Day out

I spent most of Saturday preparing for selling my jewellery at the Swiss-Japanese Friendship Society's New Year event, which involved getting change from the post office, a detour to the Korean food shop to pick up some hot Japanese curry roux, then to the large Migros down the train line to pick up some polyester stuffing - to make cushions with! I finally used up some of the fabric I got in Takayama years and years ago and I'm quite happy with the result, although the stuffing is a bit lumpy. (I also totally overestimated how much I'd need, I got two 250g packs but ended up not even finishing the 500g pack I already have. Stuffed things are in my future.) And we had some rather delicious curry.

Sunday was a great day for food, but not for selling jewellery. I got there early to help set up and so had my pick of the tables and got a nice prominent spot, but spent most of my time chatting to people and buying from Tomoyo Jaeger, who makes amazing Japanese sweets, and Hiro Takahashi, our local Japanese baker. A friend bought two packs of five phone straps with decorative mini-envelopes (puchi-bukuro) to give as gifts to her students on their birthdays, Tomoyo bought a phone strap and a little boy bought a Swarovski designer crystal pendant. For himself. You go! Everyone commented that not many people had come, and one member of the committee mentioned that people were spending money on food but not much else. But my bento from Usagiyama (aka Hotel Hasenberg) was delicious and it was good to see everyone.

I will never in my life have the patience to make an omelette the thickness of a crepe, let alone wrap it so nicely around a rice ball. Thankfully Usagiyama do that for you.

 My table.

The cushions I made on Saturday showing off some of my jewellery.

Hiro Takahashi and Tomoyo Jaeger were across from me. Great view!

I saw this ad in the main station on my way home, which made me wonder if I was still in Switzerland, or in Japan...

But then I remembered seeing these Swarovski crystals in Migros on Saturday for about four times what I pay for them in the UK, and that's when I don't buy them wholesale.

A warning sign that "Seilkran" will be operating at this station next week, which seems to be some kind of combined crane and winch system.

And finally, some photos from last weekend in snowy London! Bill and Austa took me on a detour into a snow-covered graveyard. Appropriately enough, we were on our way to the "Death" exhibition at the Wellcome Collection.

Out and about

I was out last weekend to get a new toner cartridge for my printer - I bought it about 3 years ago with a small cartridge included, and it's only giving me the 'toner low' light now. Nowhere had the small cartridge, so I got the big one which will presumably last me until no-one prints anything any more.

The display of cat play trees at the pet shop in our local shopping centre, with a sign sternly warning that this is not a seating area.

 And a strange bunny head made of small post-its seen in a deserted office building I walked through to get to the shop to get my toner cartridge.

It's cold and snowy, but that's par for the course and most importantly nothing stops here because of it. Fingers crossed that London doesn't get any snow while I trying to get there on Friday night or get home next Tuesday.

Carrying over

I was so happy to get my last pumpkin at the beginning of December, and since it was a big one there was way more than I could use before we left for Christmas and New Year. After roasting, I searched to see if you could freeze the cooked flesh and came across a great idea - freezing them in muffin cups so you get nice regular amounts! What I forgot to do was check how big mine were - the article I read online said the containers held 1/4 of a US cup, but it turns out mine hold 1/2 a cup. So, I accidentally defrosted twice as much as I needed.

Nothing else to do but bake and bake again... pumpkin and chocolate-chip cookies from the "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" book, and a new pumpkin loaf recipe baked in a new disposable cardboard container. Waiting for it to cool down to see how it worked out!

Happy New Year!

Without any fuss (or indeed any notification at all!) the Open University awarded me the Certificate in Contemporary Science on 31 December 2012! Awarded for the completion six short science courses (microbiology, drug design, genetics, nutrition, alternative energy, seismology & vulcanology) it's a nice way to mark the halfway point of my first year of the BSc.

I can now use Cert. Cont. Sci. after my name, which I may do if I need an ice-breaker!