Fond memory

Here is my kids cleansing their hands and mouth before entering into the Shrine site.

Stunning view of ski mountain. It looks almost like a painting.

My daughter loves green tea now after learning tea ceremony. Here she is wearing an old kimono that I used to wear when I was a child.

Back into life

I was back home in Japan for almost 2 months. My children never seen that much snow in their lives, and yes, they did love snow ball fighting and skiing! I loved being able to relax at my old home with my mum's home cooking. Now I am back in Australia, I am trying to create something beautiful in the kitchen as well. I have tried bread making and also have been working on how to make kids' lunch box more exciting and nutritious. Hard work! Kids are back to school and so their friendship with school friends have come back to where they were at before we left for Japan. My daughter was invited to her friend's birthday party recently, so I wanted to make something for her. Here I made using strong linen/cotton fabric with feature patchwork using my kimono cut-outs. It was such a fun to match colours thinking about this little girl's gorgeous eyes. I used a wooden button recycled from Japan.

Denim is beautiful

I often use denim to make handbags and have recently come across with this lovely denim. It has greyish navy colour with very stiff texture. It turned into two bags so far.

This is one of my friends shoulder bag with beautiful blue Japanese silk.

And this is mine. It has my mother's woollen Obi attached at the front. I quite liked the colour combination of greyish tone of denim and a red feature panel. This time, I changed the deign slightly and attached a zip so nothing will fall out! The arrow pattern or " Yagasuri" on the red Obi is a traditional Japanese design. Both bags are lined with linen inside.

Great-aunt's obi

When my mother gave me her auntie's Obi, a sash for Japanese kimono, I really didn't think it has the traditional Japanese design that most Western people would recognise, but I really liked it. I was hoping that I can make it into a bag one day. So here it is. It was originally going to be a much bigger and longer bag, but during the "manufacturing process", it has changed its design to this. And I love it now! I am glad this Obi has its second life as a bag in Australia!

A Feathery Friend

Isn't he beautiful? My children found a baby Tawny Frogmouth on the way home last Friday. He was on a tree in our street. It was a warm day and we thought he was thirsty. So we took water for him, but of course, he wouldn't drink it from us. We just watched him and felt so blessed to be able to see him so close. Soon we found out that his mother was watching us from high up in a nearby tree. We were lucky that the mother didn't try to scare us. I think it was too hot for her to fly or she thought we looked harmless! We didn't see him and his mother next day. Maybe they found a good shelter...

Some lucky person

Someone will win this linen apron at my kids' school's Spring Fair this Saturday. I am going to donate this pure linen apron with a cotton kimono fabric pocket as a raffle prize. After having made this one, I am making one for myself as I don't have a linen apron! I am so tired today after working at the school all day for the Fair, but it's all good fun.

Gingerbread Man

It is nearly the end of the school holidays and we decided to have a home day today to give the kids the rest that school holidays are meant for. I took the cook book out and asked the kids to pick whatever they wanted to bake today. To my surprise, they chose Gingerbread Man. I didn't have some of the ingredients so I had to search the internet for other recipes and I still didn't have some ingredients so I had to modify the recipe a bit. It is so delicious that I have to share the recipe.

Gingerbread Man

100g butter
8 tbsp honey
100g brown sugar
350g self-raising flour
3 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven for 190C.
Melt butter, honey and sugar together in a saucepan and cool slightly.
Sift flour and ground ginger into the sugar mixture and mix well.
Roll out the dough and cut out with cookie cutter. Place them onto lined baking tray.
Bake for 15 to 20 mins or until golden brown.

We used black and white sesame for its eyes and buttons instead of currants...but I think their nutty taste is better.