サンドイッチでピクニック

月曜がLabour Dayなんで今日から３連休！明日から３月、早いなあ(>_<)日本ではもう春の兆しが見え始めてる時期で、ひな祭りの歌とかあちこちで流れてそう。こっちはこれからだんだんと秋に突入して、雨の季節である冬が始るよ。…って、まだ暫くは暑い日があるかもしれないケド。

３連休で良い天気なんで、ピクニックにでも行こうとサンドイッチを作り始めました。でも冷蔵庫にはあまり材料がナイ…☆今は車が無いから買い出しし行けないし、（まあサンドイッチの材料買うだけに車運転するのも面倒だけど）だから唯一あった卵を使ってカリーエッグサンドイッチを作りました♪

カリーエッグサンドイッチ(curried egg sandwich) って日本で見た事無かったけど、コッチじゃ普通に家庭で食べられてる一般的なサンドイッチ。何もスペシャルなモノじゃ無いんだけど、前に働いてたホテルのルームサービスでこのサンドイッチのオーダーもらって、私はこのサンドイッチの存在を初めて知りました（汗）実は最初はあんまり美味しそうじゃなかったこのサンドイッチ☆でも今では時々家で作って食べてます。

作り方は簡単！作り方載せるほどじゃないかもしれないケド一応☆☆☆潰したゆで卵にカレー粉とマヨネーズを混ぜて塩こしょうするだけ。レタスも一緒にサンドしてちょびっとだけでも野菜を摂取してマス。

あ、ゆで卵をスクランブルエッグに変えるのもオススメ♪卵にミルクかクリームを混ぜてスクランブルエッグを作る時、 well done になるまで火を通さずにちょっと半熟状態でストップ。しっとり仕上がるんでパンに挟んでもポロポロ落ちずに食べ易いです。カレー粉の他にマスタードとかアボカド、マヨやチャツネ etc をサンドしてもgood☆卵大好きな私はコレだけで充分なランチです(^^)v

Love Toast

Do you eat toast for breakfast every morning?  How would you eat them, simply just with butter?  or with eggs and meat?  

While I’m in Japan my dad and I always have breakfast in the cafe on weekends.  We wake up quite early every morning, and drive a car there.  ”breakfast at cafe” = “morning” in Japan, for example we say “hey, let’s go for morning.”  I read an article about the “morning” culture the other day, and I found out that middle eastern – middle western Japanese people go for morning more often than people in other regions in Japan.  (I’m from Shiga, centre of Japan island)  

The basic morning menu is : one drink, one piece (or half piece) of thick sliced toast, one boiled egg, and small bowl of salad or seasonal fruits.  Very simple menu, and it costs around 250~500 yen.  (depends on the cafe)  Of course there are more menus there, such as scrambled eggs, sandwiches etc, but I always go for basic “morning” menu.

I love Japanese bread.  Texture and taste are different from ones in Perth or other countries.  Moist, kind of chewy, yet soft…  And the toast you get from cafe is really really thick! (about 5 cm)  Very nice :p  I usually enjoy them with just butter, or sometimes spread jam/boiled red bean on.

In Perth I sometimes make morning type breakfast.  One boiled egg, one piece of toast… but the bread is different :*(  Ummm.. but what can I do.

BTW you can enjoy toast menu in some of  Izakaya as well.  I love “toast tower” … which is a whole loaf of bread with lots of butter, syrup, ice cream (usually vanilla) and sometimes with red beans or chocolates on the top!  They are served on a plate as stood up in lengthwise, and there is a hollow on the top where ice cream and some other food are served in.  It’s toasted, so ice-cream and butter are melting…  Sounds very high calorie food (it is), but it’s yummy…!  It looks huge but just two girls can eat it up.  … well, I can!

Jakarta Trip 2008 -Food-

Now I finally have time to look back my trip to Jakarta and write about it on Umeboss  I was staying in Jakarta for 6 days before flying to Japan (for my Japan trip posts, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. or see photos.)

That was my second visit to Jakarta.  The first time was one year ago (2007): I stayed there in Christmas and New Year’s day.  I have to admit that I experienced a huge culture shock in the country :p  Indonesia (Jakarta) was quite different from what I was imagining in my head.  There were actually lots of shopping malls, lots of restaurants (many cuisines: Japanese, Korean, American, Chinese, Indonesian etc) and more!  And everything was inexpensive.

Most of the famous franchises (like Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Burger King, Starbucks, etc etc….) were there.  I could even find Beard Papa\’s ! (cream puff franchise started from Osaka Japan)  You could get almost anything in Jakarta.  That was a surprise!

Since I was in Indonesia, I wanted to try original Indonesian food.  Nasi Lemak? Gado Gado? (are they Indonesian?)  Unfortunately, however, I was taken to Chinese restaurants most of the time.  I’m actually sick of Chinese:(  I eat it in Perth all the time!  I wanted to try something exotic.  So I asked them (in laws) to go to an Indonesian restaurant.  Then, they took me to this place called “Java Kitchen”.

It’s a franchise restaurant and this place serves Java food.  Nutty peanuts sauce Satay, Tahu Kacang, Sop Buntut (oxtail soup), mixed plates with a few dishes…  I had a mixed plate of coconut rice, Ayam Goreng (deep-fried chicken), Kacang (peanuts), Sambal (chili), boiled egg etc.  The sambal was really really spicy!!  I love spicy food and usually eat sambal at home in Perth too, but chili sauce in Indonesia was much spicier.  Do they use different type of chili or something? Anyway, even though I couldn’t finish those sambal, I enjoyed whole dish   Hot climate, hot food.  I love the combination!

Talking about chili sauce, I want to mention about KFC in Indonesia again.  (my previous post for KFC is here)  Yes we went to KFC again to enjoy those chicken with steamed rice.  There were 2 huge bottles of chili sauce at the counter so that customers can pour on their plates as much as they want.  According to my observations, the avarage amount of chili sauce people got on their plate was 1/2cup (125ml):1 piece of chicken + chips + steamed rice. :p

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There was a place where I really wanted to go back to on this trip.  This cafe sells special coffee, called Kopi Luwak : coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Indonesian Civet.  This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago.  It sounds little gross to drink something came from animal’s droppings, but this coffee is actually very expensive product. (few hundreds buck per pound (450g)!)

When I went to this cafe last time I didn’t try “pure” Kopi Luwak, so I went there again to try one this time.  One cup of Kopi Luwak was about AUS$7.00, I think.  It had nutty rich flavor.  Whilst drinking I was thinking “who came up with this idea??” :p  So curious…

You can browse more photos of my trip in Jakarta here

Moist & Fluffy Cupcakes

You like making cupcakes, but they always turn out too dry or too doughy??  You don’t wanna follow any complicated recipes??  Then you should try this!  :)  With just standard ingredients, you can make perfect cupcakes.

The smell is so tempting that my family starts gathering up to the kitchen and pick one or two right after I take those cupcakes out from the oven. (>u<)  They are very soft, moist inside and yet light!  You can enjoy decoration with icing of your favorite after they are cooled. (˚v˚•)¬

<Vanilla Cupcakes> about 24

• 1 1/2 cups Self-Rising Flour
• 1 1/4 cups Plain Flour
• 225g Unsalted Butter
• 2 cups Sugar (I used Raw Sugar)
• 4 Eggs (large size at room temperature)
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1. Cream the butter until smooth.  Add sugar gradually, and beat well until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
2. Add the egg, one at a time.  Beat well after each addition.
3. Shift in the 1/3 of dry ingredients.  Mix it through, and then add the 1/3 of milk + vanilla.  Continue adding alternatively, and mix through at each addition.  (do not over mix)
4. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.  Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full.
5. Bake for 20~30 mins, or until it springs back when you press lightly at the top of the cake.
6. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes.  Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack.

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* You can also make nice sponge cake with this mixture!  Bake in a cake tin, and after it’s cooled fill the cream or decorate with some frosting.

They are still soft and moist after few days, storing in the fridge in an airtight container.

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Decorate cupcakes with my favorite Vanilla Butter Icing!

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<Vanilla Butter Icing> for 24 cupcakes

• 225g Unsalted Butter
• 1/2 cups Milk
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 6~8 cups Icing Sugar

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1. Place 4 cups of icing sugar in a bowl, add all other ingredients.  Using an electric mixer, beat up till smooth and creamy.
2. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.   (You may not need to add all of the sugar.)

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* Keep the icing in an airtight container at room temperature (can last up to 3 days)

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(Magnolia cupcakes)

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Stamina Food -Japanese-

I cooked some stamina food to overcome this heat.  Although it wasn’t so hot today, the heat from last whole week (44 degrees!) really damaged my body energy :p

(BTW I feel terrible about Kings Park bush fire which happened yesterday…)

Those stamina food is kind of Japanese home cooking.  The right top is stir-fried garlic sprout with beansprouts and cabbage, top left is unagi donburi, and the one at the front is tako karaage (deep-fried seasoned octopus).

Garlic sprout and unagi are believed to give stamina.  In Japan, these food are eaten in summer when the temperatures and humidity are high.  People tend to lose their appetite and they ultimately suffer from summer exhaustion or summer lethargy.  These stamina food are great sources of nutrition for Japanese people in steamy hot weather.

I hope these food give us the strength to survive this long summer