As I was speaking of my Japan-mania, this is another example of it : bento's.

The first time I saw a bento for real, I was shocked by the tinyness of it. I read before that they were an ideal means to do some portion control and I knew that Japanese have really tiny meals (even Mc Donald's burgers are way smaller than in Europe I have been told), but still ... these are really small :o)

I ordered my first bento on e-bay direct import from Japan and yesterday, I had my second bento delivered right into my mailbox, directly from New Orleans by care of nolagirl. I was really spoiled by her on this swap as you can see on the picture : 2 bentos, eggmolds, a matching bag, chopsticks, cuttlery and mini sauce bottles. And to top it all, in one of my favourite colours, yellow.


I just have to try to make real bento food now. I already bought myself a book on the subject, just have to jump in at the deep end now :o)

When I discovered the whole world of manga last year, I also got reacquainted with the whole "kawaii" hype. Although I hadn't seen any Japanese brand (besides Sanrio's Hello Kitty) in the stores around where I live, I immediately reconnected with all those wide-eyed anime characters. It reminded me of all the anime, I saw on TV as a kid on Sunday morning's in the "Chocolat Show" on FR3 or in "Club Dorothée" on TF1 : Capitaine Flam, Candy Candy, Albator, Bouba...



Strange how most people of my generation are still able to sing along with the songs of those anime shows. That's why the Gloubi-boulga nights, where a whole audience of 30-somethings are looking at 80's anime is so successful. I think the Japanese comics really marked the 80's.

Hmm, when thinking of it, maybe that's the reason why I am so fond of Japan and all things coming from the Land of the Rising Sun. I was spoonfed with Nihon culture :o)

Anyway, all this to say that I just received the order I placed on e-bay for a mixed bunch of kawaii stickers and memosheets. I will be using these for myself (obviously) but also to swap with other kawaii fanatics.


What would be world be without e-bay, I wonder? Hard to imagine that I only had my first internet access at home in 1997 and that shopping was pretty much restrained to the surroundings of Brussels at that time. Nowadays the planet is my shopping mall : I get my bento's and candies in Japan, my kawaii items in Taiwan, games in the UK, make-up in the US, ...

Need to say that I am addicted to the net? :o)

I just received my first angeled swap since joining Swapbot in January. My original partner flaked on me and the host contacted Mhairi (doublesided) to angel this swap. And what a gorgeous ATCs she made! I even got an extra one :o)



Now I just have to find a method to store all those ATCs. I haven't found any ready made albums, so I guess I'll have to make my own. When that moment comes, a pic of the album will surely appear here. :o)

I recently discovered the world of ATCs and while looking for supplies to make those, I naturally ended up in scrapbooking stores to find all the necessary embellishments, stamps and others.

Seeing all those pretty papers, ribbons, etc made my fingers itch with anticipation and I was considering jumping into the deep end and start a real scrap page. Neverthless, I felt a bit hesitant to start cutting paper and pictures, for scissors don't come with an undo button (unfortunately).

Looking for inspiration I started googling "scrapbooking" and one thing leading to another, I stumbled upon digiscrapping websites. Wow ... a new world of endless possibilities laid before me : I could try and start over as many times as I liked without wasting supplies! I do wonder how this managed to remain unnoticed by me for so long. I was probably in some kind of crafting hibernation :o).

All this to say, that I started playing around with Photoshop to put some pages together and I was waiting for the perfect occasion to put my newly acquired skills to the test. One of my partners on Swap-bot just had a baby and I thought it would be a nice personalised "gift" to make something for baby Kai.

So here it is, my first real digiscrapping page :

I am what you could call a compulsive buyer, especially as far as chocolates are concerned. As soon as something comes to the market I have to try it. Try everything at least once in your life, is a motto which fits me to a T (on a food level at least).

My latest chocolate addiction is the Newtree brand. So, when during my weekly grocery shopping yesterday, I saw these new flavours, I just had to buy them ... I'm sure everybody heard them wailing "buy me, try me, ..", but somehow I seemed to be the only one hearing their begging :o)

Anyway I haven't tried them yet (I have to watch my curves a bit before becoming over-curvy and I still have other already opened packages), but I wanted to give these some publicity.

Funny how I am enjoying more and more dark chocolate. In my opinion milk chocolate is OK for a quick chocolate fix, enough to have a sweet taste and get your sugar level up. Dark chocolate has to be savoured and it is something that has to grow on you. Like red wine or black olives, it's like an upgrading process ... I don't know what the next level is though, growing my own cocoa tree and making my own chocolate? ;o)