A Beautiful Spring Day

It was bit cloudy yesterday morning.  I thought it was going to rain. I checked the weather on my iPhone and it had a illustration of half rain/half sunny.   The whole week seemed to be like that.

I felt like eating Japanese food in the morning, so I quickly prepared my breakfast.  Steamed rice, umeboshi (sour plum pickles), natto, seasoned nori, and osuimono (clear soup).  That’s it??? You ask.  Hmmm, it doesn’t seem to be a meal, does it?  But yes, it is to me.  I love soshoku (plain/simple diet).  Placed on a box of toy….  This is my dining table now.

During the day I took Hiro to a neighboring Duck Park for a walk.  The sun was blight then and it was a perfect weather for strolling in the park.  It was just after 1PM and there was no one around, except one mum and one baby girl sitting near the pond enjoying their quality afternoon.

This is what I love about Perth.  There are so many parks… almost everywhere.  The beautiful ones.  Lots of greens, lots of birds, lots of nature….  Walking through a quiet park in such a beautiful weather, I just wanted to scream! “I LOVE THIS”

For lunch, we headed to Northbridge because D wanted to buy some Indonesian noodles.  We went to the usual Vietnamese place on William street, again.

D ordered Pork Chop Rice and I ordered Mai Fun with Braised Chicken.  D loves this place because there’s always not many people inside.  Yesterday when we arrived, there’s no other customers- only us.  It was lucky because Hiro was screaming while we were eating our lunch.

We had a look inside Kong’s and VHT, but D couldn’t find what he was looking for.  D wanted this particular Indonesian instant noodles which we haven’t seen anywhere for a while.  Maybe it’s not permitted to import to Australia anymore.  We could go to other grocery shops to have a look, but we didn’t want to bother.  There are many Chinese grocery shops, but I wonder if there is any shop selling many Indonesian items.  Maybe the one in Market City in Canning Vale?  We’ll give it a try another day.

I actually wanted to go to Emma’s Seafood to buy some Japanese stuff too.  But it was bit too far to walk….  I felt like making kappamaki (roll sushi with cucumber).  I have lots of wasabi left at home.  Well, I will come back another time.

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Snow Ice, Crepe…. and Oden

I remembered I had a $10.00 worth voucher for use at Icey Ice Perth City that I bought from Scoopon long time ago, and it was nearly expired, so I took D and Hiro to the shop to get some sweets.

I’d never been to the city one (I’ve been to Northbridge shop before), and I found that it’s a pretty small shop.  There’re only 3 tables inside, and all of them were full.  We had a big stroller, so thought we’d better get take-away instead of eating there…. then, one group of customer left the table, so we decided to sit down.

I didn’t really feel like snow ice and was browsing the menu board…. then, noticed that they sell oden in the shop.  Not “oden-snow ice” or “oden crepe”, just oden.  … Oden?

I found it’s very funny as I’d never thought a shop selling snow ice and crepe would have oden on the menu.  It says “Japanese Hot Pot ~ Kansai-style Oden”, and the oden was being cooked next to the snow-ice machine.

I was very curious, but didn’t want to buy it.  Then, one lady started ordering oden next to me…  So, someone does buy oden at a sweet shop! :p

She asked for chilli sauce over oden…  Obviously she is not Japanese.  And I’m surprised that the shop had chilli sauce.

We ordered normall items – crepe and drink.  He ordered crispy crepe with condensed milk and oreo (sweet tooth…), and I ordered green tea chiller with sago.  Sago was extra charge, but I believe there was no sago in the drink – they forgot!  I realized it after we left the shop :p

I thought Icey Ice in Northbridge is much better… bigger space, many tables to sit down, and more variety of products.  I liked crepe in Northbridge shop better because they put more fillings (well, at least the last one we ate had lots of fillings).  At city shop, D had to eat almost half the crepe to reach condensed milk and oreo.

Hmmm anyway, I like this shop as being a snow ice/crepe shop selling oden. hehe

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Japanese Grocery Shops

I’ve posted grocery shops that I go to in Perth here, but they need to be updated!

Super Fuji in Victoria Park closes at the end of this month, but the shop isn’t open everyday already.  And, Sushi Station Fuji no longer opens either.  It’s shame that I really wanted to eat sushi over there after I gave birth to Hiro.  :(  These two shops were owned by same owner (Japanese couple), but they suddenly decided to close both of them for a while…

Nippon Food Supplies in Fremantle is also closing at the end of June (this month!).  From July, only Subiaco shop will operate.

There seems to be new shops selling Japanese items in Perth city, but I haven’t been there yet.

Hi Mart, Seoul Mart, and Hanaro Mart (Korean grocery shops) sell very similar items to Japanese food, and they are much cheaper.

Hi Mart :

133 Barrack Street, Perth WA 6000 - (08) 9417 7776

113 Collins Road, Willetton WA 6155 - (08) 9354 1433

346 Albany hwy, Victoria Park WA

Winthrop Shopping Centre, 131 Somerville Blvd, Winthrop WA 6150

Hanaro Mart :

Shop7, North Lake shopping Centre, 67 North Lake Rd, Myaree WA

Seoul Mart :

Shop 4-5, 544 Hay St (on Pier St) (08) 9221 0322

Shop 76 Southland Shopping Centre, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton, WA

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And, if you want to buy some Japanese grocery directly from importer, you can call up Japan Food Corp. (JFC).  You can browse their product list on their  website. If you want to go there, I recommend to call them first and tell them when you are coming, so that staff can prepare things for you.

There are Tokyo Mart and Fuji Mart in NSW, QLD and VIC, and there will be new Tokyo Mart shop opening in WA around the end of this year!  They say the shop will be in Karawara, but exact location is unknown at the moment.

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Borders Closing Down Sale

Borders is doing closing down sale for up to 40% off store wide!  I headed there on Monday afternoon, and lots of stuff were already gone..

↑↑↑ Running to the shop…  (^^;)

They sell not only books and CDs but also unique zakka stuff. I like their post cards and the cute home ware/stationery sections. I bought some gifts for my friend.

They don’t say when they (Borders in Perth) are closing the shop, but I heard it will be around the end of this month.  If you want to bag yourself a bargain, head there quick before the store closes down.

Shopping Day at IKEA

D, I and Hiro headed to Hillary  yesterday to pick-up a bottle warmer which we bought on eBay.  We were just thinking to buy one as we warm up BM (expressed breast milk) very often everyday, then we found this at very cheap price.

On the way back we dropped by at IKEA. They are doing a campaign that they take the cost of your food and drinks off your store purchase when you dine at IKEA restaurant – so, the food and drinks are basically free if you have something to buy.  (This offer is until 27 May (today!))

When we arrived we headed to IKEA restaurant straight away – needed some sweets!  After the tea time, we went though the store.

We bought two clock, some kitchen stuff and a canopy to put on Hiro’s cot.

After the shopping, we decided to take more advantage of this campaign and headed to the restaurant again….

And had early dinner…

Total we spent at IKEA today was less than $10.00!

We were so tired afterwards (spent for 2 hours there) …  Hero slept very good at night

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