On Saturday, Pete, Maddie & I took a trip out to Arlington Heights to check out Mitsuwa - Chicago. We got lots of goodies and had a great time shopping! The pile of goodies includes Green Tea (Matcha) Pocky which I found quite tasty. (I'm a green tea drinker, so I guess it would stand to reason.) We also got some noodle bowls with no English directions, so we shall see how that works out :) And I bought what I thought was rice seasoning (the aisle clearly said "rice seasoning" in English!) in cute little Hello Kitty packaging. I had to get it even though I had no clue about how to use these little packets. It turns out that they are furikake which you simply sprinkle over steamed rice to give it some flavor. So I'll have to give that a try this week.
In addition to a Japanese market, Mitsuwa also includes several restaurants and a few other shops. I had to stop by the bookstore to look at the craft books and they had a very good selection! I brought home "Small Essentials Handmade with Cut Cloth" (ISBN4-8347-2299-6). There are lots of bags, pouches and other small sewing projects in this book (magazine?) and the directions printed in the back are fairly easy to understand even without translation.
There was another adorable patchwork book I saw which I didn't get, but now wish I had! It had all these cute house motifs and lots of projects. Maybe it will still be there next time we make our way in that direction. (I hope!)
The rest of the weekend was filled with a great cookout at my Mom's on Saturday and quite a bit of sewing today (well sewing for me, writing for Pete and candy eating for Maddie!) Pictures of the sewing tomorrow!
Sounds like you had a great weekend...it's always fun to find unusual things you can't find everywhere...take care :)
Posted by: michele | Monday, July 04, 2005 at 07:21 PM
Yum.. Pocky!!
Yum yum.. did they have Choco Flakes???? My favourite sinful cereal!! look for it next time!
Now I really have to bite the bullet and drag all four kids down to the local market which is about as big as my living room!!! But I Know there is pocky there!!!
Posted by: Denise | Monday, July 04, 2005 at 07:47 PM
OMG, lurve Mitsuwa. There's one about a half a mile from my place and we go there often. I really am a sucker for the mochi with red bean filling (not the ice cream kind, just plain red bean paste) and their deli section always has it fresh. Will have to go find green tea Pocky.
Danger Will Robinson...
Posted by: Rainy | Monday, July 04, 2005 at 08:15 PM
Arlington Heights! I grew up in Rolling Meadows! It's been 30 years since we moved.
Just having a moment, thanks for letting me remember.
Posted by: Bonnita | Monday, July 04, 2005 at 11:37 PM
My mouth started watering as soon as I saw the pic. Yummy!
Posted by: Jennifer | Tuesday, July 05, 2005 at 08:53 AM
Looks like you had a good time and got lots of goodies. I can't wait to see sewing pictures!
Posted by: Stephanie | Tuesday, July 05, 2005 at 10:12 AM
What a fun place to visit. I can't quite imagine green tea pocky, interesting find. Those books sound so fun!
Posted by: Vicki | Tuesday, July 05, 2005 at 04:38 PM
What a fun place to visit. I can't quite imagine green tea pocky, interesting find. Those books sound so fun!
Posted by: Vicki | Tuesday, July 05, 2005 at 04:40 PM
What a fun place to visit. I can't quite imagine green tea pocky, interesting find. Those books sound so fun!
Posted by: Vicki | Tuesday, July 05, 2005 at 04:42 PM