I usually refrain from repeating myself here, but each trip to Mitsuwa Marketplace offers such new exciting things, that I felt our latest venture was worth noting to anyone headed there.

Having already eaten, we skipped the incredible food court, but you can read about that here. This time we were focused on the market side, and I was most determined to purchase sliced octopus sashimi, but went home with much more.

To pair with my dinner of octopus, I got a few favorites from my last visit: fresh salmon roe and Ponzu sauce for dipping. Cured and slightly spicy and sweet anchovies were an obvious choice and a new taste experience for me.

We also grabbed Shoyu Ramen base pack with noodles and seasoning, a couple options of spicy cod roe sauce mix so I can attempt to replicate my favorite dish at Hiroko's Place at home, a frozen box of pork and vegetable steamed buns, and in what was likely the best purchase of all: Calpis Ice Bars that are worthy of their own entry, so read all about them in the desserts section.

We've yet to try it but we got a little daring with our sake purchase too. Instead of our favorite Wakatake brand we found a blue bottle of Kan-Chiku. Hope it's as good!

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Posted on March 9, 2009

The V&A Musueum of Childhood is a charming laid back space that's free to the public and teaming with kids – one of which was even in head to toe Oshkosh which made my co-worker and I very excited. We met up with my friend Dana and her beautiful baby Bea, who enjoyed the flashing lights and bright colors. For us adults, there's also much to enjoy.

The main exhibit areas are filled with cases of toys through the decades and seeing some of them like this weird E.T doll we had that erroneously featured a glow up condom on it's finger, the brain thing from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Care Bears, these Indian puppets that we had as kids and the totally square Heart Family filled me with happy nostalgia.

Others amazed me with their packaging like this mechanical marionette theater or this arrow copter. Some things wowed me with their strangeness or grossness while still more made me envious of little British kids. I mean, really why couldn't we have grown up with Playsacks??!! I ended up taking hundreds of photos (that you can view here).

Currently they have a retrospective of children's fashion called Tip to Toe (open til April19th)?that features the exquisite, the fun, and the sometimes strange in children's fashion through the ages.

The book store is a good one, and you're likely to walk away with a fun souvenir, whether a book based on the Top to Toe exhibit or a He-Man toy postcard.

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Posted on February 23, 2009

Make Workshops hosts a variety of craft classes throughout the year; you can learn everything from embroidery (which is the class I took) to screen printing, from sewing to wallpaper making. The classes are run in a wonderfully relaxed manner by the company's friendly founder, Diana Rupp and would make the perfect present for the girl you love (use their handy gift certificates) and are a great way teach yourself how to make a lovingly hand crafted gift.

Over the course of my two hour embroidery class I learned the basics of the craft and was enlightened in the mysterious ways of the needle and thread. I think I pretty much understand all I need to know to start devoting all of my free time to unraveling knots and making runny, back, fill and chain stitches – if I wanted to. Plus, after mastering a few basics, I now have the know-how to decipher the puzzling diagrams in the dozens of how-to books I've got lining my bookshelf.

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Posted on February 9, 2009

Stephen Sprouse is omnipresent lately and Deitch Projects is the epicentre of his re-emergence on the fashion scene with their bright installation devoted to his dynamic, energetic and all too brief career. Bolstered by videos of runway footage and the Sprouse scene from Slaves of New York, the large main room holds many of his most famous designs.

I personally can vividly remember his bright green graffiti print from 1988 and it was fun to see it in person. My sister and I admired it in the pages of Vogue when we were little and I remember his stuff always stood out against other more serious and less fun (in my 10 year old eyes) designers like Armani.

Downstairs a dark room features his bold sketches under black light and upstairs more videos play from his often raucous shows. I found the huge wall of personal Polaroids the most fascinating. Not only is it neat to see candid shots of his famous friends like Debbie Harry just hanging out, but it makes the whole art movement he was a part of seem more real and identifiable. In snapshots, they all looked no different from my friends and I, having fun and creating things.

While his clothes are time capsules of a very specific new york moment, his partnership with Target and Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton brought the fashion bad boy – who bridged uptown fashion with downtown crazy – into the modern limelight. Sadly, he succumbed to complications of lung cancer soon after the Vuitton revival and Soho lost one of it's creators.

Now with a fancy coffee table book and Marc Jacobs releasing his We Love Sprouse homage, he's back again, and probably just in time. With the economy getting everyone down, we all could use a bit more neon distraction.

Also, I was solely excited because the Joker face host of Fashion Television was there to shoot a piece. No one else knew who she was though…

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Posted on January 26, 2009

After a permanently back breaking evening outside my own beloved bed, my shoulders have been giving me grief all vacation, so I started looking for relief in the form of a massage. My plan to save more money this year was instantly thwarted, though when I saw how expensive it can be.

Luckily, someone posted a positive review for the tiny Chinese spot around the block, you know one of those places you pass everyday, but pay no mind to? Anyways, prompted by the incredible deals there, I headed off on a Sunday afternoon and found yet another reason to love my neighborhood.

Qi Gong Tui-Na Salon is a dark sliver of a shop with neon in the window, and little more than a few temporary bamboo walls and curtains to separate the beds. It's not terribly private and there are no frills at all. In fact, on my visit two loud guys came in one either side of me with their smoker's cough girlfriends in tow and I could clearly hear one of the men “Lenny” having quite a bit of difficulty getting out of his clothes. If this sounds too much for you to bare, maybe the low cost would not be worth it for you. But for me, the massage was so relaxing that the distractions were just kind of funny.

The deal is this:
20 min = $18
30 min = $26
45 min = $38
60 min = $48

If you're nice and tip (and why wouldn't you?) they'll give you a card that allows one free visit after ten.

This is an incredible deal compared to other options that cost at least double, sometimes triple. Plus, it's an expert, wonderfully relaxing massage. If the stark environment betrays the cheapness, the actual massage does not.

It begins with gentle a rubdown over a towel before the lotion comes out. She was amazing with her tiny hands, finding all the spots that have been troubling me for the past couple weeks. My back and shoulders got lots of care and a bit of slapping (a Thai massage technique that to someone walking in might be misinterpreted as a vigorous happy ending). She also did my neck and scalp before finishing with my arms.

Foot massages are a separate service and one I definitely plan on trying next time. Open until 10 pm, it's not only affordable and great but a huge convenience if you live in the neighborhood and find yourself overly stressed by a day's work.

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Posted on January 12, 2009