I am a yoga master. Stretchhhh cat pose!

Look how flexible my spine is.

My grandma always said I am a Buddhist… and now you know why!

Activist/actress Mia Farrow was in town to give speeches… and of course, she made time in her busy schedule to see her furry grandson! Mommy smuggled me (Basil Farrow) into her hotel room (fortunately, he didn’t “maoo” in the elevator). As you can see, I was relaxed and happy to see my wonderful grandma.

CUTE YUMMY TIME BOOK SIGNINGS!!!!
Three tour dates announced so far in NYC, Philly and DC. Mommy hopes to see you there — she’d love to stay afterward to hang out with you! More US dates to be announced soon.

NYC
Sunday, October 11: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
The Broadway Panhandler, 65 East 8th Street, New York, NY 10003

PHILLY
Saturday, October 17: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Fante’s Kitchen Wares, 1006 South 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147

WASHINGTON, DC
Saturday, October 24: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Hill’s Kitchen, 713 D Street SE, Washington, DC 20003

So far, Cute Yummy Time has been getting an awesome reaction. Popular bento blogger Bento Lunch gave my cookbook a 100% positive review. Shannon writes: “…the food is absolutely darling. Called “kawaii” and pronounced like Hawaii, the food is all presented as adorable animals. Even better, none of the animal shapings call for anything extremely complicated [...] All of the recipes seem to be reasonable in terms of time & ingredients and many of them appear to be rather kid friendly but still healthy (lots of homemade breads & pastas, wheats instead of whites and plenty of veggies). Personally, I love how easy her tips are for making the food cuter. There were so many hints we’re going to try and add into our bentos since they aren’t time consuming.”

I loved seeing the animal ham/cheese crackers and quesadilla she made, inspired by my recipes. Best of all, the book gets her daughter’s stamp of approval! “Faith also loved the little story that runs through each page of the author and Basil the cat’s adventures in Kawaii-land.”

I love to sit on the windowsill and catch the sun’s rays.

The vitamin D keeps me healthy and as golden as a lion.

Sometimes, the sunlight can be rather intense…

When you wear a fur coat all the time, you get hot quickly!

Here’s a cute video to get you in a good mood. In this Basil Farrow compilation, the Scottish Fold kitty cuddles, plays, cleans himself and MEOWS.

1. Basil’s meow sounds like WAHHH!
2. The fat kitty swats at a bee trapped inside a glass and nudges it with his nose. We made sure the bee didn’t sting him and freed the insect afterward.
3. Basil Farrow cleans his big fat paws and pink padded feet. La Carmina tries to clean his eyes and he makes a funny face.
4. The Scottish Fold cat loves his Forever Friends teddy bear! He licks catnip from the bag and kisses the bear. Then the two bears lie down and snuggle.
5. The purebred kitten pushes objects off a table with his cute giant feet.
6. Basil plays with an octopus toy while lying on his side and back.
7. Finally, he lets out a big YAWN and then walks away on his short legs!

The songs were once again chosen by his daddy, Ronan: Genki Rockets – Heavenly Star (Instrumental) and Rachel Stevens – Some Girls.

Another way to ease a bad day is, of course, shopping for some new clothes! I invite you to browse my Online Garage Sale… designer/vintage clothes from Asia, LA and NYC for mostly $10-20, including accessories — if you can pry them away from Basil Farrow. Here’s the link – thanks in advance for spreading the word.

All Scottish Fold cats love to lie upside-down! This Japanese cat book features a munchkin Fold with a short tail, like a Manx.

What a baby-face!

He looks just like me in these pictures. We have tiny ears…

Ai-yah! I looked just like this when I was a kitten.

Scottish Folds that look just like me are big in Japan.

Mommy found this book in Kinokuniya Bookstore, Shinjuku Tokyo. It has photos of a fold-eared munchkin kitten.

I make the exact same curious face on the right!

Wahhh! I’m so proud of Mommy. Her new book, Crazy Wacky Theme Restaurants Tokyo, is reviewed in the newspaper! (Read the article here.)

I’m so happy I’m going to step on her article and crinkle it.

And then sit down on her face!

Wahh wahh wahh…

Look what Ronan digged up! It’s a photo of our Scottish Fold son, Basil Farrow, as a kitten!

He used to be skinny and gawkish (now he’s a round Garfield). Basil’s foldy-ears were larger (he grew into them, I guess.) And his fur was lighter colored with pronounced tiger stripes. Today, he’s a solid cream with a few subtle ripples. Awww!

Wahh wahh! Mommy and Daddy always tell me I look just like a teddy bear. So when Mommy found a Forever Friends plush toy in a Hallmark store, she had to get it for me!

I usually am jealous of stuffed animals, but this bear looks just like me… so I want to cuddle.

We both have yellow fur, brown noses, big feet with pink pads, and tiny ears… I’ll even share my octopus toy with my new friend!

Ai-yah! The Ming Pao, a leading Chinese-language newspaper, did a super cute feature on Cutie Food. The article includes two of mommy’s recipes from my cookbook Cute Yummy Time (brown rice penguin onigiri and panda tofu soba). And I make an appearance too!

Below is a scan (click to enlarge) and translation. Funny: they translated mommy’s name, La Carmina, as 田中裕美 (Yumi Tanaka) — I wonder why! And Basil is called a 摺 耳 貓 (jip yee mao) — fold-eared cat! Cute Yummy Time is now available for pre-order here and will be found in all major bookstores after October 6.

Local primary students are limited to eating sandwiches and pizza in the cafeteria, so they might as well take a box lunch to school. Don’t think this is an old school thing to do. In Japan, bento culture is not just about the food, but the picture. Hello Kitty, Snoopy, and other Japanese anime characters can all be made into a cute bento box lunch. This trend has spread to Vancouver, and local people are making their own bentos. There’s even a recipe book — Cute Yummy Time can encourage your mom to express her creativity. It’s written by author La Carmina.

Our lovely bento teacher who doesn’t want to be a lawyer
Local lady La Carmina graduated from Yale Law School but didn’t want to be a lawyer because she loves to design and write. Lately, she is focusing on making cute bento boxes, in addition to freelance writing and blogging. She loved cute culture since she was young, and has been designing cute bentos for the past two years. Carmina designs them in different character styles, but they all look cute and use healthy ingredients. Her new book, Cute Yummy Time, introduces 70 cute food recipes that she made herself. You can buy it in all major bookstores on October 6th, or online through her blog, http://www.lacarmina.com/blog

Photo caption: Blogger La Carmina loves cute culture. Her cat is a rare breed (Scottish Fold). Do you think he’s cute?