Swan Animal Fete!

Are you free this Sunday 5th April 2009??  If you live around Perth and would like to help cute doggies, why not attend this annual garage sale at Swan Animal Haven?

This dog home is located at 21 Kalamunda Road, South Guildford in Western Australia.  Donations of cakes, jams, plants and bric-a-brac would be much appreciated.

For more info, visit their website.

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South GuildfordにあるSwan Animal Havenというアニマル施設で、今週の日曜日4月5日にガレッジセールが行われます。

売上げ金や寄付等は全てこの施設運営費へとあてられます。おうちの無いワンちゃん達の力になってあげませんか？？

ワンちゃんの里親やボランティアも随時募集中。詳しくはコチラをどうぞ。

Sunday in Freo

This afternoon D and I were wondering around Fremantle area.  I wasn’t looking for anything to buy, but when we stepped into E-shed market I found these wooden plates at a small shop inside of market.

It’s a set of 6: 2 wooden plates and 4 small forks, and they were $2.00.  Yes, $2.00 for 6 pieces.  Pretty cheap, huh??  All the products in the shop are from 100 yen shop in Japan, and they are selling them here at $2.00.  Considering the current currency rate, I think it’s a good deal.  I suddenly remembered how things were nice and cheap in Japan compared with Perth.  If you want to buy this type of thing somewhere else here, I assume that it’ll probably cost around $10.00!

I was already happy when I left the shop, but then one bonsai stall caught my attention.  There were varieties of bonsai trees as well as some ornaments and bonsai instruction booklets.  I decided to buy one bonsai kit: including one bonsai tree, plate, soil, bonsai food, wire (to re-shape the bonsai tree), one ornament and instruction booklet.  It was $15.00.  The lady was so nice, and she taught me how to maintain the tree and soil.  And, she said that we can bring in this tree every Sunday to show her and check how the bonsai condition is.  of course free of charge.  I was so lucky that I came here today!  If you are interested in bonsai, check out her website  Bonsai Palace.  It’s got lots of tips and hints for growing beautiful bonsai trees.

I love this turtle ornament.  So cute

Japanese Sommelier

Since in-laws are back in Perth, I haven’t been cooking at all at home :p  Kind of nice, I just eat whatever she cooks.  But, I’m actually fussy about food:  fussy in nutrition, not in taste :p  I eat anything, but prefer healthy food.  Lots of vegetables, not oily, light food is the best! – like Japanese food…  On the other hand, she always cooks food with oil.  Deep-fry, most of the time.  I can’t eat them everyday…  make me feel not good (><)

Well, I can’t complain, I know.  She is cooking for us.  So, I keep fresh vegetables in the fridge for myself to eat with her food everyday.  

… anyway,

Change of subject.  

Do you know what “sommelier” is?  ”sommelier” means trained and knowledgeable wine professional.  So, it originally supposed to be pointing at “wine person”, however there are many unique professional people called ”sommelier” in Japan.

Cheese sommelier, Liquor sommelier should be common in other countries too ( I think), but there are knife sommelier, herb sommelier, rice sommelier, air sommelier, vegetable sommelier, etc… in Japan.  Recently I was surprised when one of my friend sent an email saying “hey I got a certificate for Onsen sommelier”. 

Onsen means “hot spring spa” in Japan.  I didn’t know there is such an occupation for being a professional about hot spring!  She passed the exam to be Onsen sommelier, so she must know lots of nice Onsen in Japan.  I will definitely ask her for recommendation!  I really want to go to nice Onsen in Japan.

Bintang Cafe

Other day sister_in_law picked us up for quick lunch.  She likes eating out and knows lots of nice places.  This time she took us to this Bintang Cafe in Victoria Park. 

This cafe serves Indonesian food.  I think their menu is real Indonesian food and comparable to ones you get in Indonesia as I ate similar food when I was in Jakarta.  

“Try our best home made egg noodles”  According to their menu, it seems that egg noodle is their speciality!  I normally prefer rice noodles, so I ordered kway teow noodle but I tried little bit of egg noodles from partner’s bowl.  He ordered Mie Ayam Jamur & Bakso = egg noodle soup with chicken pieces and beef meat balls.  I knew Bakso means “beef meat balls” and I ate this type of noodle back in Jakarta.  It was nice.

At first I thought the portion was quite small, but I was pretty full after emptying the bowl.  The soup was tasty  I heard that some Indonesian places in Perth use MSG though…  do they??

We also ordered chicken satay.  It was really nice.  I like the frame-grilled flavor… and the peanut sauce!  Yum.

I saw people eating some fish and chicken dish with rice.  They looked really nice.  The fish was grilled (or fried) and served with some sambal?  I don’t know, I should try it next time.

By the way this eating place is quite small, and the atmosphere reminds me of Indonesia.  If you want to try typical Indonesian food (noodle, rice dish and some side dish) I recommend this place.  This place is always full with Indonesian / Malaysian customers.

Japanese Omelet with Roasted Eel (U-maki)

• 1/2 ~ 1 packet of frozen unagi
• 4~5 eggs
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1 tsp mirin
• 2 tsp sake (cooking wine)
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• salt