"How can anything that looks so intricate be so simple? Learn how to make beautiful Japanese handballs in 25 stunning designs. Let these fabulous carry-along projects busy your hands, soothe your mind, and fire your imagination!"--Back cover.

Bringing a time-honored art form into the modern needle-working world, this visually rich how-to guide reveals the techniques of Japanese temari balls. Anyone with an interest in fabric arts, particularly Japanese arts and design, can master stitching techniques and layer threads to create pattern, color, and texture. There are more than 40 easy-to-follow patterns to help fine-tune this skill set that will appeal to not only temari enthusiasts, but to quilters and embroiderers as well. Step-by-step directions and detailed drawings explain each technique, while mini patterns aid in practicing the new skills and help to lay the groundwork for individual and unique designs. This volume is great for beginners and for those stitchers looking for new challenges and intermediate temari designs. The book is more than a collection of patterns: once the basic techniques have been mastered, instruction is provided on how to combine patterns on the same ball to create a unique temari. A guide for left-handed stitchers is also provided.

The fun and easy Japanese craft of Kimekomi (pronounced kee-may-ko-mee)—the making of decorative fabric balls—dates back to the early 1700s with the making of cloth-covered wooden dolls. Today it has evolved into the artful covering of balls with cloth and ribbon and cord. In Japanese Kimekomi: Fast, Fun, and Fabulous Fabric Handballs authors Barbara Suess and Kathleen Hewitt have collected 16 colorful designs that are fun and easy to make. The book includes step-by-step drawings and color photos, full-size cutting templates, and easy-to-follow directions. The art requires no sewing skills, just some fabric, styrofoam balls, and a couple of hours. Begin with making simple but beautiful handballs and progress with the authors to creating new, unique designs. Nothing could be more charming as a gift, Christmas or Easter ornament, or party tokens.

Activity guided fractionation of a commercially available yeast extract led to the identification of (S)-N2-(1-carboxyethyl)guanosine 5′-monophosphate, a nucleotide exhibiting pronounced umami taste enhancing activity. Applying model reaction systems, this compound was found to be formed upon Maillard reaction of 5′-GMP with short chained carbohydrates. Consequently, systematic studies were undertaken to better understand thermal transformation reactions of the purine ribonucleotide resulting in two structurally diverse groups of Maillard-modified 5′-GMP derivatives which were evaluated with regard to structure–activity relationships in human sensory studies. Results suggested that substitution of the nucleotide’s exocyclic amino function with small, unpolar residues has a beneficial effect on taste enhancement. In addition, selected representatives of the 5′-GMP derivatives were tested in a cell-based taste receptor assay, underlining the human sensory results.