Tuesday, April 20, 2010

My 100 Yen Store Treasure of the Day

Everytime I go into a 100 Yen store I come out with atleast 1 large bag full of goodies.  The 100 Yen store, for those who are unfamiliar, is equivalent to the American $1 Store. Well, equivalent may not be the word I am looking for.  Almost everything in the store is 100 Yen which, as the rate fluxuates can be a little more or a little less than 1 American dollar.  But the quality of the goods sold in the 100 Yen store far surpass that of the Dollar Store.  You can buy nice Japanese dishes, bento boxes, hello kitty trinkets, and the kitchen supplies...WOW!  We went to the Yen store to find a scrubber for Bella's school thermos and left with no yen and a bag full of goodies.

Yesterday I hit the kitchen supply section and hit it hard! We had recently broken our whisk, found one.  I also got a rice scoop/spatula for use with the rice cooker, it stands on it's flower shaped bottom for "sanitary purpose" , atleast that is what the label says.  I also found smaller rice spatulas for use in making onigiri and other shaped rice balls, which I will soon be doing for Bella's bento lunches. I also purchased a spatula holder that suctions to the side of the rice cooker, brushes to scrub clean Bella's school shoes, an extending scrubber for her thermos, and my treasure of the day.

The kids and I LOVE edamame beans. But they never taste as good as a restaurant, even when I follow  the directions on the package and boil them for 6 mins. They just aren't as tasty.  So I found a magic bowl yesterday, well, it's really not a magic bowl, but I definitely am amazed that I paid 100 Yen for this little container. 
You put in roughly 6 tsp of water, add the beans, put on the lid and toss it in the microwave for 2 mins.  The beans were super tasty and not overcooked! The kids and I ate an entire bag with dinner last night.  Seriously!  I was amazed and thrilled with my Yen Store purchases as usual! :)



*Also apparently when you eat the beans you need a giant foamy beer. Hey, I'm just sayin'...*



Saturday, April 3, 2010

Preschool Necessities



So I took B's list for preschool to the store and showed it to an employee. It was a drawing of an eye (sleep) mask with some kanji written by it.  He proceeded to direct me to the craft section and point to the elastic. Hmmm..... Just the elastic. So I gathered from the drawings and the fact that I was directed toward supplies that I was supposed MAKE her mask & the pouch to keep it in, plus the cup bag and the jump rope bag.  I took B to the San A and let her pick from the kawaii fabrics.  She chose cute little bunnies. So here is what she got. :)


Cup bag



Mask & Pouch


Mask in pouch

the pouch