Friday, April 27, 2007

Bad Boys who cook...


In particular, one who cooks, smokes, swears, sneers, drinks and travels the world in search of good eats...
...and lives to document his perspective of food and life in books, films, blog (as a guest) and interviews.

Anthony Bourdain = Yummy Yum Yum!

Since watching The Galloping Gourmet in the late 60's, I've always had a fave TV chef.
Graham Kerr taught me about rennet in cheesemaking and about clarified butter: ghee.
From Frugal Gourmet Jeff Smith I learned 'Hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick'.
Ah.....cooking mantras to chant and life-altering (?) lessons about the stomach lining of ruminants and the rendering of milk solids from butter...

Knowledge is to gold as exposés are to unrecycled aluminum ??? (sorry, can't seem to find a good analogy) or worse - pond scum.
To my dismay, time has revealed these two guys to be troubled, less-than-upstanding members of society, if not tortured souls:
  • alcoholic cook-turned-Christian-reborn-non-alcoholic cook (Kerr)
  • ordained Methodist minister-turned-author-TV personality accused of sexual abuse-turned from society and gave up TV show (Smith)
Is there a pattern here?

I wasn't surprised to learn about Kerr (he gulped wine on the show and slurred something awful - not criminal by any means, and he did turn his life round...) but was shocked and disappointed when accusations surfaced that Smith had a penchant for seducing young men (against their will).
Good golly, I even met Smith at a Seattle restaurant once and was invited to sit at his table for a 20 minute chat. Geez, he seemed like a perfectly nice guy (just goes to show that you can rarely detect from public persona about an individual's deepest darkest secrets).

When one looks to these chefs as mentors, it ain't just about the cooking, I'll have you know. Not the best judge of character, I must be the all-time suckah for kitchen charisma coupled with the expert wielding of cooking knives.

I subscribe to a lifestyle of eating, cooking and living in (relative) harmony with nature and other beings.
It's fun as well as comforting to look to others to set examples for all of the above.
Wouldn't it be wise, then - and much less of a letdown in the long run - if I could admire characteristics of a foodie personality who already wears the BadBoy label?
And has tattoos?
And is a professed agnostic?


A couple of adjectives to describe Tony Bourdain: sincere and scathing. Or sincerely scathing.
That boy bites! Bad!
Laughing out loud and emulating the snicker and sneer is a good thing.
Definitely worth watching and reading.


Someone please let me know when the whole of 'No Reservations' is available as one big beautiful DVD collection. It'll probably co$t a bundle, but I'm willing to $pring for it.

Until then, I'll just keep renting individual episodes from Netflix and catching snippets on YouTube.

And saving my pennie$.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

1970's: bluegrass rules


In the newspaper a few Sundays back, there was an article titled: PLAY: My Favorite Year in Music.
Readers were posed with the question and a significant year from the last four decades to choose from: 1965, 1977, 1984 and 1996.

For me, the no brainer, hands-down answer: 1965.
In '65, I was an impressionable 14 year old and it was a big time Beatle year.

Just as significant as the impact of the 60's to my musical tastes was the decade that followed. Whilst others in the 1970's busied themselves with disco-ing in polyester double knit, I was sequestered into the realms of keeping a home (apartment) and raising a family. I was immersed in a world of endless diaper changes, Happy Baby Food Grinders, Tommy Tippy Cups and Little Golden Books. I kept busy, making sure my child grew up surrounded by gender neutral toys and always mindful that she be engaged in pacific, non-competitive play.

So wrapped up in domestic bliss, I consequently missed most of 1970's and some of early 80's (when another baby comes along to double my parenting pleasure) pop music. Did not have a clue what was going on in the current Top 40.

Never did cultivate an appreciation for Journey (save for 'Lights') who have/had a huge fan base, but the music seemed a bit insipid to my ears, Queen (what's so good about?), Abba (explains why I didn't understand the big todo over Mama Mia!), and almost all that was disco sashayed right past me.

I wasn't completely out-of-touch though -
I had my share of Tight-Pants BeeGees moments.

Instead, I just kept listening to all my collected music from the 60's.
Plus - lots and lots of bluegrass - as it got mixed up with country and crossed over into folk.
I was ALL ABOUT 5 string banjos - particularly John Hartford's ramblin' n' rollin' style of playin' (my young'uns were weaned on both Beatles and Bluegrass), fiddles (Vassar Clement's fiddle sings!), mandolin (frisky pluckin' by Norman Blake), the deliciousness of the dobro and the wonderful whine of steel guitar.

Then there's Emmylouuuuuuuu, who was influential in bridging any gaps t'ween the once-separate genres of bluegrass, country and folk.

Every chance possible - before during and after changing baby diapers, sustaining life by nursing and cleaning spit-ups, I couldn't get enough of this mesmerizing folky country sound.
Bluegrass folky was the theme running throughout that decade for me.... and the next and the next and on and on....

Bluegrass does rule!

Bonus tracks:
Bill Monroe
Emmylou (singing one of my very favorite love songs)
The Dillards
Vassar Clements - I once saw Vassar in a 'solo' performance at The Great American Music Hall. Alone on the stage, he seemed a bit awkward and lost until David Grisman and a few other musicians joined him and Vassar was able to do what he does best - jam with others in joyful musical collaboration.

Last but not least -
The Orange Blossom Special - by the Green Grass Boys (what a terrific rendition of a bluegrass classic!)(and what's not to love about long gray ponytails?!?)

P.S. Thank you thank you YouTube videos!

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

When you're down and troubled



This always makes me smile.
How many times did you smile whilst watching this?

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Another nod to Tennessee





I luv 'The Tennessee Waltz' as I luv 'The Tennessee Stud' (see post: April 15, 2007).

[heart] [heart]

Monday, April 23, 2007

From the library of....


My good friend Dorrie gave me this book in 1972.

At the time, the only kind of knitting I'd done was garter stitch scarves.
Make that singular: scarf.

My pal must have imagined that I would one day (sooner than later) be capable of tackling the most complicated of patterns, for this book contains knitting graphs for the fanciest-looking lace, extremely involved cables and multi-colored knitting.
Who, me?

I shelved the book and eventually forgot about it, but kept on knitting.
In the 1970's and 80's I cranked out a number of sweaters and knitting did become an obsession for me. Still, the most complex stitches I attempted were the simplest cables. They look difficult to do, but are actually easy and fun.

The most challenging project I took on was a 2 - color Scandinavian design pullover, which I fancied knitting for myself.
The sad story of this cute (imagine reindeer, trees and snowflakes) sweater project began when
(1) the pattern got too confusing and
(2) I got distracted with life-beyond-crafts...(read: a new home in a new town, a small child starting grade school, a new baby and HD getting furloughed from his job).

The super demanding (for me) craft project was all but abandoned...tossed into a bag, then into a box and ultimately into the garage....for... over 25 years! I eventually stopped knitting altogether.

Now I'm back - with a vengeance.
These last weeks of knitting class, our focus has been on mosaic knitting.
The guru of this technique is Barbara Walker, who authored a book on the subject. The book is considered something of a bible on mosaic knitting, and is a 'must-have' for those who are fond of this approach to using multiple colored yarns for needlework.

You can imagine my amazement when I discovered Walker's original book was already in my home library (DOH!).
Along with the charted lace, cable and fair isle patterns, this book introduces the mosaic knitting technique that made absolutely no sense to me all those years ago.
Now that I 'get it', the patterns will keep me plenty busy until Barbara Walker's definitive book on mosaic knitting is finally added to the home 'fiber craft library' (hint hint).

Go figure.
After 35 years, I can finally relate.

Psssst!:
Happy Ending - With my renewed passion for knitting and fascination with more involved knitting patterns, it looks like I will finally be finishing this decades old project this year, folks!
The resulting sweater will be too small to fit me now, but DDLLS said if I complete the dang thing, she'd wear it at Christmastime 2007.


Since we're perusing 'bibles' from the home library, here's another:

'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee' was one of The Books of the 1970's.
Native Americans + Settling of the New World = Painful truths and realities = Yes, Gracie, there really was a holocaust in this country.

My weathered copy will be re-read before May 27th, when the HBO miniseries airs.

We can only hope the series will do justice; that all who screen it will benefit from the awareness that an accurate adaptation of a quality book can provide.

Good times rollllllllll:
An offering from the home library that excites the crafty senses!
The satisfaction of finding out a favourite book has been made into a movie!

What good fortune that neither book made it onto any past 'purge lists'.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Home Library/Libraries


As a kid, I owned few books.
Much of my spare time was spent at the local library, where I could happily while away the hours surrounded by endless shelves of books of every kind on any subject.

At age 19, I moved into a tiny (roach-infested) apartment in San Francisco, and one of the first things set up was a little shelf for books. Back then we had no Ikea, so bookshelves for young folks who were just starting out typically took shape from brick n' board...
[Segue: ...or discarded wooden crates from stores. I dragged home a couple of big ones from Chinatown once - what a mistake! After setting up books and records within the large openings, I noted the wood smelled faintly of stale urine....! You better know those stinky crates went bye-bye post haste back into the street].

Return from segue:
My brick n' board shelf was assembled from an eight inch wide, eight foot long piece of wood that was a sign+ four cinder blocks. The sign was a 'found object'. When acquired, it was painted white with the words ROAD CLOSED stenciled in black spray paint. Pretty cool. ROAD CLOSED stood upright as wall art for the longest time before getting sawed in half to become a shelf. I can't even remember where it's from, though I suspect some folks who closed a road back in 1971 found their signage went missing one day...

Anyways.
Aforementioned sign became my first bookshelf.
Easily dismantled, that thing moved from apartment to apartment until it was finally replaced when HD and I finally got into serious real estate (co-op housing). A big new, handmade shelf was constructed for the living room, made of fir, and stained in an 'oak' color. The design was from an old Sunset how-to book (the best!) on building simple bookshelves.

That shelf was meant to last until we could someday afford a fancy, sturdy, wall-to-wall storebought shelving unit.
Thirty years later, and repainted in an off-white color, the Sunset bookshelf is still standing (with a few bowed shelves) and continues to house our official home library.
You can't see from this pic, but there are stacks of paperbacks on some of the lowest shelves.

In addition to ye olde bookshelf, two smaller shelves have been purchased in recent years to hold cookbooks (in the kitchen)
and art books (in the art/craft room)


And the library keeps growing.
New books are continuously welcomed into life/library. Monthly, weekly (OK, sometimes several times a week) acquisitions.
Amazon.com has a record this long of my book purchases over the last years.

Quantity, if not quality, of books does get outta control around here, signaling that a purge is due. Time to move old books on to make room for new ones.
I am usually loathe to perform the task and must steel myself in seeking out the titles that we've either 'outgrown' or 'no longer-never did-never will interest the readers in this home'.

Some reject books were received as gifts (by people who didn't have a clue), purchased on a whim or acquired in some other fashion (think long term book loans - these would finally go back to their original owners).
Of course, books are saved from the Goodwill box if there is an iota of sentimental value attached...

Even with the periodic purges, my library never really gets smaller.
There's temporary storage of books in the garage - those that will eventually be cycled back into the house. Not unlike a museum rotating its vast collection of art works (this museum houses approx. 700,000 pieces of art, with only about 15,000 on current display).
Well, kinda sorta.

'Too many books, too little time'?
An adage that rings deafeningly loud and with absolute truth in this home of multiple libraries.
Are you too a collector of books ..... lover of reading ..... closet librarian, perhaps?

P.S. I still fancy moving into a bigger house* someday ~ for several reasons.
From reading these posts, you can probably guess what those are.

* dreaming via the pipe - if anything, our living space will downsize further as the years progress...

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Planet Earth, I's a-waitin'!




First of all, I hope you're still enjoying Sunday's 'Coming Attraction' post.
I'm working on the follow-up and it'll be another day or so before I get that published on this here blog.

In the meantime, watch the clip above and get yourselves psyched for this:
Did you happen to view the (eagerly awaited) BBC series 'Planet Earth' on The Discovery Channel some weeks ago?
Perhaps you felt the same way I did about the television presentation - that is, nauseated* to the point where I finally turned off the tv and fled for the other room.
If you know what I'm talking about, then you will be (as I am) delighted to know that the release of the series on DVD is just round the corner.

* Due to the numerous and lengthy commercial breaks. The adverts were ridiculously excessive, irritating, and continually (as well as very rudely) broke up the gentle ebb and flow of the documentary.
I don't have Tivo. Even if I did, fast-forwarding would also take away from the seamless quality of the film.

The soon-to-be-released DVD has David Attenborough narrating, as on the original show. Not Sigourney Weaver, who did the narration for American television. She did a fair job, but why change what ain't broke?

'Creative decision-making' in the hands of television producers and advertisers ~ accccch ~ don't even go there....

Anyways.
'Planet Earth'.
Available for purchase/rental in less than one week.
No commercial interruptions = viewed as it was meant to be.

Double Huzzah!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Friday, April 13, 2007

Kitchen Choreography

There are partners you whirl, twirl and jitterbug 'cross the dance floor with.
There are partners you trip the life fantastic with.
There are partners you can count on to ride the rails with.
(John Hartford quote: 'He's a good man to ride the rails with')

And then - there are those partners who you're able to dance the kitchen dance with.
Those are rare indeed.

If you've ever experienced an unrehearsed choreography with someone who can match you step-for-step during food prep in the kitchen, you know what I'm talking about.

Kitchen choreography.

It's when you and another person work in accord. It's how you position yourselves in seamless movements with one another whilst the two of you consider a series of food preparation steps.

He/she washes dirt off the veggies, you chop.
You stir the roux, he/she stands by to add more flour or butter.
He/she tastes the gravy, you have more seasonings at the ready.

You're never in each other's way. You're not at the sink when the other person is there rinsing the salad greens or washing out a just-used mixing bowl or filling a pot with water to boil the pasta. He/she isn't stepping over to the fridge at the exact moment you head over there for another egg.

He/she IS there to open the oven door for you when you've got both hands under the baking dish, balancing the liquidy filling for a pumpkin pie that is ready for baking.
That person is there to give a thorough wipe down of the cutting board and countertop after the raw poultry meat has been sliced; readying the area for preparation with ingredients for the next dish.
When he/she lifts the lid off the curry chicken, you're there with a shallow ladle to skim off some of the hot fat from the surface of the sauce.

You see that the honey is crystalized into a solid mass and needs a hot water bath. He/she notices at the same time, and is already reaching over to put the kettle on.

You work so well in concert that few, if any - instructional comments need be exchanged. Between the two of you, it is UNDERSTOOD what needs to be taken care of now and what needs to be done next, or even a few steps beyond next.

You literally dance round one another, at the same time, you are dancing together.
It's unplanned - yet harmonious, synchronized.
It is a pure delight, and spices up the cooking experience with the additional ingredient of FABULOUSFUN.

There are only a handful of people I've had the pleasure to cook with (thus far) whose kitchen choreography has been in perfect sync with mine. It is a pleasure and honor to move round the kitchen with these very special partners.

Another plus: 'We' turn out great meals together.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Post Script

Aforementioned (see 3/23/07 blogpost) purple glass bunny candy dish had a place of honor at the Springtime Tea Party.

It was filled with (but of course) chocolate candy Easter eggs!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Take Time for Tea

Last Sunday, we took time for tea here at the home of yours truly.

There were 8 of us in attendance for a variation of British tea. Ignoring any hard and fast rules dictating tea-taking, I ended up combining several styles into one rather pleasant afternoon gathering.

Result: A Springtime Tea Party.

We poured our brew into pretty china teacups, ate an assortment of delectable foods and were a most convivial group, spending hours in one another's good company.

Around the communal table, we heralded the arrival of spring, new growth and the continuity of life.

Such a celebration it was!
Absolutely lovely.
Damn good.

We sipped tea and sampled morsels of delicious teatime fare served alongside the requisite scones, lemon curd, rough-cut marmalade, double Devon cream (the real deal!) and berry jam.

Such a mouth-watering array of savouries and sweets!
Not to be believed.
A little over the top. Just the way I like our food parties to be.

We started by tasting dainty spoonfuls of cream of carrot-ginger soup served in wee bowls, then continued on to devour deviled eggs, quiche and other phyllo dough covered pastries, 3 kinds of tea sandwiches (smoked salmon on cream cheese with fresh dill, curried chicken salad, thin cucumber slices with cream cheese), fresh-baked mini cupcakes and slices of rich, moist banana bread, crunchy pea pods stuffed with garlicky goat cheese, flaky palm cookies, delightful petit fours, candied ginger, chocolate pistachio toffee candy and more...

I brewed 5 different flavours of hot tea and served iced tea as well.
There were four different sweeteners (two types of sugar, Splenda and honey), lemon wedges and milk to add to the tea, if desired.

We even had a slop basin for any residual cold tea from our cups (also for spent lemon wedges and the like).

At every place setting was a decorated party favor treat box for each honored guest to take home. The treat box contained an Easter egg (dyed with natural veggie dyes), chocolate eggs and Jelly Belly jelly beans.

Call it High Tea*, if you will - I call it Full Tilt Way Boogie Woogie Big Mama Tea! Preparation was insane: cooking, dicing, slicing, baking, assembling...it took several days to prep!

Setting the table alone required almost an hour's time: choosing the appropriate dishes, washing and drying the pieces...and placing everything 'just so' on the table.

Thank goodness for a little help from my friends. Guests who help are awesome and always most welcome in my kitchen!
Even with much-appreciated assistance, I had no/zero/nada time to take photographs before, during or after the party.
Nary a minute.
A cryin' shame, that is!
Hopefully, guests took pix and will share them before long.

After all was said and consumed and done - the next day - I finally did find a moment to snap a picture of some of the teapots we used before storing them away again.

This year, I have every intention to make it a point to set aside more time for the ritual of a cup of tea (and to share that time with family/friends).

In addition, I'd like to take that tea in a variety of styles.
Tea time is observed by cultures all over the world and I hope to interpret and stage my version of a few of those traditions here in the sweet comfort of home-sweet-home.

Hmmmm.....think I'll write up a menu featuring different tea styles for my little Tea Time Corner of the dining room (really and truly, there is such a designated area).
Will include English-style tea time ~ and more.

Y'all come over for a cuppa sometime soon, OK?
(Do bring something to add to our tea time - I ain't doin' all the woik no mo'!)

* Interestingly enough, 'High Tea' (aka 'Meat Tea') was what the English working class had as their evening meal and 'Low Tea' was enjoyed by the well-to-do as an afternoon picker-upper (on a low table).

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Craft Warning


Current (sewing) project: Seminole patchwork.

That little yellow and purple bit in the right hand corner of the photo took me about an hour to cut and sew up.
It's all about precision patchwork quilting.
Aready I love/hate it.
[smile]
[wink]

Will post more as I progress.
If I don't run screaming first .

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Fresh or Thousand Year Old?


The ones pictured of course, are Easter eggs.
Made with fresh chicken eggs.
Bright and colorful on the outside.
Hard-cooked yellow and white on the inside.

Considering colored eggs on this Easter Sunday - got me to thinking about
one thousand year old eggs.

AKA Century eggs.
Made with fresh (believe it or not) chicken eggs (or duck eggs?).
Greenish of yolk and gelatinous but firm amber colored egg white.
Slightly cheesy, sometimes mildly pungent.
Definitely odd-looking.
Euewwww, right?
Wrong.

Granted, thousand year old eggs are an acquired taste.
Truly, you almost have to have been raised with the concept and introduced
to the exotic flavor in tiny bites, getting used to it over time (read: years)(one thousand?)(HaHa) to appreciate the taste. They were a food staple in the kitchen and at the dinner table when I was growing up in San Francisco.

I enjoy them the way we used to back then - sliced up fine in jook (rice congee) or cut into wedges and served with Chinese-style pickled scallions and a little drizzle of oil.


Served up properly, thousand year old eggs are downright yummy. They are also an ingenious way to preserve an egg for a long while.
Albeit Weird.
If I didn't grow up eating them, I'd be very...very...wary.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

The New World (to some, it was already thousands of years old...)


'The New World' is a DVD in my possession. It was given to me by someone who, after watching it - decided not to keep it in her DVD library.

I had no preconceived ideas or high/low expectations before viewing the film myself.
[Though after watching/forming my own opinion, I've since read that some theater goers walked out during the first minutes. In the comfort of my own living room, multitasking with a knitting project - my plan was to stay put.]

And so - 'The New World' - again, perhaps something of a misnomer for all who lived there for thousands of years before the arrival of outsiders...
Ahem. Moot point, however.
On to the movie...

...what a surprise.

'The New World' is:
An 'historical adventure' recounted with a decided emphasis on the pictorial. Big time allegorical imagery.

Heavy on the narrative (POV of the main characters), minimum of dialogue.

Offers unconventional storytelling, at least for a blockbuster epic. If 'The New World' was even destined for blockbuster status in the first place.

Features a musical score with nature sounds + Wagner opera + Mozart concertos + Native-American instruments + chants.
Incongruous? No.
Seamless? Yes.

This film pushes at the bounds of artistic film interpretation for the mainstream, which can prove fatal at the box office. Whilst watching - even with the distraction of knitting - I got the distinct feeling of connection in telepathic thought with the characters. Then there was the uncanny sense of feeling personally involved with moving within the scenes...

A thoughtful movie, with much built-in time to ponder - yes, this could be interpreted as slow.
However, meditation is a good thing. Particularly on this topic.
For me, it was kinda sorta - spiritual, even.

Mission accomplished (?) by director Terrence Malick.
It worked for me, anyway.

The 'official' movie link reflects something of the style of the film, and is a fascinating perusal. Have a listen to the Podcasts.
The music at the site is a delightful experience in and of itself.

If you're looking for the usual run-of-the-mill WhiteManMeetsInjuns shoot 'em up with guns and arrows story; with gratuitous rape, pillage and an abundance of riding 'cross the plains scenes (they are in the woods around the Jamestown Colony, after all), this one will bore you to tears. It's much more subtle than that. It's moviemaking with a sensitive approach to the topic. Sensitivity?!? No small wonder this one got 'overlooked' upon release in 2005.

One word movie review: Sublime.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

I've been in such a FAUX mode!

(Faux) Gold and turquoise Aztec necklace.
Materials used: wood joinery 'biscuits', cut-up and circle punched paint chip samples, Liquid Pearl, gold spray paint, jump rings, acrylic paint, Mod Podge.
(Faux) Silver and turquoise Aztec necklace.
Materials used: wood joinery 'biscuits', Liquid Pearl, acrylic paint, silver spray paint, Sculpey III.
(Faux) NorthWest Native-American birch bark basket.
Materials used: tag board, small scraps of crackle look scrapbooking paper, Super Tape, Mod Podge, paper twist, calligraphy ink (to color paper twist brown), acrylic paint, twine to sew paper twist to basket.
(Faux) Southwest Native-American Pottery.
Materials used: gourd (top section cut off with Dremel cutting tool), spray paint in three colors (5 layers of spray needed to achieve desired buff color & texture, as well as to cover up a painted design that was already on the gourd), black sharpie pen (quelle toxique!) to draw design on pot.

As mentioned in a previous post, I'm currently enrolled in a 'Hands-On Art History' class. This semester, we're studying the art/craft of indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Class meets once a week and is 3 hours long. Class time is devoted to lecture, discussion, leafing through books and watching videos pertaining to the subject, technique demos and show n' tell of artifacts. Occasionally a guest speaker will illuminate the class on a particular aspect of our study.

The 'hands-on' part of the course takes the form of homework assignments: create an artsy-crafty something inspired by the week's topic.

Homework is brought to the next class meeting for critique and further discussion.

Project parameters aren't stringent. Students are urged to approach the assignment with an open mind. Thinking outside the box is encouraged.
Consequently, a variety of fascinating perspectives are offered up during the weekly project review.

Knowledge is shared in a casual (no grades) and fun (lotsa laffs) classroom atmosphere.

Great formula for learning = Open Mind + Education + Creativity + Fun

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Dizzy over Daiso

Last Sunday afternoon, I finally got to shop at Daiso = The 100 Yen Store.
This Daiso is located in Daly City, and is one of the first, if not the first Daiso in California.

I always consider myself lucky when finding good items at discounted prices, and am always on the hunt. Daiso is chock-full of such finds. No hunting necessary. Just open your eyes and there are goodies everywhere.
The deals are even better than the legendary KMart 'blue light specials'.

Shopping at Daiso is such a blast!
Not only are the items useful in and of themselves, there's plenty there to get the artsy-crafty juices flowing if you're of a creative bent.

Accompanied by DollinkDaughterLLS, DollinkSon-in-LawD and HubbyDear, the lot of us mingled with other heavy-into-discount-prices shoppers. The joint was jumpin', as most Bay Area stores are on the weekends. Particularly the ones offering great prices for great stuff....

Some weeks earlier, DollinkDaughter LLS spent two full hours scoping out the place.
On this second visit, she already had a 'lay of the land' and knew where to herd her hapless momma through the maze of goods.

It would have been impossible to pick up and consider each and every one of the thousands upon thousands of items, so we did the 'quickish scan n' shop' method, trying to keep in mind only to buy what we simply could not live without...

Most of the goods in Daiso are practical, beautiful, cute, funny or downright odd. The best stuff of course is the weird stuff.
It's really too much to describe here. Definitely a see-it-to-believe-it place.

The majority of packaging is in Japanese, but if you don't read Japanese, no worries.
If the shopper isn't already familar with what an item might be used for, all he/she has to do is investigate the packaging.

There you're likely to find cartoon-y illustrations accompanied by small print instructions about the product. These can provide an amusing as well as fair-to-clear indication of what some of the more mysterious of 'mystery items' might be used for.
Half the fun is trying to figure out what something is!

(Fans of Engrish can have ahelluvagoodtime just studying the great packaging)

About an hour later, and in something of a daze - I finally found myself standing in the check-out line with a total of 33 items in my shopping cart. I parted with $54 to purchase them all.

Huzzah! for Daiso!

Monday, April 02, 2007

Before Morgan Freeman



became God -
He was Easy Reader (remembah?) - just another good lookin' GUY on
The Electric Company.

"Easy Reader, that's my name, umm, umm-umm!"