Window Shopping: Girl's Day In

I don’t know about you, but I really miss being able to grab drinks and go shopping with one of my best bitches. I’m not very social, being an introvert by nature, but I believe genuine connection is really important to our well being. Something I really enjoy is going browsing with a friend and seeing what we pick out for each other. I think this gives us a chance to look through the eyes of someone who loves us and often gives me the courage to embrace new and wonderful things. Since we can’t go out right now, I decided to do a virtual shopping tour for my dear friend Tina, a quirky artist fantastic. Tina is pretty fucking magical, as evidenced by her Animal Crossing-inspired quarantine outfits.

So to help her max out her 80’s pop-art princess wardrobe, let’s go shopping!  Here are my top picks for my Tokyo squirrel friend.

 I am totally feeling the Cher Horowitz vibes of this graphic plaid vintage blazer $36

This really makes me feel like I need to up my knee socks game.

This necklace totally gives me Saved by the Bell vibes $40

Omg who wouldn’t want to be friends with this bitch? Boozy pop leather skirt $80

And for the lair, this graphic vase $130

The vase needs a panther friend $49

I can’t make a list for Tina without including a pop of cobalt blue. Clutch $120

This sweatshirt says it all $65

Ok, her hair is also freakin’ magical.

Ok forget Tina, I need these earrings $19

“Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”

Because my homegirl loves her pink elephants, this vintage sweater has her name all over it $60

And finally, the entry for “damn, that’s awesome but expensive”, this electric green skirt $303

I don’t know if that scratched the shopping itch or made it worse, but it was super fun. Now I need a cocktail.

The Valkyrie Abroad: Next Level Fur Mommy

How to achieve the next level extra that it takes to be a Tokyo dog mom.

Just after Minion stole a kiss from the dancers at our neighborhood summer festival.

When we first moved to Japan and I ran into the other dog moms at the park I felt like that transfer student who doesn't have the cool sneakers. These ladies were put together! Their hair was sleek and shiny, their style: effortless and they all carried the cutest little totes that matched the collars and leashes on their tiny bits of floof. I was the towering Valkyrie with the overly friendly dog who was fumbling around her sweat pant pockets for poo bags.  I came home and immediately told my husband that we were sorely unprepared on the local furbaby scene. 

The first item of business was to acquire a “sampo kaban” which literally translates as walk purse but I like to think of it as a diaper bag for all things pup.

Minion checking out his new darth Sanpo Kaban.

Stuffed in this magical article are all the tools to make you look like the most put together prep school mom of the upper east side. Minion’s contains the following:

1. Poo bags (if they match your puppy harness you get extra points)

2. A container for used poo bags (to combat odor, and because like all trash in Tokyo, you literally take that shit home)

3. A water bottle for cleaning up messes. This is MANDATORY to not appear like a rude idiot barbarian. Every tinkle gets a sprinkle. I have MacGyvered mine with a spray nozzle because I am a genius. pew pew!

4. Wet wipes, for those dirty paws and bums.

5. Treats (because come on, who doesn’t like snacks?!)

6. Minion’s ID badge and registration so we can go to the dog park (they really do check you at the gate)

7. A collapsible drinking bowl.

8. A light up collar for night (because the space pugs down the street made it look so damn cute)

9. If you’re going to a dog friendly restaurant, a blanket or towel to put on the seat is a great idea.

And for those pups who are too elderly or bougey to walk, there is the doggy buggy. This pimped out set of pup wheels often costs more than my first car and and comes with all the bells and whistles. 

This senior pup taking in the festival in style and comfort.

If you want to travel with your pet in japan, this option makes a lot of sense as dogs have to be completely contained in a bag or stroller to ride the trains. I may have to get Minion a cushier option as the travel bag I sewed for him is not super spacious for long trips.

Not happy about the mandatory zipper policy on the shinkansen.

But where do I acquire all this magic, you ask? Pet Paradise, which is basically Cheers for dogs. As we walk in the staff exclaims, “Minion!” and my little guy is greeted with fresh water, treats, and ear scratches. There’s a comfy couch amidst the adorable raincoats, bedazzled harnesses, and travel bags so dog moms can relax while their pups play. Minion gets to pick out treats and sniff a great many toys and I usually crack under the pressure and buy him a shirt that’s so cute I can only make squeaking noises to describe it.

Minion’s favorite Japanese treats.

Our next stop is Anea Café that boasts an amazing black sesame latte and a risotto with enough cheese to choke a small alpine village. They also offer a delicious puppy menu, so you can lunch with fur baby in style. 

The doggy menu from Anea.

 You can lunch there with your favorite fur baby while they snack on house made treats like sweet potato and chicken breast or buy them a birthday cake that looks like their face.

Minion’s special order birthday portrait pupcake.

We took Minion, who will do anything for snackage, and his bestie, Brady the Corgi who won’t eat anything, to put their treats to the test. 

Brady and Minion, puppies who lunch.

Minion ate everything including the vegetable pottage which Brady declared super ookie. Both dogs liked the chicken bits and mashed sweet potato, but the clear winner was the hamburger which was declared 5 stars would eat again! 

Minion thunderstruck when mommy ordered everything on the doggy menu.

Oh and they brought mommy this.

This surprise puppy portrait late made my day.

And OMG the clothes...we all know that japan is the epicenter of the universe of cute, but then take that cute, and wrap it around a puppy and prepare yourself for death by kawai! Some, I even tell myself, are a function necessity like Minion’s peach snood that keeps his ears out of his food. 

Minion gets super excited when his hand-knit snood comes out because it means TREATS!

Or his Joe Cool cooling bandanna for those humid summer days.

Too cute and too cool for summer.

And then there is the Yukata for summer festivals.

Minion modeling his yukata in traditional Japanese indigo and white.

Or the traditional Hakama formal wear for when minion wants to represent the paw clan at black tie events. * fun fact: the word for paw in Japanese, nikukyu, literally translates as meat circle.**

Minion of the paw clan.

 And what could be more Japanese that taking your fur baby to the shrine to be blessed? You can buy special dog omamori, a wearable charms for protection, that attach to your pup’s collar.

Of course this plushy tank top is essential to celebrate the year of the boar…

Captain boar butt.

Ok, so I may need an intervention... but no one can say that my puppers is not the cutest, most kitted out, most extra of all Tokyo puppies. Now it’s time to snuggle him in his duckie pajamas and smugly feed him hand-made kangaroo treats.

Want more Minion in your life? Follow his adventures on Instagram at minion_of_mine.

Am I supposed to be excited about this?

The Valkyrie Abroad: Ume

Here’s to the love of the uncool

My supremely uncool self with one of my first quilts.

I grew up in a neighborhood that was almost all retirees. I would knock on their doors for pledge drives and to sell chocolate bars for school and make friends. I commandeered other people's grandmas and found comfort and love in their homes. They taught me how to sew, knit, quilt, embroider. They made me peanut brittle and Norwegian krumkake (which i still need to figure out a gluten free recipe for). My own nana died when i was very young, but i am glad i got to experience treasured knowledge passed down, things that weren't necessarily cool to others at the time but every day i am thankful for. Even half a world away i find things very similar, the nanas have the knowledge of the uncool things.

Our fresh organic ume arrived, shipped straight from the orchard.

Every year near the end of June, the ume are ready to harvest. While these little oval fruits are usually translated as plum, they are closer to a tart apricot in taste and texture. Because they pack quite a puckery zing they are never just eaten au natural.

Ocaca prepping the fruit in salt and an enzyme bath for pickling.

The two most common ways to handle ume is to either pickle and turn into umeboshi ( basically plum balls) or umeshu (plum liquor) both of which take some old school skill and mad patience. 

Each plum had to be washed, stemmed, and pierced before if could be soaked in whiskey and honey.

Most ladies under 50 don’t even attempt to make their own anymore. Sure, you can buy them at the store, and they’re good, tasty even. But i have had so much fun discovering the different flavors of home-made love.

Ume are tucked into giant jars before the alcohol is added to make the umeshu.

These plums are such an acquired Japanese taste, friends are often surprised by my deep and abiding love for them. I started receiving small jars from friends, neighbors, a chef down the street… 

“These are from my great aunt, she uses more salt”

“These are from my mom, she adds the red shiso” (an herb somewhere between basil and mint that gives the pickle a bright rusty fuchsia color.

“These are from my nana, she uses honey”

A friend even bought me a souvenir batch that had had Mozart played to them. 

It was like love notes packed into the flavor of each pickle. Somewhere a sweet lady had perfected her recipe and put her spin on hundreds of years of tradition and we were connected now through taste. There is a sort of magic in that.

After months in the pickling liquid, plums are set out in special drying baskets to cure in the sun for a few days.

My sweet friend, Ocaca, had seen it done, but never attempted it herself. Between calls to relatives, a weigh in by the chain-smoking grannies at our local watering hole, and the magic of the internet she and i muddled through to some surprising and delicious results. 

The soaking process for the umeshu takes a year. The jars have to be agitated every day.

Why am i only now sharing with the class? It takes a year of sitting, waiting, jar shaking before you even know if all your effort paid off. This has a kind of symmetry to me, though. Just as the new fruit is coming ripe, ready to be washed, salted, prodded, and pickled, last year’s efforts finally pay off. Reminding you what all that hard work is for: tasty, salty, tart magic.

The result: a glorious cocktail made with umeshu, orange peel, rosemary, and soda water. Verdict…well worth the wait.