to the mountain with dad

I needed to be in nature side, so I went to Minoo mountain with my dad. He goes to the mountains every weekend.
I didn't see wild monkeys, just heard them this time. We found a new cafe and we had lunch there.

Grandpa's demitasse

My grandfather was a very warm and nice person especially to animals and kids. He smiled all the time and I never saw him angry.
He used to drink coffee in his demitasse. I sometimes made coffee for him and he looked very happy.
I have his broken umbrella, a leather jacket which he never wore, some of his kimono and his demitasse at my place here.
I don't use demitasse for coffee, so I made custard pudding in it in the other day.
Thinking about my grandpa while with using his demitasse...

morning smoothie

We usually have pancake, some veg dish and english tea for breakfast. My recipe is that boiled beets, yogurt, orange juice, milk or soy milk.
Since my stainless waring blender is so light weight and simple, it's so easy to clean and no hassle to use it in hectic morning.
I should make warm soup when the winter comes.

New dining table

When I first got to NYC, I had no idea where I could find my favorite kind of furniture. We found a nice heavy white round table with a note that said "Take me home" in front of our house. The table moved to Toronto and came back to NYC with us.
The second one was an IKEA table from Craig's list and I painted it white.
We had been looking and thinking about table for 9 years and finally purchased a dark brown barnwood table.
Dark brown totally changes how dishes look on it. I am very excited about this change.

plant pots and vases

It is fun to hand build something sometimes. I love the shape of leaves of Swedish ivy.

Now my pieces are available at Mark.

Mark is a newly opened showroom with handcrafted furniture by Makoto Nakahara.
I am so happy that my pieces have been selected to be with his simple and warm furniture.
If you are around the Kobe area, please come visit this beautiful showroom!

Mark
5-2 Aokicho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan 662-0862

+81-(0)798-31-6457
info@mark-mf.com
11:00-19:00

Now more mugs are available at graf

My mugs sold out at graf (thank you!)and I delivered new mugs. Margaret's new birds and white flowers were delivered too. Please drop by graf if you are around Osaka.

Thai Bah Mi hang

Summer has officially gone after today. I had a lot of thai food this summer. My Thai friend told me "Bah Mi" stands for the egg noodle itself and if it is in the soup, it is called "Bah Mi naam". If it is dry, it's "Bah Mi hang".
I tried to remember the taste of my best "Bah Mi hang" and cook with soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, peanuts, cilantro, fried onion, pickled chill and oil tossed egg noodle and grilled pork which was marinated with fish sauce.
I heard the best fish sauce should be the first pressing and have a nice color. Where can I get the best one in NYC??

The Netherlands-Haarlem again

My friend Soona and her family made our trip to the Netherlands so special. We had known each other through our blogs and she came to my show in NY. We found out we live in the same building!I was very happy to see her great life in the netherlands because I understand all the challenges and feelings as a foreigner. Now we live far away but our friendship became even closer!
Her beautiful works;soonhwa kang
Her design blog is;here and there

The Netherlands6 - Amsterdam&Belgium Antwerp

One sunny and hotday, we walked everywhere in Amsterdam.
Day trip to Antwerp. 2hrs by train, with half hour delay, of course. There were pro bicycle race in old city center.

The Netherlands5 - Dutch food

My friend prepared nice organic breakfast for us on the day we arrived. Dutch bread, yogurt, cheese & ham...delish!For dinner, her tasty korean feast,(We were too busy to chat and eat to take pictures). Her husband P cooked typical dutch food "Stamppot" (mashed potato with kale/veges) and sausage. Home cooking with love is the best!
I snacked fried Kibbeling(cod) with garlic sauce from fish stores, but I did not have a chance to try herrings!
She also took me the bistro and had a great time.
Indonesian are also popular in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands4 - pannekoeken

My friend took us to the pannekoeken(dutch pancake)cafe after the ride in the forest. The pannekoeken is thicker than crape and thinner than pancake. Yummy!

The Netherlands3 - cycling in the forest

The Netherlands2 - Delft

My friends took me to Delft where is famous for "Delft blue pottery". Tile museum was closed but we still enjoyed old interesting pieces at nice antique shop.

The Netherlands1 - Haarlem

We went to see our good friends in Haarlem in the Netherlands. It's about 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam.
The Gothic style town is just so beautiful with the ringing church bell and people talking in bars.
It was cold and grey the first couple of days and this weather seems to be typical. But we were lucky to have nice sunny days for the rest of our stay. Everyday people were out on the boats in the canals.

kyoto2-nishiki market etc..

The Gion festival in Kyoto was held on 7/17. It is hot in Kyoto, but it is worth it.
These photos are from the trip a month ago, at Nishiki market and at a temple. My friend and I were planning to visit Hinaya, Ms.K had the directions to the store, in Gojo. We started around Nijo area and could not make it. There were so many things to see and we ended up with talking to a shop owner for a long time...Next time for sure.
If you are textile lover, check it out.

city of rivers

My city Osaka has many rivers. When I was a kid, I went to "Toro nagashi"- floating paper lanterns down a river to guide spirits of ancestors who are coming back to our world during the Bon festival.
Whenever I walk along the side of the Hudson river, I miss my city.

I went for a walk to the riverside the other day, and was thinking about the quote from the book I am reading now.
"We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself? That is why life is always a sketch. No sketch is not quite the right word, because a sketch is an outline of something, the groundwork for a picture, whereas the sketch that is our life is a sketch of nothing, an outline with no picture." -Milan Kundera-

Turtle Forest

I couldn't help telling him "what a beautiful necklace" when I first met him. Few years later, I had an another opportunity to talk to him and found out he has his jewelry line "turtle forest".
He showed me couple of his works in person and they were just gorgeous, of course much better than photos. I also enjoyed talking to him for hours about how things has changed in NYC, Japan and passion for being creative.

His works are available at A&S, Tokyo.
Björk　has his work too.

Easy sewing projects-Apron&coasters

I don't really like sewing, but when I find beautiful fabrics, OK, I will try it.
I found this deep colored veges at Crate&Barrel It was a kitchen towel. I made purple strings out of other towel and attached them to it. It's made in India. I always love fabrics from INDIA!
My mom had this wonderful striped fabric from NUNO and she made a tote bag and place mats. I got the rest of it and made coasters. NUNO shop used to be in Osaka long time ago and my mom made couple of lovely skirts for us.

T's carrot cake

T brings her baking to the studio sometimes and I really liked her carrot cake. I asked for her recipe and she gave it to me. But a few days later, she left a message for me on the answering machine at the studio "It was wrong!!".
Her cake has no frills, but tastes honest with a little twist, and very warm.
I like her and her cake a lot.

Cat M.

My parents' cat M. loves to lie down on her back when the weather gets hot. She always lies down with my dad in the same pose and probably found it is fun to do it by herself. She also has a fetish for being scratched by a handcrafted broom by me. By me!

My mom's green tea roll cake

My mom told me that she will bake something for me. It was a little hot day, so I asked her to bake strong green tea roll cake. My mom is the best!
I bought her new baking book written by a famous chef at AU BON VIEUX TEMPS in Tokyo as a thank you gift. So she can enjoy more baking and we can enjoy more eating.:)

Chogoro brooches

My mom asked me to make simple tea cups for wooden tea saucers with Raden decoration hand crafted by Yushiro Kojima.
Yushiro Kojima's wife and daughter, Miyoko&Sawako also make raden accessories. Traditional, but modern and interesting. You can check more items at Chogoro.

Margaret's brooches are now available in Japan

My good friend Margaret Wozniak makes beautiful ceramics and her brooches are now available at graf (http://www.graf-d3.com/)in Osaka. Her new white series is so beautiful with its color and texture.
You can have her little art works in your hands.

thank you! -Creators for Japan

It was another great success. Raised $9,011 for 2 days. All my pieces were sold.

Thank you so much for your contributions, Organizers and staff, customers, supporters and creators!
photo by New People

Double flowering cherry blossoms in Central park

pink, pink, pink!

Brooklyn Botanic garden2

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Dramatic named flower"Bleeding heart" is called "Taitsuri sou" in Japan. It means "red snapper fishing". Hmm...we are always interested in food.

Artistes Solidaires avec le Japon-paris @4/24 in Paris

People in Paris, please check this out!

Afin de ressembler des fonds pour les victimes du séisme et du tsunami au Japon,nous organisons un événement qui aura lieu le 17 et 24 avril prochain au Pivot.La Croix-Rouge, à qui nous reverserons les dons réunis, le transmettra pour en faire bon usage auprés de ces étres humains en détresse.

Artistes Solidaires avec le Japon-paris

Le pivot: 20, rue Oberkampf 75011 Paris24

Avril 2011 13:00-21:00

13:00- Plus de 50 œuvres d'artistes de petit format vendues à un prix unique.
13:00- Brocante vente de livres d'enfant, de livres d'art,DVD et T shirts
14:00- 18:00 Workshop Atelier pour les enfants
18:00- Concert de JazzVenez nombreux! Parlez-en autour de vous !

Creators for japan in San Francisco @4/30-5/1

People in San Francisco! Please tell your friends and come to the event!

creators for japan

acqua pazza

I cooked acqua pazza with fillet of red perch and cod from the fishermen at the farmer's market. Ocean perch looks like red snapper and stays firm even after you stew it. But you need cod or some other seafood to add more flavor to the soup.

bean salad

When I was a high school student, I always looked forward to having lunch at an Italian restaurant at the basement of Daimaru department store after shopping. It was not exactly a restaurant, it was a Italian deli counter, where you can buy antipasta and something like that.

Their dishes were very delicate and sophisticated, especially I loved their white bean salad appetizer.

It was very new to me to eat beans as a salad. My mom cooked beans as "nimame" -japanese sweet stewed beans or tomato stewed beans. And I did not like either of them so much.

Since then, I always remember the nice feeling of having lunch with my mom and excitement of finding new dish whenever I make bean salad.

One love-tableware for Japan in Sapporo

22 (Fri.) to 24 (Sun.) April 2011 Site: Illums / Station 999Nihon Seimei Sapporo building 2nd floor, Kita 3 Jo Nishi 4 Cho-me, Chuo-ku, Sapporo-shi

website

cat paper weight

I went to an event and saw a Japanese calligraphy performance. The scent of the ink made me miss caligraphy which has been one of my other hobbies since I was kid.

Caligraphy and pottery have many things in common. Preparing the ink and clay, the moment of the strokes and throwing...both are the most beautiful and deep moments of being my self.

I brought all my caligraphy tools to the States - a handmade water container, my stone name stamp, brushes, ink - everything except a paper weight. I only had an ugly weight so I left it.

So I needed a weight and found a clay cat beside the window. Cats can help us sometimes.

chocolate color pitchers

I am reading a book "teshigoto no nihon" by Muneyoshi Yanagi. The title means "Craftmenship in Japan." In the introduction, he says "People's hands don't just move, these moves are based on peoples' hearts and this could create something beautiful and also pursue ethical development -and it exposes people to the joy of working."

All the great crafts made by great skill and spirit create a special attachment and universal design and quality will never fade.

Craftsmanship - serving trays

My mom has 2 trays I adore. The left one is handcrafted by Yushiro Kojima. The Moku shitsu with Raden, which is wooden ware or lacquer ware with decoration of mother-of-pearl or shells inlays.
The other bent woodware is called "magewappa" in Akita prefecture. Interesting point is the color of the urushi lacquer. Usually the colors of urushi are black or red traditionally, and his olive color melts into our modern lifestyle. By Kurikyu.

about pottery class

Some french company had a pottery party at our studio the other day. They wanted to make mugs with their names. After Mr.D showed how to make mug, half of them made mugs, and the others made XL jag, very neat bowl from mold and even a martini glass. I liked their ambition:)
People were so excited to work on their own projects and they looked so satisfied and happy when they headed to the restaurant. bon appetit!

photo: It is still cold in NY! I am still stewing.

Agnello alla calabrese

Snow, snow snow. OK, let's try to cook some new Italian. I stewed the lamb for an hour and half. The cook book said that red chili is essential in the Calabria area.
It was OK, but I much prefer to cook lamb with cumin, coriander, garlic...in a middle eastern way.
The lamb smell will turn into a wonderful deep flavor with those spices. It's magic!

Snowy city

Garbage everywhere on the street. I've got terrible cold. Snowmen everywhere. City's got quiet and less people. Snow is not too bad.

pink baby set

I made a baby set in pink. Speaking about pink, I was so happy to be able to go to Lucie Rie exhibition at The Museum of Oriental Ceramics Osaka.

pizza Napoletana

My whole family got together and my brother baked pizza for us. He uses a thick iron pan which is for Okonomiyaki(a savory pancake which contains veggies and seafood). Yum.

graf show room 2011

I went to graf in Osaka where I sell my pieces. They are located beside the Tosabori river and in front of the national museum of art. They are a creative unit for furniture, space, product, graphic and food design. Recently their media group moved to Tokyo and became independent. They come to NYC sometimes on their projects with Yoshitomo Nara.
The graf building has an exhibition space on the ground floor, the 2nd floor is a cafe/restaurant and the 3rd floor is a show room for their designed products and works from all over the world.