This post is sponsored by ICHIGO Inc. I was given a free box in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts and opinions are my own.
A few months ago, I got an email from ICHIGO Inc. asking if I’d like to review one of their Japanese-themed subscription snack boxes. I’ve seen promotions for their boxes before and thought they looked fun, so I decided to give it a try. Plus, Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and a box like this is a great gift!
ICHIGO makes multiple snack boxes, so I got to choose which one I wanted to review. I chose the Sakuraco box, which highlights traditional Japanese snacks and treats with a different theme each month. Most of the items are artisan snacks made by local family-owned businesses. Many don’t ship outside Japan unless it’s part of a subscription box like this, making it a truly special experience. Each box always comes with a tea and a small piece of tableware, such as a tea cup. I’m a HUGE tea fan (I even design my own tea blends), so of course I chose Sakuraco!
The theme for this box is A Night of Sakura, in honor of yozakura, the Japanese tradition of viewing sakura (cherry blossoms) at night. The box is filled with 12 different snack items—some savory, some sweet. Most of them are sakura-flavored, which can be described as delicately floral and sweet. Some of the snacks are even made with real sakura blossoms or leaves.
But I’m sure you’re eager to hear about all the fun treats you can find in the box. Let’s get started!
Hi, everybody! Just wanted to give you an update on how things are progressing with the extended edition of A LITERARY PICNIC:
THE ROAD SO FAR. I’ve already finalized several recipes, including some that I thought would be really difficult. I’m loving my progress so far! Right now I’m mostly working on bread recipes, since I can freeze them for use in picnic pictures when the weather warms up. Check out these beautiful potato rolls I made:
HOW BIG WILL THE EXTENDED EDITION BE? Hopefully 50 recipes (double what it is right now). However, I may have to cut some if I can’t get copyright permissions. Four of the books I’m making new menus for are public domain, but I’m considering two different copyrighted books for the final menu. I’ve contacted the publishers, but it can take months to hear back (and I don’t know how much the permissions will cost). Fingers crossed that I hear back in time and can afford the fee!
PRINT FORMAT NEWS. I got some good news regarding printing! As you may recall, my book will be printed/distributed by IngramSpark. I thought for sure I’d have to reformat my whole book for print, since I doubted they offered an 8.5″x11″ option. As it turns out, they do! I’m so relieved! I expected to spend at least a few weeks reformatting, but now I won’t have to do that at all. 🥳
MY PIE-IN-THE-SKY SUMMER DEADLINE. Does the time I’ll save on formatting mean I’ll achieve my dream of a summer publication date? Maybe, but it’s still very uncertain. Some of you might remember that I made a menu for ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL last year because I was having health issues and craved comfort TV. My symptoms have improved but could show up again soon. My doctor has me on some new medication that may help, but I’ll need to take it easy and go in for extra appointments to monitor the situation. Since I don’t want to push myself, I’m still treating a summer publication date as possible but not exactly probable.
NEW COVER? I totally love the book’s original cover, but I’m toying with idea of having one professionally done. This will heavily depend on the cost and how long it would take. Hopefully I’ll have an update on that next month. If you know any cover artists who you think would be a good fit, share their name and website/socials in the comments!
Also check out this funny little quiche I made with leftovers from a pastry recipe!😆
I’ll post another update in a month or two,
hopefully with more pics to share! See you then!
Time for a sneak peek of my upcoming cookbook, A LITERARY PICNIC! Below you’ll find pics from the Fairy Tale menu, along with descriptions of the recipes. This was one of my favorite menus to photograph. Do you spy the sweet little fairy table in the photo above? ^.^
THE FAIRY TALE MENU
FAIRY TOAST. Traditionally prepared as buttered sandwich bread topped with sprinkles, this version features toasted brioche and mascarpone blended with three flavors of homemade jam.
RAPUNZEL’S BRAIDED PASTRIES. These sausage & thyme pastries are painted with an edible egg wash “R” for Rapunzel, but you can also use the first letter of the guest of honor at your party.
RED RIDING HOOD’S FRUIT SALAD. A medley of red fruit (along with some blueberries and plums for contrast), dressed with a pomegranate and lime vinaigrette.
ENCHANTED SWAN COOKIES. Dutch butter cookies piped to look like swans!
POISON APPLE PUNCH. A blend of sparkling cider, ginger ale, pomegranate juice, cranberry juice, and blood orange bitters.
a
I’ll share some of the book’s bonus content in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!
A closeup of the fairy table. Because I just love it so much! ^.^
Howdy, folks! I’m utterly delighted to introduce our household’s newest member: the Little Miss! We welcomed her to the world at 7:58 am on 1/3/19. She measured 21 inches and 7 lbs 11 oz, and we’re already smitten with her. Those of you who follow me on social media have probably seen me post about her a lot over the past month, but now I’m finally ready to sit down and share her birth story here on the blog!
Here in the Midwest, we’re in the middle of sickness season. The flu is steadily making its rounds through most schools and businesses, and here in my family’s usually cozy hobbit hole, we’re battling a nasty cold. The Mister, as usual, has barely a tickle in his throat, but the Little Mister and myself have been suffering through some pretty crummy days and nights. So crummy, in fact, that even though I realized last weekend that I didn’t have a bonus recipe planned for today, I never really came up with a plan. Energy and brain power have not been on my list of strengths this week. Plus, I figured an extra trek through the snow to the grocery store wouldn’t be the healthiest thing ever.
Long story short: No bonus recipe today, BUT I didn’t want to leave you with nothing. The Mister suggested I make a post featuring some of my favorite sick day food. I loved the idea, so here are my top 5! 😀
I’ve hinted a few times over the past several months about some big news I wanted to share. It’s been hard to keep it a secret, since it’s been a major contributing factor to my difficulty with keeping up on blog stuff, but I wanted to wait until the time was right to spill the beans. That time has finally come, so here’s my big announcement:
Hey, everybody! I FINALLY got a chance to write another cookbook post!! 😀 I’ve been sharing quick social media updates when I can, but they’re just no substitute for sitting down and sharing ALL the fun new things going on in cookbook land. I would’ve done so sooner, but after I submitted my final manuscript to my editor in October, I had to submerse myself in my blog for awhile. I needed to plan my first three 2018 menus, and all three wound up including intense recipes (namely, two gingerbread houses and a roast goose). Then came planning and cooking for my son’s first birthday party, which was fun but didn’t leave a lot of free time for cookbook posts. Now things have settled down, and I’m ready to share all the juicy details about what’s been going on since I submitted my manuscript!
My editor and I spent the last several months tweaking everything from minor wording to the cover design. We made one big change and added some new material, and we’ve got some promotional events in the works. I’ve included the details below, so let’s dive in!
This post is sponsored by Chef Inside the Box. I was given one free box of four meals in exchange
for an honest review of the service. The thoughts and opinions are my own.
Most of you know I’m juggling a cookbook, a blog, and a baby…which basically means my life is a crazy, wonderful mess at the moment! 🙂 Despite loving to cook, these days I don’t always get dinner on the table at a reasonable time (or at all), and when I do, it’s often a hassle.
That’s where Rachel comes in. She emailed me a couple weeks ago representing Chef Inside the Box, a brand new Chicago-based meal kit service. They send a box of 4 quick-to-make meal kits right to your door, complete with instructions…all for $27.80/meal! Since I’m a Chicago-based blogger, Rachel offered to send me a free box in exchange for an honest review. And I was instantly like:
I mean, who DOESN’T want to get a package on Monday that takes care of dinner for the rest of the week?
Plus, with a new school year starting, I figure there are a lot of people out there whose lives are in a similar state of craziness. And I’m pretty sure we could all use an easy way to take the headache out of dinner. So let’s talk meal kits! 🙂
I mentioned a few months back that I would post pictures of our book-themed baby room once we got it all set up. And now it’s FINALLY finished! It took ages, but we’re very pleased with the outcome. Three cheers for postpartum productivity! 😀
As you can see from the pictures, we’ve got a bit of a hobbit theme going on. We had a hobbit baby shower and asked guests to bring a favorite childhood book instead of a card, so it seemed perfect to style the Little Mister’s room after Middle Earth. Plus, we wanted something gender neutral, since we didn’t know if we’d be having a boy or a girl. I love how it turned out, and I’m toying with the idea of theme-ing our future children’s rooms after other favorite books (Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, etc.).
As you can also see from the pictures, there’s no crib. We’re co-sleeping, so the Little Mister currently sleeps in a Pack ‘n Play right next to our bed. As such, his “bedroom” acts more as a nursing and changing room, which we’ll gradually phase into a bedroom as he gets older.
But let’s take a look at some of these awesome accents!
February is drawing to a close, and I’m happy to say we’re settling in well with our new baby, and it looks like I’ll be able to be more active on the blog in the coming weeks. That in mind, I think the time is right for another big announcement that I’ve been waiting on for a long while:
