85° Love

We love the Taiwanese bakery 85 ℃ and there just happens to be a location that opened up right near the Daiso in Buena Park. I like going to grand openings because they give out free stuff, and today was no exception. For 85℃, the line wasn't very long, but as we entered, one of the associates handed us keychains as thanks "for waiting in line".

They were also offering a gift with purchase. The red mug has a picture of a girl calling out "Fresh bread!" as they do in the store. On the other side, little faces smile at you from a variety of pastry shapes. You, too, can have this cute mug with a $20 purchase, while supplies last, of course.

When you enter the store, grab a pair of tongs and a tray. Select your culinary delights with the tongs and place them on your tray. When you pay, the store personnel will bag and/or box your food, unless of course it's going to disappear before you even get back to your car.

You will find one line for pastries and a separate one for cakes, drinks, and other desserts, though you can order drinks in the pastry line.

The desserts are awesome, but use caution because your hips, bottom, and belly will agree. Word travels by mouth, and just like any popular Asian establishment, the wait is long but wort it.

Another Daiso Day

Grand Opening
So, Buena Park has officially gained a Daiso. The grand opening was Saturday morning, complete with taiko performance by UC Riverside's group.

I dragged B-chan and the kids to "go see the drums", but of course I had a list of things to get. Forty dollars later, I was able to get the goodie bag that they gave to the first 200 customers. It was mostly snacks.


The line ran along the side of the building when I got there, but by the time it opened, the line wrapped around the corner and along the parking lot a bit. The store was also fairly small, so they had to limit the number of people in the store at a time. The good thing is I was able to get the goody bag.

The Goods

Among my spoils, I had to replace the strawberry shaped cell phone screen cleaner that the monkey broke. This time I got a kitty version... Much cuter.

I also found some enameled containers for which I've been searching for several years. They are better for foods that might react with metal.

Also among my spoils, I scored a couple travel locks to keep scissors under wraps, as well as, sewing notions, a floor mat, an over-the-door cabinet basket. With the exception of the floor mat, everything was $1.50, but $3 is still not bad.
The downside of these grand openings is that the store is crowded and it is hard to move around. I was only able to shop half the store because waiting in line to pay would have taken even longer. Already the line followed the length of two of the walls. At least the store is run efficiently enough that the line did not take that long.
It's kind of funny that in Japan I traveled two to three times as far by bicycle just to get to a Daiso. I don't quite have the luxury of that much time. Pehaps if I had not had my babies yet, I could still ride my bike there. The elf is not quite big enough to ride in the bike trailer, but soon. Nonetheless, it will still be a while before I can take the babies with me on a bike.
Update:

I went back today to get to the rest of the store. I found a gorgeous pencil with lead, a mechanical carpenter's pencil with lead, and a completely awesome make-up mirror for my bag. It is a large version of a black rose shaped Anna Sui knock-off.

This time it cost me $30, so I should be good until January (or until I need to organize something with baskets).

Aki-home Love

Leave it to the Japanese to live such a cramped lifestyle in the city that they develop an entire decorating and storage culture around space as a commodity. Well this just happens to be beneficial to little old me because I live in a teeny tiny house. Phenomenal cosmic housing opportunity, itty bitty living space.(Yes, adapted from Aladdin.) Moving on... Aki-home is like the Japanese love child (totally legit, of course) of Ikea's modern design and Bed Bath & Beyond's range of products. It is actually the American version of Nitori, same products with a new American name. So, what? I am really excited to be able to get more Japanese products. (If you haven't already, read about my love affair with Daiso.) Update: I decided to drag the family down to the District at Tustin in order to attend the grand opening early. They were also doing a ceremony @ the Fullerton location, by where we live, but I wanted to go to the bigger store. The cultural benefit (sorry, no pics) was having the Monkey watch a taiko performance. I realize it's unrelated, but so are so many of my ramblings... Anyway, the result of said grand opening was the purchase of a rather useful coffee table that raises, lowers, and stowes away as needed. Yes, its messy, but I do have a great before and after set of pictures to show the difference. I had already started cleaning by the time I took the picture, too. I am a clutterer by nature and am always trying to fight it. So, here are the before and after photos. When the Elf was born, we scrambled to move several pieces of furniture around with the result being a very cramped living room. We also updated the couch to a small sectional after 2 years with a horribly uncomfortable sleeper loveseat from Ikea. All of that plus housing an additional child in the room made not a lot of space. Needless to say, this table is a welcome replacement for one that was really meant for the teeny tiny kitchen and a family of two.