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Kansai Wins the Poll -- We Will Go To Kansai!

We have a winner!


(Picture by Daniel Bachler, copied under the Creative Commons license)

A couple months ago I asked our readers to cast their votes for which region of JAPAN we should take our Food Trip to this year. The final results are as follows, as of 12:00AM PST, Feb 1, 2008:

Region	# of Votes
Kyushu (Pork Bone Ramen!)	3
Kansai (Tea, Tofu, Kobe Beef)	18
Central Japan (Seafood, Miso, Hida Beef)	5
Northeast (Beef Tongue, Noodles)	1
Hokkaido (Seafood)	14

So you have spoken, and we will keep our promise. We will go to Kansai this year! And we will bring back our restaurant reviews and other useful info.

Hokkaido placed a close second, but it seems Kobe Beef and the ancient capital of Kyoto was more popular among readers. Along with Kansai, I am also considering extending our tour to one neighboring region. I'm considering either Western Honshu (Hiroshima's Atomic Dome and Itsukushima Shrine, Izumo's Grand Shrine etc), or Central Japan (Thatched-Roof Village of Shirakawago, Hida Takayama, Hiking the Ancient Mountain Highway in Kisoji etc). I will make a decision within the next couple of days, and I'll post the decision here ASAP.

Kansai Wins the Poll -- We Will Go To Kansai!

We have a winner!


(Picture by Daniel Bachler, copied under the Creative Commons license)

A couple months ago I asked our readers to cast their votes for which region of JAPAN we should take our Food Trip to this year. The final results are as follows, as of 12:00AM PST, Feb 1, 2008:

Region	# of Votes
Kyushu (Pork Bone Ramen!)	3
Kansai (Tea, Tofu, Kobe Beef)	18
Central Japan (Seafood, Miso, Hida Beef)	5
Northeast (Beef Tongue, Noodles)	1
Hokkaido (Seafood)	14

So you have spoken, and we will keep our promise. We will go to Kansai this year! And we will bring back our restaurant reviews and other useful info.

Hokkaido placed a close second, but it seems Kobe Beef and the ancient capital of Kyoto was more popular among readers. Along with Kansai, I am also considering extending our tour to one neighboring region. I'm considering either Western Honshu (Hiroshima's Atomic Dome and Itsukushima Shrine, Izumo's Grand Shrine etc), or Central Japan (Thatched-Roof Village of Shirakawago, Hida Takayama, Hiking the Ancient Mountain Highway in Kisoji etc). I will make a decision within the next couple of days, and I'll post the decision here ASAP.

Metremade desktop wallpaper

Noting my computer wallpaper fetish, Tess from Metremade sent me a link to their collection of patterned backgrounds. Help yourself right here. (In Firefox on a Mac, control-click the pattern you like. Choose "View background image," then control-click that image. Choose "Set as desktop background." If the image stretches to fill your screen, choose "Open desktop preferences" and set the display to "Tile."

Simple notecard with buttons

I stole some cute buttons from my mom's stash and repurposed them here. If you want to make this easy notecard, download the PDF template and print it out. (Each sheet makes two cards.) Cut the sheet in half and fold the two cards. Attach some colorful buttons with hot glue and round the card's corners if you want. This could make a quick and easy Valentine, especially if you use red and pink buttons.

Good design and cattle

Two things dear to my heart. My family runs a dairy operation in Minnesota. I grew up ignoring piles of unattractive ag business magazines, so I'm completely dumbfounded by the new look of Dairy Today. My mom just emailed me pictures she took of the first issue, knowing I'd get a kick out of it. The redesign is by Pentagram (AKA, super famous design firm). DT certainly called in the big guns! You can see the before and after and read more about the design decisions here.

These must be cow supermodels because they're squeaky clean, don't have ear tags, and one is sporting a bridle. Work it, girls.

Update: Excuse me, that's a halter, not a bridle. Thanks, Pa. I've been in the city too long.

(Images from Pentagram)

Photoshop is easier than sewing

While scheming about projects to make with fabrics from my new line, I figured I'd test some ideas to see if I like them before I go through the agony of actual sewing. Some of this might be on the ambitious side for me. Who am I kidding? Reupholster a chair? Definitely beyond my skill level. But I think I could pull off the pillow.

I would love to see what you guys make from Modern Flora. And now you can get started, because it's available to order at j caroline creative! Yep. Right here, right now, for How About Orange readers. The link is hidden on her site so only people clicking over from here will find it. And better yet, Caroline is generously offering 20% off Modern Flora purchases just for you guys! (Ssshhh, don't tell anyone.) Enter the coupon code ORANGE at checkout to receive the discount. The coupon is good through this Wednesday, January 30, so don't waste any time. The fabric will be advertised to the rest of the world on Monday morning.

Thanks for all of your encouragement and enthusiasm, guys. You're wonderful.