adventures | kimberly ah

Jul 03 2014

Japan Does It Better 16: Canned Cocktails

Drinking is pretty prevalent in Japan. I’m kind of a lightweight there…especially in Naoto’s family where even his mother could drink me under the table. (And, as you know from my happy hour and cocktail posts, I do enjoy my cocktails!) Most often, the drink of choice is beer, especially for picnics or small parties or in the izakaya. At the izakaya, it was easy because I would order sours while everyone else enjoyed their Japanese beers. But in picnic or small party situations, I was worried that I would be left out because I hate beer. (Don’t give me the whole “acquired taste” schpeal…I’ve tried.)

Then, on our first trip to Japan, his sister took me over to the grocery store shelf that held the canned cocktails. Canned cocktails are just pre-packaged cocktails, often made with shochu and fruit juice. They aren’t as tasty as an Old Fashioned or a Tom Collins but they are good enough for a picnic. They are light and fruity and carbonated, easy to drink (and sometimes they sneak up on you…) Canned cocktails come in all sorts of flavors. Naoto’s sisters sent these home with him to give to me. The STRONG brand one is lemon and it is a potent 9% alcohol (hence the name). The Slat brand one is made with the açai berry and blueberry and it contains orange pulp (according to the red label with the orange icon). Slat is a much weaker 3% alcohol…there’s a little something for everyone’s tolerance!

Maybe the American equivalent of a canned cocktail is a Mike’s Hard Lemonade (gross) or a wine cooler (double gross), but trust me…the Japanese versions are tastier and I love that they include real fruit.

Portable options for non-beer drinkers…Japan Does It Better!!

To see more JDIB posts, go here.

Tagged adventures, cocktails, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Jun 24 2014

3 Comments

adventures

Canada Does It Better

Naoto recently came home from a trip including a layover in Canada. He messaged me to ask if there was anything I wanted from the Calgary airport. My heart went all aflutter and I quickly messaged back “POTATO CHIPS!!!”

It all might sound weird since we have so many flavors of potato chips here in the States, but Canada really does it better when it comes to tasty chips. I requested my three Canadian favorites–dill pickle, ketchup and all dressed–with hopes that Naoto could at least find one. Well, he found all three!!

We can find dill potato chips pretty easily in the U.S. but dill pickle remains elusive. There is a huge difference in flavor as the dill tastes like dill and cream (kind of like sour cream and onion, except with dill) as opposed to tasting like the pickle in the Canadian version.

And ketchup potato chips can be found here in the U.S. too, but it’s not as good as the Canadian ketchup. While I despise ketchup in its gloppy, red, squeezed-from-the-bottle form (french fry dip, burger topping, egg accent…yuck!), I love the potato chip flavoring. It’s kind of sweet and tangy and salty.

And last but not least, all dressed, which are the most difficult to find here at home. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the taste reminds me of…kind of a mishmash of flavors including salt and vinegar, ketchup, sour cream and onion. Crazy good!

It’s going to be such a treat to tear into these later today.

Not as much as a treat of having Naoto home again though.

Tagged adventures, food

Jun 13 2014

Thrifted Treasures

A few weeks ago, I met my parents in Peru, Illinois (almost the halfway point between our houses) for some shopping. We always go to the thrift stores around there to see what we can find and I had a jackpot day at Lily Pads. The Story of a Cigarette coloring book was my favorite find…actually my mom found it and thought it was funny. I was slightly disappointed (but also relieved) that it wasn’t a promotional coloring book put out by the tobacco industry. Instead, it is an anti-smoking campaign put out by the American Cancer Society. It is in really good shape, just a little discoloration on a few of the pages and some staple rust in the center…not bad for a dollar, right? And another purchase that might seem weird to some, but feels perfect to me, I got these Hank’s Bar coasters for twenty cents. I bought them mainly for inspiration since I really do want to create some Hasegawa Happy Hour coasters for us. I’m going to add one to my coaster collection for now and keep working on ideas for my own.

Have you found anything good at the thrift stores lately? What constitutes a “jackpot day” for you?

Tagged adventures, shopping, thrifting, vintage

Jun 04 2014

4 Comments

summer manifesto

Summer Manifesto 2014

Naoto and I wrote up our summer manifesto during our anniversary dinner. It looks a lot like last year’s manifesto. What can I say? We are creatures of habit around here.

This summer we will:

* tend to our garden and balcony garden

* create three new cocktails using herbs from our garden

* invite special guests to Hasegawa Happy Hour

* hang out on the balcony whenever possible

* rediscover Chicago

* try three new tomato recipes

* take more walks

* visit some new Farmers Markets

* wear sunscreen & sun hats

* enjoy live music…somewhere

And that’s our summer in a nutshell. What’s on your list this summer?

Tagged adventures, cocktails, food, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

Jun 03 2014

6 Comments

adventures, celebrations, cocktails, some stuff about me

Our 8th Anniversary

Yesterday Naoto and I celebrated eight years together. We both had the day off, so the morning involved a whole lot of relaxing, gift exchanges and, of course, coffee.It was rainy, but we sat out on the balcony to eat breakfast and exchange gifts. According to the Anniversary Gifts by Year (which we have been following all along), the eighth anniversary gifts are pottery (traditional) and linens (modern). I got Naoto a fancy new alarm clock that will hopefully wake him up with light and bird tweets. Not a theme gift, but he is a serial snooze pusher and I’m hoping this alarm clock helps make mornings a little bit easier for all of us. And, for the “pottery” theme, I bought him a cat spoon rest from Chicago’s Circa Ceramics. It will add the perfect amount of whimsey and usefulness to our kitchen counter. Naoto got me a new juicer (the kind I used at North Shore’s cocktail class) and this amazing vintage table runner. It’s currently residing on our dining room table. I’m in love with it. Once the rain stopped, we headed into the city for no real reason. On the way, we decided to go to Little Goat Diner for lunch. You can see our entirely healthy meal above…we had to push back our dinner reservations because we were so full. (Oh, and that’s a Ol’ Blue cocktail above: bourbon, blueberry jam, benedictine and lime…go get it before they change the menu!) Oh, and there was pie…because well, chocolate cookie crust with sea salt caramel and caramelized bananas…how could we not?It was a teeny bit warm, but it really was a perfect day in Chicago. We walked along Michigan Avenue and lingered along the river.

Before dinner, we headed to the garden to check out our plants. (More on that later this week.) We had a late dinner at Golden Steer, our tradition since we moved to Forest Park in 2010. As usual it did not disappoint. For the first time in the history of our relationship, Naoto could not finish all of his steak and we both ended up bringing something home. During dinner, we wrote our 2014 Summer Manifesto–simple but spectacular. (I’ll share tomorrow!)

And with that, eight years are in the books…

Tagged adventures, celebrations, cocktails, forest park

May 31 2014

2 Comments

Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening

Garden Beginnings

We’ve been slowly planting our garden plot over the past couple of weeks. So far we’ve planted two Brandywine tomatoes, two Juliet tomatoes, one yellow pear tomato, peas, flowers and a loofah. Our loofah didn’t make it last year but we thought we’d try it again anyway. So far, the seeds have done nothing. Again.

We decided to skip the root vegetables since ours failed last year. (The beets didn’t do anything and the daikon were so skinny they were almost nonexistent.) Tomatoes and peas and flowers…and maybe a cucumber or some lettuce. We’ll see. We still have about a third of our plot left to work with.

Today I’m working on planting some climbers on the balcony and trying to come up with some sort of notebook to hold my seed packets for reference during the season. Last year I thought I’d be better about keeping a garden journal and I failed miserably. This year…it’s going to be different. (Hopefully.)

Happy gardening!!

Tagged adventures, food, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

May 28 2014

8 Comments

Japan Does It Better

Japan Does It Better 14: Baskets For Your Handbag

Have you ever thought about how gross the bottom of your handbag is?

Here in the states, unless there is a spare chair at the table, our handbags usually end up on the floor at restaurants and bars. This is mainly because–at least where I live–hanging it on the back of a chair is like asking someone to take it. So the options are holding it in your lap or setting it on the floor by your feet so you can keep track of it. It’s a pain and it’s disgusting, but those are the only options.

This is where Japan Does It Better. In Japan, it is considered unsanitary to put your handbag on the floor. So, most restaurants have bins or baskets at each table for your belongings (handbags, shopping bags, diaper bags…) The handbag baskets above are at Bunbougu Cafe and they are huge enough to hold a long day’s worth of stationery shopping.

A safe, clean place for your belongings…another way Japan Does It Better!

To see more JDIB posts, go here.

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan

May 27 2014

3 Comments

crafty adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail

LWA Lab: Mail Art Master

On Sunday, my friend Karen and I went to the very first ever Letter Writers Alliance Laboratory. We drank and ate envelope-shaped cookies and an array of other snacks while Donovan and Kathy wore lab coats and went over the basics and tips and tricks about mail art, encouraging us to push the envelope (pun intended) when it comes to sending mail. As part of the class, we each got a mail art kit, complete with loads of envelopes and vintage paper bits, washi tape, adhesives, a map, an envelope template all in a handy carrying case. You can see some of my bits above. I sat at the seat with the orange mail art kit. (Everyone got a different color.) All of the kits were amazing, but I’m so glad I picked mine. So many of the pieces inside were perfect for certain pen pals and I got the map of Illinois (shown on the envelope above) which has both my current town and my hometown included in it! (My hometown has a tiny population of 1100…it never shows up on maps!!) I only made one envelope from the template and decorated one envelope during our free time…I was too busy talking and listening to everyone’s fun mail ideas. It’s so much fun gathering with fellow mail lovers outside of my mailbox! For our last mail art project, we each received a giant pencil to mail. We wrote our recipients’ addresses right on the pencil, posted it with stamps and then later dropped it into a neighboring mailbox. Our pencils dropped into the mailbox with a thump, mingling with all the other pencils from the workshop. I think the letter carrier who empties this box is going to have quite a surprise today!

Thanks for a fantastic afternoon, LWA!

(To see more pictures from the workshop, you can look under #LWALab on Instagram.)

P.S. Remember when I mailed a pigeon?

Tagged adventures, crafts, diy, mail art, office supplies, snail mail, washi tape

May 20 2014

5 Comments

adventures, Japan 2014, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Shabu-Shabu

Please note that this post and this website has no affiliation with Hot Pots Biz.
Shabu Shabu One of the many things I wanted to eat in Japan this time around was shabu-shabu. Shabu-shabu is a meal of thinly sliced beef that is cooked in water at the table. We’d eaten it at Naoto’s colleague’s house a long time ago and it’s fun and tasty so it’s been on my Tokyo wish list to try the real deal.

We found a shabu-shabu restaurant in Oka-san’s (Naoto’s mom’s) neighborhood and popped in for lunch one afternoon. It was a long lunch, but everything was presented so beautifully that it was nice to take some time to savor the presentation, the food and the company. While we enjoyed tiny dishes of salads and appetizer bites, our server brought out a big heavy pot of water seasoned with citrus and turned on the burner. Once the water was boiling, she brought out a tray of thinly sliced beef and a basket of vegetables. The vegetables are pictured above through the steam of the water. We had cabbage, mushrooms, seaweed, scallions, carrots, tofu and bean sprouts. Have you ever seen such a romantic basket of vegetables?

The beef is sliced so thinly it is almost see-through, allowing it to cook quickly in the hot water. You pick up a slice with chopsticks and put it in the water (still holding on!) Once you’ve swished it into a figure eight, the beef is cooked. Swish, swish…that’s all it takes. To me, the best part is the dipping sauces–a thick sesame sauce and a ponzu (citrus) sauce–for the meat and vegetables. The ponzu sauce is so tangy and a perfect match with the savory beef!

Most of the vegetables took a little bit longer to cook, so we left them in the water while we swished the beef and ate them with the sauces in between bites.

Once all of the beef and vegetables were eaten, the server brought out another dish of thin glass noodles to cook in the shabu shabu broth. I ate those noodles with the ponzu sauce as well. And, even though our meal was enormous, I couldn’t resist sakura ice cream for dessert. It was vacation after all.

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

May 16 2014

5 Comments

adventures, coffee talk, Japan 2014, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail, Tea

Scenes From Bunbougu Cafe

Oh Bunbougu Cafe! Please expand to my community!

I know, I know…it wouldn’t be the same. I wish more people in the US would embrace the marriage of cafes and stationery shops.

I spent a lot of time at Bunbougu during our vacation. In addition to spending my birthday there, we went back again and again for coffees and shopping. My favorite thing (other than my birthday dinner) was the snack you see above. I ordered a set that included a pot of tea and three tiny sweets. As you can imagine, I was blown away by the tiny office supply-shaped cookies. I ordered the strawberry matcha poundcake, the hazelnut ginger pencil cookies and the yuzu pepper key cookies. Everything was so flavorful and delicious–the keys were so peppery that my mouth was burning (in the best way possible!) There were other options on the menu (including a coconut flavored triangle and protractor) and you can see them here.All of Bunbougu Cafe’s menus are hand drawn (by one of their own workers) with gorgeous colored pencil illustrations of their food and cocktails. One of my favorite things to order was the caramel tea latte, a milky black tea with a hint of caramel-y sweetness. I’m working on perfecting my own at home since it will be awhile before I can drink one at Bunbougu again! If you received a postcard from me in Japan, most likely it was written at Misdo or Bunbougu…it’s the perfect place for mail! Bunbougu offers loads of unique stationery, desk items, pens and pencils, washi tape, office supplies… Many things are made in Japan and most of their offerings are from small makers and businesses. I saw many familiar American makers’ products too. I ended up buying two more silver boxes, pencils and washi tape.

But my favorite “purchase” was my new membership at the Bunbougu Cafe. For ¥700, I now have my own membership card and a key to the stationery drawers at Bunbougu! Now each time I go, I can show off my key or my membership card and get into special events (if they ever occur during our visits) and unlock the stationery drawers at the cafe. I already left my business card in one and sifted through the pretty papers and pens…apparently too busy enjoying things to take a picture (sorry!)See you soon, Bunbougu Cafe!