Katsuo Tataki

Although I see Gyu Tataki (beef tataki) on Japanese restaurants’ menu board often, I seldom get to see Katsuo Tataki. Katsuo (bonito fish) tataki is a fillet of Katsuo that has been lightly seared on all sides leaving the inside raw. You can buy a packet of frozen Katsuo Tataki from some Asian grocery shops around Perth. It has been already grilled and then frozen, so after you defrosted it is ready to eat.

You can simply slice it and garnish with chopped onion and grated ginger. Grated daikon radish is also a common accompaniment to Katsuo Tataki.  Pour ponzu sauce over, or dip in ponzu sauce to eat.

Some people might not like this dish – especially people who don’t like the smell of raw fish. However, this is a great food to be eaten while drinking sake, or some other alcohol.

Ogori Cafe – Japanese Unique Rule-

What would you feel if you get something different from what you ordered at a cafe?  You may feel confused, disappointed, and some may feel upset.  Actually, there is a cafe in Japan which has very unique rules for its customers.

At this Ogori Cafe in Kashiwa (CHIBA prefecture) in Japan, customers will not get what they order.  At this cafe, you get what the person before you ordered.  The next person gets what you ordered.

I find it very very unique, and bizarre… but very interesting.  Let’s say, even though you have something particular that you want to eat/drink , you won’t get it.  Instead, you will get something the previous customer ordered.  How unique the system is!  I wonder what the first customer on the day will get…  

I found about this cafe from someone’s blog, Cabel.  According to his story: “my friend went up to the cafe, and ordered a little bit of everything: some ice cream, some snacks, some candy, some drinks: worth about 2500yen (AUD$25) for the next lucky customer. (After his order, he received single iced coffee.)  After a while he heard an extremely excited “arigato goazimasu!! thank you so much!!” yelled in his direction, from an ecstatic mom and her equally excited young son. They truly appreciated the surprise.”  

I like this type of unique system!  And establishing the system in an actual cafe is fascinating.  The owner must be an unique person too

BTW there’re a few rules at this cafe:

Rules :  

1. Let’s treat the next person. What to treat them with is your choice.
2. Please form a single-file line when your order, and you can’t buy twice in a row.
3. Please enjoy what you get, even if you hate it.  (If you really, really hate it, let’s quietly give it to another while saying, “It’s my treat…”)
4. Let’s say “Thank You! (Gochihosama)” if you find the person with your Ogori cafe card.
5. We can’t issue a receipt.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Orange Sauce

Although I’m not a big fan of citrus fruits, I push myself to buy them and eat regularly. I don’t mean I don’t like them, I just prefer other fruits. The reason for trying eating citrus fruits is that they are high in vitamins. Especially when I’m sick I eat oranges/grape fruits, or squeeze out lemon juice and drink it with water.

Vitamin C, contained in citrus fruits, works on your skin and bones (helps absorption of collagen, decrease melanin on your skin, etc), lower stress level, helps increasing immunity against virus, and much more.

This hot orange sauce gives a great refreshing taste and it matches with rich vanilla ice cream. Pour the sauce while hot and serve immediately.

<Ice Cream with Hot Orange Sauce> 2 serves

• 1/2 orange
• 100ml orange juice
• sugar
• 1tbs Cointreau
• 2 serves vanilla ice cream

2009 Bonsai Show

Yesterday I went down to Fremantle for annual bonsai  show.  It’s kinda funny but my hubby and I were at Bunnings on Saturday looking for some shrubs to create our own bonsai, then we noticed a tiny piece of paper at the till saying that there’s a bonsai show held at Fremantle town hall from 10~11st October.  It says annual, but we never heard of this event before.  Anyway it says there’d be a bonsai demonstration as well, so we decided to go hoping to get some tips of how to create beautiful bonsai!

There’s a number of bonsai at the town hall, and they all looked beautiful. Many bonsai have moss on its soil, and that’s what we are trying to do at the moment.  Sounds weird but we’ve been trying to collect moss for our bonsai. :p  

Bonsai is a Japanese thing, but I’ve never actually seen people who does bonsai at home in Japan.  Instead, lots of neighbors’ garden have beautifully trimmed  trees (Japanese pine tree, momiji (Japanese maple tree) etc) with some stone statues.  Someone has little pond in his garden.  I remember my husband kept taking photos of neighbors’ garden…  Bonsai is a miniaturization of trees, (or of developing woody or semi-woody plants shaped as trees) by growing them in containers.  I believe some Japanese people do enjoy these miniature trees, but there’re also people who enjoy the real size trees with beautifully trimmed shapes in their garden

Angus Burger

The other day I tried McDonald’s new Angus burgers.  Using sour dough bread and 100% Aussie beef tempted me.

I actually didn’t know that McDonald’s has been sourcing beef from Australian farmers for over 30 years.  For those Angus burgers, they use verified angus beef by certified Australian Angus Beef Pty Ltd.  Angus beef means that has been bred purely for the production of highest quality beef indicated by the smooth, close-grained texture, carnation red color and finely marbled fat within the lean muscle.  Those gives the meat very juicy tender texture.        

At McDonald’s, I tried both Grand Angus burger and Mighty Aungus burger.  Grand Angus comes with thick patty of Angus beef, cheese, baby salad leaves, tomato, red onion, mayonnaise and mustard.  On the other hand, Mighty Angus comes with thick patty of Angus beef, cheese, bacon, red onion and zesty relish.  

Both are encased in soft sour dough bun, and the thick juicy meat patty are very tasty.  They are pretty big burgers but I managed to finish one by myself!  I like Grand Angus because there’re more salad inside.  My hubby likes Mighty Angus because it’s saucy and meaty.

Aussie beef is a big brand in Japan too, and I’m lucky that I can eat those Australian beef burgers here  Seems that McDonald’s in Japan doesn’t have Angus burger in their menu, whilst America does..