Sunday, December 16, 2012

bento & the unaesthetic chef

My husband, Mr. Bun, is an awesome cook, so I'm lucky to have him make food for me most of the time! Since he's busy with his postgraduate studies, I've been experimenting with making box lunches and with cooking sometimes (even though I'd much rather eat his delicious foods ) and searching for inspiration online, hoping to make us both cute lunches we can bring to school and work. Luckily, there's plenty to be found, but there's so much high-level stuff out there, omg. I cannot begin to compare, but it's crazy awesome

Inspiration:

One of Anna the Red's many amazing kyaraben (character bento.)
Totorooo! 
piggie bento (not sure re: source)
doraemon kyaraben from mymealbox
chicken and burdock bento from Shizuoka Gourmet
and this is just a "leftovers" bento! S-so beautiful.... ;A;

I know I'm a n00b when it comes to both cooking and box lunch making, because it feels like all my lunches end up looking more like this, aesthetically:

open wiiiiiide! >D

Tiny Horror Lunches (aka mine):

Haunted curry korokke (croquette) box! Needs much help aesthetically, but not bad
tasting.
Self-made California roll with crabstick, avocado, cucumber, and spicy
Sriracha mayo.
Another version for Mr. Bun and his super manly lunchbox!
Alternating California rolls and spicy tuna mayo rolls.

Ahh. Le boring, yet aesthetic Unadon (BBQ eel rice) leftovers??
I-I like beni shoga... a lot .... 


I guess this is what I'm thinking of, when I was alluding to aesthetic horror stories.
:( My first photo recorded attempt at 2 fancy, sculptural bento came out really ugly,
but was shockingly edible! I made octopus weenies and then lotus root and
asparagus tempura, a carrot and cucumber salad (not pictured) and used leftover
mushroom rice from the night before for the base. Not bad, but kind of scary looking...

Super spooky pork shogayaki lunch with rice, gyoza, egg, & potato salad.


And lunch at home! Crazy fusion-y bulgogi, veggie, & kimchi fried omurice.

fall taobao mini haul: a retrospective, gobble gobble

While I'm still waiting for the next order to come, here's a small order I never really discussed, mainly because the bulk of the items I ordered were small cosplay accessories. Well, that's a story for a rainy day! I do want to review some cosplay shops at some point, but I'm hesitant to open that can of worms, somehow...

 Bow loafers from 娜娜精选女鞋
 Loaf at first sight. I love how simple and yet adorable these are! They go with pretty much everything, and I love effortlessly cute shoes like this that I can just step into and go. I am cursed with the eternal affliction of 
bow loss-itis, however.... similar to another pair of bow flats I had, after only a few wears, one bow flopped off. Luckily I was able to salvage it and then perform some impromptu reconstructive surgery (thanks, super glue!) but it wasn't long after that the other followed suit. I glued that one back on as well and haven't had any issues since, but I'm still hesitant to carry my tube of Krazy glue around with me since I'm the kind of person who will definitely end up using it as lip gloss by mistake at some point. I sure hope I can keep track of the bows though, since when they came off they leave some scars behind where they are supposed to be attached.


 Mocassins from 时尚元素汇
 Ooh la la, these are so comfy and warm! They're wedges too, though it's not immediately evident. For a bit extra you can have them lined with warm fuzzies, which I did. And my feet have thanked me for it. The long bits at the side with the shell accents are cute, but I ended up tying them a bow because they'd somehow find themselves in my boot and pinch the heck out of me otherwise.



  Faux collars by sasa 原创饰品馆
 Love these, but I can't seem to get them to sit right on the shirts that I have. Nice and simple and good for
contrast, or they will be, once I can find a shirt with a compatible neckline. I wouldn't be averse to trying them out with a sleeveless top, but it's much too cold to even think about that right now....



 
 Lace tank from  High-淘
 I've been doing quite a bit of layering with this tank, but it's cute all by its lonesome, too! It's very soft, not scratchy like I had originally feared. The front has sort of a built-in slip, but you still need to wear a
cami or bandeau under it to block easy X-Ray vision.


 Haha, just a present for Mr. Bun... I don't know, I thought this was awesome. Somehow it seems to be a standalone parody of both the commodification of Che's image and kawaii culture,or am I looking too deeply into this? :P Ah well. Nice quality tee but probably should have ordered a smaller size for him (men's M was more like US men's M than expected, in this case, and he prefers more fitted cuts.) The print seems to be a 
heat press transfer, so it's not as durable as a silk screen or sublimation print might be. Machine washing inside out and tumble drying low has worked well thus far, the image hasn't crinkled or  faded like some other prints I've made or bought. This shop seems to specialize in t-shirts with bold and unique prints for about Y50 a pop, though designs are, expectedly, unlicensed knockoffs (think characters that are easy to replicate, like Paul Frank's Julius, Comme des Garcons PLAY, A Bathing Ape, Doraemon.) They also have quite a few options for you if you're looking to follow the "matching couple" trend and pick up a t-shirt, longsleeve tee, or hoodie for both you and your love.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

excited for christmas in taobaoland!!! haul preview




WOO!
Hi there, it's been awhile, eh??

Getting stoked for a Christmas present for myself, I guess, is the way that it worked out this time A good friend and I split shipping too, so all is good in the neighborhood! I also managed to procure some prezzies for others this way I just hope everything arrives before the 25th!

To tell you the truth, I am experiencing buyer's remorse about some of this stuff after the whole process is over... especially the pink cardigan with the bow detail in the front. I was just struck last night with, 'ARE YOU PREPARED FOR A LIFETIME COMMITMENT OF GENTLE HANDWASHING AND DRIP-DRYING?! (shallow breaths)' but I think it's going to be OK, I won't really know how worth it is until it arrives, right? I can't wait to try everything on and parade around, hohoho.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

L'Oreal Paris -- Feria Multifaceted Shimmering Color in Iced Mocha




"TIME TO DYE!!" she said, with conviction
honey to chocolate!


 I got tired of faded multi-color blondeishness,so I decided to go darker again! I've been bleaching and/or coloring my own hair for years, and I'm usually pretty happy with L'Oreal's color offerings. "Iced Mocha" is actually a warmer brown, kind of reddish/strawberry; I picked it up on a whim, and while it didn't come out exactly as featured on the box (due to my existing coloring, probably) I'm still pretty happy with it.


Unfortunately, though, my hair is really damaged and doesn't take color well anymore, so there are a couple of blonde streaks left. I think it's really just time for a thorough hair-chopping  

Sunday, September 9, 2012

what i wore, 9-7-2012





beret: thrifted
blouse: taobao, 美美天使屋 MM ANGEL
vest: 2008 impulse buy, takeshita-doori, harajuku
skirt: taobao, Magic★ (from most recent purchase!)
tights: taobao, from Fish Shop





i don't always wear berets.


but when i do, i become a bunny with a pancake on its head


Tuesday, August 28, 2012

taobao haul & xmas in july, pt 2.

PEOPLEWEARIN'
STUFF

-- or, just me?!
 Here are some what-I-wore-like shots of the clothes featured in my last post.

Laying clothing flat is all well and good for a haul post, but I think it's probably good to supplement with a more 3D vision of how the clothes look worn...
Also, you can see what the clothing looks like on a non-petite model, if the clothes on TaoBao are modeled at all :P

This time, I got a little trigger border happy with Pick for Android, another Instagram-like app for photo filtering, editing, decorating, and the like.

The alpaca stamp.... is just really awesome. I could cry.