Posted July 19th, 2010 in Perth WA | 2 Comments »
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I am shocked…. I recently purchased a car from a dealer, and it’s a black car. I love black color, and I was so looking forward to driving it. I signed on the paper last week, and I was waiting for the phone call from them to arrange when I could pick up the car and drive home. Today, I received a phone call, and they said something that I didn’t expect…
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“We are so sorry, but we didn’t have any black color. Would you be happy with silver?”
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I AM SHOCKED…. Actually silver was my second choice (I wouldn’t normally like silver, but this car looks ok in silver), but in my head I was already driving a black car!
Of course I asked for the discount as it was their mistake. But, I’m so disappointed
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Another shocking thing happened to me on weekend. I was walking around Fremantle, and when I passed a restaurant I noticed there was something written on the wall. I was trying to read as I walked, and then, I hit a lighting pole….!!!
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It was just like Jessica Alba in the movie “Bood Luck Chuck”. Seriously, my right forehead was so painful, and I thought it was going to be a black eye. Now, it’s still swollen but luckily not blue or black color. :p
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I will be careful in future as it was really embarrassing (><;)
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Posted July 18th, 2010 in Food | 2 Comments »
Another winter food in Japan is…. yes, Nabe!
Nabe, or Nabemono, is a term referring to all varieties of Japanese steamboat dishes. The pots are traditionally made of clay or thick cast iron so that the food can be kept warm for a while after being taken off the fire. In modern Japan, nabemono are kept hot at the dining table by portable stove. The dish is frequently cooked at the table, and the diners can pick the cooked ingredients they want from the pot. It is either eaten with the broth or with a dip. Further ingredients can also be successively added to the pot. Eating together from a shared pot is considered as an important feature of nabemono. (wiki)
Actually, nabe simply means “pot” in Japanese, but we call the steamboat that people eat together in winter “nabe” too. To think about it, it sounds little funny.. ”let’s eat nabe!” can mean “let’s eat the pot!”
Unfortunately I don’t have clay or cast iron pot here, so I made it with normal pot. I added as many ingredients as possible….. same as oden, more ingredients you add more flavorsome it becomes.
The typical ingredients for nabe in my house are Chinese cabbage, spring onion, tofu, carrot, chicken (or pork or fish) meat balls, chicken meat with bones, mushrooms, and kuzukiri - starch noodle. Kuzukiri is one of my favorite food in nabe: it’s chewy. You can add any ingredients you like, such as spinach, fish meat, fishcakes, udon etc etc.
It’s fun to gather friends and share a nabe on the table while watching tv. This time, I made nabe with chicken soup.
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<Nabe in chicken soup>
- Cut ingredients into desired size. Place the ingredient all together in a pot. If you are using Chinese cabbage, place them on top as if it covers the entire food.
- Add chicken stock (depends on the size of the pot, but I used 1 L for a very large pot)
- Bring to the boil, then simmer. You can do this process on the portable stove on the table.
- Eat as it cooks. Add ponzu directly into the pot, or use ponzu as a dipping sauce.
There are many different flavors of nabe, including kimuchi, miso, seafood, soy milk, and curry.
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Posted July 17th, 2010 in Japan | 4 Comments »
It’s been a rather stressful three weeks… I was trying to sell my car privately, and all the games between buyers and me were… crazy (><) I mean, I understand that they want to buy the car cheaper, but I want to sell it more expensive.
Although my car had no major problem I had to accept the negotiation and reduce the price, but I think it’s fare. If I were looking to buy an used car, I would also want to make sure if nothing is wrong with the car.
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And, there is something else happened around me recently. I will write about it some other time
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The storm has gone, and I feel the sunny days are back. The forecast says that we are having another cold morning starting from this Sunday, but I always thought the mornings are always cold in winter. My hometown, Shiga had a strong rain for the last few days, and I contacted my dad to see if everything was ok.
It must be hot and humid over there. Normally the rainy season in Japan is around June, but this year things started slower than usual.
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While staying in Perth I sometimes forget that summer is the rainy season in Japan. In Perth, we hardly get any rain in summer.
I haven’t been back to Japan in summer for 7 years now. It’s because I’ve been avoiding this season, as I don’t like the humid climate. Almost every shops and buildings are air conditioned, but because of the temperature difference on outside and inside the buildings many people get summer cold in Japan this time of the year.
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There are things that I miss about Japan’s summer, such as fireworks, summer festivals, summer food and dessert, going swimming (well, I can do it here in Perth)… Fireworks is the biggest event in summer.
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Many people wear yukata on this day and gather around the shore to enjoy the beautiful sky entertainment and the delicious food from the stalls.
Summer festivals are held at many places across Japan, almost at every suburb. In my town, we have a small festival at the beginning of August every year, and we enjoy the food, games (eg: kingyo-sukui = goldfish scooping), and bon fire and dancing! I have a friend who is learning Yosakoi dance, and she is always excited about this festival each year. Just let you know, Yosakoi is not like other dancing you see on tv (hip-hop, jazz, etc) The style of Yosakoi dance is highly energetic, combining traditional Japanese dance movements with modern music.
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I used to go to the festivals in the neighboring towns (just 10 minutes by bicycle) too, and they have different theme and sometimes karaoke. But, there are always delicious food (I love stall food) and that’s the biggest reason I enjoy the festivals so much.
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Posted July 15th, 2010 in Food | 6 Comments »
As you may know, Oden is a typical winter food in Japan. ( wiki ) It is a kind of light, soy-flavoured dashi broth stew, consisting of several ingredients such as daikon radish, konnyaku, boiled eggs, fish cakes etc. It’s basically stew with a mixture of whatever you want to add.
I loooove Oden, I can just survive with this every day during winter. It’s also nice to be eaten with warm sake/sho-chu.
It’s so funny to know that foreign people really hate Oden. They say that it smells like washed socks…. I don’t think so! But, I guess Oden is a type of alien food for them. :p
When you order oden at convenience stores or Izakaya, you normally order the item one by one according to what you want to eat. You can just order “tamago (boiled egg)” or “daikon (radish)”. But, when you make oden at home, you add as many kinds of ingredients as possible so that the flavor is full. Each ingredient gives the flavor to oden
Eating oden in kotatsu while watching tv… I miss it!
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Posted July 14th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »
An apricot tartlet with sweet moist filling. Great accompaniment for a tea time ♪
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<Tartlet Base> 20cm tartlet tin
- 150g plain flour
- 70g unsalted butter (softened)
- 60g icing sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 egg yolk
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<Filling>
- 50g plain flour
- 2 egg yolk
- 40g sugar
- 25g unsalted butter (softened)
- 70ml cream
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 10 apricot (halved, in a tin)
- 2 egg white
- 15g sugar
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* oven 180°
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- For the base: Cream butter in a bowl. Add icing sugar gradually, and mix until pale and fluffy. Add salt, yolk and flour. Mix with spatular. Bring the dough together, and wrap with plastic wrap. Rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Take out the dough from the fridge. On the lightly floured working bench, roll out the dough into 2mm thick. Gently press into the tartlet tin and prick with a fork.
- Cut out a 20cm foil and press into the pastry case. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes. Take out from the oven.
- For the filling: Cream the yolk and sugar in a bowl until pale. Add softened butter little by little, and mix well at each addition. Add cream, mix, then add lemon juice and mix.
- Shift in flour, and mix with spatular.
- In another bowl, whisk the egg white and sugar until soft peak. Add 1/2 the meringue into 5, mix, and add another 1/2. Gently fold in.
- On the tartlet, arrange 5 apricots and pour half the meringue mixture. Bake in the 180° oven for 15 minutes. Pour the rest mixture into the case and smooth the surface. Arrange another 5 apricots on top, and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.
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