Posted April 30th, 2010 in Ume's Interests | 34 Comments »
It may be not a good way of describing myself, but I am a quite difficult person. I sometimes don’t even understand myself, and can’t expect what I will do in future. I may do something that I never thought of doing it, out of sudden. I like it when someone tells me “Ume, you are strange.”. I like being different from others..
I’m not really a spiritual person, but I’d say my character is reflected by both blood type and star sign. (and of course from my parents and the environment I grew up) I’m Pisces, and my blood type is AB. There is a popular belief in Japanese culture that person’s ABO blood type is predictive of their personality, temperament, and compatibility with others. I don’t normally believe in such things, but I really think that my personality exactly matches with the typical AB’s personality. AB people are often considered as “moody” “different” “has two faces” etc etc. … well, it doesn’t sound good at all, but I think it’s me. Here is an interesting story about the blood type AB:
“The Blood Type AB Individualized Lifestyle
Type AB blood is rare – it’s found in less than five percent of the population. And it is the newest of the blood types. Until ten or twelve centuries ago, there was no Type AB blood type. Type AB resulted from the intermingling of Type A with Type B. Type AB is the only blood type whose existence is the result of intermingling rather than environment. Thus, they share both the benefits and the challenges of both Type A and Type B blood types. Type AB has a unique chameleon like quality – depending on the circumstances, this blood type can appropriate the characteristics of each of the other blood types. Type AB is sometimes A-like, sometimes B-like and sometimes a fusion of both. Today, as we look back at this remarkable evolutionary revolution, it is clear that the genetic characteristics of our ancestors live in our blood today. ”
(from http://www.dadamo.com/bloodtype_AB.htm )
My mum is blood type A, and my dad is B. I have a bit of both of them, eg I think the way like my mum does, but I do things like my dad does. Personally I like to be unique, and yes I quite like my character. I really think that I’m little strange and unique from other people. 
… To think about it, I’ve never met anyone with the blood type AB in Australia.
Besides the blood type, Pisces, my star sign, also indicates that my mood is changeable. And it is correct. Here is the story:
Pisces: Two fishes are tied together. One is trying to swim toward the surface, and the another one is trying to swim toward the bottom of the sea. Affected by the water flow direction, they can be moved toward the surface or bottom easily. In the real life, Pisces can be easily affected by the environment and other people around. And, it’s said that Pisces people have two faces as there’re always two fishes inside them.
I’m writing this because I found it’s interesting. Actually I’ve never met anyone who is Pisces and the blood type is AB. Anyone??
Posted April 29th, 2010 in Food | 2 Comments »
Try this wafu hamburg steak! It’s easy to make, low in calorie, and simply delicious ♪
<serves 4>
- 500g beef mince
- 1 onion, small
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1 pinch salt
- 200g daikon radish
- 4 shiso leaves (*)
- 4 tbs soy sauce
- 2 tbs lemon juice
- 2 tbs water
- 1 tbs butter
- Grate daikon radish. Drain well. Keep in the fridge until needed.
- Chop onion. Heat 1 tsp of butter in a frying pan, and saute the onion until almost transparent. Transfer the onion to a bowl, and let it cool down.
- Place beef mince, nutmeg and salt into the bowl, and mix well with cooled onion-saute. Divide to 4, and shape into patties. Flatten the centre. (**)
- Heat 1 tbs of butter in a frying pan and saute halved mushroom. Season well. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Heat the same pan and sear patties both side. Turn down the heat and cook through. Placing a lid helps faster cooking and keeps the moisture.
- Place soy sauce, lemon juice and water in a small sauce pan and bring to simmer.
- Arrange patties on serving plates, top with grated daikon radish and shredded shiso leaves, and drizzle the tangy sauce over. Accompany with sauteed mushroom.
* Unfortunately shiso leaf is hard to find in Perth. You can substitute with chopped chives, spring onion or shredded nori (kizami nori)
** When you shape the patties, toss them between your palms as if you are playing with balls. This helps to remove the air from the mince and prevent the patty from breaking during cooking. (if the patty breaks, all the juice comes out from the patty as well as the flavor)
Posted April 27th, 2010 in Eat Out in Perth - Japanese Food - | 2 Comments »
Zensaki in St Georges Tce opened its second shop in Barrack street, where Mr Samurai was before it closed its door. This Zensaki offers some of Japanese typical menu such as donburi and sushi , and also some noodle menus.
At Zensaki, they cook the soup broth for over 24 hours for deeper and developed flavor. They promised to use no preservatives and msg on all the dishes.
At the moment Zensaki at Barrack is doing a special campaign – $6.00 for teriyaki chicken, teriyaki fish or teriyaki tofu for a limited time only. Normal price for those dishes is $8.50.
I think their price range is pretty reasonable. All the donburi menus such as katsu-don (deep-fried crumbed chicken on bed of rice) and ginger beef donburi are $8.50, except for three items : salmon donburi, unagi donburi and teriyaki salmon donburi which are all at $12.00.
This time I ordered teriyaki chicken and teriyaki fish to take advantage on their special campaign, but I would like to try their noodle menu on my next visit. The pictures on the menu board looked delicious, especially “Zensaki Ultimate Ramen” . This Zensaki ultimate ramen noodle contains charsiu, karaage, fish cake, boiled egg etc, and you can chose the flavor of the broth – shio, miso or shoyu (soy sauce). Other ramen menu are also tempting such as shio butter corn ramen (ramen noodle in salted broth with butter-sauteed corn) and katsu chicken ramen. The price is around $12.00, and the ultimate ramen noodle is around $15.00, if I remember it right.
<Zensaki Barrack>
83 Barrack Street, Perth WA 6000
(08) 9221 7577
Posted April 26th, 2010 in Perth WA | 6 Comments »
It’s been another relaxing long weekend. How’s yours? We’re so lucky to have this long weekend with such fine weather 
Watching people enjoying marine sports at the beach and Swan River really makes me feel that I’m in Perth. Water, blue sky, fine sun light…
I planned to stay home all day on the first day of this holiday, as I wanted to relax and do some housework. So, I invited my friends for lunch so that I could stay home while enjoying chatting and watching DVD. I cooked some Japanese food for them, including hijiki - a kind of black seaweed – which I brought from Japan. It is really shame that you can’t buy hijiki here as it is prohibited to import from overseas for commercial sale purpose. Wholesalers here can’t have this product, so you have to buy it in Japan and bring it here for personal use by yourself.
Anyway, I cooked simmered hijiki with other vegetables, dashimaki-tamago (Japanese style seasoned omelet), tofu with miso-negi-chicken, miso soup and potato salad. ( I will post the recipe of miso-negi-chicken later) I also had unagi kabayaki (teriyaki-grilled eel).
As I planned, I could totally relax the whole day. We had lunch, then had dessert on the couch (mochi ice cream) and chatted until the evening.
On the second day I headed to the city. I wasn’t sure if the shops are open, but tried anyway. There’re many people walking around the pedestrian malls and sitting back at the cafes, but most of the shops were closed. It was after the veterans’ marching parade, but I could still feel the atmosphere. Many pubs were filled with people.
After walking around the city I moved to East Perth – one of my favorite walking spot.
It was such a beautiful day! I walked a lot and was little tired, but it was good exercise. :)
The last day is my relaxing day again! I woke up early and had a little walk at the park near the house. These days the sun starts to set around 6pm, which indicates that it’s already autumn and heading to the cold winder days. I hope we have more days like this – fine weather- before the rainy season starts!
Posted April 25th, 2010 in にほんご, UME's 一日カフェ | No Comments »
これから、オーストラリアのパースで生活をしている日本人の方達の紹介をしていきたいと思います。これからパースに行く人、パースに興味のある人などの何かの役に立てればなあ…という思いつきなんですが、ただ単に「ああ、こういう人もいるんだなあ」と人間観察のように読んで下さっても結構です^^)
Ume’s 一日カフェでは、Umeがその方たちを料理でもてなすついでにその方たちからパースでの生活についてや情報をインタビューしていくものです。
それでは、記念すべき第一回目は、パース在住8年目のAoiさんです。今回は和食でAoiさんをお迎えしました(^0^)/
名前：Aoi（匿名）
出身地：福井県
現在のvisa：PR(永住権)
Q:パースに来られたのはいつ頃ですか？
A:2002年の6月頃です。
Q:オーストラリアの中でパースを選んだきっかけは？
A:最初は英語の勉強をしようと思ってオーストラリア行きを決めたんですが、その勉強の後は旅行にも周りたかった。もし最初にシドニーやメルボルンに行ってしまうと、メルボルン、シドニー、キャンベラ、ゴールドコースト等だいたいの都市が周囲にあるので旅行し易い反面、離れた場所にあるパースには行きにくいかな、と思って。もし最初にパースに行ってしまえば、その後東海岸に飛んで、後は色んな都市を旅行しやすいかなと思ってパースに決めました。
Q:では、パースで勉強をした後は旅行へ？
A:はい。パースを出てアデレード、メルボルン、シドニー、ゴールドコースト、ブリスベン、そしてケアンズへ行きました。その後はメルボルンに戻り、そこで少し生活をしていました。
Q:オーストラリア中を回られたようですが、その中で一番好きな場所はどこですか？
A:ケアンズです。あの蒸し蒸しした気候と海が好きでした。自分が生まれた場所も海に近かったので。。。
Q:パースに住むようになったきっかけは？
A:…パートナーがパースで住む事になったので、私も一緒について来ました。あと、生活費とかが安いという面でも。
Q:今は何をしておられますか？
A:パース市内の、あるお店で、事務職(Admin)兼PA(秘書)を務めています。
Q:パースについてどう思いますか？
A:ネガティブな面は、日本やEast side に比べて、遅れている。ポジティブな面は、天気が良いのと、のどかなトコロ。
Q:パースでの好きなスポットはどこですか？
A:スカボロビーチです。のんびりできますね！
Q:日本が良いか、パースが良いか？
A:パース。
Q:パースにあって日本に無いモノは？
A:とにかく、のんびりした生活ですね。日本に帰りたいと思うけど、日本でのあの慌ただしくて縛られたような生活には戻りたくないですね。
Q:これからの目標はありますか？
A:これからもパースに住んで、さらにキャリアupしたいですね。
Q:これからパースに来る人に何か一言言うとしたら？
A:日本では味わえない、のんびりと過ぎる時間と青い空、大自然と強い太陽の日射しを楽しんで下さい！
ありがとうございました！(^^)
Email: me@umeboss.com
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