Shopping again...

Did a bit of shopping at the Basement the past fortnight!
Some of my new supplies... wonder how I'll use them lol!

Glitter Beads (6 for $2.50)


Metal photo corners ($1.25)


Paper clips ($1.25)


Shaker Stickers ($1.00)

Also bought some new books ^^
The reviews are mostly my first impression, I haven't actually made anything from them!

Gourmet Crochet

Christen Haden (lol, makes me think of Star Wars) and Mariarosa Sala

I've seen this book on Amazon and it looked like it would be really cute, but since I can't actually crochet, I just took a quick glance as the book came up on the related/recommended titles. It was on sale so I couldn't help adding it to the pile >_<

The book itself is quite thin, about 80 pages but it has quite a few projects placed under different menu/food type categories e.g. fruit salad, vegetable dip, sushi platter, dim sums, cheese board. I found the sushi and the wedding cake to be the cutest designs. Some of the items only work in context of the whole menu so they just look like random crocheted blobs like the cheese and some of the veggies. The first few pages contain some notes about simple stitches.

Paper Pop Up

Dorothy Wood

This book was more the syle of craft I'm used to - card design! I haven't made anything from it yet but I've already bookmarked the wedding cake card (orginally I wrote wedding card cake here!! O_O) for an upcoming event. It's pretty cool, when you push down on the knife in the cake, hearts pop out of the top of the cake!

The book itself has three matching crafts/designs per theme, such as birthdays, Easter, Halloween, Graduation etc! They're not all cards so it's a versatile book although there are some designs I'd be less likely to use because I don't make craft for those occasions or it's not something that would be kept for further use e.g. some of the boxes. There is also a great section at the back showing additional ideas to adapt the cards for other occasions! For example, the card I mentioned before...

The Chinese Kitchen

Deh-Ta Hsiung (foreword by Ken Hom)

I wasn't planning to buy too many Chinese cookbooks but I happened to pick this book up (someone left it in the craft section) and I quite liked it because it went through ingredients used in Chinese cooking and talked about its manufacture, use and storage as well as giving an accompanying recipe. There was a brief section in the front regarding kitchen tools though not as extensive as the one in my Japanese Food book, although I originally bought this book for the similarities on how the ingredients were addressed. Not your standard cookbook (although it does contain around 200 XD) but a good resource guide!

The decorative art of Japanese Food Carving

Hiroshi Nagashima

 

Ok, it doesn't teach you how to make those giant watermelon artworks but this book is a great resource in using foods to make elegant (and usually edible) garnishes to complement your dishes. There are a few notes on colour coordination and it's not only about putting pretty swirls and designs on top of the food but also has a section on using limes and cucumbers as a base for the food, e.g. a lime food cup.

It's quite a small book, less than 100 pages which drew some criticism (on the Amazon reviews) but I found it to be a really nice book and great introduction to adding some flair to dishes. Some designs do take extra effort, but there are lots of quick and easy garnishes to learn! :)