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 21 February 2012

Tofu box has arrived!


After travelling across the U.S. in a box, hand carried on a plane from San Fran to NL, my tofu box finally made the final stretch in a kangaroo trolley from NL to Norway yesterday.... my precious!


 Made of hinoki wood, it came with a sieve cloth and bag in white.


It´s very nice and it smells good too.


It also came with nigari, so today I have to get myself some soya and make tofu again.... stay tuned!


I also got this nice soya cup from my mother-in-law, bought in San Francisco. Very nice eggplant motive.


Monday 20 February 2012

Sunday market / Søndagsmarked

Sometimes I pack all my braided jewelry into a trolley and go off to some marked.
Last weekend I went to Oslo to sell, chat with other designers and make new contacts at the design market at "Blå".
Weather was beautiful, sunshine and not too cold.

This is what my table look like:
 I´ve put a box under the tablecloth for hight. Then there´s some Japanese artifacts, like a cup and a wooden sake cup.

I´m wondering to get a black table cover and also some better displays for the bracelets, maybe a long tube?
Please hit me with good suggestions! I must be able to carry all my stuff in a trolley + maybe an extra bag. Sometimes I have a car, but most of the time I commute by public transport.
I´ve got a couple of frames spray-painted and chinaware to "serve" my bracelets on.
I still need an even better way to display them and make them look their best....

Å, ja: Husk "Håndlaga 2012" - jeg blir veldig, veldig glad for nominasjoner i kategori 5. Link på høyre side øverst.... :)

Saturday 18 February 2012

Håndlaga 2012

Text in Norwegian only!

For andre gang går "Håndlaga" av stabelen og krysantemum design er med.
I år sponser jeg Håndlaga 2012 og har tenkt å nominere flotte produkter i
flere kategorier.
Jeg håper også noen vil nominere et smykke fra krysantemum design i kategori 5: "Smykker" og vil nok være ubeskjeden å gjøre det selv...

Jeg sakser fra bloggen til Håndlaga 2012 slik at alle kan bli inspirert,
og jeg oppfordrer alle design- og håndarbeidsglade til å delta.

"Med dette arrangementet vil vi feire det skapende og engasjerte miljøet av dyktige folk som legger tid og
omtanke inn i sine håndlagde produkter.
Det hele starter med at alle som vil kan nominere sine egne og andres håndlagde produkter.
Det blir åtte spennende kategorier som vi håper vil treffe de fleste; redesign, barn, klær, smykker, 
tilbehør, til hjemmet, bilde og menn.
Produkter til menn er en ny kategori i år!"


Trykk på linken til høyre her på bloggen for å komme til Håndlaga 2012.





Kjøp håndlaget!

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Happy Valentines day!

In the words of the magnificent Björk: All is full of love....


Lots of love from Linuz


Saturday 11 February 2012

Winter creativity

Custom flower bracelet with sterling silver details.

So I had the pleasure of braiding 2 custom orders this week.
One bracelet with flowers in strong colors and one necklace in soft lilac with dark lilac trim.

I´ve also been inspired by the cold winter weather, braiding in light, soft colors like white, aqua and mint.



Light winter colors. From left: Two shades of white (bracelet in 16-count braid with sterling silver details), aqua/offwhite bracelet, half made, and mint satin mousetail for the next project.
(Mint is the "hottest" color this season, I´ve heard.)


 Custom necklace in two different techniques;  hollow braid with the trim color as a core and spiral braid with 12 threads.

 Lilac necklace with sterling silver details and Swarovski crystal.

Monday 6 February 2012

Tonkatsu - Sunday fastfood


Well, I didn´t know what to make of that piece of pork in my fridge...
so we ended up eating "fastfood" for Sunday dinner.
In other words, I turned it into tonkatsu, that´s Japanese for schnitzel. And who doesn´t like that?

Tonkatsu
You will need:
A decent piece of pork, your choice of cut.
Flour, 1 egg beaten and breadcrumbs (Panko) on separate plates.

Cabbage, cut into fine strips (and with some lemon juice and salt added).
Rice, boiled.
Tonkatsu sauce (Consists mainly of ketchup. I made mine with ketchup, soya, mirin and sweet soya).


Cut the pork in 1 cm thick slices. Pat lightly to even them.
Del ytrefilet av svin i 1 cm tykke stykker, klapp dem jevne.


Dip the pork in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, in that order.
Dypp i mel, egg og brødsmuler (jeg bruker japanske brødsmuler "Panko").


Make sure to push the pork well down into the breadcrumbs.
Dytt fileten godt ned i brødsmulene slik at det dekker godt.


Fry the pork in butter on both sides until nice and golden brown.
Stek i olje eller smør til de er pent brune på begge sider.


Serve with cabbage, rice and sauce. Some lemon is also nice. Enjoy!
Server med finsnittet kål, kokt ris og Tonkatsusaus (og sitron hvis du vil). Kos deg!