I am very pleased to inform you all of an amazing chain of stores that has arrived to Australia and have just made their way to Brisbane. (Topshop, I'm still waiting.) Daiso Japan are a unique concept, while you may think you have seen every form of reject and two bob shop around, They aren't anywhere near as epic as this.
The main shtick of the stores is that everything they sell is the meager price of $2.80 AUD. I described it to friends this week as a store you will find almost every knick-knack you would see in a house. After visiting it over the weekend, I wasn't disappointed.
The place was completely humming with people but I spent a good hour trawling the shelves. what I love about it is the authentic Japanese variety of goods dispersed in a range of everyday Westerner items. Double eyelid tape next to eyelash curlers, Traditional Tabi socks, Pocket sandwich makers next to Pasta spoons.
Topped off with the cute manner that Japanese gets translated into English all over the product labels and you have an entire store brimming with stuff to make you smile. I recommend picking up everything you don't quite understand and having a read of what they do, some of them are pretty nifty.
Check out what I hauled after the Jump!
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Gift Guide - Homebody
This is part of a series of gift guides I am putting together and posting up until Christmas. Please be sure to check out the others Here!
Homebody may be a slightly misleading description of this person, Houseproud might do it better! We all know someone who takes great pride in maintaining their home and filling it with gorgeous little knick knacks and treasures. Perhaps these might suit their style?
I don't feel like a house is truly a home without at least a few books kicking around. I don't care much for the new electronic reader technology, give me the smell of old books over strained eyes and something that feels utterly fake any day! Cute bookends add the finishing touch to any collection, here are a few goodies.
People who love their homes often want to show them off, so why not give them some gorgeous servingware for the next time they're entertaining? (Gives them more reason to invite you over too!) Platters for me are something that are to be used to frame your food. What may perfectly complement a table full of colourful salads and BBQ cooked fare may not work as well for a more classy afternoon tea affair or even a make-your-own taco fiesta.
Another cute idea you won't find everywhere are these unique wire wall art Sculptures. I admit, my eyes may have done their little "dawwwww!" thing and widened when I first spotted the bunny sculpture. Each of them are handmade and differ slightly to others, so like hand blown glass no two are the same.
Homebody may be a slightly misleading description of this person, Houseproud might do it better! We all know someone who takes great pride in maintaining their home and filling it with gorgeous little knick knacks and treasures. Perhaps these might suit their style?
I don't feel like a house is truly a home without at least a few books kicking around. I don't care much for the new electronic reader technology, give me the smell of old books over strained eyes and something that feels utterly fake any day! Cute bookends add the finishing touch to any collection, here are a few goodies.
Vinyl Record Bookends from Typo
The End Bookend from Lark
People who love their homes often want to show them off, so why not give them some gorgeous servingware for the next time they're entertaining? (Gives them more reason to invite you over too!) Platters for me are something that are to be used to frame your food. What may perfectly complement a table full of colourful salads and BBQ cooked fare may not work as well for a more classy afternoon tea affair or even a make-your-own taco fiesta.
22 cm Hand drawn Lacey Serving Bowl by Yvonne Ellen
37.5 cm Fiesta Round Platter and 35 cm French Bull Melamine Platter both available at Peter's of Kensington
Owl, Bunny and other designs available from Life on Wire
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Bought! Bento Lunch kit
So it may come as a surprise to some readers that I am fascinated by Japan. I may not be obsessed like I used to be in my teenage years but I still harbour a real soft spot, Ironic since I've never been, but that's what we have the internet to be thankful for. I can find out so much, see so much, and BUY so much more then I ever could 10 years ago!
Bento is a traditional lunch style in Japan, consisting of compact home made meals. think of it as a Rice based (but not always rice based) lunch box and you're on your way there. You may have seen them in your local sushi store, those gorgeously presented flat meals in trays. Mega healthy normally too.
So playing in with my occasionally kitschy nature I spotted this cute as a button set on eBay and quickly snapped it up. Bright pink of course with a kitty theme, my inner twelve year old is exploding. The cute kitty ears that pop up when the bag is tied? Too good!
I plan on using it to tote around lunches that are good to eat either cold or at room temperature, I bought this from the seller littlejapanmama but as I only just bought it today I can't recommend her just yet. (I'll update!)
Bento is a traditional lunch style in Japan, consisting of compact home made meals. think of it as a Rice based (but not always rice based) lunch box and you're on your way there. You may have seen them in your local sushi store, those gorgeously presented flat meals in trays. Mega healthy normally too.
So playing in with my occasionally kitschy nature I spotted this cute as a button set on eBay and quickly snapped it up. Bright pink of course with a kitty theme, my inner twelve year old is exploding. The cute kitty ears that pop up when the bag is tied? Too good!
I plan on using it to tote around lunches that are good to eat either cold or at room temperature, I bought this from the seller littlejapanmama but as I only just bought it today I can't recommend her just yet. (I'll update!)
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Bake it! White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
Something a little different to read.
Follow the jump for the method!
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Boxing day 2011 sales wrap up
So I shopped, and shopped, and shopped some more, what else would you expect of me really? Here's what I thought, there will be posts later of what I bought, but I'm pleased with my bargains. I didn't post yesterday purely out of exhaustion. I shopped, til I dropped.
One of the things every one who worships at the alter of the credit card needs to experience in their lives is to be in the crunch of people waiting to get into Myer or David Jones on boxing day. Hilariously the news-people filmed the outside entrance where no one really lined up, while people were milling around the indoors entrance to Myer for a good hour before it opened. I know, because I bypassed the crowd and went to find other shops that were open instead! Kind of disappointed they weren't open before 9, but I found early bird bargains elsewhere too.
In the city and Carindale I went to the following:
Dotti: Picked up some cute gear from their gift table, but other then that they have some good mark downs on clothing, good to refresh your wardrobe for summer.
Lorna Jane: Finally! I stalk Lorna Jane for cheap clothes because I can never quite justify the full price. Not as large a markdown as I like but still a lot more affordable with tights and older collections getting a good price chop. Full piece Malia Swimsuit for half price? Yup, nice one.
Forever New: Also good for having a pick over their gift table, I wanted one of the gorgeous bird print suitcases but they hadn't been marked down *sadface* my god wouldn't that have been fun to lug around during sale time!
Myer: The big one, it's certainly best to go to the first day of sales for Myer because they have all kinds of extra one day only sales on top of the rest of their specials. Gift packs were awesome, but in my opinion the clothing sale will only get better so I'll come back with fresh eyes after new years.
Sportsgirl: I didn't actually think they were going to improve on their pre-Christmas sale but I was wrong, They had all sale items marked down an extra 30%, and added all their gift-ware too, very nice. Though my experience was sullied by the occurrence I have noted in the last paragraph ...
Diva: Disappointment of the day, but I suppose I'm so used to the epic boxing day sales they normally have that this seemed really sub-par. I think barely a fifth of their stock was marked down, and none of it was the decent stuff, just what was marked down a few months back (I lie, they did add their Christmas gift stock). I seems that all they really did was stick up sale signs. No purchase.
Lovisa: Have marked down more of their stuff, there's some good stuff if you have a trawl, different stuff has been marked down compared to the recent sale so it's worth a look.
Alannah Hill: No real difference to pre-Christmas, but there's still lots of stock available. I think they'll have to mark down further if they want to move it by February.
David Jones: Impressive, lots of good solid mark downs, but lots of stuff that gets wheeled out for every sale too. If you keep to the shelves there's some good bargains. I noted that in among the Mimco handbags they had marked down bags that weren't on sale in the Mimco shops.
Mimco: Not a big improvement on prior to Christmas at all really, they say they've added more stock to the sale but I couldn't tell.
Peter Alexander: The one store I took a look at, look at the throng of people shopping and went 'F this!' and fled. Must've been good! Lol. I think I'll be shopping that sale from the safety of my armchair. Looking online it is good, Peter are known for having sales rarely, but when they do, they're epic.
Target: Faithful, well stocked Target. Good savings across the store, I had a good look at homewares, clothes and leftover Christmas decorations, alas, no fairy lights still available @_@. I recommend having a look at kitchen drapery, and classic clothing items,
One last point for anyone, for the love of god, leave your kids at home! (supervised of course, what are grandparents for?) I spotted one little girl in absolute tears because her mother had ditched her out the front of Sportsgirl because the girl had reached the end of her patience for following mum around all day. And FFS(!) it's fun enough trying to haul your shopping around without having to dodge people with strollers who think they have right of way!
One of the things every one who worships at the alter of the credit card needs to experience in their lives is to be in the crunch of people waiting to get into Myer or David Jones on boxing day. Hilariously the news-people filmed the outside entrance where no one really lined up, while people were milling around the indoors entrance to Myer for a good hour before it opened. I know, because I bypassed the crowd and went to find other shops that were open instead! Kind of disappointed they weren't open before 9, but I found early bird bargains elsewhere too.
In the city and Carindale I went to the following:
Dotti: Picked up some cute gear from their gift table, but other then that they have some good mark downs on clothing, good to refresh your wardrobe for summer.
Lorna Jane: Finally! I stalk Lorna Jane for cheap clothes because I can never quite justify the full price. Not as large a markdown as I like but still a lot more affordable with tights and older collections getting a good price chop. Full piece Malia Swimsuit for half price? Yup, nice one.
Forever New: Also good for having a pick over their gift table, I wanted one of the gorgeous bird print suitcases but they hadn't been marked down *sadface* my god wouldn't that have been fun to lug around during sale time!
Myer: The big one, it's certainly best to go to the first day of sales for Myer because they have all kinds of extra one day only sales on top of the rest of their specials. Gift packs were awesome, but in my opinion the clothing sale will only get better so I'll come back with fresh eyes after new years.
Sportsgirl: I didn't actually think they were going to improve on their pre-Christmas sale but I was wrong, They had all sale items marked down an extra 30%, and added all their gift-ware too, very nice. Though my experience was sullied by the occurrence I have noted in the last paragraph ...
Diva: Disappointment of the day, but I suppose I'm so used to the epic boxing day sales they normally have that this seemed really sub-par. I think barely a fifth of their stock was marked down, and none of it was the decent stuff, just what was marked down a few months back (I lie, they did add their Christmas gift stock). I seems that all they really did was stick up sale signs. No purchase.
Lovisa: Have marked down more of their stuff, there's some good stuff if you have a trawl, different stuff has been marked down compared to the recent sale so it's worth a look.
Alannah Hill: No real difference to pre-Christmas, but there's still lots of stock available. I think they'll have to mark down further if they want to move it by February.
David Jones: Impressive, lots of good solid mark downs, but lots of stuff that gets wheeled out for every sale too. If you keep to the shelves there's some good bargains. I noted that in among the Mimco handbags they had marked down bags that weren't on sale in the Mimco shops.
Mimco: Not a big improvement on prior to Christmas at all really, they say they've added more stock to the sale but I couldn't tell.
Peter Alexander: The one store I took a look at, look at the throng of people shopping and went 'F this!' and fled. Must've been good! Lol. I think I'll be shopping that sale from the safety of my armchair. Looking online it is good, Peter are known for having sales rarely, but when they do, they're epic.
Target: Faithful, well stocked Target. Good savings across the store, I had a good look at homewares, clothes and leftover Christmas decorations, alas, no fairy lights still available @_@. I recommend having a look at kitchen drapery, and classic clothing items,
One last point for anyone, for the love of god, leave your kids at home! (supervised of course, what are grandparents for?) I spotted one little girl in absolute tears because her mother had ditched her out the front of Sportsgirl because the girl had reached the end of her patience for following mum around all day. And FFS(!) it's fun enough trying to haul your shopping around without having to dodge people with strollers who think they have right of way!
Monday, 19 December 2011
Book review: Meals in Heels by Jennifer Joyce
Meals in Heels by Jennifer Joyce
I have had this book since before I even started this Blog, and to me it deserves being put up on here. It is one of the books I pull down time and time again whenever I'm in the mood for something lovely to eat, or even just to get inspired to cook something new and interesting. My personal favourite is the 'Make ahead risotto with sausage, spinach and cherry tomatoes.
Jennifer is a food stylist and recipe writer based in London, so she is exposed to stacks of different dishes, ingredients and cooking styles that have worked their way into this book. The basis of the book are dishes that you would make for a dinner party, but it helps you prepare as much of the food as possible in advance so you actually get to enjoy your dinner party. It gives you prompts in the recipe instructions telling you how long in advance you should ideally be doing each step, but of course you can still make it all in one go to put on the table for a household dinner.
What sets this recipe book out from the rest of them to me is the styling. Along with each recipe there are tips on how to present it and a few other dishes in the book it would go well with. This helps immeasurably when you haven't had the chance to cook any of it before. What sort of platter should I go for? Will it fit in this bowl? Will these two dishes complement each other? They're all taken care of.
Also at the front of the book is the 'getting started' section, of course it's a great place to start with general tips and tricks to ensure your dinner party will run smoothly, with help on how much to serve per person, what will help fill them up, menu plans, and other good advice.
I'd highly recommend this book to anyone looking to break out of a cooking rut and looking to start entertaining guests. Even seasoned dinner party fans are bound to pick up some help on how to make more of their meals ahead of time by adapting some of the tricks to suit their own recipes.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Great imitation Le Creuset cookwear
I have been admiring a lovely set of Le Creuset cookware since I first read Julia Child's Book Mastering the art of French cooking. (Wanna buy it cheap and free free international shipping? Try Here.)
But my goodness, I am not willing to pay upwards of $200 for a dutch oven!
Enter my second mum, my boyf's mother who told me about this on sale at Aldi.
It's more then likely to be a little bit too late to tell you about this, But check this out this week if you can:
4l Cast Iron Dutch ovens, in four different colours, and suitable for all heat sources, guess how much?
$20!
Also available are French pans, Griddles, Roasting Trays and Fry pans, all in Cast Iron, all at prices under $30.
If you have missed out on it this time, there's no need to fear as Aldi often repeat their specials. This has been in store before, and I have little doubt it will be again.
But my goodness, I am not willing to pay upwards of $200 for a dutch oven!
Enter my second mum, my boyf's mother who told me about this on sale at Aldi.
It's more then likely to be a little bit too late to tell you about this, But check this out this week if you can:
$20!
Also available are French pans, Griddles, Roasting Trays and Fry pans, all in Cast Iron, all at prices under $30.
If you have missed out on it this time, there's no need to fear as Aldi often repeat their specials. This has been in store before, and I have little doubt it will be again.
Otherwise, if you're in Brisbane my tip would be to try the Aldi at Salisbury (Cnr Orange Grove & Kessels Roads). This is where I go when everything has sold out, the demographic of the area has more elderly people who shop for food more then items.
Mwah!
-Birdette
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