Happy Summer!

Today, we start off eastwards to America & around the world! From Las Vegas, we will explore a couple of canyons & national parks. It will be our first time in a RV! Then we head towards San Diego & Los Angeles & fly out again.

We will also meet up with friends & relatives in Germany & Singapore. And then, home to Tokyo. Have a happy summer!

Blouse & Baubles

Annika has a new blouse ! This one is with 2 different patterned fabric, for a different front & back. Both are actually 2 Japanese scarves that I had bought. Summer's too hot for headscarves but great for this cool top.

Yes, hand-sewn again. With the help of my trusty old pin-cushion from Beijing.

Recently completed too were these (click on pics for larger image) :

Floral Dreams in Red, Hot Fiery Baubles & Baubles in Red.

A summer dress for a little girl.

You know how when you are so busy & there's so much to do? How when there's stuff to clear, suitcases to pack, you're leaving in a few days & in the midst of all this...you need a break. So I took a break & made a dress!

I used to sew dresses, blouses & shorts for my kids. When I was pregnant, I sewed my own pregnant blouses because I had a really, really huge bump, plus couldn't find maternity outfits that fits nor which I like.

Have also made cushion covers & curtains. All these sewing projects were only simple designs since I didn't have patterns or classes as a guide. It was all mainly cut-&-sew/oops trial !

I do not have any sewing machine here so this was made with hand-stitching. Luckily, it's for Annika, who thinks I'm wonderful to churn this out in hours - many, many hours for me since it's been a long time since I sewed something.

She loves it! So I'm going to sew more & maybe, possibly, come back from America with a sewing machine!

Rolling, squelching, more rolling & then belching !

For the 4th night in a row, we are making pizzas for dinner! I used to cheat & make pizzas using ready-made dough form the stores. Now, we started making our own & I think this marks the end of any store-bought dough! The hardest thing was getting the dough to rise & "grow". Our dough has moods & sometimes prefer to just remain as it is. As you can see, our kids enjoyed themselves tremendously & now their dream to becoming "...Park Rangers in summer, Ski-instructors in winter, & bake delicious pizzas anytime", has become 1 step closer!

Annika's creation was with basil from our garden, mozarella cheese, tuna & pineapple.

Niklas' made his with crabmeat rolls, pineapples, sausages, ham & shredded cheese.

Ita dekimasu ! Chi ! Guten apetit !

The dimsum goes around in Chinatown Yokohama.

So off we went again, to have yummy food at a favorite restaurant & view all those scrumptuos delicacies rolling by before us. Yes, rolling by as the food in little plates or bamboo baskets, were on this merry-go-round conveyor belt, that really went around the whole restaurant!
All you do after you arrive is to plonk yourself down & start eating - no waiting at all - how's that for service!




Dim sum (in Cantonese dialect) or "dian xin ( in Mandarin) is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves many light dishes served alongside Chinese tea since tea helps "wash" the fats away (- I wish!!!).

Usually served in the mornings until noon time at Chinese restaurants & at specialty dim sum eateries, you can have it for dinner like we did.

Dishes come in small portions and include meat, seafood, vegetables & all sorts of desserts. The items are usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate. "Yum cha" (in Cantonese) or "he cha (in Mandarin) is the term used to describe the dining session.

The only problem is that it's hard to stop eating! You take food off the conveyor belt, finish them & the empty plates get cleared away quickly so then, you lose track of what you've eaten. We always end up eating waaaay too much!

Another rainy weekend. . .

& a good reason to visit the Museums in Ueno Park, Tokyo.

Here's another pretty manhole (above).

The scientific explanation is too complicated for me to repeat but what were my kids doing? :

When you sit on this spinning stool, holding a spinning wheel in your hands, you will turn on your own, in the opposite direction ! So if the wheel is spinning to the left, your stool, spins to the right - isn't that a wonder!!!!

Shadows from Tokyo.

Hey Harriet has sparked off a photo frenzy among the bloggers - "Shadow Shot Sundays" - all pics with shadows in them! Many have contributed fabulous shots over at her blog.

I don't know if mine can match those so here are my shadow-shots. It's not a Sunday but I'm a frazzled mama who do not know what day it is sometimes !

Summer Fun, Reports & a Wild Boar.

The few last days of school before summer break. A hectic week with school plays, class picnics, farewell lunches & this : At the kids' school, I volunteer by drawing. Here's my latest illustration (with colour pencils & water colour) for our Grade School magazine. My most "exciting" task today - photocopying 12,000 pages for the newsletter (200 issues of 60 pages) from 8am till 3pm !!

As a "corporate" identity, Fuji-san is present each time. So are the different washi border, the masthead & that bird which is a "Spatz" (sparrow) hence "Spatzenpost". This season's issue is dedicated to the Summer Olympics. You can see past covers here.

This cover is dedicated to my son, who missed jumping into the outdoor pool at the Swiss Club Singapore & my daughter who dreams of doing handstands. In real life, she can't do any handstand but she sure love her braids! In real life too, there are no goldfishes in ponds but who cares...these look like they belong! Dancing in the background are friends, Timo, Elina & Raimon.

Niklas wrote out an interview with a faculty member, in German & in English while his co-reporters asked the questions & took photos.

Annika found an article in our English newspapers & translated it into German. It was about a wild boar that ran amok in a kindergarten. The funny part is that she had added "And 23 people died in the end”. We were shocked & asked where she got that info since no one had died. She said she put that in to make the story more exciting & interesting! She did it because that is the general instruction she gets from us or hear Niklas say, whenever she is writing essays! Yes...we did remove her "exciting" statement.

All that a kitchen needs . . Kappabashi Kitchen Town

Over the weekend, we were at Kappabashi - an area (8 blocks!) just for kitchenware.

Everything that your kitchen or restaurant could dream of - knives, cookie cutters, cherry seeds-removers, deep fryers, grillers, muffin papers, bento boxes, pots & pans, take-out food containers, lanterns, crockery, trays, chopping mats, silicon baking trays, whisks & those incredible realistic plastic food models that you see outside Japanese restaurants. Sadly most stores were closed on this gloomy grey Sunday, so I will go back on a weekday & take more interior shots of the wares.

Note the Godzilla mural & the giant rhino-beetle - how's that for a view when you wake up in the morning!

Here you can see 2 types of delivery vehicles!

And just a couple of designs - veg bundles, chickens, teapots - from the hundreds of chopsticks-rests that you can buy !

a shoebox, a restaurant, an apartment...

I did not have a single toy as a child. When I mentioned this to my son who was 4 at that time, he said "oh Mama, how sad...we can share our toys & you can play with them anytime". One of those times that a Mama will always remember.

We do many craft projects & here is one that we are fascinated with at the moment - our shoebox dollhouse. Although it has now evolved into a "Japanese cafe downstairs" & "owner's apartment upstairs". If these shots are not so clear, it's because it was in the evening & were taken without flash.

Green futons are cardboard covered with washi paper.
The stylish ikebana is a bamboo toothpick holder, now holding green plastic strips.
Round tables are covers from jars standing on toothpicks, the stools are plastic bootle caps.
Wall pictures are little cut-outs which Annika pasted & then drew frames around.

Wall mirror is aluminium foil on a card with pretty beads.

"Glass" display cabinet is a plastic packaging box.

Stack up makeup sponges for a perfect display counter.

People come & go.

When you are on the move as much as we have, there are some things which you wish you can get used to...but you don't. June is also the last month for both class teachers, in my children's classes. These are the goodbye collages that Niklas & Annika did, for their respective teachers. Annika loves her teacher, Frau Jakob so much that she emails her during school holidays.

Tschuess Frau Klotz - Niklas' teacher, a wife & a mama-to-be.
Tschuess Frau Jakob - a memorable & kind teacher to Annika.

This summer also marks the departure of a very good friend, Margret Tanaka, who is also the mother of Caren, a lovely girl in Niklas' Grade 4 class.

Their family is re-locating to Germany. Margret is German & has lived in Japan for the past 17 years! She is the one I call for translation help when I'm standing at a store & cannot communicate with the Japanese sales staff. We will miss them.

An unusual church on an eroding island.

Over the weekend, we attended a christening at the German Lutheran Church here. It brought back memories of when our kids were christened as babies on Sylt. a German island off the coast of Denmark. My mother-in-law has always wished that her children would get married in St Severin, a unique church there in Keitum, Sylt. However, since none did, the next best thing was to have our kids christened there.
A historical & unusual church, St Severin dates back to the 1200s. The Gothic styled tower was erected by 1450 from bricks & stones. It served as a navigational aid until 1603 & as a prison until 1803. Almost every year, we go back to the church & take a photo in the same spot.

Sylt was once part of the mainland (Germany), and is still shrinking owing to erosion by the North Sea, which is common for most islands and shorelines in the region. It is the "Hamptons of Germany" as many celebrities too, frequent the island, one of Germany's playgrounds for the rich & famous. Our favorite are the endless, dessert-like sand dunes beaches.

The bridge on the left, eventually fell apart & was replaced by this sturdier one (right). Of course, we miss the old rickety one!

And if you should plan on heading out to Sylt, you can leave swimsuits at home.....nude swimming is common practice on the island !

Glimpses of our neighbourhood.

Ok, it's been awhile since I last did something here! Even my kids are asking "why aren't there new pics to look at?". So here's a couple of things we see, when we go down the lane to buy eggs. And this has got to be the prettiest manhole cover we've seen - with a cherry blossom motif, of course!

Pots of all sorts

Both our kids are not into big parties (whew!). So for her birthday, Annika just wanted 4 friends & her brother, to do craft with her. First, everyone made a kaleidoscope at home, with coloured stones, glitter & beads & even some Swarovski crystals.

Then, we walked over to the pottery studio, just a few minutes from our home. Everyone made little pots or plates or teacups, according to their fancy. No one got to take their work home today though. The finished results would have to wait till the drying, baking, glazing is done, in a of weeks!

And then back home, to the waiting pot of spaghetti with button mushrooms, quail eggs, baby corns & minced meat in a tomato base. And also to funny colourful jellies like these!

Happy, Happy Day !

Today, our Annika turns 8.
She was "made" in Vienna, born in Singapore, lives in Tokyo & goes to the German school in Yokohama.

Happy Birthday, Mei-Mei from Ke-Ke, Mama & Papa . . . . . . how you have grown !