pinku

The man of the house!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

It is the day after Thanksgiving here, but we had a great day yesterday. Unfortunately it is not a holiday here, but I took the day off anyway. I needed to get some stuff done and I also had some stuffing to make. It was very successful. In the end I combined everyone's suggestions to make a very yummy stuffing (and we have some left over for dinner tonight!!). The final ingredients were:

• sausage
• day-old wholewheat bread crumbs (toasted)
• fresh sage, thyme, rosemary
• onion
• grated apple
• dried cranberries (I think this was the best ingredient - so delicious)
• walnuts
• chicken stock
• a little butter

Here's a picture of daz carving the turkey chicken I mean... You can kinda see the stuffing I made in the right-hand corner. We also had roasted squash, broccoli, two kinds of gravy, fresh salsa made by daz, hummus dip, fresh bread brought by Tyler, lots of beer brought be Erin, potato bake (with lots of bacon and cheese), and cranberry sauce.

I'm full and feel great. Have a great day!!!

ps For flower pin swap participants, the first finished flower has been sent, received and photographed - check it out at the swap blog!!

Rings and stuffing!!!

Yesterday we went and saw a man about some rings.

It was very exciting. We were supposed to go on Sunday, but I wasn't feeling well, so we rescheduled. I met daz after work and luckily he has acquired the skill of detecting when I am cranky because of hunger. Yes, it happens. I swore I was fine, but after sharing some takoyaki I realized how much I had needed that food. So back to the rings, we are having our wedding rings custom-made by Ken Kobayashi, who runs a tiny metal work shop in Kichijoji. By chance we had met his son (who also works as a metalsmith) at our 4th of July BBQ this year. He plays the digeridoo very well. He had mentioned that he worked at a shop that made wedding rings, so we went and met his dad (although we did not know they were father and son at the time). Ken has come up with a top-secret engraving technique that allows us to draw (in our own handwriting) anything we want on the inside of the ring - here are some examples. This is the main drawcard for us and also the fact that we know who is making our rings and that they will make them exactly as we want them. I am figuring that robots will make an appearance on our rings.

So apart from thinking about what I am going to write/draw on daz's ring, I have (as I mentioned yesterday) been day-dreaming about stuffing. I know it seems silly, but I really do love the stuff (no pun intended). As I was looking up recipes on the web, I was happy to come across this article in the New York Times that confirmed that I am not the only one who obsesses about stuffing. So, to be honest I have never made stuffing myself, but this year I will be attempting stuffing for the first time for Thanksgiving. What are your favourite stuffing ingredients? Do you have a special recipe? Considering we only have a small tiny oven, we will be buying a whole roasted turkey chicken (turkey is just too expensive - I found one place in Tokyo that will cook a whole turkey for you, but the smallest one costs over 6000 yen). However I will be roasting pumpkin, making fresh stuffing and a potato bake (this was popular last year). We of course cannot forget the gravy and cranberry sauce.

So far here are my stuffing ingredients:

• sausage
• onions
• day-old breadcrumbs
• Aomori apples (we just received a box of 24 top-quality apples from my host family in Aomori yesterday - woohoo!)
• sage
• butter
• pepper, salt
• maybe pine nuts
• celery
• thyme
• garlic

yum, yum, yum. can't wait.

Charity Clothing Swap in Tokes

Attention women of Tokyo!

Here's a great charity event that I am keen to participate in - anyone else???

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Your Clothes Friend - Tired of wearing the same clothes but struggle to find something new in your size and style?  Have garments hiding in the back of your closet, too embarrased to throw them out unworn?  Want to give your used clothing to a charity but are unsure of where to go?  Bring them to "Your Clothes Friend" clothing swap.  December 5th from 3:30 - 6:30 at the Pink Cow. Entrance fee is 1500 yen which includes one drink.  Enjoy a glass of wine while searching through the treasures, adding your own to the pile.  Whatever you like and fits, you are free to take home.  All clothing left at the end of the day will go to charity, as well as the proceeds from the door.

If you have any questions or can not attend but want to contribute your clothing, please contact Laura at your_clothes_friend@hotmail.com or 080 - 3025 - 1035

The map for the Pink Cow can be found at http://www.thepinkcow.com/art.html

Looking forward to meeting some new people, exchanging some threads and having a good time!
Regards,
Laura

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I don't know the person organizing this, but I think it is a fantastic idea. I am in the midsts of organizing my wardrobe, and it just won't all fit. It's time to get rid of stuff and this sounds like a great way to do it. Hopefully I won't find too many clothes that I want and end up leaving with more than I came with.

Knitting update: Well, actually there isn't much of a knitting update here. I have been knitting but no big projects at the moment. I am nearly finished my Koigu socks and they are looking cute - can't wait to wear them. I have also finished a couple of London beanies (one for me and one for daz), and I couldn't resist and bought the yarn (from Elann) and pattern for Bonne Marie's ribby cardie. My colour combination is grey sleeves and a pink body.

ps: Tomorrow I am going to write about stuffing/turkey/roast dinners/gravy, and how much I absolutely LOVE it all. Just thinking about it all is making me drool (not a pretty sight when you are at work). Get your recipes ready. Bring on thanksgiving I say. I may not be American, but luckily I'm marrying one, so now we have one more reason to eat turkey every year!!!!

Happy Birthday sister!!

Today is my big sister's birthday! Happy birthday Neen! You are the best!

ps There is a venue change for tonight's Tokyo SNB!!! Looks like the Pink Cow is hosting another group. Same time but let's meet at the Zest Cantina in Harajuku/Omotesando - it is located just behind KiddyLand. Check their website and map for further details.

Do Redo

I'm kicking myself (not too hard though). Molly told me about a Swedish knitting workshop by a very cool group of designers from Do Redo (sweater reconstruction, creative knitting) to be held in Tokyo this past weekend, and because I left it too late to apply (last Friday), there weren't any spots left. I did find out that there is a Do Redo exhibition called 'Slaughter a Sweater' on at the Swedish Embassy until November 25 and it is free to go and check out all of their amazing knit creations. Check out some photos here - this is a Japanese knitblogger's site, so the text is in Japanese, but there are some great photos of the exhibition. It also looks like they are selling knitting kits there too!!! Really - knit knee-high boots are just too cool.

There is another Do Redo embroidery/knitting workshop this Wednesday from 10 to 4pm (aghh - don't they know creative young working people want to go to???!!).

Diary of a failed gym junkie!!

When I was home, I was really happy that I had timed my trip perfectly so that I could check out my big brother Stephen's new exhibition, 'Diary of a failed gym junkie' at the Doggett Street Studio. It opened on the night before I left Brisbane and there was a fantastic turnout. It is his biggest exhibition to date and I especially loved his black and white installation.

Check out all of his paintings here, there are four galleries and another section called installation.

ps if you are lucky enough to be in Brisbane, go and see the exhibition in person.

Sorry about my mug in the way of the paintings :P

For homesick Aussies in Japan

This post will be of very little interest to many of you, but it makes me very happy. The Foreign Buyer's Club in Japan has now opened its Aussie store. Shipping is cheap at around 500 yen and it takes just over a week for your order to arrive from Australia, and although the prices are obviously higher than normal - it's worth it when you receive little treats from home (e.g. Chicken in a Biskit, the Woman's Day, Pascall Wine Gums, etc). I have no idea why it happens, but I actually long for food more than anything when I am away from home. Basically food dictated my week at home and I deprived myself of NOTHING. It was fabulous. I did pay the price though in adding a couple of kilos to my happy Aussie frame, but I'm back to jogging, swimming and eating a rice ball for lunch so no doubt I'll be back to normal soon enough. My mother never worried about me having an eating disorder just because she REALLY knows just how much I LOVE food. Not massive quantities but the variety of tastes and textures. I think it's one of the best things about being alive!!!

Happy shopping and happy eating!!

ps Flower pin swap blog has been updated!!!

She's back!

Well after a 'welcome back to Japan' earthquake this morning (not happy), I finally got around to creating an excel file with all of the flower pin swap participants - the final count is 78!! I will email with details of your swap partner by the end of this week!

Actually there are 79 flower pin swap participants, so is there anyone out there wanting to participate to make it an even 80!!! Email me at pinkurocks at yahoo dot com if you want to join in the flower pin swap fun. Check out the special flower pin swap blog for many new links to flower pin patterns and other inspiring sites.

Australia was fabulous - I managed to spend quality time with all of my family members and did a LOT of shopping. Knitting saved my life on the long and tedious flights to and from Australia and I ended up finishing a hat for Darin and one of my Koigu KPPPM socks - photos later. I was so desperate to start a sock on the plane with Wendy's toe-up sock pattern that I photographed the pattern off the computer as we don't have a printer at home. I also didn't have a crochet hook for the provisional cast-on, so I used the wire tie that came with the plane headphones by bending it into a hook shape. As you can see, I was desparate to do some knitting on the plane!!!

I am happy to see that Stitch n Bitch Nation has finally been released and unhappy to see that America re-elected the man who shall not be named. To distract you from that sad news, check out the SNB Nation patterns here.