I have never tried making pasta in a machine before, only by hand (Thank you Madeleine), but it was ridiculously easy. You just measured up everything, tossed it in the machine, and out came tasty, light and fluffy pasta. If there would have been a bit more space in the Tokyo apartment I would buy a pasta-making-machine, but for now I guess I have to settle for homemade pasta for special occasions visiting Canada.

Ok, I have to be honest, when I was first offered a Caesar, I thought it sounded pretty disgusting. Who on earth would put clam broth in a drink? Seafood and alcohol wasn’t my idea of a good time. (Why Canada, why?!) However – upon tasting this drink, consisting of vodka, Clamato (tomato juice and clam broth), hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce and a celery stick, I actually really liked it. It is like a Bloody Mary, but better. Try to not think about clam broth part and just try it with an open mind. Yummy!

How incredibly nice to see actual greenery again. Lovely people teaching me the names of flowers, slow afternoons and evenings doing nothing much. Less is more.

I finally went to sekaido to buy some foamboard and could mount some old pictures. They are currently on display in our bathroom.

Pasta dish I made with chicken and eggplant. I wanted zuccini, but tot all Japanese grocery stores carry that. Man tager hva man haver 😉 // Small totoro change purse bought at the Ghibli museum in Mitaka.

Random sushi eaten. Salmon with cheese(!) was actually good, and of course I can never leave a sushi shop without the mandatory uni, sea urchin. From the regular sushi shop we frequent in Nishi-Shinjuku. Here is the tabelog link. Very inexpensive, fresh and clean. Go there if you want decent sushi on a budget. I usually fill up for less than 2000 yen, and that is including alcoholic drinks.

Time off from studies means I start to fiddle with paper crafts. For no reason. I wanted to learn how to do quilling, on the right there was my first small attempt.

Lebanese food from a restaurant in Shinjuku.

Quite average burger, nothing to phone home about. On the right – we were sorting out boxes of comics in Canada, and I came across this gem. Daredevil battles HITLER! Oh yeah.

Yotsuya Sanchome station looks pretty steampunky at times.

Oh Cananda! I got to try Kraft Dinner! I remember seeing commercials for Kraft dinner when I was a kid, but these things were never for sale in Norway, so I added “Eat Kraft dinner” to my bucket list at age 7. Now it is done. Processed and nasty, but I almost felt nostalgic nonetheless.

Look at this glorious food! Just… look at it. If you have never had poutine, you are missing out. One of the things I was looking forward to the most going back to Canada this time was mouthwatering poutine. (Expect more pictures of this later!) You simply add fries, gravy and tons of cheese, and tada! Orgasm in your mouth. I will probably go back to Japan several pounds heavier than when I left, and I will blame it all on poutine. Totally worth it.

*Edit: I KNOW that the original poutine is made with cheese curds, but outside Quebec I think it is sometimes served with this type of cheese. The gravy is also heavier outside Quebec. Most places I have been to here in Ontario will ask me which style I want, and I can choose between the cheese curds and this other melty cheese. Since I am a total sucker for melted cheese and they tend to use heavier gravy here than in Quebec, I have gone with the melty cheese variant a couple of times. It is yummy either way though. I apologize in advance for offending poutine-purists out there 😉 

This was the other room where it was allowed to take pictures at the Love exhibition at the Mori Art Center. It was one of the last rooms, so I didn’t have much time, and I couldn’t even catch the artists name. I tried looking it up on the website, but I couldn’t find it. If anyone knows the artists name, please let me know. I love the creativeness of this – it is different half-transparent jackets that can be filled with different items. I really liked “Wearing the fun”.

This week it is mostly illustration links. I went through my old bookmarks, and I found a tons of websites I hadn’t visited in years. Half of them were dead links, one fourth seemed a bit dated, but the last 25% is still going with tons of gorgeous work. Check them out!

1. Check out bookofbadarguments.com. This website is new and not from my long-lost archive, but I had to include it in this post. A super neat website where you can read through the entire book of bad arguments. It will tell you how to debate in a proper way. Neat text combined with awesome illustrations. Worth a visit.
2. If you love geometrical craft projects, head over to minieco.co.uk. I especially liked this free diamond template.
3. More beautiful paper crafts from essimar.blogspot.com. I have been following this blog for years. Simple and pretty, always inspirational.
4. Incredible paper-cuts from petercallesen.com. I don’t get how he does it. Mind-blowing detail.
5. Illustration work from byhanna.com. Pretty and wonderful, light and Scandinavian.
6. Awesome illustrations from yellena.com. I just want to draw, draw, draw when I look at her illustrations.
7. Super-intricate qulling-illustrations artyulia.com. God, how beautiful. No words. I wish that her website was better, because her work is awesome. Why do all the best artists have mediocre websites? I would love loved to see bigger pictures to really enjoy the intricate details.
8. Paper sculptures from carlogiovani.com. Neat!
9. Gorgeous paint and line art combined from danielegneus.com. Gah. Beautiful.
10. Geometrical illustrations from mayahayuk.com. Super neat and just beautiful. I love geometric art.

A couple of weeks back Tokyo got the best of me, and I headed to IKEA for a nostalgic plate of meatballs and gravy with my friend. Delicious!

Apart from IKEA – here is a homemade salad + a couple of pictures from a quiet neighborhood walk. I am still amazed with all the wires on the poles in Tokyo, I can’t understand there are not more people being electrocuted on a regular basis. Jeez.

I went to The Ghibli Museum in Mitaka a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately it is not allowed to take pictures inside this museum, but I managed to snap a couple of pictures outside the museum. I haven’t been here for five years, but finally I had an opportunity to go back there a couple of weeks ago thanks to 黒キッキ! It was super nice to actually see the museum again.

(Just one. I was walking from Keio University to Hiroo. Took me about 35 min in 35 degree weather with high humidity a week or two ago. Way to warm, but the park was gorgeous.)