Outfit Snap: Raspberry Striped Wool Kimono

I still had the kimono bug today, and was feeling extremely bored and had nothing to do. So I coordinated another outfit and wore it ^_^

Today, the weather is rather rainy and quite cold, so the outfit kind of reflects how I feel, or rather, how I want to feel - warm. This kimono is another wool one from RyuJapan's website, which I'd bought a while ago. There are little horizontal black stripes on it, so for that "warm" effect, I decided to use black as my main colour for all accessories.

Once again, I pulled out my black parrot obi. I made a black han'eri out of some random black cloth lying about my room, and wore black tabi to match. The obiage is dark green to reflect the green stripes, and the obijime is mustard yellow (for the yellow stripes) and pink (for the kimono). There is supposed to be an obidome, coz this obijime is too short, but I can't find my box of obidome... :/ My geta and bag are also mustard yellow.

Btw, the seasonality of everything is just plain weird. I think the outfit looks very autumn-y, but I'm using a ro juban for comfort's sake, and a ro obiage cos it was the only one with the right colour. Let's just ignore those seasonality mistakes for now ^^;;;

Pictures!


There was supposed to be an obidome in the front, but I couldn't find my obidome box... x_x"""


This obi is actually too short for me, so I tried using an obi aid. It turned out alright, I guess.


Because I used an obi aid, I had a different way of tying the obi, so I'm showing a different motif on the front, compared to the last time I wore this obi.




A view of the bottom half:


I wanted to try on my black lace haori:


I promised someone I'd put on an apron the next time I wore kimono, but forgot yesterday, so today I put one on ^^

(Sorry for those bad mirror photos, but the lighting is a little weird ^^;;)

Thanks for looking! ^_^

Outfit Snap: Pink & Teal Summer Wool Ensemble

After baking that strawberry cake, I was feeling bored but energetic. I felt I was overdue on a kitsuke session, so that's exactly what I did!

Many months ago, I'd bought this wool kimono from RyuJapan that was rather sheer. I immediately dubbed it my "raspberries and watermelon summer kimono" because the colour scheme really reminded me of raspberries and watermelons! The kimono itself is pale pink, and has a pattern of dark pink lattice, and mint green circles.

Yesterday, I was spending some quality time with my summer kimono, trying to coordinate outfits, when I saw that my teal hakata mesh obi matched that kimono so well. I managed to pair them with some dark pink ro accessories that created an ensemble I thought was nice, albeit very slightly too matchy. I wore that outfit today! I also wore a ro juban and lace tabi to complete that summery look :)

Pictuuures:

I had a few problems with my obi today >_<"" I completely misjudged the length!

A close-up of the kimono, so you can see that there are patterns on the kimono that are a sort of greenish colour.

Oh, you know that little pink bag I'm using? It brings back many memories! =^_^=

I got it as a free gift when I went on a school trip to Japan. My friends and I had bought alot of things from a shop, and we managed to weasel some free gifts out of the salesperson :P Mine was this cute pink bag. I used to use it as a purse everyday in high school. I brought it with me everywhere I went! That's why it's kinda dirty now :P

So! How do you like this outfit? ^_^

Strawberry Buttermilk Cake - 2nd Attempt

I really really wanted Hong to try that strawberry buttermilk cake I baked last time, so when we decided to have a takoyaki party today, I was all set to bake the cake, so that she could have a taste of a nice, fresh cake.

Sadly, she wasn't able to come over as she was feeling unwell :( I'd been getting all excited over having this cake again, that I was absolutely craving for it. So... I baked another one :P Yes, my self-control completely disappears when it comes to food and cooking.

This time, the cake turned out better than the last! In that last cake, the fruit was a little soggy, and the sugar topping got absorbed into the batter. This time, I made it a point to wipe the berries dry after chopping them. It worked so well! The strawberries are still juicy, but no longer soggy, and the sugar topping made it really crunchy :D Meanwhile, the texture of the cake itself is still moist, albeit a little crumbly. Success!!

Lessons learned:
- Measure ingredients properly. You don't want to make the same mistake I did the first time I made this cake!
- Smooth the surface of the cake batter well and evenly with the back of your spoon once it's in the pan. It'll make it prettier.
- Dry your berries with kitchen towels before sprinkling the sugar on.
- Put your cake IMMEDIATELY in the oven once you've sprinkled the sugar. Don't let it sit around and wait for even 5 minutes.

I'm sorry I didn't take a picture, but I was too busy digging in :P James and I have taken a piece each for dessert, and 1/4 of it is gone now XD That sure was quick!

If you want the recipe, click HERE. It's the first recipe in that entry. Let me just emphasize how easy it is to make it - just one hour from starting to measure the ingredients to taking the cake out of the oven. Only 1 and 1/4 hours from starting to measure the ingredients to slicing the cake and digging in. If you have a few people with you, it'll probably be 1 1/2 hours from beginning to completely demolishing the cake :P

One thing I've noticed is that it tastes best on the day it's made. Maybe I'll make it for a party at home someday :D

UnFreedom

I know I'm kind of spamming with the posts today, but just bear with me for the moment. I'm feeling a little lonely today :P

So now that my exams are over, I'm supposed to be free, right? Not really. I still have loads of things to do! First of all, I have to start arranging for someone to take over my room here. Then I have to get Yan to come and pick up her stuff. I'll also have to arrange to ship my own stuff back to Malaysia. Not to mention, I'm going to have to pack alot of things as well....

I'm glad I've already sorted out all my kimono. All I have left is to sort out my Western clothes. I foresee many trips to Oxfam.... Especially since I'll have to give alot of winter coats and clothes away! Especially all those cheap, casual ones. Maybe I should try selling them instead? *shrugs*

I'm already arranging for a friend to take over my antique tea set (which was so cheap, yet so amazing), and Mel may buy my piano. She's definitely taking over all my bedsheets. I'll miss my M&S ones, but honestly, there's no point bringing it home! From the kitchen, I'm only taking certain things, like cookie cutters and my two favourite cake tins. I'm also bringing home all the plates, bowls, cups, etc that are really cute and unfindable in Malaysia and/or have some meaning to me.

Omg, packing my kimono is sooooo not going to be fun. I'll miss them ;_; I'll probably have to pack my luggage at the same time, so I know exactly what I'm going to bring home straightaway. I'll definitely have my Bon Odori outfit with me, as well as my sister's. I'll probably bring home half my kimono undies sets, and some accessories, but the bulk of it will join the boxes. I can probably survive with going home with only a few clothes, undies and my laptop, seeing that's how I usually operate during holidays :P

I've already decided on the shipping company I want. The others I looked at weren't so easily navigated (i.e. less user-friendly) and this one gives you a direct quote straightaway. Geez, I hope it doesn't really cost me £700 for door-to-door shipping....

Okay, I gotta go sleep now. I've planned out a full day of housework for tomorrow! Today, I took pictures of all the kimono I'm selling. Admittedly, not great pictures, and not detailed pictures, but still pictures :D

G'night!

Katsu Curry Rice from Misato, London

Katsu Curry Rice from Misato, London, originally uploaded by shira.C.

I was looking through my Flickr pictures and decided to share this picture, since I'm kinda of craving for it :D

This is one of my favourite dishes at Misato, London. This whole plate is about 9 inches in diameter and the food is piled on!! I can never finish anything from this place - the furthest I've ever gotten is about 2/3rds the way through.

This is their really delicious katsu curry rice, which is deepfried breaded pork cutlets in curry sauce with rice and salad. In the top right corner, you can see a glass of one of my favourite drinks, Calpico :D

All this cost about £8. Yum!!

Restaurant: Misato
Address:
11 Wardour Street,
London,
W1D 6PG
(in Chinatown)
Tel. no: 0871 3327370

My shop?

Remember how I was talking about how I wanted to open a small online shop using Blogger? I decided to screw what Google thinks and go ahead with the idea anyway :)

So far, I think the set-up has been fine. I've got the layout down, and things like "How to Order", "Payments", "Shipping", "Refunds and Cancellations" and "Terms and Conditions" down. I also set up an "Enquiries" bit. Most of these are accessible through the side-bar :D

Here's a sneak preview:

I'm not 100% sure when I'll officially declare it open. I'm still in the middle of taking pictures of the things I'm about to sell. The pictures aren't very consistent - I'm using some of the professionally taken pictures that I'd saved from the auctions I'd won some items in. >_o I hope that wouldn't make too much of a difference...

Anyway, I'll give you guys a bit of a notice once it's up and fully running ^_^

P/S: On a very random note, I'm getting abit worried about how I seem to be bruising really easily and bleeding alot lately. Just two days ago, I was blowing my nose when suddenly blood came gushing out. It didn't stop for quite a while o_O The blood was actually dripping off my face! Ugh, I haven't had a nosebleed this bad in years. Coupled with the easy bruising, I'm getting kind of worried.... Then again, I may be watching too much of House :P

Event Aftermath: London MCM Expo May 2009

Yaaaay, my exams are over! I finally had my last one today ^_^ It both sucked and didn't. Don't ask. Seriously.

Anywaaaay, I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but just plain got lazy. Here's my post about the London MCM Expo May 2009!

Sorry if it's a little lackluster, but my brain is kinda fried from my exam XP

Hong and I weren't so keen on going again after the one in October (we had fun, but staying there the whole day was abit much) but as the time for this one drew nearer, we thought it'd be fun to go anyway :P

This time, Hong was sadly unable to get time off work, so she could only go in the afternoon. Mel and I made plans so that all three of us could explore the Expo together!

In the morning, Mel came over to put on her make up (she was dressed gothic-loli style) while I put my yukata on. I wore a cornflower blue yukata with lots of tiny blue, white, purple and pink flowers all over it. I bought it on a whim last year, and had been having a love-hate relationship with it because it was kinda hard to match. Then I realised that my cute pink obi from my hanabi yukata pictures actually matched it rather well!

I kinda like how sweet the outfit turned out ^_^ I have a bag that matches the blue and pink perfectly, but I thought it was a little too much, so I matched the wood of the bag to the wood of my modernish geta. Btw, please ignore bad kitsuke. I kinda mussed it all up cos I was in a bit of a hurry lol. And I also tied my obi a little too loose, so it kept sliding down! :P

Later on in the afternoon, we went to Canary Wharf together, where Hong's sister picked us up. (No real reason why - mainly that we were waiting for the bus and they were in the area, so why not? Thanks Hong and sister! :D)

When we got there, Mel went off to buy our tickets, while Hong, her niece and I went to the toilets to change her into her yukata. We wandered around inside the Expo abit before Hong's boyfriend called to say he was coming, and that he had his kimono with him. Sooo we got him dressed.

Aaawwwwww, don't they look cute together?

*coughs* Anyway, after that, we met up with Walter! :) It was really nice meeting up with a fellow blogger with similar interests! The whole group of us wandered around the Expo abit more before we all decided we were hungry and went to the Chinese restaurant nearby for a decent meal :) A little more expensive than I would've paid for what we had, but it was alright.

Sadly, it was getting rather late after that, so we had to go our ways. But we had fun, and it was nice to get out! :)

So yeah, that was this year's May MCM Expo for me. Oh, by the way, did any of you notice the not-so-little black plushie I'm hugging up there?

Its name is Mokona! It's a manga/anime character by CLAMP, which is one of my favourite manga artist groups. I really love their stories Chobits and xxxHolic. Soooo addictive! I can never wait for what's going to happen in xxxHolic! (It's an ongoing manga) :D

Mokona is a really cute dimension-portal-thing character from xxxHolic. There's also a white version that appears in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles (the story is linked to xxxHolic, but I haven't read it yet), but the black version is the one in xxxHolic, so I like it more! :D

I was going to get a cute little Mokona bag, but it was kind of small, and for only £5 more, I got a big plushie! So of course, I got one :D Hehe, Hong also got one for her niece. She's so cute :D

Okay, okay, that's all for now. I hope you liked the few pictures we took!