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First of all, I want to say that I’m so excited to be going on another vacation at the end of this month. Although I have proclaimed many times in the past that I’m a lover of traveling, I am getting a little burnt out from all of this back-&-forth flying & packing/unpacking. I am extremely appreciative & grateful that I am able to travel (regardless if it’s near or far), I’d just like to say that here & now. I love what I do, & I want to express my sincerest & humblest of gratitude & appreciation.
During this past long weekend, when most Americans were celebrating Fourth of July/Independence Day (also jokingly referred to as #Amexit on the Internet), Jian surprised me with an impromptu road trip to Los Angeles. He was somehow itching to go on a long drive, & he was throwing out random ideas like driving to Portland, Oregon or perhaps Las Vegas, Nevada. While I was all for driving to Portland, I didn’t want to spend too much time driving & not enough time exploring the city. So, I threw out the random idea of driving to Los Angeles. It’s far without being too far. Jian absolutely loved the idea, & we pretty much pulled this hair-brained idea out of our derrièrs at the absolute last minute.
Once we had our weekend mapped out, we pretty much had one goal in mind, well, actually two goals: 1. to revisit all of our favorite hang-out spots from our college days, & 2. to visit the California location of Lady M Café. Yes, our minds were pretty much blown away when we found out Lady M Café opened a location in Los Angeles. Our minds were blown even more (if that’s even possible) when we found out that this shop was only 5 blocks down the street from our hotel. Needless to say, being a huge cake lover, I made several trips to this shop, & I do not feel one bit guilty for eating so much cake.
What makes Lady M so special? Well, they specialize in various delicate cakes, but their absolute specialty & signature cake is the infamous Mille Crêpe Cake…a cake so delicate & delicious that I would do just about anything for a slice of this creamy crêpe heaven.
What is Mille Crêpe cake? Well, it’s a French invention, but has been popularized around the world by the Japanese. It’s basically a stack of thin crêpe sheets with thin layers of soft cream in between the sheets of crêpes. These cakes, in more recent years, have expanded from the traditional vanilla flavor to other flavors (i.e. matcha, coconut, chocolate, etc.). My favorite flavor will always be the classic vanilla flavor.
This is a sample of the various cakes we bought for our friends. From Top Left: coconut crêpe flavor, Courrone du Chocolat, matcha crêpe flavor, strawberry Mille Feuille. Bottom Right: signature flavor.
Over the years, Jian & I have tried various forms of this cake, but we could never find anything as comparable to the first place we ever experienced this golden unicorn of cakes.
Café la Voie in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo is where we first encountered this cake. It is so beautiful & delicious, I nearly burst into tears every time I eat Mille Crêpe cake at this café.
HARBS is also another famous high-end cake shop in Tokyo that has their own crêpe cake recipe. I tried this chocolate explosion just to compare the flavor to the original. This one is very, very sweet, so proceed with caution if you’re not a sweets fan. This cake was also particularly dense, which I was not used to.
We’ve had various crêpe cakes from here to there & everywhere in between. Some of the the chain coffee shops in Tokyo have Mille Crêpe cakes that are also as delicious as the high-end cake shops. Chain shops like Doutor & Excelsior (which are like the Starbucks & Peet’s equivalent in Japan) have some of the best inexpensive crêpe cakes.
Back in the States, I’ve had my fair share of ups & downs with this elusive cake. Many years ago, there was a Japanese restaurant that had opened in Japantown. The pastry chef that worked at that place specialized in Mille Crêpe cake. Jian & I were so ecstatic that there was finally a place near us where we could eat this cake again. Sadly, after 2 years this restaurant closed & the pastry chef moved on.
There have been other American restaurants all over the city that have attempted to serve their version of the Mille Crêpe cake (eg. Café des Amis, Cockscomb, & Hog&Rocks), but somehow they weren’t able to quite grasp the light, airy, soft texture of the cake. Some of the cakes were just too dense, too hard, too sweet, too dry, &/or too over-the-top in avant grade flavor for such a delicate cake recipe. I just cannot wait until I go back to Japan at the end of this month & will be able to try the original cake recipe once again. Yessssss!
In other news, like I’ve said in my previous blog, I’ve decided to decorate my new backpack, & I’ve already begun the process. So far, I’ve only added two things to my backpack, a keychain & a pin, but I’m in love with the progress.
I chose this Rilakkuma bird keychain because it fit with the yellow color scheme of my backpack. Also, I liked how it was a small discreet size without being too tiny to notice.
I chose this Victory V hand emoji pin because I using this emoji often on all of my social media accounts. It’s my favorite emoji icon to use.
Well that’s just about all I have to say for now. I’m sorting through all of my things to pack for my next trip. Three weeks will really sneak up on you fast. Cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
In anticipation for my next trip to Japan, I got myself a new backpack. Jian offered to lend me his backpack, but his is too masculine looking & large, & it would make me look like an odd shaped turtle waddling down the slim streets of Kyoto. Therefore, I opted to pick out my very own backpack. Why buy a backpack? Well, Jian & I have been using his backpack on our last several trips, & it is such an incredible convenience. I hate hauling around my over-sized & cumbersome purse when I’m on vacation, especially when I’m traveling to a hot weather destination. Also, I hate it when I constantly have to stop & adjust the strap(s) of my purse. Well, I could get myself a travel purse, but let’s face it. Those travel purses look like old lady bags (no offense to women of an older age…) & they’re just overall unattractive (& more expensive than the backpack I just got). A backpack is so much cooler looking, even though they still scream “Look at me! I’m a bloody bumbling tourist.”
Originally, I had bought a backpack from the brand Fjällräven, but I had to return it because I had picked the wrong size. I accidentally got the child-sized bag instead of the adult size, & to my defense, the website was very confusing in their description. They don’t ever mention the dimensions (i.e. height, width, etc.) of the backpack, but instead they list how many ‘litres’ the bag can carry. Since I’m not familiar with the European metric system, obviously it was harder for me to figure out. I was going to exchange the backpack for a larger size, but decided it would just be easier to return everything & get something else for myself. I was a little bummed that this backpack didn’t work out for me. It had a super cute fox patch already on it, & you know how I am about foxes (LOVE THEM, hence the blog name.)
This is a sample of the first backpack I accidentally chose & the backpack next to it, was the one I was intending to get. (All photo credits belong to www.fjallraven.us)
So here is the backpack I ended up getting. It’s from a brand called hellolulu, & I think this backpack is sooo much cuter & more practical for my needs than the other bag I returned. I got this backpack from Flight 001, a travel store, during their backpack & luggage campaign. I still kept the mustard-ish yellow color, & I am so happy with what I got. Here is a proper description of my backpack as described from the website:
Make your everyday commute in the city a mini-adventure. Tate is here to declutter your journey by neatly and effortlessly organizing your belongings. The main zippered compartment, with magnetic closures, features an internal padded laptop sleeve, storage pockets, and pen slots. The exterior features two side slip pockets as well as a front zippered pocket with a key clip. The bag’s water-repellant coating allows you to take this bag anywhere to do anything, rain or shine.
Features and Benefits:
- Polyester body with water-repellant & heavy duty UTX Duraflex buckles/accessories
- Internal laptop compartment fits up to a 13″ laptop
Measurement: 11″ x 6.7″ x 16.1″
Shall I give it a name?
The straps are adjustable & very comfortable.
This clip attaches to the ends of your shoulder strap to tuck them neatly out of the way.
The front pocket is padded & large enough to fit an iPad sized tablet, & it even has a discreet carabiner for keys. The pocket on the side is roomy enough for large water bottles.
There is an additional pocket on the other side as well.
I love the green accents just on the zipper pulls to give the backpack a pop of color & a break from all that yellow.
The opening of the main compartment has both a zipper closure & a magnetic closure for added security.
There are FOUR additional pockets inside the main compartment. The largest pocket is also padded & able to hold up to a 13″ laptop.
I am so excited to be able to use this backpack in the future. This is going to be my new travel companion from now on, so I won’t have to only rely on Jian’s backpack, & I won’t have to schlepp around my bulky purse all the time. I’m thinking that this backpack would also be perfect to use on my annual Thanksgiving tradition of visiting Disneyland. My trip to Japan is still one month away, but I’m already itching to decorate this backpack with charm straps for the zippers & patches for the front. I might just post an update on how this backpack looks after I’ve decorated it. Until then, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
Hey! Should I be this happy/relieved that I didn’t get sick until after my trip to Asia? I don’t know. Well, I’m very much relieved that I didn’t get sick at all during my trip to Asia, but I did, however, get a cold & a fever when I got back home. My body just can’t adjust to the rapid climate change fast enough. It was super hot in China, then coming home, it was quite chilly, & that sent my body’s immune system into a tailspin, which resulted in myself catching a cold that became compounded with a small fever. I am now at 87% recovery, if you can claim regaining an appetite for Taco Bell fast food burritos to be a sign of good health. But hey, at least I’m back to the point where I can sit up long enough to write this blog post & not feel like the room is swaying, or like I want to physically recall what I ate for lunch. Yuck! Anyway, let’s get on with it then.
One thing I love to do whenever I travel to Asia is to stock up on a ton of stationery goods that would usually be imported, over-priced, & expensive back in The States. This is especially & exceptionally true whenever I go back to Japan (because everything made in Japan is so damn cute & resistance is futile). So, needless to say, I pretty much gorged myself silly while I was in Hong Kong & Guangzhou on stationery goods, as well as a bunch of souvenirs for friends & family. Did I ever mention to you that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE GIVING GIFTS??? Yes, I love to give presents to friends & family even when it’s not any special occasion. Hey, I can give as well as I can take…but I like to give more. Ok, I’m going to jump right into the thick of things & just post my G*d D*mn photos already.
Zebra Sarasa Push Clip Gel Pens
I am a Zebra Sarasa Gel Pen addict & fanatic, especially of the 0.5mm tip sized pens. I think I have nearly one of each color in the entire pen line. When I first saw the “pastel milk” series of pens at my favorite online pen shop, I nearly creamed my pants. I was tempted to buy every single pen right then & there, but ultimately decided to wait. However, when I finally saw these pens in Hong Kong, I could no longer resist them. I saw these pens at the popular bookstore chain JP Books (by Joint Publishing Hong Kong) near my hotel, so I grabbed every color I could get my grubby little hands on. Since they didn’t have the entire pastel milk series of colors on hand, these are the colors I chose:
- Yellow (not part of the color series)
- Milk White
- Milk Pink
- Milk Orange
- Milk Green
- Milk Red
Aaaannnd…do you know what’s the best part? The bookstore was having a “buy three gel pens get one free” event that day! Now, you know I won’t pass up that offer. However, here’s the catch: the “free pens” only come in black ink. You don’t get to choose your own “free pen”. These are the free pens I ended up picking:
I also have a passion for washi tape. My storage box that I keep all my tapes in, which I named Pierre, is now full to the point of nearly bursting. The same goes for my pen box, which is named Leroy. Leroy got so full, I had to take away some unused & unwanted pens to make room for my new additions. Now, I’m not saying that I’m exactly a stationery hoarder, but I’m getting there. I’d much rather say that I’m an avid collector.
washi tapes
Some of the washi tapes I got at JP Books in Hong Kong. Others I got at a different bookstore called Eslite Bookstore in Hong Kong. The rest of them I got at a third bookstore called “方所书店” (a.k.a. Fang Suo / a.k.a. Commune) in Guangzhou. These are the designs I chose:
- London print
- Pink cherry blossoms
- Metallic gold Japanese geometric pattern (this metallic color is more bronze)
- Blue & Red plaid pattern (this pattern is a comedic parody to the cheap plastic woven shopping bags popular in Hong Kong)
- Metallic gold with white pin-stripes (this metallic color is more yellow-gold)
Sanrio washi tapes
I should also note that I am a Sanrio fanatic (more accurately, a “purist” fan). I’ve been an avid fan & collector of Sanrio goods since the early 1980s. My sister’s biological father used to manufacture goods for Sanrio, so my sister would get a lot of free goodies from her dad when she was younger. As she grew older, she would pass down a lot of her unwanted stuff to me, which I cherished greatly. Also, I would get a lot of cool & unique Sanrio gifts from all of my aunties & uncles from Japan, which turned me into an instant fanatic. So, obviously when I saw these washi tapes, I snatched them up immediately. Ok, I’ve seen these tape designs in the U.S., but they’ve always been too expensively priced, so when I saw how affordable they were in Hong Kong, I bought them right away. These were the designs I chose:
- Sanrio characters with a vintage stamp pattern
- Timeline of Hello Kitty designs
- Hello Kitty’s family & friends pattern
I saw one roll of tape with a pattern of Hello Kitty faces in a neon colored artsy avant garde design, but I didn’t get it because I thought it looked too weird, & I probably wouldn’t use it in any of my DIY craft projects. I am a purist Hello Kitty fan at heart, & I covet the very traditional Hello Kitty style from the 1980s & 1990s, NOT the new, modern designs of Hello Kitty wearing rocker clothes or wearing “nerdy” glasses.
On top of pens & craft tape, I also got a few greeting cards. I love the unique designs of greeting cards from Asia. A lot of the cards will have intricate cut-paper patterns or a cool pop-up effect. Plus, they don’t cost much more than U.S. based Hallmark greeting cards. Most of the cards I chose were birthday cards, since those are the category I tend to use the most. I also got my friend a “new baby” card, since he became a new dad two months ago. These are the birthday cards I chose:
birthday greeting cards
How could I write a stationery blog post without including the most important item of all? S-T-I-C-K-E-R-S! Yes, folks! I bought even more stickers. My sticker box, Trevor, is almost bursting at the seams as well, & he is already huge! Jian says I have a sticker problem, but I think buying more stickers is a great solution to my problem. These are the stickers I chose:
my sticker hoarding continues
- Motor scooters
- Chocolate bars (this sticker has some metallic elements)
- Sail boats (actual stickers are primary colors, not neon colors)
- Pink cherry blossoms with cats
- Tea cups, saucers, & plates (this sticker has some metallic elements)
- Korean lovely bear
- Shiba Inu & Japanese theme
- Miscellaneous animals
- Metallic schedule stickers with borders, frames, gems & ribbons
- Schedule stickers for the calendar
- Metallic seal stickers with message: Especially For You
When I was in Guangzhou, Jian took me to the modern art museum that recently opened. It was beautiful, & we learned quite a bit of history about the city. I originally had no intention of buying anything from the gift shop, but Jian encouraged me to buy these fun name stamps. Of course, he just wanted me to buy the stamp pad with his name, but I ended up getting more than just that. These stamps are cool because you can pick whichever stamp base you’d like, & all of the stamp pads can be interchanged. (They were also cheap as hell & extremely kitschy, so why not?) I chose these stamp bases & stamp pads:
staaaaamps!
- Limited edition “Year of the Monkey” base
- Asian girl (which coincidentally resembles the Korean cartoon character Pucca)
If you can read Chinese characters, congratulations! You’ve figured out our names. 😐
- Jian’s surname
- Year of the Monkey (this came with the monkey base)
- My mom’s maiden name (got this for my mom, just for fun)
- My surname (or is it? Mwahaha!)
We are getting towards the end of this blog post. No, wait! I have one more thing to show you. Well, it’s not exactly stationery related. Actually, it has nothing to do with stationery at all, but I thought I’d include it in this post because, a. it’s a part of all the crap stuff I brought back, & b. it won’t fit anywhere else. Now, I normally don’t post anything about beauty or makeup, but I recently found out that one of my all-time favorite Japanese brands MUJI now carries their own beauty & makeup products. I only picked out three things to start because I don’t normally wear makeup, but I wanted to try them out. In the U.S., most, if not all, of our MUJI shops do not carry the full line of cosmetics (nor do they carry the awesome line of food products & groceries made by MUJI). These were the items I chose to try out:
Me so pretty!
So far, I’ve only tried the cuticle oil & the nail care oil, & I must say that I am in love with them! They work really well, & none of these products were even wallet draining. If the lip gloss works just as well as the other beauty products, then I’m so glad I took a chance to try these items. For those of you who don’t know what the first two items are, 1. cuticle oil is supposed to moisturize the skin around your finger nails to prevent unwanted dryness & peeling, which makes the hands look sloppy & unkempt, & 2. nail care oil often gives your finger nails a healthy looking shine & is supposed to strengthen your nails to prevent brittleness & chipping. Of course everybody knows what lip gloss is used for. It’s for you to eat. No. It’s for kissing. No. It’s makeup. Duh.
Well, that concludes the end of this long-winded blog post about stationery. I still have to post my pictures from my trip, but I am still sorting through all of them, & I’m editing the photos Jian has shared with me, so that’s going to take a while. Plus, I’m still getting over the last remnants of my recent illness. I promise you, my immune system is not as weak as I make it seem. I am a healthy person, & haven’t gotten ill this many times in a rather long stretch of years. I just don’t know why I’ve been prone to getting ill so easily in the more recent months. I’ve been taking good care of my body & myself, & I will continue to do so. Until then, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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