Stained Glass Quilts

I went to a small craft exhibition the other day. They displayed some calligraphy, knitting and quilts. I saw some interesting quilts called stained glass quilts.
This one remains me of some Canadian Indian artwork that I like.
For me, these stained glass quilts are the most interesting that I have ever seen.

Amazake

Recently I received some sake lees, which is what is left after the sake has been pressed out of the mash. It is called "sake kasu" in Japanese. Sake kasu is used in cooking in many ways.
I tried using it in an easy recipe today. I cooked sake kasu with water and sugar. After, I dropped grated ginger on the top. This sweet drink is called "amazake" in Japanese. At new year's time warm amazake is served when you visit temples and shrines and it warms you up.

Parking Lot Cat

I sometimes see this cat where I park my car at work. She is friendly and doesn't mind people petting her. I like the cat because she is calm and she isn't afraid of people or cars too much. She is a cool cat.

Garage

My car was making a strange sound on Thursday night. Andrew and I went to a garage close by our house the next morning. I explained the problem to a mechanic and he checked my car. He found that the spark plugs had died.
While we were waiting in the lounge, we enjoyed some tea.
There is a big window in the lounge. You can see what is going on in the garage. There were some cars waiting to be fixed.After my car had three spark plugs changed, everything was alright. Andrew commented that he never expected such a clean garage like this one. Even the bathroom is beautiful and has a nice natural wooden smell there. I would like to come back the garage again.

Caramel Coffee Muffins

I sometimes like to experiment when I bake. These experiments fail most of the time. I can't stop trying because it is fun, even though I have to eat strange cakes sometimes! Today, I baked banana muffins but I didn't add bananas. Instead of the bananas, I added brew coffee. On the top of the muffin batter I poured caramel cream. I tried one after it had baked. It didn't have any coffee taste but it wasn't so bad.

Lemon Pasta with cauliflower

I made some lemon butter sauce for pasta. I like using lemons for my cooking and baking. I also made steamed cauliflower. I tossed the cauliflower with a mixture of Dijon mustard, olive oil, vinegar, and sugar.

Gyoza

I like boiled or steamed gyoza (dumplings). When I cook them, I make the shells with flour, salt and hot water. I buy the shells when I cook baked gyoza though. I filled them with ground pork, cabbage, garlic, ginger and some seasoning mixture in the shell. Then I pinch the edges with water to seal them.
I cooked the gyoza in hot water. After the water had evaporated, I added a little oil.
They were brown and crunchy. These fried gyoza are one of the most popular types of dumplings in Japan.