{Eat} Sushi Kaji

Last week, two of my coworkers and I headed to Sushi Kaji for what may be the most expensive meal I've ever paid for (so far), but the whole experience was worth it!

We had reservations to sit at the bar, although we couldn't see most of the dishes being made since they were done at the back counter or behind the ice tray containing the fish. Nevertheless, the dishes were beautifully prepared and just kept on coming!

I didn't have sushi until I was about 17 and even then it was primarily California rolls since I was a little wary of raw fish. Over the years I've worked my way up but still get nervous about eating non-salmon/tuna sashimi, so I was worried about eating at Sushi Kaji, but there was a nice balance of cooked and raw foods, and there was nothing too "out there" for me.

Sushi Kaji is all about authenticity, as they say on their website: "Although we do not serve "popular Japanese food" like "California roll" and "Teriyaki", we will be pleased to introduce you to the real Japanese food culture." The fish that is served is flown in fresh from Tokyo bay within 24 hours of being out of the water, and the fish purchased in the morning is served that evening, never kept overnight. Even the rice, vinegar, vegetables, and condiments are imported from Japan, but the Chef makes his own (delicious) soy sauce.

I wish I could remember what everything was exactly. I have a photo of the menu (which changes daily due to the changing selection of fish), but they don't specify which fish they are for the sashimi and sushi, but you get the gist of it.

Simmered daikon and eggplant; Sauteed scallop with pumpkin puree; Grilled crab; Persimmon sunomono.
Tomato and kuzu cake; Trout and salmon roe, Lobster; Sweet Miso; And the rest is a little hazy.
Matsutake mushroom soup in tea pot; Lily bulb and sea urchin cake with crab sauce; Grilled shrimp and matsutake mushroom.
Sea urchin; Can't remember with ginger glaze; Some sort of fish; Udon noodles.
Sushi plates with Seared scallop, Crab with applesauce, Minced Tuna/Some other fish, etc...
Green tea macaron; Fruit jelly and green tea macaron; Fruit jelly and wasabi macaron; Peach consomme and glazed strawberry.
Even the fruit jelly dessert was nice and fresh, and all the fruits were perfectly ripe! The green tea and wasabi macarons were sooo good. One day I will attempt to make some - I've had a macaron book for over a year now but since I've never had one up to this point (despite having been to Paris three times) I wasn't sure how good they would be anyway since I'd have no comparisons for it.

Anyways, all in all, a satisfying meal! I'd go again but I would definitely need to save up for it.

{DIY} I Heart Button Badges

A few years ago during one of my NYC trips, I picked up 50+ button badges with the names of NYC neighbourhoods from the Times Square Visitor Center. I had to make a few trips to pick up the different areas and even though my hands were always full, I am definitely missing a lot of neighbourhoods.


My original plan was to use fabric I bought in 2002 to make a tote bag and then pin all the buttons, but I never got around to sewing that bag and even if I had, I didn't want to risk losing any of the buttons while using the bag. Then, a few weeks ago I saw this and knew it was perfect for all my buttons.


The first order of business then, was to find a shadow box that would fit all the buttons. Most were too small or too big/heavy. But it was at Michael's that I found the perfect sized frame, and it was one designed to showcase t-shirts (do a lot of people do this?). I had my 40% off regular items coupon with me, but the frame was on sale from $16.99 to $7.99!


I didn't have any large pieces of white cardstock on hand, so I just took two sheets and pieced them together to cover the image provided with the frame.


I decided to use tissue paper on top of the cardstock to give the buttons a background that wasn't so flat and make it slightly more interesting (and to cover the cardstock edges). This is the first layer going on:


Here's the background with the fourth and final layer and the edges trimmed.


I originally took all the pin backings off the buttons but once I laid them all out, I thought they looked awkward with no depth to them so I put all the pins back on. Then I laid out the positions again, trying not to have the same colours next to each other which was pretty difficult with the majority of them being blue or green.




I hot glued the center line first and then did the outline. The right side is definitely a lot better as it's more round and less squished. Oh well. Maybe one day if it really bothers me I'll take it apart and redo it, but I'm pretty happy with it right now! The buttons are no longer hidden in a Dean & Deluca food container! Though, all the pin backings are still there.




And now the final step is to hang it up, but considering I've had frames to hang up for the past 5 years, this will be a whole other ordeal...

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(Invisible) Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Welcome to 'a Girl Called Kim'!

This will be a bit of a mish-mash of my ramblings on design, DIY & crafts, food & baking, and general snippets of my life which might include anything from shopping finds to theatre to my travels.

I love starting projects but I'm not always too motivated to finish them, so hopefully this blog will help with that so that I have things to post about! I currently live at my home of 23+ years and we're upgrading things around the house to eventually sell, so hopefully there will be lots of before/afters to show, as well as stories of the successes and mishaps to get there.

Anyways, I hope you'll join me on my (mis)adventures!