greengate

I saw these latte cups on a website for a bakery. When you buy baked products from their bakery you receive a sticker for every 200 yen (about US$2), when you've saved up enough stickers for items from their catalog (one of them being this cup), you can redeem them.

Since the bakery in our area closed down, I don't have much access to collect the stickers, so I surfed the web and found a Japanese online shop for these Greengate latte cups.

Greengate, a Denmark company, has different items for the home. The online catalog kind of reminded me of Pottery Barn.

So, I ordered two from the site and I was lucky, they were having a sale, 30% off.

The shop was quick too, as soon as I ordered (which was a Friday), they sent me instructions by e-mail for payment.

I went to the bank (on that same Friday) and asked for help in putting the payment into the shop's account. Did you know that the security guard was the one who helped me use the bank machine? I don't think you'd ever see that in the States.

In Japan you often deposit monies into other people's accounts. We do this for our rent. And even if the banks are of the same name, they still charge you a handling fee (banking in Japan is a total rip-off!)

So, the cups were sent out on that same Friday and I received them the next day...talk about fast!

The cups are a nice size, holds about 2 cups, it is easy to hold in your hands, a nice way to warm-up.

on a sunny autumn day

Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day.

I went to the post office then walked twenty minutes up to our favorite cafe. They were having a coffee sale and I wanted to see what I could buy.

It was only the 2nd day of the sale and pickings were slim. I wanted to buy their Ethiopian washed coffee but ended up buying some beans from Kenya, I hope it is good (though the coffee from this cafe is usually good). UPDATE: The Kenya is delicious! earthy, smoky and dark roasted...mmm.

From the cafe, as I was making my way home, I saw a yard sale of sorts. They had clothing on several racks and dishes on several tables. These colorful cafe cups and saucers called out to me from a table on the grassy area (I kid you not!).

Not wanting to ignore them, I went to see them up close. I flipped one of the cups over to see where it was made. It was made in Italy. I'm not sure if it is a brandname but I was sold on the colors (greenish blue, light blue and yellow). For 1500 yen (about US$15) for the set of 3, I thought it was a good buy.

On the walk home, I envisioned cappuccino and hot chocolate in these....so on Thursday morning, I made cappuccino/lattes to have with our breakfast.

Then Thursday afternoon I had another cappuccino/latte with a lavender brownie. The cups are not too big, not too small...just right.

Hope you have a great weekend. UPDATE: I think this tableware is Pagossin