John Freida Frizz Ease 10-Day Hair Tamer Review

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for my very long absence.
Today I would like to review the John Frieda Frizz Ease 10-Day Hair Tamer.
My hair gets pretty frizzy no matter what season of the year it is so I figured I'd give this product a try. I saw pretty good reviews for it so I thought why not.

How my hair is:
I have long hair, it's color treated, nothing fun like blue or purple, just as close as I could get to my chestnut brown hair as I possibly could. My hair gets oily very easily so I have to wash it every day usually. Prone to frizz be it rain or shine, summer or winter.

The instructions say to apply the product to your hair until your hair looks "wet" then allow it to sit for 8-10 minutes. I tried it for 10 minutes. I rinsed it out washed my hair as usual. It worked pretty well I was pleased with it so far that is until I woke up the next day. Please know that I did this treatment at about 10 PM, when I woke up early next morning approximately 8 AM my hair felt like an oil slick...looked like it too.

I figured I just used too much of it so I showered again washed my hair. Three days later and three washes later, my hair is limp, my hair has lost its volume, it still has frizz not as bad as before but still existent (I wasn't looking for a miracle product but I wasn't expecting flat hair). All in all I think this would work on maybe normal to dry hair and not for people prone to oily hair. I will admit my hair does feel extra soft so I give it a thumbs up for that.

Hope this review is helpful.
Lots of Love,
Caroline

Learning Japanese: #1 Book Suggestions for Self Study

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Paper Masks at Walmart

Hi Everyone,

Today as I wandered around Walmart checking out all the beauty products I came across a bunch of paper masks. Paper masks are pretty darn popular in Asian countries, Korea especially, and I was pretty happy to find some in Walmart since so far here in Pennsylvania the only two places I've been able to find them was at Ulta and Sephora. Other than that I was stuck hunting the internet for these precious beauty gems. The price was pretty decent they were $2.50 per sheet mask. I'm used to paying about $5 and up for a sheet mask so this is a plus.



The brands I found are:

1. Soo Ae (Made in Korea)
2. Masque Ology (Made in Korea)
3. Yesto (Made in USA)


Soo Ae:

1. Propolis (Made with honey)
2. Vitamin
3. Deep Sea Water
4. Aloe
5. Green Tea
6. Collagen
7. Purifying Black Charcoal Mask
8. Tea Tree

Masque Ology:

1. Total Skincare Skin Calming "Special Care Cream Mask"
2. Intensive Moisture Hydrating Skin "Moisturizing Cream Mask"
3. Vitality Glowing Skin "Vita Clarifying Cream Mask"
4. Skin Tightening Elasticity Intensive "Collagen Lifting Cream Mask"

Yesto:

1. Yesto Tomatoes: acne fighting
2. Yesto Cucumbers: calming
3. Yesto Coconut: hydrate and restore
4. Yesto Tomatoes Charcoal paper mask for detoxifying.

As you can see the sheet mask addict that I am went a little crazy and bought 16 of them.
There were also a few clay masks that I might look at next time.

I'll be testing one of these 16 masks once a week and giving my opinions of them.
I'm willing to play the guinea pig for you guys...cuz you know I love all of you and I...I...I just love sheet masks!

If you feel like getting a few I'll provide the links for them at the end of the post.
I've only seen these so far in my area at the North Huntingdon PA Walmart not yet at the Greensburg Walmart but I'm hoping they catch on.


Soo Ae: Propolis
Yesto Tomato acne
Masque Ology Collagen Lifting

Maybe you'd like to give them a try with me ^.^

If you guys know of any other place to find sheet masks in Western PA let me know, share the glorious knowledge.

Apologies for My Absence

Hi Everyone,

I'd like to apologize for my 2 month absence. I've had a rough time.
I've been ill and have been to the ER and have missed some days from work.
Due to my lack of a thyroid my medication was too low of a dosage and it was making me ill.
It hasn't been easy. I hope you can forgive me.

Also my dear sweet little fluffles  our American Eskimo pup Luna hasn't been feeling well either she's had a double ear infection and hasn't been the most well behaved patient. She's only 15 pounds but she's very strong and has had to be muzzled since she's in so much pain that she tries to nip. My dad likes to joke and tell her she looks like "El Diablo" while I've been referring to her as Hannibal whenever she's had to put the muzzle on when we clean her ears and administer her ear drops. She's one grumpy little girl.

To add to the problems I also have to have my oven repaired. The stove portion of it works but the actual oven does not, it's a gas oven and I think it's the pilot light that's not working. Not having an oven has made cooking very interesting. The oven broke on the day I was making pizzas from scratch, dough, the sauce, it was great.....but soon as I was ready to put them into the oven I realized it wasn't preheating at all. That was the day I forced myself to learn how to grill a pizza on a small charcoal grill. And don't let anyone tell you that you can't grill a casserole it can be done.

I'd like to say I have a few things planned that I'll be sharing soon. I have a Japanese cabbage roll recipe in the works, along with a few other recipes.

Update on my weight loss plans and goals....I've failed due to my health problems in fact I think I've sadly gained but since I'm starting to feel better I'll be working on improving and hopefully can give you a positive update one of these days.

Please check back soon as I'll have recipes for you soon within a week or so.
Once again I apologize for my absence.

Thank you for being patient.

Lots of love,
Caroline

Weight Loss Plan Japan Style

Hi Everyone,

So one of the main reasons for this blog is because I wanted to try losing weight while eating tasty Japanese food and walking a whole lot more like they do in Japan. So far I've been a total lazy bum.
Every week I'd go "I'll start this Monday" which turned to "I'll start tomorrow"...and that cycle went on for over a month.

So tomorrow June 6, 2016 will be my starting date.

My rules for myself are:

Avoid the following foods:
Junk food (ex: chips)
Sweets
Fried food
Sodas

Foods allowed:
Vegetables
Fruit
Meat
Fish
Rice
Teas (without sugar or with splenda)
Water
Coffee
Milk

I'm also not stupid I know going cold turkey on junk food will just make me break my diet so once a week I'm allowing myself to have one goody. Even if it's just a popsicle or a piece of dorayaki or a small piece of chocolate.

I've been doing some "research" I put out a question on the app HiNative.
I asked for people in Japan to answer how many steps they take in a day if they use an item like a fit bit. I got a few answers which helped a lot.

Two ladies answers my question both agreeing that it depended where you go on a daily basis.
And that it was also different for people who drove or ride a bike.

One of the ladies said she walks about 8000 steps a day while the other recorded 25,000 to 30,000 a day.  Both said they tracked their steps using their iPhone.

So for a good start at walking more I'm aiming for the classic 10,000 steps that's on my fit bit.
After a week or so I'm going to aim for 15,000.

My goal is after I lose a good chunk of weight I can hopefully get to 20,000 steps a day.

Right now I'm sadly close to 300 pounds, I'm currently not comfortable sharing the exact amount so let's just say I'm like 280 pounds.....once I start losing a bit and I'm a bit more comfortable sharing things I'll give you exact weights as I'll be keeping a journal.

I apologize to everyone I know I'm making this public for the whole world to see so I shouldn't be cowardly about it since I'm trying to talk about it online but....I'm just taking baby steps for right now I hope you understand.

I'm going to be trying to do the はらはちぶんめ Hara Hachi Bun Me system of eating.
Which is pretty much just eating until you're 80% full.

I hope to give you guys some positive updates and once a week or every 2 weeks give you a progress report. I think if I make it so I have to show results to you guys that I'll succeed. Please support me in my endeavor to a healthier me.

I've thought out my meal plan for tomorrow.

Breakfast:  
Home made Acai Bowl
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup mixed frozen fruit and veggies (bought from the grocery store)
put in the blender with 2-3 TBS milk or almond milk
Then top it off with a bit of unsweetened coconut and 1/4 cup of granola

Lunch:
2 onigiri with 1 TBS of beef and garlic chive filling each
1.5 cups of miso soup:  I put soft tofu, onion and wakame in it this time around
2 mandarin oranges

Dinner:
I've prepped chicken stew in the slow cooker so dinner is ready by the time I get home.

Dessert: 
1 yogurt

I bought some Greek yogurt whips from yoplait, I put them in the freezer so I can trick myself that it's "ice cream"

I'm also going to walk on my treadmill and make sure I get to 10,000 steps.

Other part of my plan of attack is to go down the steps at work which helps since I work on the 34th floor of my building. If i just take my time it'll at least be more active than I've been doing and anything helps.

It took me my whole 28 years of life to get this weight so I know it'll take me a while to lose it, going to be realistic and just try my best.

I hope to one day be at a healthy weight and to also be able to buy cute shirts from Japan and wear them with otaku pride.

I hope I have your support and I hope to update you soon.

Thank you

Gyoza Version 1

Hi Everyone,


I have been totally neglecting my site which I apologize for. I was all set to post my nikujaga recipe last weekend but apple decided to sabotage me. I was transferring my pictures and it asked me if I wanted to update my phone, I figured  sure why not...big mistake I spent 2 hours starting around midnight trying to get my phone to function, because itunes decided to have an error while updating. I wasn't able to turn on my phone or run anything, it just kept showing I needed to install itunes onto my phone which at that point my computer and itunes refused to recognize my phone. Two hours later I finished fixing my phone.....then went to bed since I lost most of my pictures especially my step by step for the nikujaga it managed to only save a few though so I was lucky at least a little bit.

Today I'm going to show you how to make Gyoza. I'm also going to show you how to freeze them so you can have a quick dinner. I love freezing these because it's so convenient, plus tastes better than the store bought frozen gyoza.

You'll need:

1/2 pounds ground meat
1 cup thinly diced cabbage
2-4 green onions thinly chopped
1 TSP sesame oil
2 TBS shoyu
2 TBS mirin
2 TBS sake
1 TSP garlic paste (optional)
1 TSP ginger paste (optional)
1 TSP salt
1/8 TSP pepper
1 package of large gyoza skins/wrappers or 2 packages of smaller sized wrappers
pam


When it comes the the ground meat there's plenty of ratios you can use of different meat types.
My personal favorites are all beef or a half and half mixture of beef and pork. I've also done all pork as well.

I'm also going to try in the future ground chicken or turkey or where I put it as half and half like half pork half turkey, but that's for another day when I feel like experimenting.

In a bowl put the green onion, cabbage, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper along with the ground meat.

Mix the ingredients until they start to combine. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix some more.

Now cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for about half an hour, you can let this sit overnight as well.

While I was waiting for this to marinate I started making dinner I was hankering for some tacos...and it used up the other 1/2 pound of the ground beef I used.

After the half hour is up get out your wrappers and a small bowl with some water.

Now I am about to show you my FAVORITE little kitchen gadget so far....I say this as my kitchen-aid mixer looks at me like I've betrayed him...

This is a gyoza mold, you can get it from Amazon for about $5.

I used to fold my gyoza by hand and it took FOREVER with this little guy about 20 minutes, saves so much time.

Below is my little gyoza making station. Not pictured is a sheet pan I liberally sprayed with some pam. 

Take your first Gyoza skin and place it on the folder. Take a butter knife or small teaspoon and add some filling to the middle.  Wet one half of the gyoza wrapper with some water and fold.

Place it on the sheet pan and repeat until you've run out of wrappers. I tend to have a little bit of extra filling left with this recipe. I ended up this time with about 1/4 cup of mixture which I'll used later this week. I'll cook it up and put it on top of some rice.

Now once you're done put these little guys in the freezer. No need to put plastic wrap on top.

I tend to let them stay in for 2-3 hours, I've even left them in over night.  Once fully frozen I divide them up into ziploc bags in easy 1 serving portions I tend to portion them at 5-6 gyoza per bag.

To cook the gyoza after they're frozen take a pan and a lid. My favorite pan to use is my cast iron skillet. 

Add about 2-3 TBS of vegetable oil and heat it up. line up your gyoza like in the picture below. 

One trick I learned is that after you place the gyoza on the pan to move them around a tiny bit so the bottoms get nicely coated with the oil.

Over medium high heat allow the bottoms of the gyoza to start to get a lil crispy.

Once this the bottoms start to look like they're beginning to brown, lightly place the lid on top, make a small opening on one of the side and slowly add a little water about 1/4 cup. The contents of the pan will start popping and sizzling which is why you keep the lid on as much as you can as you add the water.

While on medium high heat, (closest you can get to high heat) with the lid still loosely on cook the gyoza for about 5-7 minutes. It really varies on the type of  pan you're using so keep an eye on it.

The lid is on to hold in the steam. So you are lighly frying the bottoms of the gyoza but the top portion of it and the filling are steam cooked.

Once this is done flip it onto a plate. And you just made yourself some epic gyoza worthy of a total food porn shot, worthy enough to be in a JDrama or Anime go you!

I packed these little guys for my lunch along with some cauliflower tatter tots I made.

Lunch at work tomorrow is going to be a feast ^_^

For dipping sauce I tend to do soy sauce with a touch of sesame oil and a drip of rice wine vinegar.

Example 2 TBS shoyu, 1/8 tsp sesame oil 1/4 tsp rice wine vinegar.

I always end up adjusting it to my tastes. Once I even added Korean red pepper flakes...burning mouth was so worth it.

I hope you give this recipe a try and if you have any requests just leave a comment and I'll try my best ^__^

Nikujaga Recipe

Hi Everyone,

So the other I came home from work and decided I'd make one of my favorite Japanese recipes, Nikujaga. Those of you who watch anime or J-dramas might have seen this, it's a popular recipe in Japan for home cooking. Nikujaga is part of Yoshoku cuisine in Japan.

What is Yoshoku? Yoshoku is what you call "Japanified" foods from western countries. Nikujaga is the Japanese rendition of beef stew, the name literally is Meat and Potatoes. I'm personally a major fan of yoshoku dishes, especially when suggesting Japanese recipes to people who have never made Japanese food before. I kind of like to think of it as a friendly way to introduce people to flavors before getting them to delve into things like Nabe. Plus the ingredients are normally pretty easy to find except maybe for the dashi.

I hope you give my rendition of the nikujaga a try I made 2 small changes to the recipe from all the other ones I see online and I think it just adds to the flavor. This recipe will serve about 4 people.

1 pound shaved beef (can't find shaved? that's ok I'll tell you what you can do in the instructions)
3 large potatoes cut into wedges (bite sized wedges)
3 carrots cut into rolling wedges
1 cup of sugar snap peas or green beans (both are very good in this)
2 medium sized onions

2 cups of water (warm water)
1 TSP of dashi (dashi made of sea weed)
1 TSP garlic paste
4 TBS Sake
4 TBS Shoyu (Soy Sauce)
4 TBS sugar
2 TBS vegetable oil
1 TSP salt (optional)
dash of pepper (optional)

I'm going to be very honest, when I was prepping to make this I was all excited then it hit me....I had no green beans or sugar snap peas, I just love how they taste in this dish so I was unhappy I didn't have them. But it certainly didn't stop me from making nikujaga. So if you don't have them it's ok to omit them although I highly recommend you try to get them.

In a pot add the 2 TBS vegetable oil and saute the onion, garlic paste and shaved beef until the beef begins to brown.

Add your carrots and potatoes.

Stir in the 1 TSP of dashi into your warm water, when the water is warm it helps dissolve the dashi better. You don't necessarily have to use warm water but it helps. Add it to the pot.

Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Then add the sugar, sake, shoyu, salt and pepper. Gently stir, try your best not to break the potatoes.

Then let it simmer until the liquid reduces to 1/2, you can even reduce it to 1/4 the flavors will be more concentrated then.

When you see the liquid is closer to being reduced to half it's original amount add the sugar snap peas or green beans, they can be fresh or frozen and gently mix them in. They'll cook rather fast, usually takes 5-10 minutes.

After that it's ready to serve. You can eat this with rice but I tend not to.

Now if you can't get shaved beef which frankly I can't get my hands on when I go to giant eagle you can make it at home. If you get a large piece of beef like a roast. You can put it in the freezer for about 1 or sometimes closer to 2 hours depending on the size of the roast. You then take it out and make very thin cuts with your knife and it'll shave that way.

You can also make nikujaga with thicker pieces of meat like the size you'd have if you were making a stir fry, I've done this before and I've just added a bit more dashi and let it cook longer so the meat became really tender.

Hope you give my recipe a try and if you have any requests just let me know ^.^

Visual Traditions of Japan Class Review

Hi Everyone,

As some of you may have read earlier in my blog in the month of April I attended an art history class at the Carnegie Museum. And I wanted to share with you my opinion of how the class was.

In just four classes we went from the Jomon period (prehistoric art) all the way to the Meiji restoration. I honestly really did enjoy this class although I did feel like I was the youngest person there which is kind of funny since I'm 28.

The instructor was Rachel Miller, she did a nice job at explaining architecture and the pieces of art we were seeing and trying to get us to understand the historical context of why and how it was made.
At times my dad and I felt there was way too much Buddha artwork and statues but I did like seeing them and being able to learn the difference between the Buddha artwork from India and Japan.

My personal favorite was the Edo period with all the prints, Ukiyo-e is a favorite of mine. Carnegie Museum has quite a few Ukiyo-e prints but the instructor said they seldom get shown because the art work is on paper and since paper yellows and deteriorates over time they want to limit the exposure it gets. Carnegie Museum did have an exhibit for them a few years ago which I sadly missed.

All in all I would take the class again and hope that one day they'll have more Japanese classes there.

If you're interested I know that Rachel Miller will be teaching an art history class later this year on Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic art in India if any one is interested, here's the link  www.coma.org-art history class  From what I can see it started last week, I apologize for not letting you know sooner. Though I think she will probably do some more classes in the fall if I understood her correctly.

Below are some pictures for reference of what I learned about.
Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and I hope to get another recipe out soon for you guys!

Jomon Period

Ise Shrine

Ukiyo-e print from the Edo Period

Meiji Restoration

Snack Test #4: Yuzu Lemon Water

Hi Everyone,

I finally get to post about my so far favorite drink from Japan. I'm literally addicted to this stuff...well maybe not addicted but I totally buy all of them when I go to the store.

DYDO Yuzu Lemon is a citrus flavored water beverage. It's pretty much lemonade but made with yuzu and lemon juice flavor.





















The ingredients are:
water
high fructose corn syrup
sugar
citrus juice (I would say the yuzu)
lemon
honey
trehalose (according to google it is a sugar created by fungi)
flavor (gotta love that generic term)
citric acid
ascorbic acid

All in all....better than what's in a soda, although I do love sprite.

The bottle size is 350 ml and the entire bottle is 100 calories.
It has no carbonation at all.

I just love the flavor of this, it makes me think of sprite or 7up having a baby with lemonade, hey this is what my taste buds tell me so I'm going with it.

It costs $3.29 at the store I go to in Pittsburgh, and I say totally worth it.
It's a bit pricey because of having yuzu in it. Yuzu from what I can see is rather expensive, they had it there once and it was quite a bit of money to get 1-2 yuzu.

Now if you're wondering what yuzu is, it is a citrus fruit from Japan and it sorta looks like a lemon and its taste isn't as sour at least in my opinion. If I could get my hands on it more often I would.

Hope you guys give it a try some day, now if you'll excuse me Rilakkuma and I are going to be indulging in some yuzu lemon goodness. Til next time ^___^

Green Onion Kimchi Fried Rice

Hi Everyone,

So I know this recipe isn't Japanese but...I had kimchi...lots of kimchi and I thought I'd start getting to use some up. Now I love the classic Napa cabbage kimchi but my other two favorite are green onion kimchi and garlic scape kimchi.

This recipe is versatile and you can use any of the above mentioned types of kimchi in it. You can also try other kinds, if you do let me know what kind you used and how it went ^_^

I need to find ways to use this sucker up, I wish the Korean grocery store sold smaller jars.



This will serve one very hungry otaku, you'll need:

1 cup of cooked japonica rice
1/2 cup green onion kimchi, cut into bite sized pieces
pinch of sugar
pinch or two of salt
1/8 TSP of black pepper
2 TBS of green onion kimchi juice (don't worry it'll be in the jar with the kimchi)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 TSP sesame oil
2 TBS vegetable oil
green onion (fresh) thin slices (optional)

When it comes to making fried rice you can make it with piping hot fresh out of the rice cooker rice, but I prefer using older rice. By older rice I mean oh I made rice at lunch and now I have leftovers for dinner or day/2 day old rice, where it's had some time to lose some of its moisture.

In a heated pan (medium to medium high heat) add 1 TBS of vegetable oil and swirl to coat.
Add your kimchi and stir fry, I like to have the moisture evaporate.
The pieces of kimchi sort of look like they got smaller.

At this point add the rest of the vegetable oil and the rice. You'll slowly break up the rice with your spatula.

The more you do this and stir the rice with the kimchi to combine it'll change color a bit and pick up the red from the kimchi. Now add your salt, pepper, sugar, and kimchi juice, gently stir.
The rice will pick up some more color now let the liquid evaporate.
The rice will be absorbing all the tasty flavors.

Add your sesame oil and give the rice a stir.
Once that is added make a little divot/hole in the center of the pan.
Add your egg in the center, allow it slightly cook at the bottom.
You then want to coat your rice in the egg.

It's sort of the same idea as when you're making a divot when working with dough.

You just let the rice and egg cook (no more runny egg anywhere) 

Now you can plate your delicious kimchi fried rice, Sprinkle on some green onion slices if you want. I know I did ^__^

So this is what I made for dinner tonight, kimchi smells rather pungent when you take it out of the container but it stops when you start cooking it, and it creates a nice flavor. I so had this with some pre-made frozen egg rolls. I was such a lazy girl tonight.

I was originally going to post my recipe for Green Goddess Chicken Sandwich. I know not Japanese but so very tasty but....I realized I ran out of chicken so that ruined that idea but just for reference.

I took a picture when I was testing it for the first time before I added lettuce and put the other piece of bread on top. 

COMING SOON:

If you have any recipe requests please leave a comment ^__^

I hope you give my kimchi fried rice recipe a try.

Snack Test #2 & 3: Curry Bread and Chocolate Coronet

Hi Everyone!

So as you probably guessed it I made the trip to the Japanese grocery store in Pittsburgh....again.
But as we know this blog is mainly dedicated to Japanese cooking so you know for blogging science!

While I did get a major haul of vegetables and mixes like hayashi rice mix I decided to try 2 of the breads. They had Curry Bread and Chocolate Coronet.

I never had either before so I was rather excited to taste test them.

This is curry bread and my first thoughts were of Black Butler and how Sebastien makes curry bread in one episode...yes this was totally an anime driven purchase. Now if you've made Japanese curry from the roux block before you'll understand what I'm talking about when I describe this.

First the bread reminded me a little bit like a sandwich bun, it was nice and soft and then I THINK it was fried because of what looked to be a panko (Japanese bread crumbs) covering on the bun.

The inside was filled with vegetable curry. There were little pieces of carrot inside too ^__^
I just love carrots so it was great. The sauce was a mild version of Japanese curry. It reminded me a lot like the S&B mild curry mix. So no spicy kick to it but a very pleasant taste nonetheless.

I tried eating it cool then tried heating it up a little bit in the microwave, it's good cold but far better warmed up.

Next up is the Chocolate Coronet:

So pretty, cute little spiral of soft bread, no it's not donut like it's literally a piece of super soft bread.
It did taste a little sweeter than regular bread but still bread. Not complaining though the chocolate filling inside was more than enough sweetness.

...if you look closely you will see the chocolate reaches into the friggin' tip of the coronet, no sad little end piece of chocolateless bread here my friends.

I think I will totally buy the coronet again, the chocolate filling tasted like chocolate pudding and chocolate icing got together and had a baby it was that good.

The curry bread on the other hand I think I will refrain from buying again although I did highly enjoy it I just think I'd like to try making it myself one of these days. If I fail at it I know where it lives.

If you get a chance and are in the area the Grocery Store is at 5855 Ellsworth Ave. in Pittsburgh.

It's not a ginormous store but it has all your needs for Japanese food ^__^ and the owners are so nice and sweet.

2 Straight Weeks of Nerd Heaven

Hi Everyone,

I apologize for not writing for two weeks.....I've been on a nerd spree.
I got to go to Tekko and Steel City Con these past two weekends, and I loved every minute of it.

This year was the very first time this otaku has been to Tekko in Pittsburgh.
I've never really gotten to experience a con before. The ones in Monroeville back when I was in high school (....back in the day...when flip phones were the in thing) were small and tended to be part of a larger more American comic base and not truly Anime.

I didn't even know about this until my mom saw on Facebook that Pittsburgh was hosting Tekko.
She called me to the living on Thursday night and pointed it out.
I went from being 28 years old to being 4 and with the ability to hop up and down that would put a kangaroo to shame.

Needless to say Friday the next day I raced over to the convention center during my lunch break and bought my glorious pass...and managed to spend $100 in under 1 hour. The ticket was $50 for the entire weekend and then as I did a quick hyper walk through the vendor's section I bought a Luna P plushy and a mini Totoro.

As you can see Totoro has taken residence at my cubicle.
After work that day and all day Saturday after my class at the Carnegie Museum, it was a long spree of running around buying all the things 4 year old me demanded 28 year old me to buy, watching all the lovely cosplayers and chickening out from asking them for their pictures and for permission to put them on pittsburgh otaku....hopefully next year I'll get the guts, it's a curse sometimes to be introverted T_T

I got to go to 2 panels during the 2 days I was there.
1 was how to study Japanese which I really liked the suggestions I got from the nice Lady who is a translator and took the N1 of the JLPT exams (Japanese Language Proficiency Test).

2nd panel I got to go to was on Asian Horror movies and it was run by a Lady who actually does studies on horror and (trying to remember how she explained it) why we like it, especially women and why they enjoy horror. She said she did an experiment and that they hired men and women to be part of the test and they had the people who agreed to be part of the test watch a horror movie. The person they hired would sit with them and they would chose to either be brave through it, act scared or neutral. If a guy was taking the test a girl they hired would sit and watch it with him and vice versa.

She said that for men if the woman wasn't scared they would say the movie was horrible.
For women if the man acted scared she would say the movie was horrible.

I found that really fascinating and I did like her comments that all the women in the room that came for horror were an anomaly since stats said women hated horror movies. It's like we were part of a special little club of women who just love being scared it was great....I actually think we outnumbered the men in that panel.


I was rather tempted to go to the concert they had at Tekko but soon as I saw the crowd even though I'm not claustrophobic it freaked me out to think of being squished among people I didn't know bumping into me. The band playing was Back-On, a group from Japan. I was so tempted, even though it was a band I never heard of I checked YouTube for some of their songs and I've now added them to my list of j-bands that I like.

Now...you're wondering Caroline how much DID you spend at Tekko...well

The below is only PART of my nerdy haul my dears:

Now I just absolutely HAD to get this last plushy, I mean come on I have 3 american eskimo dogs and it looks like them!

...I also got....ya there's more but not pictures....^^;

fingerless gloves that look like kitty paws

X1999 the entire anime series...now if only I could get my hands on the movie (which I like better than the anime series)

Princess Jellyfish the entire anime series

a ton of Rilakkuma stationery

a Little Twin Star bag (so cute!!!)

Hatsune Miku Figure

...a body pillow...along with a Hakuouki pillow case with Okita Souji and Kazama Chikage on it....

NO JUDGING

And that was just my experience and monetary damage at TEKKO.

Let's not forget I also said I went to Steel City Con.

My experience there wasn't as pleasant but I did love going.

My main suggestion to everyone is BUY YOUR TICKET IN ADVANCE.

It will save you 2 hours of waiting in line, if you think I'm joking I did that the other year with my friend Karyn we stood out there in the hot sun baking for over an hour.

Plus it makes you feel oh so important just walking past everyone and getting your ticket in under 10 minutes.

Now Steel City Con for those who have never gotten to attend is not as well done as Tekko and vastly different because it is NOT based on having strictly Japanese themes like anime, J-drama, J-pop etc. 

Steel City Con is dead center in the nerd kingdom. You have your otakus mixing in with your sci-fi nerds, with your comic book guys, your old school tv lovers it's just a wonderful melting pot of nerdness and it's really great. 

There's so many artist booths, I was so tempted to buy one artists clock he made from a vinyl record and he carved out of the top of it a scene that made it look like a shadow picture of Godzilla terrorizing Tokyo.

I also got to see Tony Todd, the actor who played the villain in one of my fav american horror movies, The Candy Man. I got to show my respect to a man who puts live bees in his mouth to up the scare factor in a movie.

I got to take his picture ^__^

I also got to see Barbara Eden, now SHE was like one of my favorite ladies when I was little and would stay up to watch Nick at Nite. I'm so shocked to learn she's 84 I am so impressed with how she looks. Yes I am aware she has money and was able to do all the fancy things like plastic surgery and awesome beauty supplies to make her look this way but I don't care she looks amazing for her age!

I also took a picture of a Star Wars model. One of the guys that did Darth Vader's voice was there as well but I missed taking his picture, there were too many people.

Plus total applause to the dad I saw at Steel City Con who dressed up as Dark Helmet from Spaceballs walking around with his wife and pushing his baby's stroller. BESTEST cosplay of Steel City Con I don't care what anyone else says.

Now what damage did I do there well hehe I bought a ginormous Link from Legend of Zelda.

I was excited to say when I brought it home my mom started yelling at me to stop buying but as I tried explaining what I bought and was slowly taking him out of the bag, my mom the Zelda nerd just goes "I LOVE HIM!" and my family wonders where I inherited my nerdness from, when you take two nerds and marry them off you get a baby nerd...why don't they explain this to people.

Plus as I was telling my mom where I was going to put him on my desk....I get yelled at saying it was to REMAIN UNOPENED IN THE BOX.....hardest thing to listen to...but he's sadly still in the box T__T

I also bought a Grelle Sutcliff figure, I'll be showing his picture later next week.

I haven't removed him from the box yet and I bought him a friend. Ebay was kind enough to have Undertaker....and I bought that sucker up as fast as I could. So you'll get to see them together.

I also bought a little Aladdin figure from Magi, he was the ONLY Magi item there, which was very sad. I bought him....so he wouldn't be lonely and could hang out with my Sinbad and Kouen figures...ya that's it it was so he wouldn't be lonely....(avoids all reader's gazes of judgement).

After that I bought some $10 posters. Got my dad two of the classic Godzilla movie posters from Japan, my Katakana and Kanji reading skills are terrible but one is Godzilla VS. Mothra.

Mothra was my favorite monster when I was growing up...and yet I fear all creepy crawly bugs...go figure.

The other posters were for the Princess Bride, The Dark Crystal and Legend

All major favs of mine, 1980's were great for fantasy films.

Last but not least I got a My Little Demon Plush from Shaman Soul Studios.

I got a Voodoo Vixen, she's adorable.

Link below to see what she looks like and if you want one please order one from Shaman Soul Studios. There's a ton more to choose from why stop at just one?...I had to only because I was at my money damaging limits for the weekend after I bought Link and Grelle.

http://shamansoulstudios.com/my-little-demon/voodoo-vixen-plushie

Now my only complaint about Steel City Con is this.....

THE LADY'S ROOM NEEDS TO HAVE A CONSTANT SUPPLY OF TOILET PAPER!!!

I'm not quite sure if they just think only men go to this thing or that we just don't pee but on a hot day after guzzling tons of liquids we lady's need to go and there was no paper except for 2 bathroom stalls. And there were over 10 stalls. Plus there were no paper towels, why because the other women got desperate and took some for TP.

Maybe I should just open up my own booth next year for Steel Con sell some nerdy crochet like legend of zelda blankets and on the side sell the lady's toilet paper for $3 a roll because that was some serious desperation for a lot of girls.

Now apologies for not writing for 2 weeks then bombarding you with a super long post.

But I hope you liked seeing my plushy haul and what I got to experience at the cons.