Valentine's Day Treats

Please welcome the new addition to our household. Her name is "Tray." According to her little bio tag, she has three brains (one in each horn), likes blueberry pie, and is always hungry. Hmmmm. I wonder why Ben picked this particular Ugly Doll for me.



Tray and I also have another hobby in common: We like to nap.



I couldn't help buying a treat for myself. Red shoes are an appropriate self-Valentine, I think.

"you know, for your tonkatsu sauce"

Before I joined the ranks of the gainfully employed, Ben and I used to have lunch together pretty much every day. But now that I have to eat at my desk (sad), the key to a good afternoon or a bad one usually rests with what my lunch is like. We've gotten into the habit of making bentos. Well, I should say that Ben's been making bentos for me. I'm a lazy git, particularly after dinner. This salad made with leftover ginger roasted chicken, tomatoes, and cucumbers was especially good.



Yum.

What's that you say? You're wondering about the dressing, eh? We all know that naked salads suck. Ben's mom to the rescue. Noni gave us this little container that's perfect for the purpose of holding vinaigrette. [It looks huge in the photo below but it actually fits in the palm of your hand.] And when I bring my deep fried Japanese pork cutlets to school -- as one does -- it'll hold my tonkatsu sauce.



I'd just like to know what "Proo" means....

moodboard

Here are some images, more for reference than anything else really. I can't remember where they came from, wink.

reading, virtually

Here are two newish Japanese design books, the first of which, on Swedish graphic designer Olle Eksell, my sister gave me for Christmas. I hadn't heard of Eksell before, but I must leaf through this book just about every day now. He has this home-spun folk modernist thing going on that's very similar to Charley Harper. I also find the Sweden/Japan design nexus really interesting. I had known that Scandinavian designers like Lotta Jansdotter have a huge fan base in Japan -- last time I was there, Kinokuniya Books in SF Japantown had a few Japanese-language books on her -- so it's nice to see earlier designers like Eksell finally getting a look in. The second reading experience features Hirochi Eguchi's World Paperback Design, which assembles cover illustrations from all over the world. You can find more info on Eksell here and Eguchi here. Have a nice flip through. bg