Pics from Japan

My dad sent me photos from Japan…

It’s a shrine in Shiga, near my house.  There are few people around (unlike Kyoto and Nara) and very quiet.

Riding to Mandurah

It was a lovely weekends, the weather was nice and wind as warm.  I headed to Mandurah by scooter on Sunday.  Since I left home in the afternoon, it was already past 4pm when I got there.  Many people walking along the shore, the sunshine so blight and beautiful.

I sat down at table in a cafe, and ordered iced white chocolate and banana + walnut muffin:)

… iced white chocolate didn’t taste like chocolate at all, but i didn’t care :p  The sight from the seat was so beautifull.

After I left this cafe, I found this shop “chochas” chocolate company Australia.  Inside there are cute chocolate and wrapped gifts.  This was also a cafe, and on the board it said “chocolate brownie and coffee for $5.60″.  Damn, if I found this place earlier I would definitely take it! (><)  Maybe next time…

My favorite bakery in Japan-2

 

Boulanger Bakery

This bakery, Naoki’s Boulanger has many shops in Western side of Japan. (around Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Shiga …)  The reason why I love this bakery is not only their variety and the taste, but also their price:)  ALL the products in this shop is 105yen (about A$1.00).  Everything, even a roll or sandwiches!!  And I can’t believe they are all 105yen, the size of the products is not small, and the every product uses lots of ingredients such as mango, sausages, potatoes, egg etc…

Everyday the shop is full of people, especially with mums and kids.  They also have dine-in area and you can order a meal set as well.  

In the kitchen there are 3 sections; one is for baking, one is for wrapping the rolls & sandwiches and finishing the decoration of products(like glazing danishes), and another is for cooking.  Yes cooks work there as well.  They roast the chicken and deep-fry the prawn flitter.  Those food are for meal menu and sometimes used for rolls.

Why I know so much about this shop??  It’s because I used to work there before :p  I know how many denominations of bread they have!

They also make yummy drinks such as iced moca and coffee, smoothies and hot tea.  Further more, they have special sweets menu too.  Parfait and some Japanese style sweets.  They are really really popular!

KOHARU-BIYORI

KOHARU-BIYORI is a day that you can feel the spring is just around the corner.  Today was the one for me!  Sunny, nice wind and blue sky:)  so I went riding (motorbike)! 

View of Perth city...on the way to Attadale

***Point Water Reserve in Attadale****  This is one of my favorite spot in Perth.  Why??  because there is an unique feature in this place.

 Can you see there is a small path in the water??  When it is low tide, you can actually walk through to the other side of the river!!!  Of course most of the time this path is under the water and you can’t walk through it.  Usually in the summer holidays/weekends this place is full of people!

Today it was pretty windy so there were many many people enjoying water surfing.  Not many people on the ground.  I could see just few people walking through the path:p

This cafe is also usually filled with people but it was pretty late When I got there and very windy, so not many customer.  I love a pit stop here:)  Clear sky, beautiful view and a great coffee!!

My favorite bakery in Japan-1

Danishes with fruits

Crusty Bread

Character face

Plain croissant & Anchovy croissant

This is one of my favorite bakery in Japan.  This shop is located in Shiga, my hometown, and I love their variety:)

In Japanese bakery, you usually pick up the bread you want to buy by yourself.  These good-looking yummy-smelling bread make you want to buy all!!  I always get trayful of bread, but can’t get enough:p

In this shop you can dine in as well, of course they serve nice drinks such as coffee/tea etc…  PLUS they do  ”morning service” here: between 8am to 10am 2 buns and drink (coffee or tea, you can ask for refill as many times you want!) for 380 yen.  It’s very cheap, isn’t it??  The bread in the morning is very fresh, just came out from the oven and still warm (>v<).  I go there in the morning, and spend about 30min ~ 1hour there with few cups of coffee and 2 buns.  

Their variety is amazing, for instance…

The left is croque-monsieur, and the right is focaccia with burdock root!!  YES Japanese people eat burdock root, they are high in fiber and very healthy.  I love the texture too.

The left is croissant with Italian pasta chicken, and the right is croissant with vegetable curry.  The presentation is very cute:)

Croissant with hamburg and gravy!

And also!  As I mentioned before I love hard crusty bread, and this shop sells them!:)  Thin French stick is nicely baked, very crusty and chewy inside!  Sometimes it hurts my teeth but I still love it.  They have few variety in flavor as well; thin French stick with cheese, Mentaiko (fish roe), seaweed, chocolate etc…  I love the one with Mentaiko:)  Very nice!

French stick with Mentaiko

If you have chance to come to Shiga….