Love. . . Auckland's Japanese $3.50 shop!

I got back from Auckland on Wednesday night, but not before I had been introduced to the wonders of the Daiso Japanese $3.50 shop! I got the recommendation from a friendly raveller who met me in Auckland on Sunday to give me some paper cranes towards my 1000 for Christchurch. It turns out Daiso is "Japan's no. 1 ranking livingware supplier". Any 3 items for $10! I went in there looking for origami paper, and came out with lots of it, in various sizes. I also got tempted by various cute Japanese "livingware" including several sushi moulds, Nori punches, flower-shaped cutters for vegetables, wiggly plastic chopping knives (for tofu) and refillable soy sauce bottles with animal head lids! Ok, I freely admit I was like a child in a sweetie shop in there, but never in my life had I seen such a place and I am sure it will be a long time before I see such a place again! Here's my haul of loot. . .

Sonny Jim decided he wanted to cook dinner last night and he used the Japanese flower-shaped cutters to cut flower shaped carrots to put in the soup he was cooking. For the record, he used his Kung Fu Panda recipe for Po's Chicken Noodle Soup and he made two pans of it, one to the original recipe for him and my step-dad (who is staying with us from the UK for a few days) and another pan with the same soup but with veggie stock and shrimps instead of chicken stock and chicken for the non-meat-eaters. He also made a loaf of Mediterranean bread in the bread maker and I can tell you, there were MANY compliments to the chef!!