食品

That’s “food” in Japanese.

And if you were thinking that Japanese food is all sushi and miso? You’d be wrong.

I admit that I’ll eat most things, but I won’t eat that…

Snacking on the Shinkasen…  Matcha Kit Kat bites and Kirin, in a limited edition Sakura can.

The tastiest grilled chicken ever.

Wasp larvae. And yes, I ate them all.

The gyoza at Anzucco was worth the 45 minutes spent in the pouring rain, trying to find the restaurant.

Red Snapper. It’s a pretty big fish.

Sesame Whitebait. They’re pretty wee fish. And they were for breakfast!

The most kawaii buns in the world!

The end of our last drinks in Japan… 愛

Sakura season

I’ve not been the best at blogging this year. A mixture of work, cats, DIY (it’s always bloody DIY) and life has gotten in the way.

Today’s tasks included redoing the window box for spring, planting a mint and baking scones… I can’t pretend that it’s a tough life, because it’s really not. And one of the very recent things that had me counting blessings and dwelling very loudly about how lucky I am, is my recent (very recent. In fact so recent that I still have holiday blues (I know I’m talking about feeling lucky, but I change my mind quite a lot)) honeymoon in Japan.

Two weeks, 3 cities, 1 village, 4 geishas, countless temples, 1 chance of being eaten by bears… it was a whirlwind of a trip and I’ve got a few too many pictures to prove it.

One of my favourite photographic subject? Cherry blossoms. Planning my honeymoon to coincide with Cherry Blossom season meant that I was destined to take at least a couple (!) of pictures of the little things.

And I was in good company.

After all, where better to photograph a cherry blossom, but in Japan!

One for the mums…

… or my mum, at least.

Happy Mother’s day.

Twinkle twinkle

A few pictures from a recent (birthday!) trip to see Light Show at the Hayward Gallery.

The perfect exhibition for a magpie…

It’s on till the end of April, you should go.

Sew Tote-ally Awesome

Two years ago, I got a sewing machine for my birthday. It was great!! I used it 3 times to make 3 cushions, and then I got engaged (not because of the cushions… or was it?!!?) and forgot about it for a while.

Fast forward a year or so and catastrophe strikes! A horrible accident involving a pot of olives with a leaky lid, and a trust oil cloth tote bag, means I am now without tote, and anyone who knows me KNOWS this isn’t good news. I’m a girl who’s always cold and can’t travel light. I need  tote. So… you know what I did? I decided to make one.

A quick glance online told me that it wouldn’t be that hard, so I bought some polka dot cloth (I might have outgrown the colour pink, but I’m still a fan of dots…) and started sewing.

Dotty fabric, and a twee measuring tape. Sewing Threesmallapples-style(!).

To add some strength and to make it less flimsy, I lined the bag using some heavy white linen fabric, which were the handy off cuts from some IKEA curtains.

“Measure twice, cut once” that’s the phrase, isn’t it? (I might be a bit of a nerd).

To make the body of the bag, I sewed the two pieces of fabric back to back, before turning the material inside out, so the seam was now on the inside.

For the straps, take a piece of fabric 4 inches thick, fold it in half to create a crease in the middle. Then fold each half of the fabric into the middle crease, before folding the crease closed. This way, all of the edges are ‘inside’ the strap, meaning the strap is stronger and has no loose edge to fray.  Pin the strap to hold it together, before sewing along the open edge to hold it closed.

I attached the straps to the body of the bag before sewing the side edges of the bag together.  I still need to figure out a neat way to attach the straps… A bit more practise needed, I think.

Almost there…

The old “sewing on the inside” trick again…

Once it was all sewn firmly together, all there is left to do is turn it the right way out…

And “Ta-da!!”, the finished article. I was so (sew?) pleased that I’ve actually already made another one as a gift and after 2 weeks of daily use, carrying a lunch box and a hard back, it hasn’t fallen apart yet. As you can imagine, I’m as pleased as punch.

Not-so-heavy metal

There must be something I can do with this old Tord Boontje Garland light shade from Habitat?

 

Admittedly, being made of spindly, bendable, floral shaped metal, it wasn’t actually much of a *light shade* but it was pretty, all the same.

 

But after 2 years stored in a box, under the stairs, it might be time for it to admit defeat…!  I’m sure I used to be a hoarder? I’m not quite sure what’s happened to me.

 

Extended absence

Home improvements forced me to take a bit of a blogging break, but Having Builders In turned into Christmas, which turned into New Year, which turned into DIY (EVERYTHING turns into DIY). Time really does fly.

Talking of time flying, a year ago today, I went on the easiest wedding dress shopping trip ever!  The first dress turned out to be THE dress:

It might not look it, but it really was.  But just to make sure, I did try on a few others…

The little 60’s bubble dress was a bit of a favourite.

Jacq was on hand (with glass in hand) to give some helpful advice.

Not loving frills so much…

A bit of pinning convinced me that this was the one.

And a little nip and tuck ensured it was perfect.

**apologies for the quality of the pictures, Louise was a bit too excited to focus the camera**

Homely comforts…

Or not.

Having a few renovations done at Threesmallapples HQ so please excuse me if I disappear for the next couple of weeks. I’m trying to fight a cloud of dust and cope with the fact that everything I own is currently squeezed into the bedroom.

Also, packing takes a little longer when you’ve got (laser) cats…

Enchanted.

An indoor but ‘outdoors’ Swedish forest. In London?

Yep, thanks to Rekorderling.

Of course there’s a DJ in middle of the winter forest… at least the winter forests in East London.

Sweden isn’t Sweden without meatballs.

Skål

Teatime!

In a not completely un-granny-ish move, I appear to have developed a fondness for tea. Not herbal tea, which fills my cupboard and makes ‘”do you want a cup of tea?” a question that needs a few serious moment’s contemplation before I can answer. Or Matcha tea, which might initially taste a bit ‘pond-y’ but is a brilliant green colour and a bit addictive. But normal tea. Builder’s tea. With milk. And one sugar.

Tea drinking isn’t something that I do very quickly. One of the reasons I drink herbal tea so much is that it’s still drinkable when it’s cold. No cloudy milk skin floating around grossing everyone out.  Drinking Builder’s tea means drinking from a small cup, and brewing a small cup of tea, with a normal sized tea bag feels a bit stupid.

So, with that in mind, it was time to find a teapot…! I had to discount the obvious floral numbers, because Mr Threesmallapples refused to let them in the house, so was feeling full of teapot-induced gloom, when a bike ride and a trip to the Tate uncovered this little beauty!

The Stump teapot by Forlife, available in 9 colours, and holds 3 cups of tea. Perfect for a bit of lazy Sunday tea drinking. Now all I need to find is a milk jug.