This past year has been a weird one and it's certainly made us rethink how we spend our time and how we use the space we have around us. One of the things we’ve seen more of is people taking their leisure time into the outdoors and finding fun ways to make a more homebound life welcoming.
Today we’ll be exploring some of these cute ways to romanticise your life and free time whilst staying close to home! （＊＾Ｕ＾）人（≧Ｖ≦＊）/
Kawaii Food & Drinks
One of the easiest ways to start feeling a bit more uplifted day to day is by making your food reflect your mood, it sounds a little silly, but having your food smile back at you or showcase your favourite colour can really make you feel a bit calmer. A few ideas include:
1. Seaweed faces
Dried seaweed can be found in most big supermarkets and is a great way of adding details to savoury food dishes. You can cut out shapes or faces and easily stick them onto foods like rice and meat (or vegetarian) patties. One of the best reasons to choose seaweed for this is that it sticks easily to other foods, has a subtle taste, and is easy to cut out using a cutting tool or regular scissors. However, you can also try this with sliced vegetables or salad leaves instead!
2. Adding boba pearls to drinks
Not everyone has easy access to more niche cafes and food shops, but don’t let that stop you from adding a little more fun to your beverages. Boba pearls can be found via online shops, at your local Asian grocers, or even made at home using tapioca starch, and they can be a great addition to your choice of drink.
Regular tapioca boba pearls work brilliantly with milky tea’s, iced coffee’s, and even flavoured milk. Popping boba pearls are arguably even more versatile, as they can be added to various sodas and pre-made iced teas.
3. Colourful food
The kawaii monster cafe was a landmark place in Japan's alternative fashion scene, serving up amazing colourful curries and crazy looking plates of food. Although this cafe is now gone, we can take inspiration from its culinary creativity. One of the easiest ways to make any food feel a bit more fun is to add a small amount of food colouring to your dish, with pasta you can add food dye after it's all cooked and freshly strained, and with creamy sauces you can completely recolour it as it's heating up. You can even paint cute designs on your sandwiches and toast with diluted food colouring and a paintbrush!
Check out the rainbow food available in Harajuku, Japan! WOW!
Cosy Picnics
Hanami is the yearly cultural tradition of blossom viewing in Japan, people will head out in masses to view the new blooms and enjoy picnics in the parks with family and friends. In this past year more of us have also taken to socialising outside and arranging get-togethers under the sun, and now that spring has started to really show itself, it's the best time to start dusting off your hampers and plastic plates.
Here are a few fun things to try and take with you for your next picnic:
4. Crack out the card games
This ones pretty simple, if you’re planning to meet up with friends or loved ones outside, bring along a game. Picnics can sometimes feel a bit aimless after the food is exhausted, but bringing along something for everyone to play (preferably something comedy based) can really enhance the quality time spent together, especially as most of our socialisation has only been online.
5. A mini potluck
Potlucks are gatherings and meals made up solely of the food and homemade dishes that each guest brings, and this concept can be a great opportunity for you and some friends to flex your cooking skills. You can set a theme (ie: food based off a movie) and each person can come up with their own contribution for the picnic, allowing everyone to come up with something fun and unique to share with everyone else.
6. Dress code
These are just some small and simple ideas to start making your day to day and outdoor socialising feel a bit more fun and optimistic. With the flowers starting to bloom and nature waking up it's definitely worth taking advantage of nature's fresh start, especially as wasp season hasn’t started yet!
Get ready for Kawaii picnics with The Kawaii Shoppu!
Cool! I should host a picnic sometime…
Scarlett McGlown em