We made coin purses!!

Today we went to Tokyu Hands after ramen as I wanted to buy a paint tube squeezer for my hand cream. I was unsuccessful in the end but on one of the basement levels they have a crafts section (which I only visited by mistake the other week). It has leather, leather tools, buttons and other items you would use for making your own goods. They had a little desk set up that said you could make a leather coin purse for 500yen, or make an appointment to make a leather purse tomorrow. After the couple that was there finished their coin purses we had ago. And below is our finished product. It was surprisingly easy, although I kind of broke mine already!!   ( -.-) I hammered one part in a bit wonky.

This past week has been fun hanging out with Sam as he took pretty much the whole week off. We are now also proud owners of Settlers of Catan. We ordered it off Amazon Japan on Monday and received it on Christmas morning (whilst Sam was at school). We invited some friends over on Wednesday and Friday night to play and have nabe. And.. I won my first game on Friday night! Whoooo !!!

Friday's nabe

Since Sam has time off I often get cooked super tasty breakfast including french toast and scrambled eggs.

Delicious french toast. Just needed some ricotta on the top!

Improved banana pancakes

Public holiday today again! =) Sam made banana pancakes again this morning! We got some maple syrup from Costco since the last time we had pancakes. These were even better than the last ones, super fluffy and moist. So blessed to have such an awesome pancake making husband!

Snickers cookies

On Friday I made my first Snickers cookies. It basically is a peanut butter cookie with either chopped up snickers mixed through it or the dough is wrapped around a snickers. I only made two with the dough wrapped around a mini snickers though, and I think they were better. The cookies with the snickers mixed through it did have these nice crunchy caramel bits that oozed out though. (^_^)

Yesterday we played our first games of Settlers of Catan with some friends from church. It was lots of fun! It is a game I would definitely consider purchasing. It is a game where even though it may not seem like you are winning you are still involved and could even come out from behind and take the win (which we saw happen last night).

Good coffee joint

A lady from church told us about a good coffee joint in Motomatchi near where we get Ramen last week. We had a look last Sunday but it was closed, so after worship practice and some ramen we checked it out today. It is a cosy little place called Espresso Bar + Plus. It did not disappoint! It was also decently priced being 300yen (approx AU$3.50) for a cafe latte. The coffee was as good as one that you would get at a good coffee place in Sydney. We are definitely going to be returning. They have a few seats upstairs (and by that I mean 6) where you can sit and have your coffee (and cake).

I also tried a different ramen today. It was the 'Special' Ramen. It was basically the same except it came with an egg, 2 wonton dumplings and thick, tasty pork. the pork was amazing!

There is another place that we have taken a liking to their products. It's called 'Daniel' just of the main shopping street in Sannomiya. They sell crepes, (mini) canneles and something called 'unagi no nedoko' (when i looked the words up separately I got eel bed/ bedroom.. haha..). Unagi no nedoko is a long narrow traditional Kyoto town house (which this place is) and also some kind of cake. The canneles are about 3-4cm high and are no match for the canneles that Emily (Sam's younger sister) makes. We visit this place for it's not too sweet crepes. You can choose the filling of the crepe, which are displayed in dishes at the counter. We have so far tried banana caramel, apple pie, strawberry and chocolate (not as good as the forementioned). The crepes also come with creme patisserie and small amount of sago pudding.

Luminarie

Yesterday we went to the Kobe Luminarie last night. It is a light festival held every December commemorating the Great Hanshin Earthquake. You start by walking down part of a street with many gates of lights. Each year the lights are different. At the end of the street there are many food stalls and another area of lights. I forgot to take the camera so I was only able to take some not very good photos with my phone.

The start of the street/ tunnel of lights

Can see the end

Sam and the tornado of chips

On another note it is has been getting colder and we saw our first snow here last Sunday. It didn't last for very long and there wasn't much of it either. You can really feel the cold in our place too. There is little to no insulation, so it just as cold inside as it is outside. Most nights you can see smoke coming out of your mouth when you breathe out. o_O