Visiting Paris - Tattoos & Tower

The tower..

Again, sorry for the absence... Summer flew by. We didn´t go to Japan or not even a Japanese spa, but we try to keep a certain "standard" = seeking out Japanese food and experiences.

Anticipation... At least for the youngest one...

I climbed it! As in "took the stairs"!

Our journey through 6 countries this summer took us to Musee du Quai Branly and their very nice garden, building and exhibition. I especially enjoyed their Tattoo-exhibition with many fine examples of Japanese tattoo art.

Check out this place: Musee du Quai Branly

I´ll post more from our summer later, but first Paris!




I´ve been to Paris 4 times prior to this visit and have avoided the Eiffel tower. But you can´t fight a 8 year-old. They win. She wanted to go up, so we did. We skipped the 4 hour line for the elevator and opted for the 30 min lane to the stairs. I climbed to the first platform. I have extreme fear of heights, but I did it. The other two went another level up. Going down was bad, but I´m still here. I´ll probably never do it again....

Tattoo workshop for kids!

Poster of the exhibition.

She choose a kimono girl off course.

The secret garden...

A few new bracelets to welcome summer!

Finally I had time and energy to sit down and finish two custom orders. Thanks to patient customers.... I hope they will be happy. The sun and a long weekend did me good.

While I was at it, I took out the disc and finished two other braids; One brown silk and one vintage grey silk. I also put together two other bracelets that were ready braided, but not finished.

You´ll find them in the store! These two are already out, the plum, purple and brown ones are coming!

Making wagashi - 和菓子

Fishy, fishy!

Hello, and sorry for my absence... Life and work has taken too much time lately....

But, look what we did - we made wagashi - Japanese sweets! More precisely we made fish out of apple juice and agar-agar (kanten).

It´s super easy and we will do it again! These fish are perfect for matcha (green tea).

You need:
Good quality apple juice
Sugar
Agar-agar (powder or flakes, we used powder)
Sugar paste (optional)
Plastic or silicone mold

 I mixed 2 dl of apple juice, 60 grams of sugar and 3-4 grams of agar-agar in a kettle, and boiled it for 2-3 minutes. Adjust the sugar according to taste. Ours got a bit sour, but we like that! In the fish mold I made little balls of sugar paste as eyes. You don´t have to! 2 g agar-agar pr. 100 ml liquid gives a quite hard jello. You can use less and still get a good result.

After the mixture cools down a little bit (but not below 40 degrees C), pour into molds. The sugar paste might bleed, but I think it looks nice. The mixture will set when it gets colder, so fill it to the brim!

The fish sets quickly, you can leave the mold on your kitchen top counter or in the fridge. Serve with matcha and a fork/spoon (I´m going to get a real Japanese wooden fork soon).

Fun facts about kanten: Agar is derived from the polysaccharide agarose, which forms the supporting structure in the cell walls of certain species of algae, and which is released on boiling. These algae are known asagarophytes and belong to the Rhodophyta (red algae) phylum. Agar is actually the resulting mixture of two components: the linear polysaccharide agarose, and a heterogeneous mixture of smaller molecules called agaropectin. 

Happy New Year!

I´m sorry for not posting in a while... I´ve had a very buzy autumn. But I still braid, and I was lucky to both have several custom orders for christmas and I also went to a very nice christmas market here in Nesodden.

We celebrated New Year in our usual style... 7 courses + coffee and belgian chocolate. My in-laws took the trip from Holland to celebrate with us. My girl is happy with her child champagne and ketchup!

We made a lot of seafood this year, including these little babies:

You don´t need to go fancy with lobster. I just cut them in half and toast them in the oven with parmesan and herbs.

Serve with salad, bread and spicy mayo. Champagne off-course!

S novim godom - Godt nytt år - Happy New Year! I hope 2014 will be a really good year for all of you.