SuperEggplant

I have been packaging up superbuzzy orders as quickly as I can, but unfortunately I haven’t been very quick! Perhaps I should hire an elf. The Thanksgiving festivities got in the way a bit, but I did manage to go to the post office on Thanksgiving evening (I made my brother come with me), and I just went tonight, too. I’m still not entirely caught up, but I am hoping to get all current orders packaged up on Sunday and in the mail on Monday (assuming it doesn’t snow or do something crazy). Hope everyone had a nice and relaxing holiday!

And also apologies to Kelly, who doesn’t like to have her photo taken, but I like taking photos with people in them, and since she was my primary companion on the trip to Japan, she got to be the featured star in most of my photos.

Those of you who shop at superbuzzy are probably already aware that we posted an update to the site. The update included the products we picked up in Japan as well as some new items we will continue to stock, such as fun items from zakka master Shinzi Katoh, artist Shoko Sugiyama, and Cotton Time and other Japanese craft magazines. I’m sorry to say that we have already sold out of a lot of the new fabrics. I know it’s frustrating to miss out on fun stuff (I can’t tell you how many times I tried to get one of those Small Object clothespin people and never succeeded!). We’re trying to keep inventory stocked, but often we can only locate very limited quantities of fabric. We brought back as much as our bags could carry, and hey, my bag was so far over the overweight weight limit that the airline rep told me to repack right there! I even had to shove a bolt of fabric into my carry-on, a giant albeit unfashionable backpack.
Hope everyone’s Turkey Day preparations are going well. I got to the market this morning right when they opened at 8am, since last year I couldn’t even get into the parking lot! I wasn’t quite awake, but the employees were helpful and nice, and the guy at the meat counter even called me Miss, and I haven’t been a Miss for well over a decade, so I guess I have plenty to be thankful for! Okay, it’s time for bed.

How about some random food photos? I have a great photo of Kelly taking a big honkin’ bite out of a spicy burger from Mos Burger, but somehow I don’t think she’d want me to post it. Kelly took way more food photos than me, and I’m looking forward to seeing them and reliving our food adventures!
Anyway, I adore breakfast in Japan. Yes, there’s the traditional Japanese breakfast of miso soup, rice, and a piece of fish or something, but I lean more toward the “morning set.” Offered at many cafes and restaurants, the morning set usually consists of a hot beverage, salad, yogurt, and some kind of toast. On Kelly’s first morning in Japan, we went out to breakfast with my mother and aunt. Here’s what Kelly and I had:

How kooky and wonderful is that! The sandwich thing on the left is some sausage with ketchup, and the other one is potato salad. Peter was pretty grossed out when I showed him this photo, but I found the meal to be quite delicious.
We did a lot of train traveling at night, mostly because we were so busy during the day that we were forced to ride the trains at night! Apparently the thing to do on the Shinkansen is to scarf down as much food as possible. On the way to Osaka from Tokyo, we hoped to buy bentos on the train, but the food service was nonexistent. So, on the return trip we prepared by buying bentos on the train platform. Not bad!
Mine’s on the left. It’s matsutake gohan (pine mushroom rice). Kelly got a katsu (pork cutlet) bento of some sort. Yum.
And speaking of katsu, one evening we met up with my friend Kanako and ate katsu. I met Kanako when she was an exchange student at Templeton High School (Peter used to work there when we lived in California). She was one of my Japanese tutors. She’s from Nagoya but is currently attending college in Tokyo, so I was really happy to get to see her. She works in Roppongi Hills, so that’s where we met and ate. We went to a restaurant that specialized in katsu. Here’s Kanako with her meal:

Here’s my meal:
It was yummy! What was cool was that you can get unlimited rice and salad (thinly sliced cabbage). There was a ton of food, but I believe I ate all of it. I think Kanako and Kelly were a little shocked (and perhaps disgusted) by my appetite. After dinner we went to Starbucks and got matcha lattes. They are not on the menu, but they do offer them. They are very strong and tasty, so remember that if you go to Japan and need a little matcha jolt!
We also went to a kuru kuru sushi place in Akihabara with Elizabeth (okay, get this. Elizabeth is the daughter of the secretary at the school where my friend Wendy works. I transported homemade brownies to Elizabeth, so she treated us to dinner!), but I didn’t get any photos. I have some sweet treat photos, too, but it’s almost time for Heroes, so I think I’ll sign off now, make a cup of decaf, and settle down in front of the television!

Kelly and I were both looking forward to checking out Nippori Textile Town in Tokyo. We were hoping to find some treasures to bring back for superbuzzy, and I think we scored!
There are scads of fabric shops lining the streets, but the ultimate destination has got to be Tomato. I think there were six floors of fabrics, plus several other Tomato stores focusing on trims, upholstery fabric, etc. We were guided to Tomato by Jen and her girls.

I have “known” Jen since my early days of blogging when we were both knitting a lot more! It was great to meet her in person. She was filled with tons of great advice, and we followed most of it (eat green tea cake at Fujiya, have dinner at Saizeriya, hang out at La La Terrace in Minami Senju). Since Tomato is not exactly toddler-friendly, she left us at the door.
Not long after Jen departed, Stefana arrived! She called and said she had a strange feeling that we would be hitting Nippori that day. Kelly and I are really fortunate that Stefana met us there, because she was a wonderful and patient guide, and she did not run away screaming when Kelly and I started grabbing bolts and talking a million miles a minute.
Here’s a Tomato dude measuring one of our purchases:
For about $5 Tomato delivered our haul to our ryokan.
Here’s a sneak peek!

The fabric came on long rolls, so we spent an evening refolding the fabric. It proved a little tricky, since our room was so teeny. Kelly was a pro, though. Look at her go!

A couple of tips when shopping at Nippori:
– If you need to change money, e.g., dollars to yen, go to Sumitomo Mitsui Bank (it’s pretty close to the train station)
– If you need to withdraw cash, go to the post office (also close to the train station. Basically, once you exit the station, turn left and just walk straight until you hit it)
– If you need lunch, go to Mos Burger. Super yummy burgers, and I highly recommend the kimpira rice burger.
– Take the address of your hotel/ryokan/hostel/tent. If you buy a lot of stuff, you aren’t going to want to lug it around with you! Delivery is cheap and efficient.

Kelly and I had only one night in Osaka, so we thought it’d be fun (and cheap) to stay in a capsule hotel. We stayed in the Asahiplaza Shinsaibashi Capsule Hotel. It was pretty interesting. First, we had to take our shoes off and put them into little shoe lockers. We were then issued keys and sent downstairs to the Ladies’ Zone, which was locked off from the unruly male population. There were lockers for our luggage (flashbacks of high school gym class), and we were supplied with pajama things, which Kelly was forced to wear because she forgot her pajamas in her other luggage. They had a lavatory area with sinks and chairs, a “relaxation” room with newspapers and a massage chair, a little room with tables and a vending machine, and a bath area. The capsules took up another wing.

There was plenty of privacy, and the capsules themselves were spacious and comfortable!
(Look, Kelly! You’re in capsule 323!!) The capsules were equipped with a coin-operated television (with options for adult content. I chose not to think about that too much), a light, a fan, a radio, and a couple tiny cubbies for personal items. The “door” was a plastic screen you pulled down. I don’t know if I’d want to stay in one of these places on a long-term basis, but for one night, it was just fine!
The adventures continue tomorrow!

It’s going to take me a while to get all my photos organized, so I thought I’d just show a few of my faves! I do also want to tell you about all the great people we met in Japan. I swear the planets were all aligned or something, because we got to meet nearly everyone we hoped to meet (except we didn’t get to meet Suzy, cuz she ran off to Australia). Kelly has a very nice writeup about everyone we met, and I can’t top that, so uh, I’m not going to try. I do want to mention them all, though.
First off, we met Kat and Darin. Kat is super down-to-earth and was nice enough to take us to a bunch of crafty spots. Darin joined us for lunch and graciously dragged our luggage back to their apartment so we could continue shopping unencumbered (though I think he stopped in the park for a beer!).

No, his face isn’t always like that, though his granny might tell him that if he keeps making that face, it’s going to stay that way!
Next we met Molly and Anjali in Nagoya for a fun dinner. They are even cuter in person than you could imagine! Molly IS actually freaked out by small animals; she started to go pale when we started discussing dogs.

It also happened to be Kelly’s birthday, so we went to a cafe called Harbs (I swear! They served harb tea, you see. Har har! Maybe they should just call it Carbs, based on the mondo, American-sized chunks of cake we got!) to celebrate! Kelly had banana cream pie, and she declared it delicious!

Okay, I think this will have to be continued. It’s bedtime, and I guess my photos are too big, because I have to resize all of them, blah blah. If this post seems disjointed, it’s because I was watching Grey’s Anatomy while typing, and it was, you know, distracting. Egads, I can’t believe Thanksgiving is next week! See? Disjointed. Good night!