Current obsession: cute tea sets and green tea

I’ve been trying to reduce my caffeine intake for the past couple of weeks. I’ve realised that I have been consuming a LOT of caffeine every day every since I started cégep two and a half years ago. While it helped give me enough energy to get through it, I know that consuming that much caffeine is bad for your health.

Now that I’ve taken a break from school until next fall (the program I want to study can only be begun in the fall as opposed to most university programs which are open to admission year round), I’ve decided that it would be better for me to go easy on the caffeine until then.

My first step? Remove energy drinks completely from my regimen and replace coffee by tea during the evening. I’m completely obsessed with green tea lately! I love the taste and the fact that it’s much less bitter than coffee. I also like that it is supposed to have plenty of health benefits so that I can drink it without feeling guilty =D

Another thing I love about tea is that you get to make it in cute tea pots! I brought this really pretty blue tea pot at a local store for only 15$. The cups came separately and were 2$ each. I thought it was a pretty good deal!

My next tea related purchase : jasmine green tea! ♥ I absolutely adore it!

Beauty craving : Sèche Vite Top Coat

I have real trouble with my nail polish chipping quickly and/ or getting smudged because it takes ages to dry. I really want to find a good top coat that makes my nail polish last and makes it dry super quickly.

I’ve heard a lot of good about the Sèche vite top coat, but since it’s not readily available here in Montréal (unless I’m looking in the wrong places! If that’s the case, please let me know where I can find it, I would be so grateful ♥), which mean if I want to get it, I need to order it online.

I have found a nail supply online store which sells it for rather cheap (around 7$ US if I’m not mistaken), but I still have to pay for shipping. I’d like to know what everyone thinks of this top coat? Does it live up to the hype? Which top coat do you swear by?

So far, I’ve tried Sally Hansen Diamond Shine top coat and base coat and the Revlon extra life no chip top coat. The Sally Hansen one did not protect my nail polish at all. In fact, I felt like it almost made it chip faster! As for the Revlon one, it used to work fine (but took ages to dry -_-), but it became very thick and hard to apply in record time to the point where I cannot use it at all anymore… bummer!

So, the question is : Sèche vite top coat, must have?

February 2011 favorites

Here are my favourites of the month! Basically, what I have been reaching for almost every single day and loving! What are your favourites this month?

Eyes:

Bonnebell eye definer eye liner in midnight bark

I really enjoy a good, but inexpensive brown eye liner. I usually reach from browns rather than black because black is too harsh for my skin tone. Unfortunately, I can’t afford high end brand like the super creamy and durable Urban decay liners, but I find that this eye liner while only setting you back of a mere 1.50$ does the job perfectly. It’s creamy enough so that you do not have to press hard to apply it (which is a very common thing with drugstore/cheap eyeliners) and the pigmentation is pretty good.

Elf brightening eye pot #90929

This eye shadow came with a kit, with another eye shadow that looks practically the same and a beige color (mine broke off within a week for some reason). It has a nice pigmentation and a little bit of glitter. I love to use this to darken up my crease! Be careful though, it has a lot of fallout, make sure to tap off any excess on your brush before applying this.

Estée lauder Pure Color Eye Shadow in Tea biscuit

I’ve been wearing this color as an all over the lid color for months now. It brightens up my eyes without looking overdone. A perfect everyday color in my opinion.

Couleurs nature fresh eye shadow stick in eternal snow

I got this at Yves Rocher years ago and I have been using it ever since. It’s great for a natural highlight or a an eye shadow base.

Sephora mascara

I got this sample mascara in the Sephora beauty insider birthday gift set this year. It came with a eyeliner and a shimmery white shadow. I’m almost out of it as I’ve been wearing pretty much only this for the past couple of months! It gives me a decent amount of volume without looking unnatural. I might look into purchasing the full size one day. For now though, I want to experiment more with drugstore mascaras. Every mascara seem to have either a synthetic rubber brush or a HUGE brush these days. I’m not a fan of that. It makes it hard for me to apply it. This mascara has a medium sized brush and I really enjoy that. I hope to find something similar for the drugstore. Any suggestions?

Nails:

L.A colors Art deco nail art laquer in silver glitter

I just bought this recently and I cannot get enough of it! The brush isn’t as fine as other nail art polishes I have seen though, so I wouldn’t recommend this for precision work. The polish is also very gritty because of the glitter and hard to remove, but I enjoy adding glitter to my nail art so much that it doesn’t bother me! I’m planning on getting more colors soon.

N.Y.C Long wearing nail enamel in clear

High shine, dries quickly. The formula isn’t too runny of gloopy and I’ve had this for years! An all around favourite of mine when I want to quickly make my nails look clean and tidy without adding color.

Tools:

Eco tools eye set

This set of 5 make up brushes focuses on eye brushes. It has a small detail brush which I use for the inner corner and the lower lash line, a flat shading brush, a blending brush, an angled blending brush and a large flat shading brush. All of these are very small, only about 3 inches long and come in a hemp brush roll with a mirror. They are perfect for traveling and their short length allows great precision. I actually quite enjoy that they are so small! Also, the Eco tools line uses recycled materials and synthetic fibres, so they are sustainable and cruelty free, a definite plus in my opinion. I also forgot to mention that these brushes are all incredibly soft! Incredible quality for the price. I also have the face brush set and I want to purchase the mineral set soon. Anyone else is a fan of Eco tools brushes?

Body:

St. Yves 24 hour moisture advanced body moisturizer

This is a travel size bottle which I got at the dollar store. It’s my second bottle already and even though it runs out quickly because of the size, I prefer to pick up the travel size! It fits perfectly into my purse so I can reapply anytime I need it. Over here, in Montréal, the temperature during the winter can reach -30 degrees Celsius, so my hands are constantly super dry. This hand cream is my favourite so far. I’m not too fond of the smell though, so tell me your favourites so I can try them out!

Hair:

Chi Shine Infusion

This is a hair shine spray which I use mainly on the ends of my hair. I haven’t got a trim in a long time and my hair is very damaged and dry. This helps me control it while adding a much needed shine to my dull, dry ends.

Aussie moist shampoo and conditioner

To me, shampoos do not seem to make much of a difference in my hair. While some brands make my hair greasy, most brands work about the same on my hair. I love this because of the scent! It smells sweet and tropical and reminds me of summer. It feels amazing when there is three feet of snow outside to have a little reminder of what’s coming up in the next months! As for the conditioner, it helps make my ends less dry and also smells super yummy! (not exactly the same scent as the shampoo though). What I absolutely love about it is the consistency. It’s very thick so I can slather my hair with it without having it drip everywhere and waste half of the product. These are also very inexpensive, perfect for my student budget.

Food:

Shrimp chips

I was very sceptical at first when my boyfriend encouraged me to try these, but they are so yummy! I could eat a whole bag in one sitting =S

Super quick and easy lunch

I had an amazing lunch today, it felt like a meal you would order at a breakfast restaurant, but it only took 10 minutes to prepare and was much healthier! Very filling and the strawberries were heaven!

Backpacking ♥

I’ve had the traveling bug for quite a while now. I used not to believe my mom when I was younger and she told that once you try it, you simply cannot go back! Traveling to me, is highly addictive, it’s the most fun, adventure, exhilaration I’ve experienced of all my life!

For now, my addiction is limited to backpacking style traveling on a very minimal budget, which means, no shopping, quality hotels or expensive restaurants! Even though I hope to try a more luxurious type of traveling in the future, I feel like I’ve experienced so much through budget traveling! (Although it was REALLY difficult to keep myself from buying EVERYTHING in Malaysia, they have the cutest stuff 8D)

Picture of MBK center in Bangkok. My boyfriend and I spent so much time there =D

View from Georgetown, Malaysia

So far, I’ve been to Southeast Asia (Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore ♥) and Central America (Honduras, Guatemala, Bélize, El Salvador, Nicaragua ♥) for two months each. The experiences I have from these countries are incomparable! From volcano hiking and boarding, to surf, scuba diving, horseback riding, snorkelling, jungle treks, elephant rides, white water rafting to petting tigers, I cannot imagine what my life would be now if I hadn’t gone out to explore the world!

Landscape in Luang Prabang, Laos

Most georgous beach I have even seen in Koh Samui, Thailand

I haven’t been able to travel within the past year and a half because I was finishing Cégep and money was tight. But I’m taking half a year off before I start university (the program I want to do is only taught in the fall), so my boyfriend and I are thinking about leaving again, where should we go? Central America or Asia again? South America? Europe? (Probably a little too expensive for us, but I can dream right? =p)

Did any of you travel? If so, where? Does anyone have the travel bug like me? =D

Also if anyone is interested in knowing what I bring with me backpacking, or tips for independent travel, just say so in the comments and I will work on an entry about it!

Review : DKNY Be delicious and Be delicious fresh blossom

I have recently bought this DKNY delicous duo rollerball which combines two popular scents : DKNY be delicious original and DKNY be delicious fresh blossom. I think the idea of combining two fragrances into one handy portable and affordable product is genius! So, I decided to review them for you, so that anyone who might be on the fence about purchasing this product can get a better idea of what it has to offer =D

Here is a picture of the product I got of the Sephora.com website!

I have to say, I really like the concept of being able to try out two fragrances, without purchasing full size bottles. Also, the roller ball is extremely handy and I can throw it into my handbag and reapply throughout the day. I love that you can travel with this, without worrying about it leaking inside your bag. The pink side is the Be delicious Fresh blossom perfume, while the green side is the original Be Delicious fragrance. It was only 22$ CAD at Sephora if I remember correctly, very cheap for the amount of product you get.

These are the notes of both fragrances that I found on Sephora.com

DKNY Be Delicous Notes : American Apple, Cucumber, Grapefruit, Candid Magnolia, Tuberose, White Muguet, Rose, Violet, Sandalwood, Tender Skin Accord, Blonde Woods, White Amber

DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom : Grapefruit, Cassis, Apricot, Muguet, Rose, Jasmine, Apple, Blond Woods, Smooth Skin Accord.

♥ ♥ ♥

DKNY Be Delicious : You can definitely smell the apple with a hint of cool cucumber when first applied. The fragrance is fresh, crisp and clean smelling. It’s not at all over powering, it’ s actually quite mild and subtle, perfect for everyday wear in my opinion. I feel like this would be more of a summer fragrance since it’s very light, if you’re into that kind of thing. Personally I wear any type of smell year round, but that really depends on your personal preference. As time progresses, you can smell more and more of the flowery notes, which is also very pleasant. Overall, I really enjoy this perfume, even though I usually prefer sweeter scents. I’m however glad that I only got the roller ball one, since I’m not sure if it’s the type of scent I prefer for myself. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoy, clean and fresh scents that are not powdery.

DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom: Right away, the notes in this fragrance are a lot more citrusy than the original fragrance. The grapefruit and apricot appear to be dominant, but the scent itself is very subtle just like the Be Delicious original perfume. Fresh blossom also appears to be an excellent spring/summer everyday scent just like Be Delicious original. Like the name says, it’s also a very fresh smelling fragrance, but it feels a lot warmer than the cool cucumber notes found in the original. With this scent, I have found that I’m rather keen of citrus smells, something I would have never guessed since I naturally gravitate towards vanilla and spices. I prefer this scent to the original for myself.

♥ ♥ ♥

As for staying power, I feel like both of these fragrances fade rather quickly, which is kind of surprising as it is supposed to be an eau de parfum. The scent does linger, but it loses most of its potency (which is mild to begin with) to the point where you can almost not smell it anymore. Not a problem, since the product is so handy, you can reapply as much as you like.

My scuba diving experience ^^

Scuba diving has got to be my favourite sport. I love the feeling that you get from being underwater, gliding through the water, breathing deeply while watching with amazement the amazing wildlife and corals.

I’m still fairly new at scuba diving. My first experience was last year, when I went to the Utila Island in Honduras. I spend a week there, diving almost every single day while I was completing my PADI formation. I would like to pursue my diving and hopefully complete my dive master course some day!

I’m not one to be super comfortable when in the water. My swimming skills while adequate aren’t the best, but when I dive, it’s another story completely. To anyone who might hesitate to try scuba diving I say, give it a try, it’s one of my most precious memories! ♥

Here are some pictures I took while I was there. I also have an underwater video of us and the group we dived with where you can see exactly what we've seen, but I'm not sure where that is! I'll upload later if I can find it =D

This is the dive shop where I did my PADI, the Utila dive center, the people there were amazingly helpful and nice =D

If I had had more time and more money I would have done my advanced open water course there too!

The diving equipment, just before a dive on the boat

Lunch for two : Smoked salmon bagel

Lunch of the day ^_^

I love this song ♥

I could just listen to this song all day ^^ The lyrics are super cute and I love the video!

Favorite beauty products of 2010

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve really been into everything beauty for the past year or so. Of course, I’ve discovered tons of products I absolutely adore during that time so I thought I would share my current favourites!

Just a FWI, most of my products are dugstore/cheap/samples! I cannot afford the high end make up like Mac yet =( but someday I hope! So if you’re not into cheap makeup, this post will probably not be of much interest!

Anyway here we go:

Face:

- Maybelline Dream matte mousse foundation

- N.Y.C sunny bronzer

- Rimmel blush in pink sugar (I think I paid 3$ for this thing! Amazing =D)

- Neutrogena oil free moisturizer with SPF 15

- St-Yves naturally clean scrub

Eyes:

- Coastal scents 88 warm palette

- Maybelline eye studio gel liner in brown

Lips:

- Estée Lauder high shine gloss in blush

Perfume:

- Jean Paul Gauthier Classique EDP (this stuff is expensive -_- but I looove it)

Hair:

-Chi silk infusion

Brushes:

- Eco tools blush brush

- Eco tools angled brush (you can only see the handle on the picture T_T)

- Eco tools blending brush (from the Eye brush set)

The Eco tools brushes are so soft and not flimsy at all, it’s pretty much the only decent drugstore brushes you can find here in Montréal! (Unless I haven’t been looking at the right places)

Would anybody be interested in swatches? For the 88 palette maybe? I know it’s been done countless times on blogs already so I didn’t bother, but let me know if you’re interested! =)

Otakuthon 2011

Every year, for the past couple of years, there has been an anime convention called Otakuthon organised in Montréal. When I first heard about it, I couldn’t believe my ears! I’ve been there for the first time last year (no Cosplay though, I chickened out!) and it was amazing! I missed most of the panels I wanted to see (Cosplay, origami, making sushi, etc.) because I was too busy roaming around the shops ^_^, the selection was absolutely mind blowing!

I’m planning on going again this year and I’m hoping it’ll be even better! The cafe cosplay was really cool (although I’m not sure the takoyaki and curry tonkatsu I ate we’re very authentic) and the ambiance was amazing! I loved watching all the super original costumes everyone had ^^ I cannot wait for Otakuthon 2011! This time around, I will try and cosplay too! =p It looks like so much fun!

Anybody is attending this year? Oh and some pictures of the stuff I got last year if anyone is interested ♥

Vocaloid mouse pad ^^

Pretty pink pillow =D

Diana plushie (or is it Luna? XD)

Takoyaki from Café Cosplay =D

I got lots more stuff but I don't want to make to post too pic heavy ^^

IMAX, is the price really worth it?

For our Valentines’ day date, my boyfriend and I took a day off and went out to eat and watch a movie downtown. We wanted to see the recent movie Tron and the movie theatre we went to only had it in IMAX. Great, we thought, we have never tried IMAX this should be really cool!

Well, it wasn’t. I mean, the movie was great and I really enjoyed the storyline, but the IMAX part was rubbish! I didn’t find that it made much of a difference at all. Maybe the image had a little more depth but that’s it! 17$ for a little bit of depth? Is it just me, or is that a little bit excessive? We we’re really taken aback when we bought our tickets at first! 38$ for a 2h movie O_O ? It was a special date so we decided to go with it, but I definitely think it wasn’t worth it. Is it just me? Or maybe that particular movie did not have much 3D but others do?

Another annoying thing was that I had to wear my glasses underneath the 3D glasses (I only wear them in school and when I go out to the movies). It was very uncomfortable and I ended up spending my whole evening with red marks from the glasses on my nose =S Anyway, I wouldn’t recommend seeing this movie in IMAX. If I were to do it again, I’d probably wait for it to come out in DVD.

What do you all think about the new IMAX craze? Is it really worth the price and discomfort?

My favourite video games

So, I guess you could say I’m a little bit of a nerd! I've loved video games ever since I was a kid :)

I decided I felt like making a list of my favourite video games for fun! Please recommend me some in the comments; I would love to know which your favourites are!

- DDR

(does it count as a “video game”? I’ve been playing DDR for about the past 10 years! I just adore going out to the arcade and play! I don’t do it as much anymore but I really should, it’s such a great workout and I’m really lazy when it comes to working out =p) We even have our own metal pad at home. Only issue is that we live on a 2nd floor at the moment and we can't play =(

- Persona 3 FES, probably my all time favourite game!

- Diablo II

- The legend of Zelda : ocarina of time

Funny story, I’ve actually never played the game myself. I failed at playing so instead, I would watch my brothers play. I love the story ♥

- Super paper Mario, another one of my all time favourites! It lead me to play so many other Mario RPG types game after (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door,

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, etc.)

- Cooking mama XP

- Borderlands

I’m not usually a FPS kind of girl, but I really enjoy this game, my boyfriend and I have all the DLCs and we’ve played for at least 40 hours so far =D

- Final fantasy VII, best RPG ever!

- Super Mario 3 (I’m really bad at this game, and I mean REALLY bad XD, but I love it nonetheless)

- The sims (highly addictive!)

- Roller coaster tycoon

Current obsession : Hello kitty

I’ve been obsessed with Hello Kitty stuff lately (actually, almost anything Sanrio really). I love Hello Kitty on anything =p It’s a shame that the stuff is so expensive though! I really cannot afford much of it!

So far, I have two purses, a grocery bag, a couple pens, little strips of papers to make origami stars, a rhinestone ipod cover, a mouse pad and a t-shirt. I just cannot get enough of it! XD It makes everything so much cuter!

This is an ipod touch cover. I bought it at the Pacific mall when my boyfriend and I went to Toronto last year! It was super inexpensive, but the rhinstones keep falling off O_O. Cannot wait to make my own decoden cover to replace it (hopefully before this one desintegrates). Even though it's cheap, I think it's adorable =p

These are my two current hello kitty handbag, you can't tell from the picture, but they're starting to be a little old! I'm thinking I might purchase another one soon =) Which colour should I get this time?

Also, yesterday, my boyfriend surprised me with a Hello Kitty Easter chocolate! I was sooo happy ♥ It was really sweet of him =D Best Easter chocolate of my life!

Apparently, in japan, there is a Sanrio theme park! Isn’t that crazy? O_O I have to go there sometime! (going to japan is actually one of my dreams!) I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it at first.

Anyone else is really into Sanrio stuff? ♥

My favourite breakfast : berry smoothie

Ever since I was little, my breakfast of choice has always been cereal (my favourites are Reese puffs =D). They might be tasty, but as the years passed, I realised how little nutrition value they offer. After an hour and a half in class, I would be absolutely starting, and lunch was still more than 2 hours away!

When I moved into my own place, I kept on with cereal breakfasts for a while, but every morning, in class, I’d be starving. Who can concentrate on a difficult Integral calculus class with an empty stomach? Well, I couldn’t. That’s when I discovered homemade smoothies. My boyfriend found a recipe on the internet for a berry smoothie so we decided to give it a go!

To me, smoothies appear like they would be a treat more than something that's good for you, but this recipe is super healthy! Now, I start each day with a good amount of fruits and protein. The best part? I’m not hungry as quickly =D

The glass looked boring on its own so I put a little elephant next to it XD I really got to learn how to take proper food pictures...

Recipe for 2 smoothies:

1 cup of natural apple juice (the brown kind)

2 cups of frozen mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries)

1 banana

100g of silk/soft tofu

Blend everything well with a blender and serve! So yummy ♥

Tell me what you think if you decide to try it!

Some of my favourite books/book recommendations

Lately, I’ve been on a reading kick. Well, I haven’t exactly started reading yet, but I’ve been craving a good read. All of the latest books I have read were books that were imposed to me by my French teachers in cegep and I really miss reading just for the fun of it. I’m always on the lookout for book suggestions, because for some reason book covers just don’t inspire me. If I go to the library, I have to have something in mind, otherwise I browse endlessly, not knowing exactly what I’m looking for -_- It’s really annoying and rather unproductive.

I thought I might help out others in a similar situation by listing a couple of my favourite reads! I love reading lists of all types of things on the Internet, so for anyone like me, I hope it’ll be hopeful! And if anyone is reading this, please leave me some suggestions! It would be greatly appreciated =D

♥ ♥ ♥

- The Harry Potter series (I know, pretty obvious right =p)

- 1984, George Orwell

- Queen Margot, Alexandre Dumas

- The giver, Lois Lowry

- If only it were true, Marc Levy

- Memoirs of a geisha, Arthur Golden

- The count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

- The lord of the Rings trilogy

And for manga lovers like me ^^

- Alice 19th

- Fushigi Yuugi

- Love Hina

- Fruit baskets

- Card captor sakura

- Sailor Moon

- Chobits

- Shaman king

- Inuyasha

♥ ♥ ♥

And for some reason, I really want to read the original Dracula book from Bram Stoker, it intrigues me! In other words I really enjoy fantasy and period books (I’m not sure that’s how you say it, but I mean medieval books or 16-17-18 century, etc.) among other things and anything in relation to traditional japan!

What are your favourite books?

Homemade sushi

My all time favourite dish has been sushi for the past 2-3 years. I cannot get enough of it, I could eat it, every single day ♥ The only problem is, well I’m a student, on a student budget and sushi is so expensive! I can only afford to go out and eat it once or twice a month.

My solution? Homemade sushi! They can be time consuming, but they’re totally worth it!

Here are some pictures of my homemade sushi for fun =D

Decoden, my next art project!

I’ve discovered decoden very recently, while reading Shmuberry’s blog http://www.shmuberry.com/ a blogger who is, like me from Montreal! =) She decos all kinds of things from phones, to pill boxes and I think it’s sooo cute ♥

She has really inspired me to try out for myself, but I’m a little hesitant. It doesn’t look too difficult, but I’m not sure how to get myself started. Does anyone have recommendations on affordable decoden tools shops? What type of glue should I use?

Here’s an example of a decoed phone:

I found the picture on : http://dollyhearts.blogspot.com/2010/02/decoden.html =D Isn't this so cute? And you can make it exactly the way you want it so all the items you deco are unique. I just love the concept ^^

I was thinking I could start slow by buying a clear case for my ipod touch and decoing that... If I fail, at least there’s no harm done, right?

I really like Hello kitty themes, sweets, bows, pearls, mirrors and strawberries! I cannot wait to make all my stuff super cute and girly ♥

Make up wish list

I’ve been getting into beauty and make up for about the past year and a half or so. Being a student, I’ve only built up a rather modest collection over that time, but I’ve had lots of fun experimenting with it. I think my skills have greatly improved from practicing a lot and thanks to my Youtube beauty video addiction!

Anyway, I have discovered so many great products through videos and blogs and my wish list keeps growing all the time! I thought it would be fun to show you my top 10 current wish list items. What beauty/makeup products and tools do you want to try out the most? I love discovering new products

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

1) Any pink, blue, purple or Holo china glaze nail polish!

2) Neutrogena healthy skin foundation

3) Nyx jumbo eyeshadow pencil in milk

4) Amazing cosmetics concealer

5) MAC MSF natural powder

6) NARS blush in orgasm

7) A curling wand from any brand ( I still curl my hair with my straightening iron =o)

8) Dream matte mousse blush in peach satin

9) BH cosmetics 120 palette 2nd edition

10) Sigma duo fiber brush F50

So what is your wish list?

Homemade caviar sous-marin sushi

I’m in love with this restaurant in Montréal called Kanda sushi. It’s basically an all you can eat sushi place, where you can order as much sushi as you like from their premade menu from nigiris to makis and sashimi. You can also get other types of Japanese food like tempura shrimp and veggies, endamame, yakitori, etc and it’s all included in the same price. It might not be the fanciest sushi (although the fish is always really fresh and tasty), but I adore going there!

One of my favourites is the caviar sous-marin nigiri (submarine caviar). I’ve never seen it anywhere else and it’s really yummy! My boyfriend and I always order tons of them. Until recently, I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it consisted of, so one day we went to eat there and I asked the waiter. Basically, it is made of surimi (imitation crab), red caviar, Japanese mayo, cucumber and salmon all chopped up finely and placed on a rice ball then wrapped in seaweed.

Here’s a picture from their site:

Source

I decided to try it at home and it was a real success! Although I didn’t have any salmon handy so I skipped that. I will definitely try it with salmon next time. Also, I didn’t have any Japanese mayo (the last time I bought some, I didn’t cook very often and I ended up wasting about half of it! It’s pretty expensive so I haven’t bought anymore, but the light mayo I used was a fine replacement)

♥ ♥ ♥

Ingredients (for 4 pieces of nigiri):

- 100g of calrose rice (sushi/Japanese short grain rice)

- 4 sticks of imitation crab

- 1 teaspoon of finely chopped cucumber

- 1 teaspoon of caviar

- ½ tablespoon of light mayo

- 1 sheet of nori

- 15 mL of rice vinegar

- ½ tablespoon of sugar

- 1/8 teaspoon of salt

I have recently found out that this type of sushi (with the seaweed rolled over a ball of rice and filling) is called a Gunkan sushi. I found this on a visit at Yuzu Sushi in Quebec City. They didn't have exactly the caviar sous marin, but they had other variations that were really yummy. I will keep an eye out in the future for any sushi spots serving Gunkans and what variation they offer. Who knows I might stumble across a caviar sous marin dupe?

It’s one of my favourite types of sushi! What’s yours?

Simple and cute French mani nail art ♥

I made this super easy design recently and it turned out even better than I imagined!

I used a pearlescent sheer white/pink color all over the nails, and then drew a French manicure tip with a glitter nail art polish. As you can probably tell, I cheated a little bit and drew the tip further down my nail to create an illusion of a real French manicure, because I like to keep my nails very short. ♥ Finally, I added some star shaped silver rhinestones on my ring finger and pinky!

I was super easy and quick and I think the results are really cute! (Considering my almost inexistent nail art experience XD). I will definitely be trying out more designs soon with my brand new (and only) nail art polish.

If anyone is wondering, I bought the nail art wheel for 1$ at the dollar store, amazing right? I have another one with multicoloured ones as well, I cannot wait to use them up! I actually did a cute design using pink and black flowers over a hot pink base recently but I couldn’t get any good pictures and before I knew it, the rhinestone were falling off! Is there any way to prevent this?

Anyway, if you have any other simple, noob-proof nail art designs I could try out, please send me links so that I can try some of them out, I’m dying to try my hand more at this! ♥

Making onigiri for the first time

I absolutely love trying out new recipes, especially Japanese food!

For anyone wondering, an onigiri is typically a rice ball in the shape of a triangle, or cylinder with a filling either in the center, or mixed into the rice. They’re often wrapped with nori.

So here are the results of my first two attempts at onigiri! The first one is filled with canned tuna and mayonnaise and the second one is another type of onigiri in which the filling is mixed directly into the rice. I made mine exactly like the recipe I found on http://a-vos-baguettes.blogspot.com (it’s a blog written in French only, sorry!) with salmon. I think both turned out really nicely and they were really yummy!

The recipe is super easy and quick, especially if you use a rice cooker like I did to cook the rice.

Oh and sorry for the pretty bad quality of the pictures! I have yet to find a decent setup to take good food pictures... I was thinking I could cover up the black/brown table I am using with a white sheet and stick a white cardboard onto the wall to get a cleaner background. Any ideas?