shopping | kimberly ah

Feb 11 2014

Japan Does It Better 8: Kit Kats

Yes, Kit Kats are totally an American treat…but man, are they ever better in Japan! On my first trip to Japan, I was browsing some tourist shops in Kyoto and I came across Matcha (green tea) KitKats. I was very intrigued, so I brought some home to try and to give to friends. When I tasted one for the first time, I realized that it was going to by verrrry difficult to part with those tasty green treats! They were so good–sweet, and crispy with just the right amount of green tea punch–and I didn’t know when I’d be back to Japan, so I didn’t want to give them to anyone! I ended up being super strict about giving them away.

Is she Matcha KitKat worthy?

Nope.

Guess I’ll eat it myself.

When we traveled to Japan together for the first time in 2011, Naoto and I found Sakura (cherry blossom) Matcha KitKats. They were just as fabulous as the matcha ones–a little bit sweeter with hint of flowery taste complementing the green tea. YUM!I love the fact that they are made for gift giving. There is a place in the back for you to write a message for your recipient–the perfect omiyage! Inside each box, there are three small, individually wrapped KitKat pairs.

Now when Naoto and I go, we buy several boxes to bring home so I don’t have to get all hoard-y with them. I actually mailed out a bunch to my pen pals and I think they were a welcomed sight in mailboxes all across the country. Even with giving a ton away, I have five (ahem, now four) bars left in my pantry for an I-miss-Japan kind of day. (Yesterday was one of those days…while drafting this post, I had to take a break to eat a Sakura KitKat.)

When we were there in September, we picked up some Pumpkin Pudding Halloween KitKats. They were…interesting…not my favorite.

It seems that we have a lot more taste testing to do with Japanese KitKats. I found this article that reviews a “care package” of crazy flavored Japanese KitKats. Who knew there were so many more? I’ve rarely seen the matcha or sakura flavored KitKats in regular grocery stores in Japan (just at the airport and tourist shops), so I ‘m going to have to do a bit of research and hunting when we go back this year.

Matcha & Sakura KitKats…yet another reason Japan Does It Better!

P.S. For the rest of the JDIB posts, go here!

Tagged adventures, food, I *heart* Japan, Japan, shopping

Nov 26 2013

4 Comments

adventures, snail mail

Show of Hands Chicago

On Saturday, Karen and I braved the cold, cold wind and headed to Ravenswood for Show of Hands Chicago. Karen has never been to Renegade and we had plans to go this summer, except my trip to Japan got in the way. When I heard about Show of Hands, I knew it would be a good alternative.

First the space, the Ravenswood Event Center is spacious, interesting and amazing. The architecture and elements are gorgeous and the space holds old cars and crazy-awesome old neon signs. I feel like Naoto would have been entertained by the cars and signs if he had joined us. The Event Center is right off of the brown line, but we drove and parking was plentiful (for the city)…we only had to walk about two blocks from the car.

Second, Show of Hands was well-organized. There was a coat check and a lovely printed program. Everything was marked clearly as if the signs were ushering us into the event center and into the event room. The sellers were close enough to keep the flow going but there was room to breathe, to roam around and space to browse in each booth. (There is nothing worse than getting shoved out of a booth because people are crushing in to see.)

Best of all, it was a well-curated show. The crafters/designers/makers/sellers were all amazing. I could have bought something at every booth. And today I’m kind of kicking myself for not buying a few things (a woven clutch and some tangerine lavender lotion to name two…) It was the perfect size, too. Usually by the end of Renegade, I am DONE looking at things, chatting with sellers and pretending to be interested in the five hundredth ironic t-shirt. At Show of Hands, I never felt this way. It was the perfect variety of things and the perfect amount of shopping.

I can’t show you all of my purchases because I managed to pick up a few gifts. But the gifts for myself are pictured above.

The “Thank You For Being A Friend” postcards are from Zerobird. There are five in the set with the words to the Golden Girls theme song. They also had Three’s Company and Laverne & Shirley sets…obviously, Zerobird has great taste in television.

The vintage stamps and “I must decline for secret reasons” calling cards are from 16 Sparrows/Letter Writers Alliance. There are four versions of those calling cards…perfect for those of us who are a little bit introverted.

The typewriter postcards and the K stationery are from A Favorite Design. I couldn’t resist another monogrammed card and those typewriter cards are going above my desk.

Sidenote: I wish I had taken pictures of our day in action. I feel like I always say this, but I’m not a “blogger”, I’m a person with a blog, so I find myself getting caught up in the moment and enjoying seeing things in person sometimes rather than from behind the camera or my phone. There are some things I go into planning to write about it, and other things I don’t. But Show of Hands was just too good. I hope it’s an annual thing.

Tagged adventures, crafts, letterpress, mail art, shopping, snail mail

Oct 22 2013

4 Comments

adventures, snail mail

As If I Needed More Stationery…

Part of the fun of going to the Halloween Mail Art Party was getting to shop at Greer afterwards. For those of you who might not know, Greer is the place to go for stationery in Chicago. There is something for everyone: elegant, quirky, masculine, funny, exquisite, serious, sentimental… Chandra Greer has excellent taste in paper and she is a huge supporter of small, independently-owned businesses. I always have a good time shopping there because I see something new and unexpected from tiny stationery makers all over the world. In addition to a single greeting card (made by La Familia Green) and a box of Halloween cards (made by Rifle), I got these neon yellow notecards from le typographe (the same company that made this insect stationery I love so much). They are flat cards, one side is neon and the other is white. The envelopes are white with neon on the inside. I sent out some neon mail this summer and apparently a lot of my pen friends are fans, so why not have another go? I think they might be the perfect cards to send during the long, cold winter (which apparently is starting today…snow in Chicago??)In subtler stationery selections, I picked up these gold foil, dip dye flat cards (from Fig. 2 Design Studio). Pool blue is my color and I fell in love with the gold K and the tiny arrow…they were made for me, obviously.And finally…the item that made me squeal with delight–a PenPal Society key tag (made by Three Potato Four)! I’ve had my eye on these for awhile and I was so happy to find one locally!

Of course, there were a thousand other things that I wanted to buy, but those will have to wait until the next visit. I definitely need to go back to work on my Christmas list!

Tagged adventures, shopping, snail mail

Oct 09 2013

3 Comments

adventures, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail

Good Things From The Yubinkyoku

As I mentioned in my first post about sending postcards from Japan, I couldn’t wait to pop into the post office for some postcard stamps and postcards. While I was buying those, I scoped out some of the exclusive yubinkyoku (post office) stationery. Pictured above is the classic red mailbox postcard, the classic red mailbox glue stick, the Japan post letter set (including stickers of a mail bike, a mail bag, a mail truck and a mailbox) and a letterpressed postcard. They are all part of the Posta Collect Basic stationery series presented by the post office. The papers used in the letter set and postcards are really thick and lovely. The postal clerk was adamant that the big red mailbox postcard was not for international mailing, but Naoto sent me one a few years ago during one of his solo travels to Japan and I got it…so…mail at your own risk? I also bought a sheet of these awesome constellation stamps. Japan is very on-trend with their postage…constellations are everywhere lately!It’s hard to see in the pictures, but the stars are gold foil and the pictures are holographic silver. Apparently these stamps are the third in a series of constellation stamps. (You can see the first set here and the second here, scroll down.) I’m bummed I missed this first two. And while I was at the post office one last time, I could not pass up the other Letter Writing Day stamps. I fell in love with the depictions of summer in Japan, especially the somen (bottom left), the roasted barley tea (second right) and the flowers and vegetables. And obviously the little girl writing a letter, the red mailbox and mail truck sealed the deal.

Japan really knows how to do postage stamps and merchandise…I think the USPS should take note!

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan, letterpress, mail art, office supplies, shopping, snail mail

Sep 03 2013

1 Comment

adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail

Packing for Japan: The Important Stuff

Packing my mail supply bag for Japan was probably the most simple thing on my to-do list. There was no need to bring postage stamps, because they won’t work here. I didn’t really need to pack washi tape, because I’m sure I’ll be buying some here. I didn’t really need to bring a variety of pens, because, again, I’m sure I’ll be stocking up. I’m not a big vacation letter writer, so I didn’t need stationery (and again, if I change my mind…I’m in the country of stationery!) I did, however, need my address book (painstakingly updated with all of my pen pals!) and a pen or two to start with.

So, here’s what I have in my mail pouch:

a red StazOn ink pad

2 Japanese rubber stamps (the Japan Post Office icon & a drunk kitty, both acquired on previous trips)

1 “Today Is” stamp (from here)

2 MultiBall pens (they dry quickly on slick surfaces, perfect for postcards!)

1 grey LePen (for writing in my travel journal)

a tape runner for sticking things in my journal or on envelopes

my mini address book (vintage from Greer)

a few rolls of washi tape (for sticking things in my travel journal)

a few paperclips (for clipping things into my travel journal)

A visit to the Tokyo post Office is on the top of my list so I can stock up on Japanese postage and get to my postcard writing! Our morning Mister Donut visits will be the perfect time to write.

My favorite time.

Tagged adventures, coffee, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, shopping, snail mail

Aug 27 2013

3 Comments

homemaking, Jell-O, thrifted, vintage

I Heart Snack Sets & 1950s Entertaining

Last week while thrifting with my parents, I came across these snack sets. They were only $1 per set, so I bought all four. I justified this purchase (I already have another collection of four smaller snack sets) by noting that the plates on these are almost dinner-sized, so they would be more useful for luncheons and larger servings. The ladies at the thrift store encouraged me to buy all of the snack sets, but I resisted. (It was hard to resist.)

I have an obsession with snack sets. They make me think of well-dressed ladies getting together and playing cards or having a wedding shower, eating tiny sandwiches and homemade Jell-O salads and drinking tea or coffee from the tiny cups. I feel like now, when I get together with my friends, we are wearing yoga pants as we crack open a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers and call it a day. I long for the days of more polished entertaining.

On Sunday night I had some friends over for paper crafting. We ate veggies and homemade dip, chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, roasted tomato caprese salad and other tasty treats off of the snack plates. We drank summer red wine out of the tiny cups. (There were frequent refills.)

I’m thinking of hosting a snack set luncheon when I return…maybe as a last hurrah for the summer? I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime…do you get all fancy when you entertain? I can’t be the only one who dreams of fancy parties with homemade salads and tiny glass cups, right?

Tagged adventures, homemaking, parents, shopping, thrifting, vintage

May 07 2013

7 Comments

adventures, gardening, Sweet Tooth, Those Were the Days

Sweet Tooth

This past weekend, I met up with my parents for some garden shopping. We met in our usual spot, Peru, Illinois, which is kind of a halfway point for us. (It’s a bit of a longer drive for me, but it’s worth it because that area has great thrift stores!) We usually go to the same ol’ places but since I was on the hunt for tomato and pepper plants for my garden, they took me to Rural King–“America’s Farm & Home Store”. I did get some plants and some seeds here (more on that later) but I fell in love with the store for other reasons.

Reason #1: the free popcorn and coffee. When you walk in the Rural King door, you are welcomed by the scent of freshly popped popcorn and a pot of coffee. Isn’t that so sweet and old-fashioned? My mom and I helped ourselves to some popcorn while we poked around the candy aisles.

Reason #2: the vintage candy selection! Where else can you get seeds for your garden, parts for your tractor, food for your chickens AND old-timey gum and sweets?! I could have bought one of everything, but I decided to narrow it down to a few things (mainly because I didn’t want my candy bill to out-do my garden bill…so embarrassing…)

Here’s a rundown of my choices:

Chuckles, a sugar coated jelly candy introduced in 1921. (There is an interesting review of the Chuckles flavors here.) I am familiar with Chuckles, but I can’t remember ever tasting them, so I’m looking forward to breaking the package open this week.

Teaberry gum, my faaaavorite gum of all time. It was introduced in 1900 was popular in the 60s. (Has it been on Mad Men?) If you’ve never tried it, I think you should–it’s sweet and has a slight wintergreen flavor…it’s hard to pinpoint…it’s not super minty, it’s just wonderful. And I love the packaging and all of its vintage pink goodness. I found the commercial below and I may have spent a good amount of time this morning perfecting my Teaberry shuffle…

Clove gum is another old gum…there’s not much to say about it except that it’s reeeally clove-y. It’s not bad, but I think one pack would have been enough to walk down memory lane.

Beemans gum is from the 19th century. I’d forgotten what it tasted like. For some reason, I was thinking honey (BEEman…turns out he’s the inventor of the gum and not a bee) but it’s a nice light mint flavor…different than Teaberry, but almost as good!

And finally, Sky Bar. I’d never seen this one before and I am most excited to try it. It’s made up of four sections with four different fillings: caramel, vanilla, peanut and fudge. According to the Necco website, the Sky Bar is still the only candy bar to offer four different flavors. I had a very healthy lunch today (involving roasted cauliflower) so I doubt this candy bar makes it through the afternoon.

I think my favorite part of the old-timey candies is that their packaging is usually the original design…no one felt the need to update it to keep up with the “cool kids”. It’s charming and tasty and while I’m eating it, I just can’t help but think (in an old granny voice): They don’t make things like they used to.

Tagged adventures, food, garden, gardening, memories, shopping, vintage

Jan 15 2013

4 Comments

homemaking, what's for dinner

We Heart Pistachios

We eat a lot of pistachios around here. Naoto eats them almost every night when he comes home from work. He should actually be on one of these commercials, except for the fact that most of the time we are eating Trader Joe’s pistachios. When I randomly came across the Joseph Joseph Double Dish on the internet one day (I have no idea where I first saw it), I added it to my gift list. (For the record, the price on Amazon has gone up $10 since I bought mine…what’s up with that?!) I gave the dish to Naoto for his birthday and I think he was impressed!

It’s a genius design. The top dish holds the pistachios. When you break off the shell, you just drop it down one of the side slots and it falls into the lower bowl–out of sight! It’s perfect for a party because you don’t have to have the unsightly shell bowl on the table, and even better, if you use the dish for olives, no one has to look at each other’s slobbery pits.

Amazon also suggests using it for edamame, but around here, we would need the jumbo version of the bowl for that to work out.

Tagged food, home, homemaking, shopping

Nov 21 2012

2 Comments

Tea

Christmas came early…

…in the form of a teapot.

I am an avid coffee drinker (obviously, you know this from these posts). But lately, especially in the afternoons, I’ve been drinking tea. Part of it is out of pure laziness–it’s way less mess to boil some water, grab a mug, pop in a teabag and enjoy than it is to boil the water, grind the beans, measure it all out into the French press… The other part is that it just feels nice to take a little afternoon break and have a spot of tea (read with a British accent) to warm up. So, I’ve started buying a few teas again and I asked for a teapot for Christmas (the specific teapot above, actually). Last night, on his way home from work, Naoto stopped and got it for me so that we could start using it tomorrow for Thanksgiving. Yay for early Christmas presents! And, as a bonus, it came with two free tiny teacups!

The teapot is from here. Davids Tea deserves a post all its own–soon!

Tagged holidays, shopping, tea

Sep 26 2012

1 Comment

adventures

a trip to the Japanese market

We make a trip to the Japanese grocery store, Mitsuwa, about once a month. It’s only about a thirty minute drive away from our home but it’s sometimes hard to get out there, so when we go, we go all out! We spend as much time as we want perusing the grocery aisles and picking out new treats to buy. I love Japanese snacks and sweets. Some of my favorites are pictured above. Salad Pretz are skinny “biscuits” that have a savory salad flavoring. Happy Turn (the blue bag) is a rice cracker with a really unique powdered flavoring on it…it’s hard to pinpoint what it tastes like, but it is delicious. On our last trip to Japan, I ate a snack bag of Happy Turn every day and I brought back six family-sized bags. (To be fair, a family-sized bag in Japan is much like a small serving by American standards.) Since then, Mitsuwa started carrying it so I don’t have to be a snack hoarder anymore. This bag of Happy Turn is a special “summer edition”. I’m not sure if that means it tastes different, or just that there is a fun beach scene on it…and my translator wasn’t very much help. Pocky (pronounced Pokey) is another skinny biscuit-style snack, but it’s sweet and not salty. It comes in all sorts of flavors (a few kinds of chocolate, strawberry, coconut…). This was the first time I’ve tried the mint–so good! (The box is actually empty because I couldn’t help myself.) And the blue tube is Ramune candy. I’ve been eating this candy since before I knew Naoto and like Happy Turn, it’s hard to pinpoint the taste…kind of like Sprite, but different.

Naoto loads up on Japanese cooking staples like rice, natto (fermented soybeans…definitely an acquired taste–and one that I will never acquire!) miso, tea, ramen noodles and vegetables. And we always check out the bottled beverages to see if there are any new flavors of Calpico, a milky, tangy beverage–we like lychee the best.

While Naoto pays for the groceries, I head to the book store and spend a massive amount of time painstakingly deciding which stickers and paper-y things to buy. This time, I bought some teeny cat stickers, some matryoshka doll stickers (I use them to highlight dates in my paper calendar…the little hole encircles important dates perfectly!), animal index stickers, petite to-do notebooks, and colorful cat gift enclosures.

A trip to Mitsuwa is always followed by a stop at our favorite Japanese restaurant, Izakaya Sankyu. (Sankyu deserves its own post soon and it will get one next time we visit.) It’s nice that there’s a small taste of Japan right here in Chicagoland to tide us over until we can plan another trip overseas.

Tagged adventures, shopping