A few of my favorite things

According to my older brother, on my first St. Patrick's Day in Japan I called him saying, "Why does this holiday follow me wherever I go?" The four previous St. Patrick's Days greeted me with a few too many drinks and it seemed that the holiday was unexpectedly in full force over here too.
Another thing that has followed me across the world is foosball. I adore foosball.
The first time I played was at a friend's house (incidentally I met him in Japanese Society class). Following that night were three years of constant foosball playing. I came to love the game and developed quite a goalie shot. Some of my favorite memories of college are at his foosball table, which was eventually passed down to another great friend, or at the house/apartment that housed it.
About a year after moving to Japan I moved to a building with a bar on the first floor. The owner, who we now all know and love, turns out to be the Osaka Foosball Champion. Needless to say, there is a table at the bar.
Earlier this month, he celebrated the bar's 15 year anniversary. Although I didn't go out on that night, I went out on Sunday with my friend, the owners wife.
I wanted to bring along something to say congratulations with, and given our shared love of foosball and my love of cookies, foosball-themed cookies seemed a logical choice.

My favorites were the foosball tables.

I also did a few simple, non-themed ones as well.

I made balls (cake balls) to put in with the little foosball guys.


The cookies were a tad on the time consuming side to make, as I don't have a "foosball guy" cookie cutter.
I started by cutting circles for the heads.

Then I cut rectangles and
started chopping away at them to give them their shape. Finally I cut a tiny sliver at the top using the circle cutter, stuck a head on, and baked as usual.


I was afraid heads might fall off, but they baked together just perfectly. I think the icing helps them to stay together nicely as well.
Shin, the owner, appreciated them, but told me that he can never eat my cookies because it's wasteful. Those little guys better be gone by now ;)
Congratulations Shin!! Thanks for the wonderful memories (and for possibly letting me score those few points).
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