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!

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. 

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!