Birthday Card and Envelope Making

I had made a birthday card for my best friend.
She is a sweet girl who loves white color. Thus i thought of making a simple and sweet card.

This is what i had made for her.

The card is 5" x 5" and color use is mainly pink and white.

A handmade envelope is also made to enclose the card.

Overall size is 5 1/2"x 5 1/4" and is made out of A4 size paper.
And here is the dimension before cut out.

The most important is the center section dimension 5 1/2"x 5 1/4" , the rest of the dimension is able to adjust to your preference.

Here is how the finish product look like.

Place to buy Local Stuff in Osaka - Don Quijote

Icon of Don Quijote is the Mr Penguin

I believe that when we travel, we love to buy local items back home. This is the same for me when I am in Osaka recently.

Along the street, you may find lots of drugs store, small shop that sell Japanese good that are tax free.

Different store manage differently on the tax free procedure.

One of the store that I really visited the most is Don Quijote at Namba.

There is a total of 3 stores in that area and I feel each store had some unique items for sale.

In general, the common items that Tourist buy are available in all 3 stores, but favorite is the one at the main street.

Address: 

Don Quijote, 2 Chome-5-9 Nishishinsaibashi, Chūō-ku, Ōsaka-shi, Ōsaka-fu 542-0086, Japan

Click on Google map

The store is bigger which is a few storey high.

Level 1: Mainly are snacks and drugs items

Level 2: More foods (eg instant noodles, sauces etc) , toiletries.

Level 3: Bags, electronic items etc

Prices in this shop are more competitive compare to most other drug store.

The only cons are:

Drugs items eg. vitamin, supplements etc need to be pay at their drug store counter, and all items include tax must be pay upfront. After purchase, if total purchase exceed 5000yen then using the receipts we will proceed to the tax refund counter to had all the items pack and had the tax refund.

As this store is so popular, we took quite a long que to get the tax refund and they had all the item seal in a clear bag. This make luggage packing quite inconvenience especially when you buy lots of items like i do.

Above are all the items I bought during my Osaka trip.

Snacks, chocolates, shampoo and hair dyes were all bought at Don Quijote.

It is definitely a place worth to shop, just watch your pocket before it get burn badly.

Matcha with Red Bean Agar Agar Mooncake

For this recipe, I'm using the small mooncake mould which able to make about 16 pieces.

Unused Red Bean Paste is able to keep in freezer and store for about a month

Suggest everyone to try out the recipe first and adjust the sugar level to your liking.

Enjoy making the agar agar mooncake for the upcoming festival.

Red Bean Paste:

100g Red Bean                                30g Sugar                  10g Oil

Instructions:

       1)   Red Bean soak overnight ( min 6hours)

       2)   Steam the Red Bean with 1cm of water cover above the red bean. Steam still in can be mash.

3     3)   Add Sugar and oil into the mash red bean and stir well.

4     4)   In a non-stick pan, fry till the paste stick together.

Red Bean Agar Agar Filling:

2tsp Agar Agar Powder                 100ml Water           150ml Coconut milk ( i use Kara brand)

30g brown sugar               2 Pandan leaves                  80g Red Bean Paste

Instructions:

1)    Put everything except red bean paste in a pot and bring to boil.

2)    Remove the pandan leaves, and add in the red bean paste and stir well.

3)    Pour into a small mould  and let it set.

Matcha Agar Agar Skin:

150ml Coconut milk           1.5tsp Green Tea Powder

2tsp Agar Agar Powder     250ml Water            2 Pandan leaves  60g  Sugar

Instructions:

1)     Mix Coconut milk and Green Tea Powder evenly and set aside.

2)     Bring Agar Agar Powder, water sugar and pandan leaves to boil.

3)     Stir in stir in green tea mixture and mix evenly. Discard pandan leaves.

4)     Pour mixture into agar agar mooncake mould to cover the base design. Set slightly. Place in red bean filling and fill up the mould with balance green tea mixture. Chill till set.