Birthday indulgences

Yesterday was my birthday... Happy Birthday to me! Rob is unfortunately out of town, but I had a very nice lunch with two of my friends and had a quiet dinner at home, which was promptly followed up with me falling asleep on the couch with Unki and Maggie. Good times!

I did start my birthday a little early last weekend with some indulgence purchases from the Mitsuwa in Torrance.


A tonkatsu (pork cutlet) sandwich and a pastry described as a "whole baked apple". Which it was! So tasty.


From one of the fancy stalls, I bought a monaka, which is red bean anko inside of a crisp rice wafer. I was wondering how the outside would stay crispy... but how could I even doubt the ingenuity of the Japanese?


It was separated into two parts - a pouch with the anko and the wafer.


I open up the pouch and smushed the anko inside.


Super crispy and super delicious!

I also went by the bookstore and bought two magazines.

The November issue of Cotton Time, which is the Christmas issue. I thought all of the Christmas projects were beautifully restrained, and I think that it'll be a great inspiration for future holidays. (Sorry the photos are blurry - it's very overcast today!)





The other magazine I bought is a brand new one called "Home Sweet Craft".

I really dig this magazine, it's kind of a lifestyle magazine with different crafts.


Crochet projects.


I'm not a big fan of yo-yos, but I think this curtain is a great idea.


Bags to sew.


Treats to bake.

There's a French theme to some of the projects.

A Paris bag...

... followed up with a Paris room!


There's a section with a map of a certain area and stores in that area to shop. Cute!


And I really had to post this photo because the girl is too cute! I feel like she's thinking she'd rather be doing ANYTHING else than pretend to be cooking for the photo.

And drumroll.... I'm finished with my quilt! Yay! I'll try to write a post about it this weekend, the overcast sky is not good for taking photos. This was how I got through the hours of hand-sewing the binding on.

I re-watched my beloved Nodame show. But what is that lump under the quilt?

Did you really think that Unki would let me sew on my own?