Hello from the Housegawa Garden! I picked my first tomatoes this week, on the exact same day I picked my first tomatoes last year! These are “advanced” Black Cherry Tomatoes (also the same variety I picked last year!) because the rest are green on the vine. I have no idea why two ripen much sooner than the rest!
I have so much to share! Naoto and I spent the first part of the summer in Japan, our first trip back since Covid! It was so great to be back to see Naoto’s family and revisit our favorite places along with some new ones. We took a fun side trip to the gyoza capital of Japan, which I can’t wait to tell you about!
Then, we caught Covid on the plane and spent our first days home sick, quarantining, recovering, and then catching up with everything we missed in June. But now, we’re feeling rested and ready make the most of the rest of the summer. Whew!
So, if you’re still around, HELLO! Please tell me what YOU have been up to!
Everybody loves a parade…except me. So when Forest Park held their annual St. Patrick’s Day parade earlier this month, Naoto decided to take me into Chicago to Atlas Stationers and Spinning J’s for a day date! (And for the record, admitting my parade disdain online means I could never run for office in this town!)
Atlas has been around forever–over 80 years! Every time I’d pass by on the L, I would wonder about it. They used to be more of an office supply store, but since 2019, they turned their attention to fountain pens, inks, stationery, and other fine analog tools.
They offer soooo many inks and fountain pen styles and have a huge testing station where you can try different nib sizes and pens. I am planning to go back to add to my tiny fountain pen collection.
Atlas offers thirty-three brands of inks, and over 700 color choices! As someone who cannot make a decision to save her life and will almost always buy another shade of blue, this sounded overwhelming but they make it so easy! All of their inks are shown in this sample book (both swatched and written so you can see how the ink looks coming from a fountain pen) which
On this visit though, I was there for a springy pink ink, particularly the Ferris Wheel Press Fluttering Heart. I was tempted into buying other things too…
I am particularly excited about the bird letterpress notecards. And I couldn’t resist Atlas Iron Ore which was made with Atlas and Chicago in mind. It’s a perfect grey/black with some sparkle.
The best part of the visit was meeting Therese/Mrs. Atlas. She was so warm and welcoming and shared how much she loves packing orders. She gave me a couple of the postcards they send when they ship orders and some giant Atlas Stationers stickers which I will be sharing with my pen pals. (They are the same as the bottom postcard of Atlas lit up at night.)
After origami, we realized we were within walking distance of Strings Ramen. Strings is often voted the best ramen in the city, and it’s been on our list forever. The original Strings is in Chinatown, and I’d still like to try that shop, but this was a closer choice on origami night.
I got the miso ramen, and it was tasty, but it fell short of the “best ramen in Chicago” for me. I’ve preferred bowls at Furious Spoon and Ramen-San. It was good, but the noodles weren’t as good as those other spots. Naoto got the tonkotsu ramen and he felt the same. We both loved the gyoza though! When we visit the Chinatown shop, we will definitely be starting with that appetizer again!
The shop was tiny, and I loved the Japanese bench style seating. We didn’t get drinks (because Naoto was driving and I had drinks at the origami class) so we just had water. (I don’t think they offer alcohol, at least not at this location.) But ramen was the perfect ending for the night, especially since it was one of the first really chilly days of the fall. Looking forward to more ramen season adventures!
Last month, Naoto and I joined a Halloween origami class at Konbini & Kampai, a Japanese liquor/convenience store in Chicago. It was hosted by Ty Yamamoto and the Japanese Cultural Center. We have been wanting to visit Konbini and Kampai for so long, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
We learned how to fold a ghost and a bat, and thanks to this super-strong (but delicious!) bottled Manhattan, I was terrible at both! Thankfully we had someone at our table who was an expert and could walk us through a couple of the harder steps.
Konbini & Kanpai has so many unique beer offerings, and they have an amazing wine selection, interesting canned cocktails, and offer sips of bottled spirits from Japan and other places. Naoto had so much fun shopping and making himself a little 6-pack of weird beers to take home.
They also have a nice selection of Japanese snacks, and I would highly recommend the corn soup crunchy triangles to go with your bottled Manhattan.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering why Ty has a purple nose and a panda was helping Naoto at the coolers, costumes were highly encouraged! So, we dressed up as Ina Garden and Jeffrey! (The whisk really sold it!)
The origami workshops are a monthly thing, so we’re hoping to attend another one in the future. If you’re in the area, maybe we’ll see you there!
Garage Galleries 2022 is in the books and I’m finally recovered from a week of mad-prepping and a day of meeting new people and chatting with familiar friends about stamps, typewriters, letter writing, mail and more. I made a bunch of new cards (using the stamps pictured above) and I sold out of every one (except one design, which I am now convinced is a dud!) so I have to replenish my stock so I can add them to my website.
Here was our set-up, similar to last year (which I just realized I never blogged about!) I have so many styles of cards now that my two racks are full, and even my mini rack couldn’t handle the holiday overflow. I’ve come a long way since my very first craft show in 2016!
We did not host in our own garage this time like we did last year. Instead we moved into our friend’s garage with two other artists and Smokey Joel’s Red Hots. That’s right! We had a hot dog stand right behind us! This could explain why I have only a few pictures from the day–my assistant was too busy eating multiple hot dogs (and helping out!) to take pictures of the crowds!
Speaking of crowds, it was our most successful Garage Galleries ever–it was such a gorgeous day and we were in the center of town, so the foot traffic was incredible. Garage Galleries has become such an event–I mean how cute is this crowd of families and pups out enjoying art among the neighborhoods?!
Did you know Saturday was the very first Stationery Store Day? (Is Stationery Store Day a totally made up holiday? Yes. But so was Book Store Day and Record Store Day, so, why can’t paper sellers and fans have a day, too?)
When I saw that A. Favorite Design was a participating shop, I decided this was my chance to finally get up to the north side to see the shop. I’ve purchased things from them each year at Show of Hands, but I’ve never been to their shop.
In a total blogging fail, I didn’t take any pictures inside the shop. I haven’t been stationery shopping in so long–since we went to Japan in 2020! I was relishing every moment! Most of their offerings are their own letterpress designs, but they have a fun selection of vintage postcards, stationery, and wrapping paper, and they have other paper and desk offerings as well.
As you can see, I found plenty of treasures! I picked out some vintage advertising stationery (which I can’t wait to feed into my typewriter for a letter soon), some letterpress “Dennison label” cards, “Dennison Label” paper tape, vintage Chicago postcards, mail stickers, my new favorite pens, some greeting cards, a vintage ephemera and office supply letter set, a “Down the hatch” sticker, and (underneath it all) a sheet of vintage vegetable wrapping paper.
And, the picture at the top shows the Stationery Store Day freebies–a letterpress print I pulled myself, a Stationery Store Day bag and postcard, and a A. Favorite Design birthday card. (How great is that Etch A Sketch?!)
Before we went shopping, we stopped at Spinning J’s for brunch and pie.
I had a BLT, a strawberry rhubarb phosphate, and the key lime hibiscus pie with blueberry compote. (This is the meal I would recommend to anyone trying Spinning J’s for the first time, though their tuna melt is also excellent. Really…you just can’t go wrong with their menu!)
I brought out my letter purse that Naoto gave me last winter. It was the perfect accessory for the occasion! And, you can pencil in the next Stationery Store Day–August 5, 2023!
Early this month, Naoto and I went out on a school night for another fun Chris & Heather event. If you’ve been around here long enough, you know how much we love going to the Calendar Show every December. The 16mm Film Festival has a similar vibe, but, at least for the May show, there were more old commercials mixed in and only one music act.
The commercials were from before my time, but you could feel the nostalgia in the room. I loved this Kiss action figure one especially.
And who knew there was a Farrah doll? The little boy in this commercial cracked everyone up.
And of course there were lots of videos of musical acts. George Jones is always a favorite and so is Buffalo Springfield.
To start the show, Chris sang a tribute to Cynthia Plaster Caster who died recently. He sang his song “Little Girl” which was really soft and sweet.
The rest of the show was Chris doing his quirky, smart, charming thing. His music is wacky and fun. He writes songs for The Flat Five, our favorite local band, and also has released several of his own albums. (His newer albums are available on Spotify and I’ve added a few of his songs to my summer playlist.)
We’re going back for the June show on our anniversary this week!
After a bit of a hiatus for the holidays and Covid, the Dive Bar Letter Writers are back again! We met last month for National Card & Letter Writing Month and I’m scheduling our summer meet-ups.
Naoto has been a regular at our meetings but this time he actually wrote a letter! (Usually he reads or just eats a burger.)
If you’re in Chicagoland, please join us for our next meeting, May 22 at 2pm in Goldyburger’s beer garden! You can sign up for email reminders here.
Cherry blossom season is almost over in Chicago, and while we didn’t have perfect timing, we did make it down to Jackson Park in time to see some blooms! Cherry blossoms are fairly new to the city. 2020 was the first year the trees were set to bloom, but we all know what happened in spring of 2020–everything was shut down and the parks were closed. Then last year, Naoto and I went down, but we both forgot our masks at home and it was super awkward because everyone in the park was wearing masks. (Now we know that it was probably ok, but at the time we felt so guilty!) We also pretty much missed full bloom.
This year, I watched Twitter and Instagram like a hawk so we could get down there in time to catch the blooms. It’s so difficult to plan around the blooming season, especially with unpredictable weather and work schedules getting in the way. When we both had a Tuesday afternoon free, we decided that would be the day. All of the trees weren’t in bloom and it was freezing cold, but we got to see the early bloomers and it was a gorgeous sunny day and the park was really quiet, so no regrets.
Someday, we hope to actually have hanami under Chicago’s blooms. (I’d also settle for hanami in Japan…)
This is in the Garden of the Phoenix within Jackson Park. There’s a gorgeous gate that you can enter and walk around a koi pond with a waterfall and bridge. There are hellebores and azalea and other spring blooms around the garden, but only the hellebores were blooming when we went. We have decided that we need to go again in May to see what other flowers we can find.
Just outside the gate, you’ll find this sculpture by Yoko Ono. Named Sky Landing, it was placed on the site of the Japanese Pavillion from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition and is a symbol of peace, according to Ono.
Spring has been really cold, rainy, windy, and pretty miserable, so I am grateful we made it. Hopefully it will warm up soon and we can enjoy our own garden a bit!
Right before the shut down, Naoto and I went to Chicago Ramen. It was our next-to-last meal in a restaurant before the pandemic. A few weeks ago, before numbers were really kicking back up with the Delta variant, we were in the neighborhood, so we decided to return. I am so glad we did because now we’re left wondering when we will feel comfortable eating inside again.
Naoto went with the classic white miso ramen. Doesn’t he looked so pleased with his choice? (Also, check out that trail of steam coming off his noodles!)
I ordered the dish Chicago Ramen is famous for–tsukemen. It’s cold, thick noodles that you dip in a warm broth. The broth at Chicago Ramen is made with chicken, pork, and vegetables that is mixed with miso paste. The broth is thick and intense, so it coats the noodles with lots of flavor. At Chicago Ramen, the tsukemen comes with a decadent slice of pork and a lime wedge that adds some acidity to the noodles before you dip them in the rich broth. I can’t express how delicious this combination is. Ramen is hard for me to eat in the heat of the summer, so tsukemen, with its hot/cold combination and perfectly chewy noodles is a perfect substitute.
I am so glad we took advantage of the brief window of safety and went back to Chicago Ramen! We’re looking forward to more noodle tours soon!
kimberly ah 