SUPERBUZZY IN TOKYO

Mariko and Kelly were here!
It was great meeting them, they are so bright and fun, and getting along with them was just so easy!
I guess they must be back home by now, taking a deep breath after the Japanese trip whirl, and will soon be telling the whole story on their blogs. Here's just a shot to prove they were here and that we even had a small crafty people gathering in Tokyo.

That is, from left to right, back row: Kat, Kelly, Ms. Minato - the Ebisu Rowan-Jaeger store manager; front row: Chiko - Mariko's friend and talented illustrator, me, Mariko and Jun.
We also had a couple of male supporters but they are behind the camera(s) here.

I accompanied Mariko and Kelly in their Nippori Textile Town adventure, as well as to the Yokohama International Quilt Festival.

The Nippori shopping campaign felt sooo good - just watching the girls buy several whole rolls of fabric made me feel like I am buying the store for myself. I'll be watching out for the new cute stuff at Superbuzzy!

In Yokohama, the quilt show was a bit overwhelming, and quite hard to cruise through the crowds of Japanese middle-aged ladies that had gathered for the first day of the show. Business-wise, it was a very fruitful day, and the girls were thrilled to make lots of useful contacts with fabric and craft-supplies firms. I was impressed with how prepared and efficient Kelly and Mariko were, hardly ever giving in to temptations and keeping focused on the important things.
I have a lot to learn from them!
As for the quilts at the show - I wish I could show some samples, but basically the ones I really liked could not be photographed. I did take a few pics but they turned out too blurry.
Here are a couple of cute patchwork bags:

This being said, I'll get back to some crafting tonight, while listening to Right Said Fred just because (I must be the only person on Earth who still listens to this silly stuff, but I so need it sometimes!).

PUMPKIN BREAD AND GENKI SHAKE

Progress in the crafty area has been almost inexistent, but I have managed to get back to some cooking and baking lately. I was getting sick of bentos and eatouts - so much lacking the warmth and simplicity of home-made food. That was what we had during the first months of pregnancy, when the kitchen was not the place for me to be...

So, I recently tried pumpkin bread (after a recipe from Mollycoddle, with mashed steamed pumpkin - we don't have pumpkin cans around here - and with a handful of walnuts added):
It was a success! Moist and spicy. I have made it twice already.

Then, here is a morning shake recipe I recommend.
Knowing I had this in the morning helps me stress less about "having to eat healthy" and getting a variety of vitamins, minerals and such:
(Pictured here with homemade Danish bread from the bread machine).
The recipe is simple, it's not my original - I just saw it on TV once.
The shake contains banana, plain yoghurt, milk, raw brown sugar, kinako (roasted soy bean powder), ground black sesame and wheatgrass powder. I don't like the kinako and the wheatgrass powder in their original form, but this combination tastes great!
My wheatgrass powder is not the vivid green it was at first, and I use brown sugar instead of the honey the original recipe asked for, so the final colour is not so attractive - but if you see this in a fresher green, it really looks like a kiwi shake, with all those tiny black specks.
You should give it a try!