Japanese Eggplant Flower

Do you like eggplants?

I love lightly grilled eggplants, curry with eggplants, Chinese style spicy eggplants, Japanese style fried eggplants with miso, Italian style tomato sauce with eggplants and etc.

This summer, I planted Japanese eggplants but haven’t been able to harvest any fruits yet.
Probably, no eggplants will be ready for me to eat but I am happy to see cute purple flowers in my garden.

Vintage 1973 Santa and Kewpie Christmas Plate

Have you started Christmas shopping?

My friends told me that they have already started their holiday shopping as some retail department stores have already started to sell 2009 Christmas items at discounted prices.

I love vintage Christmas items very much.
Especially, it is interesting for me to find vintage Christmas items made in Japan for American market.
They were made in Japan but I didn’t get chances to see them while growing up in Japan.
They are rather new to me but have something so familiar with my childhood.

Bad Summer for Tomatoes

Could you enjoy harvesting fresh tomatoes from your garden this summer?

Even though my tomatoes could survive from a heavy hail storm, I haven't gotten any ripe tomatoes.

It is still sunny but is getting cooler every day.

I am sorry that I didn't get a chance to make delicious homemade salsa with my tomatoes this summer.

Happy Mums

I planted several mums last fall.
All of them came back to bloom this year.
They are beautiful!

Cosmos in Bloom

I love cosmos very much!

Sun Flowers and Bees

I planted 3 packages of sun flower seeds along with nasturtium seeds this summer.

As soon as several sun flowers started to sprout, some bugs or something started to eat them and I lost all of them.



It seems to be true that nasturtiums help other plants to grow without being bothered by bugs.
After several nasturtiums started to sprout, the next several sun flowers started to grow and had flowers.

Suddenly over night, all sun flowers’ flowers disappeared.
I assume that squirrels quickly harvested them.




For myself, I have only 3 sun flowers.
I was so happy to see bees flying around my sun flowers today.

New and Vintage Handkerchieves

In stead of using paper towels at public places, I started to carry a handkerchief with me and try not to use paper towels as much as possible.

Can you buy new handkerchieves in your area?
It is hard to find new handkerchieves available in the U.S., isn't it?

I have a lot of handkerchieves that I purchased in Japan.
Japanese carry a handkerchief as a "must have" item and there are so many new handkerchieves available in many designs in Japan.

Besides Japanese handkerchieves, I love American vintage handkerchieves.
To me, they are special treasures.

Handmade Cloth Napkins

Can you sew?

It is easy to sew cloth napkins.

I have been using cloth napkins instead of paper napkins and have made several cloth napkins.

I just cut fabrics, double fold, baste, and machine stitch.



It is fun to sew various sized cloth napkins with faborite fabrics!

Vintage Treasures Milk Glasswares

Don't you love vintage glasswares?

The attached vintage milk glass snack tray sets are one of my favorite.
It is fun to invite girl friends to come over for a tea with this snack tray sets with a lot of treats.




I also love to use vintage everyday kitchen glasswares especially Pyrex and Fire King.
It was a score for me that I could purchased the attached Pyrex nesting bowls set in great condition.

Beautiful Japanese Silk Remnants

I love sewing and crafting.
I love new fabrics as well as vintage fabrics.
Especially, vintage fabrics which remind me of my childhood are my favorite.






The attached photos are Japanese silk remnant that I purchased in Japan.
These small pieces are hand tied and dyed.
The silk fabrics are very soft and delicate.

These remnants will be large enough to make doll clothes, accessories or garment embellishment.
I was so happy that I could purchase them in Japan as I can’t find silk fabrics in the U.S. easily.

Delicious Local Colorado Peaches and Pears

What kinds of local produces can you enjoy in your area?

In my area, Colorado peaches and pears are delightful local produces.
Not only at farmers’ markets, but also at grocery stores such as Safeway and King's, I can purchase them for $1.00 for a pound.
Colorado peaches and pears are sold at more reasonable prices than peaches and pears carried from California.
They are so juicy and sweet!

Natural Dishwashing Liquid Green Works

Do you use eco friendly dishwashing liquid?


I have just started to use Green Works.
It works very well to wash dishes and other kitchen utensils.



Besides, the Green Works worked so well to clean up my new vintage vinyl doll.
She had very greasy and sticky face that I couldn’t wash by wet cotton puffs with water.
Then, I tried to wipe her face by wet cotton puffs with the Green Works and could easily remove the grease.
I was so happy with the result!

It is really true that dishwashing liquid products don’t have to be colored with strong fragrance.
I highly recommend Green Works.
The retail price at WalMart is around $2.50.

Japanese Buck Wheat Noodles, Soba

Have you eaten Japanese buck wheat noodles called Soba?

I have seen several cooking magazines such as Martha Stewart Living, Everyday with Rachael, Taste of Home and etc. introduced cooking receipts with using Soba.

Soba is made of buck wheat and seems to be good for your health.
There are two ways to cook soba: cold soba and soba in hot soup.

The photo above is one kind of Japanese soba product that I purchased at a Japanese grocery store, Pacific Mercantile Company in the Sakura Square in down town Denver.
www.pacificmercantile.com

In order to make dipping source for cold soba and hot soba soup, there are seasoned soy source called Men Tsuyu (Men means noodle, Tsuyu means source) or Men mi, or other similar names.

It is very easy to cook Soba at home.
Hope you get chances to try eating Soba!