Bento-Stuff!

Yeah well, I keep on being lazy when it comes to writing in here...I have two reasons for now writing this, first I'm bored with the book I'm reading for my administration interview at university tomorrow. Second is that the package with my bento-stuff has arrived - earlier than I thought.

A while ago I ordered from an Ebay-seller named kaczan*bento ("yingka bento Store", link below). The Shop has a wide variety of goods, and prices are okay (I think so, never bought bentostuff before). The shipping was very fast, I don't know if I was simply lucky - but while the stated shipping time was 3 to 5 weeks to Germany, my package arrived after eight days.

Also good was the packaging. Everything arrived thickly wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap, so the boxes in the beginning seemed much bigger than they actually are.

First thing to unwrap was my Urara Blue Dragonfly box. I've loved the Urara designs ever since I saw them, so now I bought my first item of this series. Many others will follow, main part of them Usagi and Dragonfly. The box came with no equipment, so I'll have to make a belt for it. And I'll soon buy a set of fit-under-the-lit-chopsticks for all three Urara-designs.

Second came my green frog-box. It's childish, but it's really cute and has a lot of equipment, such as a divder for the upper tier, fit-under-the-lid-chopsticks, -spoon and -fork, and a belt.After that there was the bundle of the equipment I bought. First a furikake-chicken. I don't know why I bought this, I never use furikake... but it was so cute! Second, a pair of little containers for salad cream, ketchup and other.Third a set of four silicon cups who make a circle together, so they fit in the corners of oval bento boxes. Fourth (and last) is a set of three flower-shaped vegetable-cutters. I've wanted a Sakura-shaped vergetable-cutter for long, now I have it together with two other flowers (and I'll need to find out which flowers these are). After unpacking the boxes I knew why most peoples first thought about them is like "oh my god, they're so small". When I got my first box I was like "and I ever thought bento boxes are so small you think it's for little children" - now I have to say, my first box is a really big one. But I think it's good the new ones are small, I mostly had problems with filling the big one cause there is so much space, and the last times I never managed to eat all of the food. So perhaps this is a better size and I will be able to eat it all - we'll se, I'll make a bento for tomorrow when I'm at the university (don't really like the food in the canteen).

And after adding the pictures I remember why I don't add the older, pre-written posts - blogspot keeps bullying me, I'm not able to copy text in here, move the pics around and such stuff... At this rate posting is no fun.
Anyways, I'll have to go back to reading this stupid book for tomorrow.

kaczan*bento / yingka bento Store: http://stores.ebay.de/yingka-bento-store

Conplans and holidays

Guys, I’m going to have a lot of free days over the next two month. Well, my BSJ is only fort wo more month, and up to now I only had taken two days free. So first I’ll have the next two days free, so I have time for sewing. After that I’ll have to work three and a half weeks straight while nearly everyone at work is on vacation – our department has to run even during the down period. But after that I’m free from July 28^th till August 6^th. Then I’ll have to work for a week, and then I’ll have a week free time again (August 16^th – 20^th). Well, then the remaining time of my BSJ is only seven days, and I’ll still have two free days to spend…

Also I don’t have to go babysitting for the next five weeks.

Upcoming Events are for me the Chisaii this week (July 3^rd/4^th). I think we’ll all be there, Beo a bit later cause of work, only one I don’t know about is Zwerg. As far as I know we’ll be cosplaying Bleach and Pokemon on Saturday, Bleach at day, and since we plan to stay there long we’ll take our Kigurumi with us so we have something comfy to wear in the evening. On Sunday we’ll be cosplaying Naruto as a group and I hope on wearing my new Lavi-Cos sometime as well. I’ll have to decide the next days where I’ll be sleeping (at home’s impractical because of the bus connection, Thym said she won’t let anyone sleep over, and I got an offer from Sonna to sleep at her place in Harburg), since all those who wanted to sleep ant my place either found someone other to sleep at or aren’t able to come (like LeCri q.q ). And the n ext two days I’ll be busy making muffins and finishing my cosplays (or at least putting them in a wearable state).

The weekend right after the Chisaii it’s time for camping together with lots of other Mexxlers. It’s somewhere in Hamburg, they had a change of administration, and it’s said that it’s now at another place than originally planned. Well, it seems I’ll have to go there alone, since Thym definitely has to work, Beo as well as it seems. And I don’t know what’s with Zwerg and Asta. But I hope Thym will lend me her tent, I love it. I think I’ll take Espeon with me as my sleeping suit XD And lots of muffins so I have something to eat.

Three weeks after that I’ll go to Köln on Thursday, to sleep at Kishis place while the Animagic (Animagic from July 30^th till August 1^st). Yeah, I wanna go there all three days. I’ll be so damn dead after it x.x But it’s okay, I’ll have a lot of fun there and I have a few free days after it so I don’t have to go to work totally tired out. And I had the idea to spend a few days at LeCris home after the Ani XD I think I’ll decide after the Ani if I’ll really do that. I don’t have any Cosplans yet, but I’ll definitely go as Lavi one of the days. A Con without Lavi isn’t possible XD And I half-promised to bring Soba and Mitarashi-Dango.. and of course I’ll make lots of muffins!

Well, two weeks after the Ani I’ll take the train to leave northern Germany and go to Bayern to visit Raviell. LeCri will be there as well. We’ll have four days fun and’ll do silly things. And when I’m returning to Lüneburg, those two will go to the Lake Constance for vacation..

That’s it for my plans about the next weeks, as far as I am planning. I wanna go to the theme park in Soltau with a group and in Cosplay, but we’ll see if that’ll really happen.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was that we’ve started a new secret santa at nekobento. This time I’m not the organizer, only some kind of helping organizer – if the real organizer has questions she can ask me, I have a list about who is whose secret santa as well, so if something happens we have someone who can take her place.

When I first read the wish list I got, I was like “What the fuck?! How shall I do that, what shall I buy, I can never get something good for her!“, but after thinking two or three minutes I had a good idea and I think I’ll do what I’ve thought about. But I can’t tell whom I got or what I’m going to put in the package, cause it’s supposed to be a surprise, and perhaps someone from nekobento is going to read this.

So I’ll have to somehow manage to go to the asian shops in Hamburg at the weekend.

Cosplay and cooking

First of all, I've bee really lazy over the last weeks with writing in here... My last post is from two month ago. Doesn't mean I hadn't experienced anything or I haven't written anything. The point is, I've pre-written the erntries by hand on paper, started the entry - and was too lazy to typewrite them. So by now I have eight entries waiting to be published. I hope I'll manage to typewrite them soon, so over the next days (weeks?) I'll post them all.

Yeah well, last friday I went to Lüneburg with Thym and Beo, mainly to search for fabric for Beos Umbreon-cosplay. We want to wear them at the ChisaiiCon, I think saturday evening. While shopping I also found fabric for my new Lavi-cos, so I only need a new haircut and fresh colour, white trousers, and boots (and the coat he's wearing under the poncho, but that'll follow later). I won't make it till the Chisaii with buying the boots, I managed to lose every auction for those boots on ebay I took part. Only auctions I won were the boots for LeCri and the Yukata Obi for me.
I started working on Espeon on monday last week. Made the pattern for it and cut most of the body. On sunday I cut thelast part of the body and started sewing. Now I have to narrow it, cause I cut it waaay too big. But I love the fabric *___* Only problem with sewing is, I like to sew at night (I'm more creative that time!), but in the neighbouring room sleeps my moms goddaughter, so I'm not allowed to sew after eight o'clock... I can see my time problem by now.
According to the problems with my real hair (I'm not willing to pay 15euros for a haicut I'm not totally satisfied with, cause the coiffeur wa never able to cut my hair like Lavis, even with a lot of reference-pics), I have problems finding a wig for Lavi. But well, thats not this important, Lavi with uniform is planned at the earliest for the Animagic.

Apart from all my cosplay problems I started trying out a few new recipes. First thing was panna cotta on saturday. I have to admit that is was a pre-made thing, I only had to warm milk and mix a powder and cream into it. But it was tasty. I love panna cotta! I ate it with some puréed strawberries.
Second thing, as well on saturday, was an attempt on making daifuku mochi. I tried to make those long time ago, and it was horrible. Now I know what's been wrong. My first try on saturday failed (and as well I know what went wrong), but the second one was nice. Just like those pink mochi I like this much and buy frozen every time I'm in Hamburg. First I wanted to make Ichigo daifuku, but then I realized thet we had no strawberries left. So I filled them with panna cotta and strawberry-purée. Very nice. Very tasty. Although I prefer Mochi made from Mochigome. About the picture, I made it at sunset, so it all has a yellownes. Originally the Mochi were white.
Last thing I tried was sponge cake, made in the microwave. I've ever thought sponge cake is extremely complicated to make, but with this recipe it was very easy and very fast. And you don't have to preheat the microwave XD Please forgive me for the bad picture, I had nothing to fill the dough with, so I put a little marmelade in between the layers and ate it like that. It was wonderful. And I had a bellyache afterwards, cause I ate it all myself.
I'm curious about the next days, cause I'll try Mitarashi dango one of these days. I promised to try making them, and if I succeed, and they're edible even two or three days after they were made, I promised to make some for the Animagic to feed all the Moyashis with it.

Well, I think that was it for today, now I have to go to bed, I'll have to go to work tomorrow (or today, well, wednesday). After that I have weekend - I've got plenty of leave days to spend.

Birthdays, Bento, and other stuff

Well... On Saturday a week ago I went to Hamburg (did I ever mention I like going by train?). First to buy the fabric for Rangiku, second to search for mochigome, and third for a birthday party.
Kay, the thing with the fabric was a total failure. I decided to force Thym into buying me the same fabric she'll use for her Cos, and to simply repair Lavis trousers instead of sewing new ones.
My search for mochigome was a total success. I found it in the first shop I was in (the one I love cause it has lots of cool stuff). And I found shiratamako a well - but was stupid enough to buy only the mochigome... *sigh* thats so typical for me.
The party was to celebrate the birthdays of four Animexx-members (of which I had known only two, and one I don't now even now after the party). It was fun there. Except for the part that it brought back to my mind why cosplayers and such people aren't liked in the japanese garden (it seems to happen often they're thrown out by the park guards) - they were noisy, they left their rubbish in the bushes, and I have the feeling a small group wrote something on the walls of the tea ceremony house -.-
Somewhere around eight (could've been earlier, my sense of time got messed up) the remaining people (eight including me) went to the Hamburger Dom, a big temporary amusement park in Hamburg. It was fun to stroll along there with my Dratini wig on - try it out once in a time to go to such a place with waist-long, light blue hair XD I got quite a lot of weird looks XD (And I'm able to pin my wig on in a way I can even ride a roller coaster without my wig coming off my head.)

On monday I had my first try on (sakura-)mochi from mochigome. Well, I overdid it with the colouring and they were not exactly as I wanted them to be, but I think it was a good first try and they were tasty (and much more edible than my first tries with rice flour). I decided to make some for Thyms birthday party at the Hanami in Hamburg as well.

On Tuesday Thym visited me at work. We timed it so that we would spend my lunch break together. To mark the occasion I made a Bento we ate together (kay, I ate the most, but I made it, and I had work to do, and Thym got mochi instead).
After Thym was gone I was asked by one of the people there if that girl were my sister, cause we look alike in the face... Yes, we are siblings! Not by flesh, but in mind.

On wednesday Asta, Thym and Beo went to Hamburg without me (had to work all day long) to buy the fabric for our Bleach-Cosplays. After that they had a little shooting at "Planten un Blomen" (a big park in Hamburg, the earlier mentioned japanese garden is a part of it). They also took soome videos (I'm happy not having been there, I hate videos taken of me even more than photos). And they went to the sushi bar, about what I'm totally jealous, I like it there and I really like to eat there and I totally love the macha ice cream *__*

Okay guys, that's it for today. Pictures will follow later, since my laptop is still broken I can't put them from the camera on the computer.

Dying laptops and some food

Well, only a short notice about my laptop being broken. Since yesterday the monitor won't work. Went to the computer-doc today, he said only the manufacturer can fix such a thing (apparently, the monitor lighting is broken), and that it's expensive x.x But until I decide on what to do (and after that until what I want to do is done) I don't have a computer, so I won't be online as much as normal. I hope my dad allows me to take his laptop as much as possible...

And another thing, much more enjoyable. I bought the Dim Sum from Lidl yesterday, to give them a try. They're tasty, so today I bought ome more to freeze them.

Salted Cherry blossoms, Tea jelly and a package

First thing to report about is my Wichtelpaket (I don't know what it's called in english). It arrived on sunday, but I forgot taking pictures. It contained a card with greetings, a little bag with easter chocolate, a coconutwater-drink, some kind of strawberry cake (I think it's rather cookies), three different sorts of crackers, and a chicken or so. Well, I don't like crackers XD" But I'll try them all, and if I really don't like them I'll feed them to Thym XD And I don't know what to do with the.. chicken... my room is overly full, I don't have the space to show it... Anyhow, the person who send the package couldn't have known this. But I really want to know how the coconutwater-drink tastes.

Second thing is, I tried making tea jelly on sunday, using lil'chans recipe. First try totally failed, it tasted like wobbly water... So for the second try I used two teabags and twice the amount of sugar. It really is tasty like this and has a nice and appetizing colour. I'll do it again XD It has a really funny wobbling texture (I poked it a lot only to see it wobbling XD ), but isn't as overly sweet as the stuff ("Wackelpudding") one can buy in stores.
Third thing (or rather second thing in cooking-related) are my salted cherry blossoms. I asked the guy in the next street if he would allow me to pick blossoms from his tree. How to make the salted cherry blossoms (and also salted cherry leafs), you can read at nekobento or the wagashi-maniac-blog (I used the wagashimaniac-method, cause nekobentos failed last year). Now they're in the fridge, lets see how long I'll leave them in there...

Lil'chans tea jelly: http://lilys-kleiner-bentoservice.blogspot.com/2009/09/happy-harvest.html
Nekobento salted sakura: http://www.nekobento.com/?page=sakurablueteneingelegt
wagashimaiac salted sakura: http://wagashi-net.de/blog/wagashimaniac/2010/04/shio-sakura/

Next Cosplay - Rangiku Matsumoto

Well, one week ago, Thym and Asta decided on our next Cosplay. Bleach was named a few month ago, but with other Characters. Then we kinda forgot about it, a thing I’m not sad about cause I didn’t really like the character I should’ve done…
But now Bleach is back, and Asta and Thym decided I should do Rangiku Matsumoto, cause “it fits”. After Anbu showed me a few vids about her I had to agree she’s cool. I think she’ll be a lot of fun XD
But I have to admit I forgot which characters Asta and Thym are going to do o.O

Well, I already started thinking about how to do this.
First, I’ll have to buy another Hakama. The question is, should it be as long as the one for Kikyo (strictly spoken it’s too long, but when I’m wearing it girls way it’s okay) or one size shorter (then perhaps I’ll can wear it for other Cosplays as well, but it may be too short for girls way). I won’t sew this one either.
Second, I’ll have to buy a wig. I think it’ll be another heat resistant – they’re more expensive, but they’re more pleasant to handle because they’re knotting less.
Third I’ll have to find a bra – I think my normal ones don’t allow me to have such a big cleavage.
Fourth I’ll have to make a pattern for the top. I’m thinking about how to do it best, cause what I first thought of wont work…

Oh well, problem #3 is solved (at least halfway), I found a bra. Girls, don’t throw away a bra merely cause it’s too small. I’ll have to narrow it, so it fits better, and I’ll sew cushions to put them in the cups to push my breasts. I have big breasts, but for this Cos they’re too small O.O

Kay, further thoughts are postponed on tomorrow, now I really have to go to bed… Good night^^