Crochet madness!!

Crochet madness! Yes! I say madness because just a few months ago I had never crocheted before!! As I found myself on bedrest a while ago, to challenge myself I decided to try something new! I watched many youtube tutorial, and started to crochet! Here are some of the finish product and a few useful links if you want to learn!

First off I strongly recommend Crochet Geek to learn! The youtube video are easy to follow and offer clear instruction.

For patterns, I strongly recommend signing on Ravelry. It's free and offers more patterns that you will ever need!

A little pair of overall. I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I had to improvised here. In the end, I am very happy of the results!

This little sweater is a mix between 3 different patterns. It was fairly easy to do and took about one afternoon. It turned out a bit big so it might not fit until baby is 1 year old.

This little outfit is a mix of two pattern. The pants and hat are from Mint Green Set. The sweater is from SandiAngels.















This is a basic double crochet blanket! Nothing fancy here.










This blanket took for ever and leaves so many holes, I am unsure if it will ever be useful ;-) It is from a learn to crochet little booklet.

These two hats are from the same pattern which can be found on Ravelry. I had to learn to do a double post crochet which can be complicated if you don't know what you are doing. But I am really happy of the results! Both these hats were given as gift.

 

This was one of my very first project!! Amigurumi are easy, fast and fun little things to do! There are hundred of patterns available on Ravelry from cats, to octobus... There are even some Starwars ones to be found.

October is pumpkin time!

34 weeks pregnant, defending my thesis on campus!

October is pumpkin time! Yes indeed! Halloween is fast approaching. The houses in my neighborhood are slowly putting up their spooky decorations. Outside the air is getting colder and the trees are shimmering in all the variation of red, orange and yellow. A month ago I defended my master thesis! 

It went great and I am now officially done. Out of school and no work, you might wonder what exactly I am doing? Well after miscarrying just over a year ago, I am now 39 weeks pregnant with a girl! This pregnancy was everything but pleasant. Complications after complications, morning sickness until 26 weeks... but now we are getting ready to welcome our baby girl before the end of this month!!

This will bring many new challenges, more occasions to cook, different ways to travel and hopefully many wonderful afternoon of crafting together. As a matter of fact, I should say, during this pregnancy (since I was on bedrest for about 9 weeks) I learned to crochet! I am now addicted to the web site Ravelry for all its wonderful patterns!

I still have to up-date my blog, fix a few of the broken pictures and finish transferring the Japan 2009 trip post from my old blog. I will try to get as much done as possible in the next few days! Until then, wish me luck, my life is about to change!!!

Forum des jeunes ambassadeurs de la Francophonie des Amériques - FJAFA

This is a very long overdue post! Just over a year ago, I was part of a life changing experience, as I made my way to Moncton New Brunswick as a Ambassadeur de la Francophonie. For 10 days we took part in conferences, debates, cultural activities and tours. Together, we explored the meaning of being francophone in the Americas, we forged new friendship and developed tight connection with french speakers from South America to Canada.

Ambassadeurs de l'Ontario

During our stay, we also got to participate in Le Grand Tintamarre de Caraquet! A unique experience where for an afternoon, people gather on the street, in colorful attires and makes noise. This once a year event has a profound signification for the Acadians.

From wikipedia : Tintamarre is an Acadian tradition of marching through one's community making noise with improvised instruments and other noisemakers, usually in celebration of National Acadian Day. The term originates from the Acadian French word meaning "clangour" or "din". The practice is intended to demonstrate the vitality and solidarity of Acadian society, and to remind others of the presence of Acadians. It originated in the mid-twentieth century, likely inspired by an ancient French folk custom    

It's been a while!!!

The last few months have been full of surprises. Some good, some bad and some just plain horrible. Let's go back in time will you. Back in March I started my first day of march break with the horrible news of the Earthquake-Tsunami in Japan. Took me a good 16 hours to reach my friends in the affected area. Everyone is safe, although some have lost their home. I was glued for the week, to my computer, watching the Live Fuji-terebi broadcast. During that week, my sister and I were quick coming up with a fundraiser idea! At her college in Sudbury, she sold origami paper cranes. She raised 500$ for the red cross. At my school, with the help of the grade 5 students, we made onigiri (4 different flavors) and sold them to the rest of the school. The student built a festival like food-stand, got dress in yukata and played japanese music to set the mood. Although no-one had ever heard of onigiri, the students (from kindergarden to grade 6) were pleasantly surprise!! The sake furikake flavor was a hit! In all, we raise 460$ for the red cross. But more importantly, the students had the opportunity to discover japanese culture! The double disaster also motivated the grade 2 class in finishing their 1000 paper cranes. In June, they will be mailing them to Hiroshima.

Although we are a small community in rural Ontario, I was so happy to see how willing to help people of the community were. At my husband's school, kids raised over 1000$ for the relief effort and again last week had a *wear red and white* day to remind people that Japan is still struggling.

In other news, at the end of the month of March I finished my contract. I was sad to leave the kids behind, but glad to have more free time to finishing writing my thesis which I am suppose to defend in August. I just need my intro and conclusion and then it's editing time. 160 pages in all. Wish me luck! And for those who wonder, the subject is (this is a rough English translation since my thesis is in french) cultural and aesthetic hybridity in Ook Chung's novels and short stories : the influence of Japanese and Korean culture.

Then came April. Oh boy! Did it rain. Outside and inside. I ran into some health issues... Then there was the emotional roller coaster of getting to my pregnancy due date (I miscarried back in October). We were on the road a lot, for basketball tournaments. (My husband is an assistant coach). My sister moved back in with us for a few weeks. Overall April felt like a stop and go type of month with endless car ride and lot's of waiting. Did I have the time to cook? Not one chance! We were barely ever home.

Now May and June should be fairly exciting! My sister is moving into her new apartment this weekend. Then in two weeks, my sister in law is coming from Vancouver to visit. And if everything goes according to plan, in June I will be welcoming my Japanese friend and her parents. They decided to take a holiday from all the after shocks. This is very exciting since my friend's mom is the best cook I have ever met! I am hoping to learn a few recipes from her!

As for me, I will take this month to finish writing my thesis, to finish transferring my old blog to this blog. And also finish posting about last year's trip to Japan. In the main while, check out this fabulous rice-cooker give away!!! For those who know me, I always brag about my Zojirushi rice-cooker!! Yes the one that cooked over 50 cups of rice for the onigiri fundraiser ;-) Here is your chance to win your own!!! Even better, this is the new model with the Umami setting! Check it out right here. The contest is open until May 12, 2011.               

Not so challenging bento challenge

216!

That is the official number of bentos we made for the Valentine's day school fundraiser.

In the end, we raised close to 500$.

As we were not expecting such high demand, we had to overcome some major thecnical difficulty such as, how to fit 216 bentos in a fridge, but in the end, with the help of family and friends, we made it!

The healthy lunch consisted in a turkey and cheese whole grain sandwich, a tomato and cheese kabob, veggys and dip, a tofu-brownie kabob and a fresh fruit. It also came with a juice box. Each box was individually labelled with the student's name.

For the bento, we used a 100% biogradable recycled paper box. 

Bento Challenge is a hit!

88!!!! One week left to order and we have already reached 88 bento sold! Our ambitous goal was 100. Our realistic goal was 50. (We are a small school.) We also have a second school on board with us! We are still fixing the details but I am very optimistic!

On a side note, here are the pictures from the 2 bentos I made this weekend. They are not fancy looking but they were delicious. Rice balls (salmon furikake, umemoboshi), tamago, sweet and sour daikon, dinosaure shaped eggs sandwich. In all it was a really easy-tasty bento.



Byakkotai part 3 Nisshinkan

 

1. Never disobey a superior.

2. Always bow in presence of a superior.

3. Never act as a coward.

4.  Never eat outside.

5.Never engage in a conversation with a women.

(Some of the rules students had to respect)


 



After visiting the memorial site on Iimori hill we headed for the castle. We quickly walked around the ground and took pictures of the cherry blossom. The rain was still pouring. We then made our way to Nisshinkan Samurai School. The school attended by the Byakkotai (white tiger brigades).







Just as we pulled in, the rain stopped. What a relief! We made our way inside the school. First off was a movie explaining the historical background:

The Nisshinkan school was founded by Genko Tanaka in 1803. During his lifetime he introduced wide scale political changes to the clan. His personal motto was "The Aizu clan's prosperity depends on educating its people." So he started the Nisshinkan school on the west side of Tsurugajo Castle. It was a school set up to educate the boys of the samurai rank retainers from the age of 10. The boys studied confucianism, mathematics, astronomy, and medical science using Japanese sources and information gathered from the Dutch. They also had to train in the martial arts, archery, spear-throwing, shooting, horse-riding and swimming. The school had its own swimming pool and observatory and it is said to have been in the top 3 out of 300 such clan schools in Japan at that time. (Visit this web site for more information)

The school was used to film the most recent movie about Byakkotai. You can watch here a preview. Unfortunately I must say that other than the historical aspect, this 4 hours long movie has very little to go for. The acting and the special effect are especially horrible.

Then we walked the grounds and explored all the building.  We didn't have much time before closing. We had to hurry. But before leaving, we painted our very own Akabeko!

Akabeko (赤べこ, Akabeko, red cow) is a traditional toy from the Aizu region of Japan. The toy is made from two pieces of papier-mâché-covered wood, shaped and painted to look like a red cow or ox. When the toy is moved, the head thus bobs up and down and side to side. Aizu legend claims that the toys are based on a real cow that lived in the 9th century and showed its devotion to Buddha by willing its soul away or by refusing to leave the site of a temple it had helped to construct. Akabeko has become one of Fukushima Prefecture's most famous crafts and a symbol of the Aizu region.

 Before departing the wonderful city of Aizu, we stopped for lunch. Konnyaku, fish and meat grilled over fire, covered by a yuzu-miso sauce.

Byakkotai part 2

 

 

 

 

Down the rabbit hole!

As they fought to defeat the enemy, the Byakkotai had to retreat. They were fighting in familiar territory. What was once their playground was now a battlefield. They headed for a secret passage way through the mountain. And that is how they reach ed Iiemori hills. Still to this day, the secret passage way remains. It is but a hole on a cliff. But it stands as a testimony of the story that unfolded.

 

 

 

 

There are many sights to see between the secret passage way and the memorial monument. The most striking one is perhaps the round temple. In which you go up and down without ever changing direction. It is but one straight path!   

Not so challenging bento

Here we are, back from our grocery trip. We managed to price our bento below 2.50$ a unit. Which means we can expect a profit of 2-3$. Since this is a fundraiser for the school, we might bump up the price a bit. We haven't decided yet. But here is a sample picture of what we are going to offer.

• Cheese, turkey, salad, sandwich
• Veggy and dip
• Pretzel
• Fruit
• Brownie trio
• Tomato-cheese trio

The quantity will be adjusted to fit the size of the box as to not leave any holes. The meal also comes with a juice box.

We are really excited about this and hope the kids will be too!!!

Challenging Bento Challenge

I am so excited about this, I can't wait any longer! My coworker and I had the ok, from the school we work at, to organize a fundraiser. We will be selling bento lunches on St-Valentine's day! For the last 2 weeks, we have been discussing different options and tomorrow we are finally ready to present the project to the rest of the school staff! 

We decided on heart shape sandwiches, with pink dip and veggy. Heart shape rice crispies square and pretzel. Tomorrow morning, before work, we are going to price all the material and food. Then we will sketch the bento. We might make one or two to showcase to the staff.

All this is part of a much bigger project we have been discussing in the last month. We would love to perhaps turn this into a side business. Although we believe in the product, there are still many great hurdle to overcome. 

Next month, we intend on having a few kids at school (with the parents permission off course) to help us out in a food tasting survey. We are curious to find out if kids from this very Caucasian rural community would be willing to eat rice balls and furikake!!! With the fundraiser we are staying within known territory and we have a goal of selling 100 bento!

Stay tune to find out more about this project!!!