One Long Lovely Day

On Saturday morning I went to Atrium Restaurant in Burswood Hotel to have breakfast.  It was my first time to go there, and I was excited by a variety of food:)  Besides the basic food such as bacon, sausages, eggs, hash browns etc, they also have porridge with condiments, dumplings (shyumai), sushi rolls and pickles (tsukemono), stir-fried noodle and rice, few kinds of toast, muffins, pancakes, danishes, muesli…  A chef was cooking eggs in front of us and asked me “would you like some fried eggs?” but I went for scrambled eggs because they looked just perfect:)  

Once we sat down at the table a waiter came to us with two pots; one is filled with coffee and another is with tea.  He was walking around other tables and refilling their cups as well.  I love drinking black coffee in the morning, so every time he came to our table I asked for my cup to be filled with coffee.  In the end I had 5 cups of coffee total :p

Oh my gosh, I ate toooo much:={  One full plate of food (like sausages, eggs, mushroom, tomatoes, ham, a slice of rye bread and dumpling) followed by sushi rolls, a glass of apple juice, muffin and some danishes, muesli, fresh fruit, more scrambled egg….  

To digest the food, I did little bit of gardening at home.  I am growing sunflower and buds are getting bigger:)  

Then, I went out to buy nice salad bowls for coming BBQ party.  (I am planning BBQ lunch at home)  I looked into many stores, but I couldn’t find any!(><)  Well, they had few but I didn’t like them:={  Sometimes it is really difficult to shop in Perth… I miss Japan (><) …. That’s ok, I will search it online.  

Once I came home, I made cookies for my friends:)  Sometimes I don’t care the recipe and measure the ingredients by my eyes.  Apparently it does not look good, but tastes good :p  I wrote a note on the cookies.  

At night, I went to my friend’s house for Gyoza party!(>v<)  We ate many kinds of Gyoza (Japanese dumpling)  with lots of beer!

Blue Berry Cupcakes

Very easy recipe, but always turn out delicious

<Blue Berry Cupcakes>

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
• 3/4 cup blueberries, either fresh or frozen

* Preheat the oven to 160.

1. Cream the butter and sugar with electric mixer. When thoroughly combined, add egg and mix.
2. Shift in the flour, baking powder followed by salt and lemon zest.  Mix with a rubber spatula.
3. Gradually add milk.  Mix through.  Fold in blueberries.
4. Spoon the butter into cupcake cases in a tin.  Fill to 3/4 of the case.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a bamboo skewer comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes then move to a rack.

Eat Fish & Watch Fish

People should already know that Fremantle is a famous place for fish&chips, but there is a place where you can enjoy the fish$chips where live fishes surround you:)

In Cicerellos there were aquariums near the entrance since long time ago, but I was surprised when I visited this restaurant recently.  Their toilet has a totally new look!  There are few more beautiful aquariums around the toilet :p  If you want to go to toilet in Cicerellos you have to pass these aquariums.  They are so beautiful.

In Japan we think this way: if the restaurant doesn’t have a clean toilet the business won’t go well.  Would you like to use a dirty toilet when you go to a nice restaurant??  I bet it turns you off.  If the toilet is clean and well-maintained, your whole experience in the restaurant will change, I believe:) (in better way)

I see very dirty toilets everywhere in Perth, but I like the toilet in Cicerellos.  I hope they keep this up:)

My favorite bakery in Perth

I tried bread from many shops here, but Bayview bakery is still the best Bayview bakery is located in Claremont, and they actually supply their bread to many famous restaurants / hotels / cafes as well.  (e.g. Duxton Hotel, With’s Cauldron,  Prontos, Tradewinds Hotel etc…)  You can imagine how good their bread is!

As soon as the door opens in the morning, customers keep coming and build a big queue around the lunch time everyday.  Because there are offices and shops around, those office people come to this shop looking for a fast and delish meal

I LOVE their Focaccia and Panini!  They make up rolls/sandwiches on order, so you can always get fresh one.  Toasted Focaccia with chicken, avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, sweet chili sauce and Jarlsberg cheese are recommended!!!  Oh my gosh you gotta try this. (><)  Freshly baked Focaccia, toasted…  yum.

They use real cheese (they slice cheese and meat in the shop themselves), not plastic one!  My favorite is: lots of salad, avocado and Jarlsberg cheese on rye bread, and toasted Panini with vegemite and cheese!  yum.

Their FRUIT BREAD is also popular as we as other sweet pastries like jam doughnut, custard tart, caramel slices.  You can also order special birthday cakes too.  He is an artist

Full Moon

I see a full moon in the sky lately.   In Japan, we traditionally enjoy “Otsukimi”(moon viewing) on the night of the full moon in autumn.  We make offerings to the moon of autumn fruits and vegetables, odango(rice dumplings) and susuki(Japanese pampas grass).

However I have never experienced this traditional ceremony.  I just know about this from my grand parents’ story and old books.  I don’t know when people in Japan stopped enjoying Otsukimi…  

What comes to my mind when I see a full moon is, actually, MacDonald’s burger:p  In this Otsukimi season, MacDonald’s in Japan used to sell Otsukimi burger.  The burger contains egg, and the yolk looks like a full moon.  That’s the reason why it’s called Otsukimi burger.

I liked the burger, I don’t know if MacDonald’s still sells them though.  Next time when I go back to Japan in autumn, and if I can get Otsukimi burger then, I would like to enjoy moon viewing with the burger in my hands!