His work doesn’t doesn’t do much for me. Perhaps i’m just over exposed. I hear the man himself is quite a piece of work. He sues anyone that formerly worked for him that has the audacity to continue to work in the medium of glass.

And yes, I know Chihuly well. I personally don’t care for his work, or glass art in general, and it is EVERYWHERE!!!! The one really cool thing that comes of the huge Seattle interest in glass is that one gets to watch large scale glass work from time to time. The Pratt in my neighborhood, has programs to teach disadvantaged city kids how to do large scale glass art.

And one of the things I’ve learned since moving here is that all things Japanese are expensive, but $9 is a bit steep for a pot of Jasmine tea. Actually Jasmine is a Chinese tea and is very cheap, unless you’re getting the tea with all of the blossoms that they like to sell to Westerners. Japanese teas are more expensive, especially if they have matcha. My favorite is genmaicha, a blend of matcha and a mild Japanese green tea with rice: http://www.o-cha.com/green-tea/matcha-genmaicha.html. It’s a bit pricey. I often spend $20 to refill my little tea canister, but it is totally worth it. There are tea houses all over Seattle, but I’ve yet to check out any of them.

If you want to experience cheap Japanese goods, check out Daiso. They are a Japanese 100 yen store and we get our home goods there. Great for tupperware, bentos, seat cushions, dishes, umbrellas, cards, etc. I love it there and I see that SF has them too!

Anything served by Japanese girls in kimonos is worth a little bit of extra dosh!