Welcome to my blog.

After a few random posts I've decided to dedicate this blog to my life long project of Japanese food
and culture (and my life in general, especially my travels).

Since my first taste of sushi back in 1997 I've been interested in, and frequently been making
Japanese food.
My interest in the country and culture started long before and continues to evolve.
I was lucky to finally visit Japan in October 2008, again in November 2019 and hope to be back soon.
In July 2012 I visited Japantown in San Fransisco, the next best thing!
I was lucky to be back in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 thanks to the fact that we now have family living in California.
Both small and big adventures will from now on, as time permits, be shared with you.

I will post other recipes and pictures too, mainly cooking projects, plants and art projects
(including my new love - making kumihimo braided objects).

I hope you'll find it interesting, and feel free to leave a comment or ask questions!

I write mainly in English, but there will be some Norwegian too, especially posts about things
that mainly have Norwegian interest. Tutorials are bi-lingual.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Redesign/ vintage kumihimo

Yesterday I was lucky to get a parcel with some nice, vintage silk thread I got on Etsy.
The thread is about 100 years old, or even more, the quills say "Patented Dec 18 1870. Brainerd & Armstrong Co". Each thread is quite thin, so I´ve used 3 threads x 16 to make this delicate braid.
I´m not done yet, it takes ages with such thin braiding, but I though I´d show you some pictures of the process. When done, I´ll finish it with sterling silver details.


The threads curl because the´ve been on the quills. 


What do you think? 
This will be one-of a kind, and if I can bare to part with it, it´ll come in a beautiful handmade box with documentation of the process and the quills used.


Wednesday 21 September 2011

New patterns and some upcoming news.

I´ve been busy lately, learning new patterns for my kumihimo disc.
I thought I´d show you what´s being made on the boat and in front of the tv!
I´ll post tutorials for some later, when the light is good for pictures.


16 strand round braid diamond pattern


16 strand round braid hearts pattern


8 strand flat pattern with edge color

I´m also working on creating both start-up packs and courses in kumihimo.
I´ll be arranging my first course in a few weeks, and for now, they´re on request only,
for minimum 4 people attending. I´ll need about 2 weeks to prepare start-up packs,
and can hold the course in the evening or on the weekend. 4 hours duration.

Vil du lære kumihimo? 4 timers kurs med startpakke kan bestilles hos meg.
Kurset holdes i Oslo-området og evt. i Lillehammer-området. Kontakt meg på mail for mer info.
E-post: thomasine@gmail.com
Jeg trenger ca. 2 uker til å forberede kurset (bestillingstid på utstyr) og dere må være minimum 4 stykker.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

More Japanese items sneaking their way into my house.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Copenhagen. I used to live there, so to me it´s a little bit like a second hometown. I always drop by "Sticks n´sushi", to eat and to stock up on Japanese items. This time I got away with a nice selection of soy, miso dip and sauces, plus a brand new matcha sifter! Oh, and me and Mr. Linuz had a great evening with food and sake off course....


Check out my new matcha sifter! (Matcha-what? you say...) I´ll show you how it works soon. Or wait; it sifts matcha! ;)

You can check out Sticks n´sushi´s menu here, if you happen to be in Danmark/ Copenhagen area (lucky you!): Sticks n´sushi website
Pst: We would love to have one in Oslo you guys....




Saturday 10 September 2011

New adventures in silk!

So lately I´ve been thinking of new things to make jewelry with, and as I searched Etsy, I found some nice silk threads.
I bought some and a few days ago they arrived from England. The rose and lilac color one was a bit thin so I had to double them up twice to get an ok braid. But the pastels worked fine. I´ve made one bracelet with flower pattern in soft pastels.


Now I´m waiting for some vintage silk floss to see if I can make an exclusive line of krysantemum design bracelets and earrings in vintage (1890-1920) silk floss and sterling silvers findings. Oh, let the parcels come quick!
Let me know if you´d like a very special silk bracelet, they´re going to be "one of a kind", in limited quantities...


I also have some more ideas regarding my braiding, both "start-up packs" and courses. Stay tuned!