really good pictures of me with flawless skin. I think I look at least 5, 10 years younger. Though, I didn't miss my sister mumbling "fraud"! I showed the picture to several of my friends my age; they all wanted to go take pictures at the photo booth. :) Yup, I tested purikura and it was a lot of fun and a cheap way to buy "happy"(it was 400yen, which is about less than $5). I can put my seal of approval on it.

Yankees Activate Brett Gardner

From Mark Feinsand:

Gardner was activated from the 60-day disabled list before Tuesday's game, giving the Yankees an experienced pinch-runner to use late in games during the final nine games - and potentially the postseason.

"I'm excited; it's something I've been ready for for a little while," Gardner said. "I kind of understand what my role is; I might not play for three, four, five days. As the game goes along, I'll try to get a feel for what kind of situation might pop up and I'll be ready to go."

...

With his arm healthy once again, the 29-year-old is hoping to make a positive impact on his team after being limited to nine games and 34 at-bats during the Yankees' first 153 contests.

Gardner has been hitting in the indoor batting cages with hitting coach Kevin Long, but he plans to take his BP to the field for the first time Thursday in Toronto.

"I feel like I could physically do it right now," Gardner said. "But as far as me feeling like I'm pretty ready, I would need a couple of days of BP on the field."

Gardner estimates that if he is able to hit on the field Thursday without any issues, he could be available to hit in a game by Sunday or Monday.

...

It remains to be seen whether he will be able to do much more than pinch-run and play late-inning defense, but even if he proves that he's ready to hit, Gardner isn't expecting to take over a starting spot in the season's final games.

...

Joe Girardi was uncertain whether Gardner would eventually serve in a larger capacity than pinch-runner or defensive replacement this season. Although the manager didn't rule it out, he didn't sound optimistic, either.

"I don't know how realistic it is that he could do more," Girardi said. "He's got to go through some BP, and he thing is, he's probably not going to have any game at-bats. That kind of makes it tough. It's something we'll continue to evaluate as we go on."

It would be great if he proved he was able to hit, but it seems unlikely. Either way, it will be a nice addition to have his speed and defense off the bench.

Baby Lock and The Cottage Mama

I've been wanting to share my new machines with you for several months and now it's finally time!

Meet the two newest members of The Cottage Mama team.......

 The Baby Lock Ellegante 3 Sewing and Embroidery Machine 

The Baby Lock Evolution 8-Thread Serger & Cover Stitch Machine

I was recently sent these amazing new machines from the folks over at Baby Lock and let me tell you that they are truly "dream machines". I was content sewing on my Brother Sewing Machine (CS6000i) and Serger (1034d), but these Baby Lock machines take things to a whole new level. I kind of feel like talking to them and saying "Where have you been my whole life?" But the truth of the matter is that I just didn't even know some of these fantastic features existed on the higher end sewing machines.

I am thrilled to be working with Baby Lock and to have them here as a sponsor. I will be doing some new tutorials and sewing projects for them over on the official Baby Lock blog, Totally Stitchin' coming up soon. You will be able to find a link to their blog under the sponsors heading in the right side-bar of The Cottage Home.

So let me tell you a little bit more about my new machines.......

First up is the new Ellegante 3 Sewing and Embroidery Machine. I guess you could say Miss Ellegante and I had sort of a 'Love at first stitch' experience when she first arrived. She is so quiet and just purrs along as I sew.....music to my ears.

Here are some of the features on this fabulous machine that I really enjoy:

•  Automatic Needle Threading. Just push the button and in 4 seconds the machine is ready to go.

• Automatic Thread Cutting. Again, just push the button.

• Two Thread Spool Holders

• Drop-In Bobbin

• Low bobbin thread indicator

• Stitch memory library - Great for stitches that you use a lot such as gathering and machine applique. It saves the stitch width, length and tension for easy recall.

• LCD Touch Screen that shows you your actual designs and stitch settings and also has a informational guide included so you never have to pull out the manual!

• On Screen Embroidery Design Editing for combining words, pictures, frames and more.

• 531 Built-In Stitches - Everything from a wide scallop stitch, heirloom stitches to borders and decorative characters.

• 492 Built-In Embroidery Designs - Including 14 different font libraries for personalizing and monogramming, applique embroidery, gorgeous floral and seasonal motifs. I love that you can view the designs in the different size hoops before you actually embroider.

• Gorgeous fonts, including a floral alphabet.

• Direct connectivity to your PC and can be used with external drives (floppy, flash, CD)

• Circular Sewing Attachment to make perfect circles with straight or decorative utility stitches.

More specific details on the Ellegante 3:

So not only did they send me the Ellegante 3, but I also received the Baby Lock Evolution 8-Thread Serger:

This serger is so easy to use. If you're not familiar with Baby Lock, their sergers essentially thread for you and they don't have tension dials to fuss with when you switch stitches.

You see those little holes in the picture above (the ones labeled U, L and C). Well, you put your threads in those holes and the machine sucks them in and threads it for you. It is incredibly cool!

Also, one of the biggest challenges with my other serger was that if I wanted to change out one of the threads or if one of them broke, I had to re-thread the whole thing from start to finish in the appropriate order. Well, not with the Evolution. If I want to just change out the upper-looper, I simply remove it, put the new thread in the hole, push the button and I'm ready to go!

I absolutely love not having to worry about the tension on this machine. I just pick my stitch and the machine knows how to adjust the tension for perfect serging every time.

Here are some more specifics about the features of the Evolution:

To say that I was excited when these machines arrived a few months ago is probably an understatement, I was ecstatic! I can't wait to incorporate more machine embroidery, monogramming, serging and more into my designs. Like I said, these machines are truly a dream to sew on and I am so excited about my partnership / sponsorship with Baby Lock.

Look for upcoming projects and guests post over on the Totally Stitchin' blog (the official blog of Baby Lock Sewing Machines and Sergers). Also if you have any questions about my experience with these machines, feel free to email or leave me a comment.

To keep updated with Baby Lock feel free to visit their website, blog and facebook page.