ça marche

Sunday, I went to check out yet another friend's art exhibit, only this time it was in Kobe.

The type of art is called sarasa, which I've written up about here.

My friend wasn't at the exhibit at the time, but had many pieces for sale and it was nice to see the different types of works by different artists.

Afterwards, I stopped in to a nearby bakery called, Ça Marche, which my French teacher told me about.

The shop is tiny and when you walk in the baked goods are "roped" off by a wooden railing. You stand behind this railing and tell them which breads you'd like to buy.

I guess it is more sanitary than you going up close to the bread and touching it with tongs. I liked that you needed to tell someone what you wanted.

You can eat there too, they do have a couple of tables on their terrace.

I took out though because the skies looked like it was gonna pour.

The sausage dog was delicious, a cheese bread filled with grainy mustard, a sausage with a snap and cornichon...367 yen. This was a little hard to eat because the bread was round not oblong to fit the dog.

Pain du chocolat...hard outside but very soft inside filled with LOTS of mini chocolate chips..210 yen

And an intriguing bread called patchwork...four flavors baked together...pretty, yeah?!..315 yen for 1/2 a loaf. I had them slice this bread, which came out to 4 thick slices.

A brioche dough mixed with (clockwise): matcha/pea, black sesame, raisin & carrot/orange peel.

Delicious toasted, eaten plain.

It was a good day and I'm glad I made it back home before the rain.

Ça marche
3-1-3 Yamamoto
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.763.1111
Closed: Wednesdays
Hours: 8:00-19:00

kobe

Today, after Satoshi's German language class, we went to Kobe.

A friend of mine, (that I had met through one of my bead classes at the JTB Culture Salon) and other students had an art exhibition at the Gallery Kitanozaka.

While she was taking bead classes, she was also taking "sarasa" classes. Sarasa is a type of wood block printing.

What they do is weave the fabric (from raw cotton) they will print onto, the teacher then carves out the wood blocks (why buy when you can make them yourself!!), then they stamp their designs onto the fabric, fill in their designs with some color and dye areas and then have their teacher put their projects into a steamer (like a little sauna).

We were very impressed with the different types of stamps and also the intricate stamping and dyeing techniques.

We then went next door to a cafe called the Pearl Cafe. It was a very quaint place and the cafe latte and sweet potato "mon blanc" were great! (UPDATE: as of 4/18/07 they are out of business!)

After our afternoon tea break, we walked over a couple of streets to a bead store that my friend told me about, Beads Lot.

They sell a lot of semi-precious stones (beads), but I bought some sterling silver parts. I think I may go back, if I need to get some semi-precious beads...

As we made our way back to the Sannomiya station, we stopped at the Chocolat Republic to pick up some cookies and other treats.

Despite the rainy weather, we still managed to have a nice time!