ANOTHER present from Ayana!

Konnichiwa!

So you remember my pen-pal Ayana, right? Well she totally surprised me and sent more Christmas presents :D And I mean a LOT. And its all extremely awesome stuff. Even the packing is freaking adorable. I feel really blessed to have her as a friend, and to live in an age of technology where international online correspondence is available. Here are pictures :)

 the gorgeous packaging

 I love seeing all the Japanese characters- its the little things that excite me<3

 extremely soft 'A' bag (A is both my initial and hers)

 strawberry lotion. I actually had put strawberry lotion on my Christmas list, so now I can cross it off :)

 flowers/watermelon bellyband. I've never had one of these before!

 Hi-chew candies! yum yum yum

 again with the authentic Japanese characters

 chopsticks with a holder!

 fake eyelashes. So glad to receive these because I planned on using fake eyelashes for prom

 unique envelope<3

 little Japanese stickers. So kawaii ( ^-^)

 very heartwarming, hand-written letter (Ayana's English is really impressive)

and here they are all together - yay!

I am so absolutely astonished at her generosity, and I have already found a use for every gift. This Christmas season has provided me with a lot of culture and love<3

Keep it kawaii folks!

-Ainsley

Boyfriend Christmas Exchange: Matcha Tea Set

Konnichiwa!

It's that time of year again... hence my posting this one day late :P It's Christmas! Definitely my favorite holiday. Obviously, my boyfriend and I spend Christmas with our families, so we exchange presents early. And he got me the COOLEST traditional matcha tea set ever, some matcha tea (hello lattes) and a new tea steeping ball, because mine broke. The tea steeping ball is actually shaped like a tea pot ( ^-^)

Here are some pictures

 Isu Matcha (powder green tea)

 adorbs tea steeper

 bamboo tray

 tea set box

 tea set

 bowl

 scoop

whisk

And here are some pictures of me making it for the first time

 filling the teapot with water (yes, my pot is Irish. Hoping for a Japanese one as a Christmas present)

 heating the water

 filling the bowl

 gettin a scoop :)

 dumpin that scoop!

stirring...

 Almost done!

 Yum yum soothing ( ^-^)

So basically I have the best boyfriend ever<3 Let me know what you get for Christmas, and what your favorite present is! And please, inform me if I'm making this incorrectly; I didn't look up instructions online, I just winged it. 

Keep it kawaii folks!

-Ainsley

Christmas Gift Exchange With My Japanese Penpal

Konnichiwa!

Welcome to my blog; I just know you're as excited for the holiday season as I am :) I want to introduce you to my penpal from Japan. Her name is Ayana. She's seventeen and we've been talking since the summer. Ayana's a really cool girl; she has a little sister and an older brother, she's a big One Direction fan, and she has taught me a lot about what life is really like as a teenage girl in Japan. I've got to say, with the tough educational curriculum there, I'm not jealous! Here's a picture of the cutie<3 

Isn't she lovely?

Well for Christmas we decided to do a gift exchange. I wanted to do a theme for mine: Christmas in America. So I got her a bunch of little things and wrote a letter explaining how each item related to the holidays in the U.S. and how she could use it. I gave to her- sugar plum lotion, mocha cappucino packets, pink striped fuzzy gloves, peppermint bark dipped in dark chocolate,   and then the last two items were a fusion of America and Japan to symbolize our friendship. They were a "hello kitty" Christmas ornament and a framed haiku poem that I wrote for her about the snowfall. And then I wrote her a second letter about my family's Christmas traditions in case she was interested.

here are my little presents for her^

I recently received, via the mail, her present for me and I simply could not wait til Christmas to open it. I was already so intrigued by the real Japanese postage stamp!

here it is^

Anyway, here is what she gave me. It was this ADORABLE little christmas book with a Father Christmas on the front. His beard is actually furry! On each page there are little encouraging messages written in Japanese characters (Ayan kindly translated to English beneath each). And on the last page she wrote me a special message<3 Here are some pics

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to make international friends online; if you are even considering a penpal you should definitely go through with it because it will bring you great joy and you will learn a lot about another culture:)

Keep it kawaii folks!

-Ainsley

A Day at the Asian Market

Konnichiwa!

So my boyfriend and I really like to frequent the local Asian market because of all the interesting foodstuffs and items sold there. Asian cuisine is SO different than American, it amazes me. There were these huge spiky fruits there which totally befuddled me! Where I live, the majority of the Asian culture is Vietnamese, so there wasn't a whole lot of Japanese things there, but I thought it would be fun to show nevertheless.

 Live critters for purchase- yikes!

 Ramune drinks, our favorite :)

 mochi mochi mochiiiii. I thought these ones looked interesting, I wonder what flavors they are?

Here's the little soup spoon I purchased for 99 cents, which I absolutely love

If you are blessed to have a local Asian market, go check it out! You might just be surprised by some of the cool finds.

Keep it kawaii folks!

-Ainsley

Green Tea of the Month: Matcha

Konnichiwa!

So this title may be a little bit deceiving, but that isn't entirely my fault... When I bought this set of matcha green tea at Chelmsford Tea & Gifts, the lady selling it sold it as "matcha", even commenting that it is delicious as a latte. So naturally, I was under the impression that it would be a can of some lovely green powder for me to scoop into milk, like at Starbucks. WRONG. It is little tea bags filled with half normal green tea leaves and half matcha powder. Although it is refreshing steeped in water, I bought the stuff for lattes so I thought "dangit, I'm going to find a way to make a latte with this stuff." And it worked :D

(^tricky right?)

So here's how the latte is made

1. pour skim milk into teapot

2. microwave the pot of milk for 2 minutes on high

3. put two bags of "matcha" in a mug

4. when the microwave finishes, pour it on the tea and then steep for 2 minutes

5. remove the teabags

6. stir in stevia swettener (i do two packets tehehe)

7. snuggle up in bed, drink, and enjoy :) (and maybe even procrastinate from homework a little...)

Despite the deception, I'll give it up to Chelmsford for providing me with one hell of a latte! It has a slight hint of vanilla flavor, some good calcium,is relatively cheap per cup, and is only 80 calories. Beat that Starbucks! I'd really like to try making this with coconut milk instead of regular. I'll let you know how a real matcha latte goes when I get to making one.

Keep it kawaii folks!

-Ainsley