Totoro & turtle cream puffs

I finally made some Totoro Cream Puffs! They didn't turn out as pretty as Annathered's. If you'd like to try making these yummy cream puffs, please check out her "how-to" here.

At first, I had some doubts as to whether her cream custard microwave recipe would be any good since most recipes I've come across used the stove-top method. But I must say, the microwave method is so much easier and it turned out perfectly! Like Anna says, every microwave is different, so the cooking time may have to be adjusted. It turns out that I had to microwave mine at high for 2 minutes first and then for another 45 seconds after that.

I like that she gives out shorter cooking times for the beginner to play around with until they can get it right. I also like that her recipe makes very small batches. This way, if you goof up the first few times, at least you wouldn't be wasting a lot of ingredients.

Lucky for me and Derek, we got it almost right the first time. The only problem we had was that there were tiny holes on the bottom of our first batch of baked puff pastry. I figured it was because our batter might not be thick enough. So for the next 2 batches, we added less egg to the recipe and almost all the puff pastries turned out perfectly! Good job, Derek! I give credit to my sous chef for his wise suggestion.

For the fun part, we decorated them and filled them with the custard and ate them up right away. They were soooooooo yummy!!!!!

The true scientists that we are, we felt we had no choice but to make some more cream puffs, for testing purposes, you know ;). We wanted to test if day old cream puffs would taste just as good. After having our fill with the freshly made cream puffs, we were good enough to set aside some for storage in the fridge and freezer for testing later.

Of course, fresh out of the oven wins hands down. The cream puffs stored in the fridge still tasted quite good the next day, but the pastry lost its crispness. I'm sure the frozen cream puffs would have tasted divine, if we had only allowed to let it defrost for a good 15 minutes before wolfing them down. But, even though the custard was extremely hard, it still tasted soooooo good, that we ate it all up without waiting for it to fully defrost.

The verdict? It would be best to serve these cream puffs the same day. If you want to make them ahead, I'd suggest freezing them first and then allowing them to defrost slightly and serve as frozen treats. We will try some more experimenting with different flavours like red bean, green tea or chocolate cream custard. If successful, I will certainly blog about it again.

Puff pastries, fresh out of the oven.

Hmmmmm, some of these look like turtles.

My attempt at making these look like Totoros. Being naturally lazy, I took a short cut and used toothpicks to put on cream cheese icing eyeballs first. Then, I melted some chocolate chips and applied the nose and whiskers next. Once the eyeballs firmed up a bit, I dotted them with the melted chocolate for the pupils.

Derek decorated his turtles too.

Filling the Totoro pastry. Say aaaahhhh.

This picture looks a bit disturbing, but we're just filling the turtle pastry with the custard.

These are so yummy and easy to make that it's sure to become a family favourite.

Usagi Yojimbo & Gennosuke

I'm so addicted to sewing plushies now. I think it's because the act of hand stitching, much like knitting, offers a meditative quality. I'm in my happy place when I'm creating something lovable with my own two hands. Sewing plushies is a simple act, but it also allows for the mind to focus on the detailing. So, step by step, a cute stuffed toy is being created. Dick's latest request was to make him a Gennosuke plushie.

Gennosuke is a Rhino bounty hunter found in the Usagi Yojimbo comic book series. Even though this comic book series is based in feudal Japan, which means there's a lot of killing and beheading going on, I actually did enjoy reading some of the stories and I absolutely love the Artwork! Why? Because it features a maniacal sword-wielding (fierce, yet cute looking) bunny as the main character. Yes, I managed to cutefy both of these two samurai characters and Dick still approved.

Here's the official website for Usagi Yojimbo: http://www.usagiyojimbo.com/

Here's Usagi Yojimbo, the main character. He's a masterless samurai (Ronin) bunny wandering Japan's countryside. He's not usually this happy looking, but this is my take on him.

Side view.

Back view.

His other side.

This is Gennosuke. Dick likes him because he's a bit of a rogish character. Whenever Gen gets together with Usagi for some ramen and drinks, he often takes off, after piling on the food and leaves Usagi stuck with the dining bill.

Side view.

Back view.

His other side.

Good times for Gen & Usagi.

Dick insisted that I make swords for them because they would be incomplete without these weapons.

Here are the two buddies roaming around aimlessly in the woods.

Finger Puppet Plushies.

I think I have found my most favourite blog of all time. http://www.annathered.com/2009/09/02/behemoth-chicken/ She loves a lot of the same cute Japanese characters that I love.

As well, we share very similar hobbies PLUS she posts a lot of "How-to" tutorials so that her readers can try them out for themselves. As soon as I saw her stuffed Behemoth Chicken, I knew I had to make one of my own.

I had so much fun with my first plushie that I just kept going and going, non-stop, making more and more of these plushies. I did tweak my plushies a bit by making them into finger puppets. This idea came to me because I remembered my collection of finger puppets I got while visiting Japan.

My family loves these toys so much that I'm getting requests to do more and more of their other favourite characters. Dick wants me to make some superheroes and some Star Trek spaceships. Not sure how I can cutefy those items? But I will make a few more characters for his Katamatari collection.

Help!!! I need to stop this madness soon because I want to move on to other actvities, like re-creating Annathered's other ideas, such as her Bento Box food items, the Totoro chocolates and the Totoro Cream Puffs...

Aaaaahhhhh!!! Too many new play ideas, which one do I want to do next????? At this rate, my gardening plans may have to be put on hold.

Here's my version of the Behemoth Chicken. It's Colin's favourite. He calls it "Eggy".

I made an insert for it, so that it can be both a hanging toy and a finger puppet.

Next up is a steamed bun. This one is everyones' favourite. It can transform from a steamed bun into a rice ball (onigiri) or a blimp, depending on how you squish it.

Here's my attempt at making Kirby, Derek's favourite. I felt that the arms were too long so Dick said I should just make it into a Kirby airplane. I thought about making its arms wrap around an object like it was hugging it and so...

.... here he is hugging his feet. Now the arms don't look so oversized.

This one is a red pikmin, one of Colin's favourite video game characters.

Speaking of video games, Dick wanted me to make the Prince from one of his favourite games, Katamari Damacy. It's a really strange game where the Prince goes around pushing a ball that gathers more and more objects until it becomes so big, it rebuilds the universe. Dick wanted me to form this ball by gluing together lego pieces and old toy parts. I will have to do a separate post for this very odd video game. Here's Totoro, a family favourite from the Studio Ghibli films.

This is his pal, Chu-Totoro.

This is Chibi-Totoro. It looks like a tooth.

Here's the collection, so far... There'll be more coming.

Here are the plushies and other toys we had around the house that I used as models for my finger puppet plushies.

Here's my favourite one.

Long armed Kirby... still very cute.

Spinning Toys

I promised to do a post on spin-toys and at long last, here it is.

When I left my office job, I received a lovely card from a favourite summer student of mine. To my delight, a spinning butterfly came fluttering out when I opened it! It's this sort of simple, yet unexpected surprise which brings pleasure for me. Yes, it's the oddest things that bring me pleasure. I immediately thought to myself, I need to re-create this somehow.

So, after a few attempts and some help from hubby and son, we managed to put together 2 fairly good samples but I must admit that I'm still on the look out for more appropriate wiring supplies to re-create a better model. This is still a work in progress and so it goes back on the shelf for another day.

Using some pretty paper, paperclips, mini rubber bands and some tools, we attempted to fashion our own spin-toys.

The butterfly is the professionally made model. The lady bug and bee are obviously the home-made models.

Here's how the spin toy works. First hold it by the bumble bee's bum and start winding the wing part.

When it's been turned several revolutions.....

release and let it spin..... wheeeeeeeee......... Ok, then. That was about 10 seconds of fun. Definitely worth it!

Denim Craft

I recently had a friendly exchange with an acquaintance, discussing carbon footprints and it got me to thinking about ways to reduce my carbon footprint, but still have fun at the same time. As an Arts & Crafts enthusiast/budding environmentalist, I'm constantly looking for ways to create something new out of something old.

I had a pair of old blue jeans that I couldn't bear to part with but I had to admit that its days were numbered. So when that day came, instead of tossing it out to add to the landfill, I thought that maybe, just maybe, I can make something cute with it.

Originally, I was thinking of making an egg for a bunny or chick to pop out of. But the egg didn't quite turn out the way I wanted. As with most of my craft projects, they often end up as UFOs (Un-Finished Objects).

But not this time, baby. I was determined to finish what I started. Nevermind that the end product has changed. I decided that my egg should become a flowerpot instead. I stuck some dried bamboo branches and dried jasmine leaves (potential yard waste from my garden), stuck some puffy stars on them and voila.... A home decor item. I call it the "Make a Wish upon a Star" Plant.

Although I did use brand new ribbon to make the puffy stars, I will use ribbon scraps to make a more colourful arrangement next time. This way, I can claim that my work was made entirely out of old material.

This pair of blue jeans served me well, but the day came when I had to lay it down to rest. Sob, sob...

A couple of the belt loops had already come loose.

There were big gaping holes that no amount of patching could have helped.

I knew there was a way I could incorporate bamboo twigs from my backyard into my crafts.

So here's the completed "Make a Wish upon a Star" Plant!

As always, my biggest wish is for "World Peace", but of course I wish that my beloved Japan's troubles will be over soon and that the rest of the world can learn from them, especially how orderly and calm their citizens remained while coping with this triple (earthquake, tsunami, nuclear radiation) disaster.

Heiwa (Peace)

Sushi Birthday Cake

Being Japanophiles, I was instantly enthralled by a Sushi Cake website my hubby recently introduced me to. So, I immediately requested that for my birthday, I'd like to go shopping for all the ingredients to make my very own Sushi Cake. I'm excited to now show how much fun I had making this Sushi Cake.


First, we made some sushi rice. We flavoured it with salt, rice vinegar, sugar and toasted sesame seeds.

Then we formed the cake base.

Now for the fun part... We made some flower decorations using salmon sashimi, clams, squid and mint leaves.

We added on shrimp, flying fish eggs, enoki mushroom and romaine lettuce...

... and voila! A yummy sushi cake, ready to serve!

For my birthday, my family gave me 2 birthday cards. Hubby picked out a card with cutesy animals and purple flowers for me. But my older son insisted on also giving me another one especially hand-picked by him. Awwww, I knew he really cared about me, even though he pretends not to.

Here's what it said on the front. So, he really does listen to me, even though he pretends not to.

... he even thinks I'm wise. And all this time, I thought I was nothing more than a nag and an annoyance to him.

This is so sweet. I'm so touched. (^ ~^)//


I got a cute ladybug mouse. I still don't know what all those black dots are for. Nothing seems to happen when I press on them. I just don't get how some of these high tech gadgets work?!?!?

Among other goodies & treats, I also got more paper crafts to add to my collection. With this, I will post on how to make spinning paper toys next.