Festival Asiasie at Time Out Montreal

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Last weekend I had the pleasure of dragging Lynn and Sophie to the Festival Asiasie Pop-Up at the Time Out Market here in Montreal.  The market was great, but incredibly crowded. I suspect they got way more foot traffic than initially anticipated, and I hope the vendors all made some fantastic sales. I just hope that they find a larger venue if they do this again next year! I tried to capture the vibe and the chaos without focusing too much on strangers, but it was nearly impossible.

My initial plan was to share all the amazing goodies I brought home as soon as possible. Unfortunately, along with those goodies I brought home some miserable virus or other. I’m still sick but semi-functional, so I wanted to make sure I took the time to recommend all these amazing small businesses and craftspeople bringing both modern and traditional Japanese (and other Asian) goodies to us here. Wherever possible, I have linked to their socials and online shops as well!

 

Atelier Tsubaki

Atelier Tsubaki focuses primarily on gorgeous, handmade origami jewellery, but when I saw this necklace I fell in love. It’s an actual ume & uguisu (plum & warbler) hanafuda card coated in resin so it’s nice and sturdy and durable, and I already have the perfect outfit in mind for it, but it’s currently in California. I’ll be sure to take photos when I wear it!

If you’re looking for some unique handmade pieces, definitely check out their works.

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Bask Hour

Bask Hour make some incredible, elevated scented candles and diffusers focused around a variety of Asian fragrances. They’re made with soy, coconut, and beeswax for a nice clean burn and have crackly wooden wicks.

I know my mother is a huge fan of bright, citrusy smells so getting the Yuzu for her for mother’s day was a given. It’s deliciously balanced with grapefruit and rounded out with hinoki cedar to prevent it from being too sharp. I also love the mini paint can packaging, and their branding in general is great. I can’t wait to try out a few more of their fragrance offerings.

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Boutique MeiCo

The owner of MeiCo takes the beauty of kimono and transforms pieces that are too small, too fragile, or too damaged and turns them into stunning, wearable and useable items for modern life. I selected a keyring strap for my mum and a little lip balm holder for myself, since I am forever losing lip balms in the depths of my purse. But these are just a very small sampling, she makes absolutely stunning bags, hats, and my personal fave, bomber jackets. They’re out of my budget at the current time but hopefully one day I can splurge. She’s even offered to make some using pieces in my collection that are unuseable, and I am very tempted.

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Brasserie San-O Sake

Brasserie San-O focuses on using koji, or the fermented rice used to make sake amongst other things. They have a wide offering of drinks, condiments, and products and starters for making your own fermented goodies.

They were offering samples of their non-alcoholic ume sake and it’s absolutely delicious and refreshing. Please ignore the weird-looking cans, they were selling these at a discount due to a technical hiccup with the can-sealing machine. It had no impact on the flavour, I assure you!

I also grabbed a jar of their shoyu koji condiment, and it’s added a delicious salty umami balance to chicken so far and I intend to put it on a pork loin as soon as I have the energy to cook!

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Eliane Oba Ceramica

Since I live between two households at the moment, I am trying to avoid buying large housewares, especially fragile ones, so my original plan was to buy two handmade hashioki, or chopstick rests. These lovely black fan-shaped ones have an imprinted seigaiha design and I thought I was set. Until this teacup called my name. “Diaaaane,” it said. “Look at my beautiful glaaaaze. Taaaake me wiiiith you.”

How could I say no to such a gorgeous cup? I’ll just have to make sure to pack it well when I bring it to California! Eliane also included two sets of lovely bamboo chopsticks, which I don’t need but still appreciate!

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KotoAn Wagashi

I’ve had KotoAn’s wagashi offerings before, and they never fail to impress. They typically make a variety of nerikiri sweets with different flavours of filling, from anko to yuzu to raspberry. They’re always a pleasure to eat – the only negative is cutting into the beautiful designs!

I shared this box with my folks, don’t worry, I did not eat them all by myself in one sitting!

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Lam Atelier

Kat, the artist behind Lam Atelier, makes adorable prints, shirts, pins, stickers, and all sorts of merch based on traditional and kawaii imagery from all over Asia.

I of course selected this adorable maneki-neko pins, but I was very tempted by the hilarious Buff Sanrio character stickers.

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Miya Candles

Miya Candles is a one-woman operation, and she makes the most charming variety of hand poured, scented candles. I could not resist the funny little  Daruma face here. The scent throw on these is excellent – he’s been sitting on my dresser since I bought him and the fragrance is still noticeable in my entire bedroom.

All of her candles are at least this adorable, if not cuter, definitely worth a look!

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Sakao Tea

This tea could not have come at a better time! I’ve purchased from Sakao before and am always happy with their offerings, but this yuzu-pepper-sencha blend has been a gift from the heavens with my congestion this week. It’s bright and crisp without being uncomfortably spicy. I would drink this by itself, especially as a sick-day pick me up, or with a nice spicy meal. Something it could stand on its own with. I would bet it would also be lovely used in a rub or marinade!

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Thé Gurus

Thés Gurus is another brand I have tried before and know I enjoy, but when I saw this little set of pre-measured matcha and cute little shaker, I was influenced, as they say. As someone who spends so much time travelling back and forth, it will be really nice to have an in-transit option that isn’t an over-sweetened coffee chain matcha latte. This is proper, high-grade ceremonial matcha, just packaged for convenience.

Admittedly I’m not a huge fan of single-use packets but at least they are recyclable!

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Tokusen.Store

Tokusen is a high-end direct-from-Japan importer of sauces, marinades, and cooking products. I’ve been wanting to review a selection of their offerings for quite some time now and never got around to it, so when I saw they were going to be selling at this market I made a point of grabbing a variety. I will be doing a proper review of these all when I’ve had the opportunity to use them all a few times. The products I purchased are:

This entry will be updated once the full review is live!

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There was also a booth with tons of gacha machines, and I’m proud to say that I did not succumb! I also stopped by Kimono Yuki‘s booth but behaved and only bought a fan because I was overheated, no textiles. Mostly because I just have no dang space at the moment.

After shopping we grabbed dinner at the Time Out market. I just had to share how beautiful this dang poke bowl from Le Blossom was. Look at it! So fresh and bright, and the flavours absolutely lived up to the aesthetic.

Please forgive any typos or nonsense in this entry – I read over it and spell-checked multiple times but I am still very sick and also incredibly distracted by a hockey game.

Go Habs Go!

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One thing you may not know about me is that I am descended from hockey royalty. Newsy Lalonde was my great-grandfather. While this isn’t something that generally overlaps with my kimono interests, sometimes a girl’s just got to represent hometown and familial pride, in the form of a coordination evoking the Montreal Canadiens team colours. Especially now that we’ve made it into series two of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Go Habs Go! Tricolore jusqu’au bout!*  I’d originally planned to put this up before Series 2 Game 1 on Wednesday but was feeling under the weather, so I’m making sure it goes up before Game 2.

Sadly, I don’t have any hockey-themed accessories, and I don’t think my father would be too thrilled with me using things like his grandfather’s Hockey Hall of Fame ring as an obi-kazari, so I had to work with the “tricolore” (three colours) emblematic of the Habs — red, with blue and white as accents. Our primary jersey colour is, of course, a nice bright red, and as is standard in the NHL the away jersey is white so of course this red-and-white yagasuri komon was the perfect base. I just always forget how danged huge it is, which makes putting it on the mannequin a little awkward. It also looks a bit pinker in these photos; blame the light in my room. In person it’s definitely a true red.

Sadly I don’t have any obi that are quite the right shades of blue, but this one works pretty well. I tied it in a karuta musubi because the square shape with the red and white lines of the obijime reminds me a bit of an ice rink, if you squint! There’s no significance to the cat motif, I was just going for colour cohesion. It does tie in nicely with the blues and white and the motif on the haneri though, doesn’t it?

How about you — are you a hockey fan? Are you watching the playoffs, and rooting for any particular team? If so, let me know so I can tell you how factually incorrect you are (I kid, I kid).

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*(this literally means tricolour until the end or tricolour all the way, referencing the three team colours)

Wisteria Chocolate

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I’ve generally been pretty good about not buying kimono lately, but when I saw this absolutely lush warm-brown houmongi with wisteria – a motif I’ve been wanting more of – on Etsy for a fantastic price I had to have it. I also got another piece I’ll be featuring soon, more on that later.

I love how elegant and subtle this piece is, it feels very “quiet luxury” to me. The silk is rich and thick and heavy, the gold decoration is not overdone, and it has an almost monochrome quality to it that I feel ads to the understated feel of the whole thing. If I ever manage to lose all the weight the medical debacles of the past decade have put on me, this will be one of the first things I wear I think.

I specifically chose this gold obi because of the seafoam accents it has. That may seem like an odd choice, but there are flecks of nearly the exact same minty colour in the hem of the kimono. I couldn’t believe what a fortuitous match it was!

Once I had these pieces next to each other, I ran with similarly coloured accessories and realised the whole combination reminded me of a box of expensive chocolates, reinforcing the whole luxury vibe I had in mind. It was an accident, but a happy one!

Overall I’m very happy with the coordination, even if I am slightly less happy with the actual kitsuke. The collars were giving me grief but I knew if I kept fighting them I would get frustrated and give up. Perfection is the enemy of done, after all.

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Review – Nippon Kodo Incense Discovery

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Back when I had my little shopping trip to Wabi Sabi in Palm Springs, one of the treasures I brought home was this lovely set of five kayuragi incense fragrances from Nippon Kodo. It’s a great option for anyone who isn’t ready to commit to a larger box of one scent, and the beautiful packaging with ukiyo-e art makes it an excellent gift as well. These are traditional Japanese compressed incense with no wooden stick in the centre. Each small box comes with a little metal incense holder, but I have so many holders and beautiful little ceramic dishes that I didn’t feel the need to use them. But they’re handy for travel or gifting purposes!

I’ve been trying out the fragrances over the past couple of months, and have broken them all down and collected my thoughts for you.

Aloeswood

To me, this is the most classic-feeling. It has an almost dreamlike quality, heady but grounded. Something about it smells very “traditional”, like you might smell it in a temple or a minka, but not in a fussy or dated way. Just in a vital, historical, transportive way.

Green Tea

This one is so bright and fresh. It’s got notes of grassiness and an almost citrus-like property. It’s incredibly balancing and would make a great incense for the morning, or to help with focus while working. It’s definitely a light green tea scent, not an earthy matcha-type, and reminds me of a high-end spa. I really like it!

 

Osmanthus

I really enjoy smell of osmanthus, something that’s criminally under-represented in western fragrances but thankfully a staple of Asian scent profiles. This one captures the beautiful floral, slightly fruity aspects of osmanthus blossom without verging into cloying. I knew I’d like it, but I didn’t know I’d absolutely love it.

Sakura

As much as I love sakura for body and personal fragrance, and continue to hunt for the perfect one, it’s not my go-to for home or lifestyle type scents. That said, this one really surprised me. It’s definitely fresh, clean, and floral, but without any of the powdery or soapy quality sakura can often have. I can’t really describe it, other than a happy, upbeat sort of floral. If you need a mood booster, look no further!

 

Sandalwood

As someone who lives in North America, I’ve long associated the scent of sandalwood incense with head-shops and a certain sort of lifestyle. Nothing against that sort of lifestyle, but it’s not exactly a fragrance I find myself leaning into. I was apprehensive about these, but I’m so happy to report it was all for naught.  This is slightly spicy, slightly woody, and not remotely redolent of unwashed hair and the devil’s lettuce.

I still don’t think it will be my first choice, but it’s definitely a more elegant and elevated sandalwood than I was anticipating.

Overall, the aloeswood and osmanthus top my personal list but any of these would be a fantastic addition to a welcoming home. If you’re not ready to commit to a scent, or are just looking for a housewarming or hostess gift, this set is perfect for you. You can find Nippon Kodo on their own website, or on Amazon.

 I purchased this item myself and chose to review it.This post contains affiliate link(s). If you choose to purchase, I receive a small rebate or commission which goes to the continued maintenance of this site.If you have a topically appropriate craft, product, or service you would like me to review, please contact me. 

Birthstone Ensembles – April – Diamond

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There really was only one choice for April’s birthstone – this shiromuku with sayagata pattern that looks like facets, and a white obi with silver hishi (diamond) designs. Add in a textured white and silver haneri and a white beaded obijime, and I honestly don’t know how I could have evoked diamond better without gluing crystals onto the ensemble. Which is not something I was keen to do on a wedding piece, frankly.

My only real wish was that the kimono and obi were both in the same undertone family. It’s not entirely evident here due to the blue background, but the kimono is more of a warm ivory white and the obi is a cool greyish white. But eh, lets pretend that’s to evoke light refraction or the colour variation you can find in natural diamonds.

I honestly don’t have a lot more to say about this particular coord. It came together like a dream, the kitsuke didn’t give me grief, and overall I’m beyond happy with this interplay of textures and now I’m even more motivated to stick with this project!

Also, does anyone else remember this Old Spice commercial? The “the tickets are now DIAMONDS” line has been looping in my head since I started.

I’m on a horse!

 

 

 

 

 

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