kimberly ah

Dec 10 2013

Whiskey Chat

On Saturday night, Naoto and I cashed in our silent auction winnings from the Forest Park Community Garden fundraiser. We hosted a Whiskey Chat and invited friends over to hear Nick speak about the history of whiskey, the different whiskies, the process of making whiskey. While Nick was talking, we enjoyed sampling different whiskeys and eating tasty snacks. We had everyone bring a bottle of whiskey so we could have a little variety to sample and Nick (a whiskey aficionado) brought his entire collection with him so we could sample a wider variety…isn’t that incredible? (That’s his collection up there on my china cabinet…plus he brought a ton of tiny “airplane bottles” of mainstream whiskeys and weird flavored whiskeys like Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey–ick). Naoto was really excited to see that Nick had a Japanese whisky in his collection. They spent some time comparing his to our bottle…both bottles tasted pretty peaty to me!
Nick had a powerpoint and handouts so it felt very formal and informative but fun and casual at the same time. It was a small enough group that we were all able to sit around our dining room table. In addition to the obligatory pistachios and cheese array, we made “funeral buns“. I found the recipe on Pinterest and they sounded just decadent enough to go with whiskey…a hearty and buttery bite. We substituted turkey for ham and they were delicious! They will be the next party staple. Our friend Karen made pimento cheese spread–another future party staple. In our research of things to serve with whiskey, pimento cheese came up…and I’m so glad it did!In the kitchen, we had a little “bar” set up with ingredients for Old Fashioneds and Manhattans. I typed up the recipes on little cards so people could help themselves. I think most people ended up drinking the whiskeys straight, but a few of us enjoyed the classic cocktails.

Oh, what a night!

In case you’re interested, here’s a list of the whiskeys we all shared:

Cedar Ridge (my personal favorite bourbon, from Iowa)

Old Overholt (a $15 rye, recommended by Kathy, that has been my Manhattan staple lately)

Breckenridge (a Colorado bourbon)

Eagle Rare (a Kentucky bourbon)

Koval (a Chicago bourbon)

Tagged celebrations, cocktails, food

Dec 09 2013

3 Comments

adventures, Japan 2013, Japan Does It Better, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Japan Does It Better 4: Omiyage

In Japan, it is customary to buy gifts for your colleagues, friends and family when you travel. Whether you are going to another city or another country, omiyage is an expected part of travel. Usually, the gift is some sort of specialty from the area you visited (known as meibutsu), either a little souvenir or a snack made in the area. For example, when I used to work for a Japanese company, whenever someone would go to Canada, he or she would come back with little maple syrup candies for the office to share. (Sigh, I miss traveling to Canada…)

Omiyage is a big business in Japan. Everywhere you go, there are beautifully wrapped packages of sweets and snacks. We picked up the snacks shown above purely because they were wrapped so beautifully. (They were delicious, too!) I have to believe that the omiyage expectations keep Japan’s economy going…
As a foreigner, it is especially fun to pick out omiyage. There are so many fun things to buy in Japan that we don’t have in the states. I bought a lot of washi tapes, stationery and handkerchiefs for friends. (And KitKats…which deserve their own JDIB post for sure.) The best part is, most stores will gift wrap just about anything. I bought a couple of these cutie cat handkerchiefs it Mitsukoshi and the sales clerk brought out an array of colored envelopes and gift stickers for me to choose from. She even pointed out that there is a tiny window in the back of the gift envelope so I could see which handkerchief was packaged inside. That way I could make sure I gave the right gift to the right person. Clever! I usually enjoy wrapping gifts myself, but I loved that a store would take the time to care for my tiny, inexpensive gift.

Omiyage and gift-wrapping small treasures…another simple reason Japan Does It Better!

(For more JDIB posts, click here.)

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Dec 03 2013

3 Comments

celebrations, holidays, homemaking, Thanksgiving, vintage, what's for dinner

Our Thanksgiving 2013

It’s not too late to share our Thanksgiving, right?

Naoto and I hosted my parents for Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday afternoon. As usual, we had a grand time with them, cooking, eating, drinking and cleaning up the massive kitchen mess. And as it has been for the past seven years, Naoto did all of the cooking (except the cranberries!) and I did all of the cleaning and decorating. In honor of his Thanksgiving duties, I gave Naoto this apron that I bought from Nourishing Notes during Show of Hands. He rocked the apron with his pajamas all day long. (It was a very relaxed holiday.) Ever since I made the vintage ephemera Thanksgiving invitations, I had visions of incorporating some more ephemera into the table centerpiece. And, since I was using old paper, it only made sense to get vintage colors and vintage dishes into the mix. The wonderful thing was, other than the flowers, I had everything I needed right in my china cabinet and buffet. (It pays to be a dish hoarder sometimes.)I was excited to use my vintage Taylor Smith Taylor dishes. My mom and I found a whole set at a thrift store for $10 a few years ago and I bought them with the intent of using them for Thanksgiving. They were perfect for the table this year. (And thanks, Mom, for hand washing them after dinner!) Naoto’s turkey was perfect, the stuffing was amazing (in spite of a close call with an almost-forgotten egg) and, along with the cranberries, we enjoyed fluffy mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted cauliflower, Hawaiian rolls and a tasty caramel apple cheesecake that my mom made. There is a reason I look forward to this meal every year. (But man, am I ever ready for pizza after the long weekend of leftovers!)The chef was glad to have another successful year under his apron belt. Today I am (finally) putting away Thanksgiving for another year, and hopefully dipping into the Christmas decorations. We are hosting two small parties the next two weekends, so time to break out the Christmas spirit. It’s one of those years when retailers make you feel like you’re running behind…cheers to enjoying the season!

If you’d like to relive Thanksgiving 2012, go here.

Tagged celebrations, decorating, food, holidays, home, homemaking, parents, Thanksgiving, Trader Joe's, vintage

Nov 27 2013

4 Comments

holidays, Oh Presley!, thoughts

10 Things

Here are ten things I’m thinking about this morning before I get to work:

1. I need to be a better weekly housekeeper.

2. I should have finished cleaning out the spare room last week.

3. I can’t believe I got all of the grocery shopping done in one shot (okay, two shots if you count the fact that I had Naoto go to Jewel to grab some things on sale and our favorite ciabatta for the stuffing.) It will be a miracle if we really have everything we need for tomorrow’s dinner.

4. I’m more than excited to make this again this year. I’ve been craving it since September!

5. We got another new rug this week and I’m anxious to see how it fits…buying stuff for our home always feels so risky!

6. I’m meeting one of my pen pals in person on Friday. We’re going to Pieritz together.

7. We are making roasted cauliflower instead of green bean casserole tomorrow, but now I’m worried our meal might be too monochromatic.

8. Every weekend in December is already booked. I’m not used to being this social.

9. I’m excited to do my Christmas cards this year. Now that I’ve given up on making them myself, I can focus on writing in them and mail art.

10. I need to come up with a creative placecard idea for tomorrow…even though there are only four of us…it’s all about tradition.

Tagged celebrations, holidays, homemaking, Thanksgiving

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

Nov 20 2013

5 Comments

Sweet Tooth

Japanese Gummy Cheeseburger

When Hisae sent me this package of Japanese candy, I had no idea that it was so involved. I gathered from the packaging that it was a candy hamburger, so I was expecting something like this. I did not, however, expect the make-your-own cheeseburger that I found inside. There was a plastic tray of buns, a package of gummy burger patties, lettuce and cheese and a little silver package of ketchup (actually strawberry flavored gel). Ooooh, fun! (Clearly I’m a child.)So I cracked apart the bun and added a burger, lettuce and cheese and squeezed on a little bit of ketchup. I was expecting the little burger to be all whimsey and no taste, but it was delicious! The burger, cheese and lettuce all had different flavors (cola, pineapple and green apple, respectively) and the strawberry gel added some extra sweetness. The bun was flavorless and wafer-like, but the crunch was a nice touch.

Here’s a little video someone made of putting it all together. (Please ignore the fact that the cheese should go on the burger, not on the lettuce…details.)

Tagged food, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Nov 18 2013

1 Comment

adventures, Japan 2013, Japan Does It Better, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Japan Does It Better 3: Pocket Tissue Advertising

Okay, it isn’t necessarily that the pocket tissues are better…actually they are pretty scratchy. But if you go to any train station in Tokyo, someone is there ready to hand you a little pack of pocket tissues. Now, they aren’t handing you tissues out of the goodness of their hearts. The tissues are a form of advertising for local businesses. (The tissues above are from a drug store chain and a gym.)

Normally, I’m not a fan of walk-by advertising. Sometimes in Chicago, restaurants hand out menus on the street. Menus are not useful (unless I’m sitting in the restaurant ready to order), but tissues are. We accepted the tissues each time and used them to wipe the sweat off our brows (It was so hot during our stay!) or to blow our noses or to dry our hands (some washrooms didn’t have air dryers or paper towels).

A few years ago, Naoto went to Japan without me and came home with the Hello Kitty tissue holder pictured above. The Japanese tissues fit perfectly inside, so I have a little collection of refills to use this winter. Nothing makes me feel grown up like being able to find a nice clean tissue in my purse when I need one (even if it’s coming out of a Hello Kitty tissue holder!)

Something as simple as useful advertising…Japan Does It Better! (For more JDIB posts, click here!)

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Nov 15 2013

3 Comments

celebrations, crafty adventures, holidays, snail mail, Thanksgiving, vintage

Vintage Ephemera Thanksgiving Invitations

I am happy to report that my Thanksgiving invitations are done and in the mail! Seriously, where is this month going? At one point I felt crazy for starting to think about these invites so early, then they barely made it into the mail in time.They aren’t super complicated, but I had a lot of fun putting the mini collages together. Everything on the invite is vintage except the little strip of washi. I needed another metallic element to complement the gold seal. Once I saw the old BINGO cards in my stash, I knew I wanted them to be the base. I love the yellowed paper and the graphic numbers as a background. And of course I had to use my typewriter since tags don’t feed into my (non-existent) printer. I typed out my message and played around with the placement of the vintage postage stamps and gold seals (from a Saturday Morning Vintage Thanksgiving paper pack and fall ephemera bundle) . I pasted everything on with my favorite glue stick because, as I learned at the Halloween Mail Art Workshop, glue sticks work best with delicate vintage papers. The invitation above is the one I sent my parents. The maroon stamp on the bottom (with the gold star) is in honor of railroad workers. My maternal grandpa worked on the railroads, so I think my mom will appreciate that little detail. I had the fig-colored envelopes in A2, which was 1/8 inch too small…so I had to go out and buy some roomy A6 fig envelopes. I made another collage on the front of the envelope with papers from from my ephemera packs (the leaf is a playing card!), some MT washi tape, an old gold border label and a new sticker (Paper Source). I lined my envelopes with marbled paper from Blick. I love this paper. It had a gorgeous mix of maroons, greens, golds and silvers…so dreamy. (And it was in my paper stash ready to be spent out!)

So there they are…done for another year. Now it’s time to work on ideas for the table and…clean!! For more Thanksgiving shenanigans, go here.

Have a good weekend! I’ll be busy today and tonight cramming for book group! The Sea-Wolf here I come!

Tagged crafts, diy, holidays, mail art, snail mail, Thanksgiving, washi tape

Nov 13 2013

Easy Thanksgiving Invitations

I’m still finishing the real Thanksgiving invitations. I had to go out and buy a bigger envelope size (defeating the purpose of using up my stash, but I’m really excited about how the invitations turned out so I needed the just right envelope color!)

When I was playing around with ideas for Thanksgiving invitations (before rediscovering my stash of vintage ephemera) I came up with these as an option. We don’t have a home printer. (Ours broke over a year ago, and I after sifting through thousands of online reviews, I couldn’t make a decision. At this point, I question whether we really need one.) So I decided that my typewriter would be my printing method. I found these leftover paper leaves in my fall decorations bin. The leaves come in a variety of colors, but the ones I chose are shimmery gold. It’s not a perfect paper for the typewriter, especially since my new ribbon is pretty inky, but they worked out okay as long as I didn’t smear the ink with my fingers. The oval-shaped leaf was easy to work with but the “oak” leaf gave me problems because all of its little bumpy edges kept getting stuck as I typed each line…it’s fine though…the little tears just look like texture.

Once I was done typing, I pasted the leaves onto some shimmery antique gold cards and topped them off with a little piece of washi tape. I’m going to put them in some leftover fig envelopes (from Thanksgivings past) and send them to my brother and sister and their families. They don’t join us for Thanksgiving, but it’s always nice to be invited, right?

Tagged celebrations, crafts, diy, holidays, mail art, snail mail, Thanksgiving, washi tape

Nov 12 2013

A Cocktail for 11/12/13

Happy 11/12/13 (though, if you’re living outside the US, you probably don’t write it that way)!

In honor of this once in a century occasion, I will be mixing up one of Kathy’s Apple Old Fashioneds. Naoto and I tested these out last week (though we used a 1:1 ratio of apple whiskey and rye because we had an early morning the next day!) and I highly recommend this twist on my favorite cocktail. The Leopold Bros Apple Whiskey is a nice fall treat if your home bar is looking for something different. I think Kathy’s recipe balances out any extra sweetness in the apple whiskey, but if you like your drinks on the sweeter side, you could go straight apple whiskey and omit the rye.

Are you doing anything special to celebrate 11/12/13?

Tagged cocktails