December 22, 2013

DIY cell phone charging station...

Hey all!  I did a very simple DIY project that I'd like to share with you.  After scouring the internets trying to find a suitable charging station for my various electronic devices, I found that I didn't have either the space or the tools to accomplish what I saw.  So I headed to the ¥100 store to see what I could find that would help me organize.  (Note: if you can't find exactly what I did, look for something with some kind of holes in it.)

Here are the materials:


This is a shoe organizer.  My goal was to find something with a hole in it that I could feed cords through.

Next, I was in a hurry so I kinda just threw this together:


It's kind of a mess and doesn't look very organized.  When I got back from lunch I sat and figured out how to make it better.  I found I could wedge the sockets into the opening in the pink container.


I also used twist ties to keep the cords neat (except I wish they were white and not green).  Much nicer.

I made two so I could charge various devices:


As you can see, this container is big enough to hold a regular sized iPad (so by default you know the mini will fit too).  You can also get a good look at how I wedged the sockets in.

Anyway, my life feels less cluttered and tangled now that I have a place to store everything I need to charge.

I hope this was helpful and can give you some ideas of how to get out from that pile of cords.  Happy organizing!

December 19, 2013

Christmas Illuminations...

A couple of weekends ago, my boyfriend and I went to see illuminations.  There was one place in particular I wanted to go but we ended up seeing some nice illuminations in Tama Center also:








Then on to what I really wanted to see was よみうりランド:

















These illuminations were beautiful and I'm afraid the photos just don't do them justice.  There's something about illuminations that really gets me in the Christmas spirit.  I hope your holiday season is starting out magically. 

December 8, 2013

A vegetarian foodie in Japan...

Hi all!  I've been cooking up a storm lately but I haven't found the time or the energy to post about it.  So without further adieu...

I made some Buffalo Chickpea Tacos:


The chickpea mixture was awesome (and I didn't make the tacos vegan sorry but you can make them however you want) but I want to try this next time with flour tortillas.  The corn were a bit too dry.

I whipped up some Marinara:


And put it on some gnocchi I wasn't too impressed with.  I won't be buying that again Costco.

I made the best Mozzarella Sticks and ate them next to some French Onion Soup:


The red stuff is cocktail sauce because that's what I dip my mozz sticks in like a boss.  Both of those recipes to die for.  Cook 'em I say!

I made some everything bars to snack on.  I replaced the apricots with a dried fruit mix and almonds with pumpkin seeds:


So yummy!

I also made some killer Cranberry Sauce:


And finally some tasty Artichoke Pasta Sauce:


Phew!  That's it!  Happy eating!