Vegan Parents Charged in Death of Baby

There’s a shocking news about two vegan parents in France : their 11-month-old daughter died for being fed only breast milk.  They are now facing up to 30 years in prison.

An autopsy showed that the baby was suffering from a vitamin A and B12 deficiency, which experts say increases a child’s sensitivity to infections.  The baby was underweight and deathly pale according to French media.

I don’t know why the parents didn’t notice the baby wasn’t gaining sufficient weight over the last 11 months, and didn’t consult with doctor or anyone for an advice.  And, why they fed only breast milk for 11 months?  They didn’t introduce any solid foods to supplement nutritions to the baby?

Anyway, it’s a devastating news,, but I was surprised to hear the “30 years in prison” part.  And, the fact that the ambulance workers called the polices instead of
consoling the parents, when they arrived and found the baby dead, because the parents were vegans.

I actually have a French friend who is vegan, but I didn’t know that it is not easy being vegetarian in France.  That’s why the parents are facing the 30 years in prison?  Ummm… now I understand what my vegan friend was talking about – her father was really upset when she decided to be a vegan.  Besides, her father is a butcher! (maybe that’s the reason why she became a vegan?)

Anyway, giving enough nutritions is the most important thing when rising a baby, and I think I should try to have more balanced diet.

Have You Been to Toraja, Indonesia?

If you know a lot about Indonesia,

……………… Is this true???

” In some parts of Indonesia, a corpse is usually being carried up to the grave, but in Toraja, the corpse is woken up letting it to walk to its grave (is rarely performed anymore)

The corpse is woken up using black magic. This is done because in Toraja the graves/cemetries is placed above limestones mountains.

The corpse walks by itself, and its guided by an expert in black magic behind it. But there is one prohibition, the corpse shouldn’t be appointed, once pointed, the corpse falls down and isn’t able to walk again. ”

from visitindonesia.tumblr.com

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Terrible Accident Happened to A Japanese Restaurant in Perth

It was a tanabata day yesterday, and I was just thinking if I should be making a tanabata cake when I received a phone call from my friend.

“Matsuri Japanese restaurant in the city will be closed for awhile!”

Apparently there was a terrible accident happened yesterday at Matsuri Restaurant.  A car has crashed into a CAT bus before ploughing into the restaurant, sending diners running for cover.

There were three customers sitting near the window and they had minor injuries.  I wonder how it’d be if it happened during the busy lunch time.

You can find out the full story about it at www.watoday.com.au.

(photos from www.watoday.com.au)

By the way, this morning I was told that the restaurant will still open.  They covered up the damaged window side with timbers and all the broken glasses were tidied up already.  There must be many people around Matsuri today who are curious to see what the restaurant looks like.

Oh, different subject, but a storm is going to hit Perth from today.  I REALLY REALLY hope there is no more hailing this time…  I mean, I wasn’t here last time when a huge hail storm attacked Perth, but if it happens again… IT IS NO GOOD.

At the moment it is 7:30, and the sky looks… ok.  Cloudy, but I can see the blue sky.  BUT, I remember people were saying that when last hail storm hit Perth the weather was fine too.  …Cross fingers..

Natto – One of the Healthy Food in Japan

This could be one of the weird food you can find around the world…  Natto, fermented soy beans, is a traditional Japanese staple for more than 1,000 years.  Non Japanese people may think it’s a gross-looking food as it has a strong smell, flavor and slippery texture.  But, it is an ultimate health food as its medical benefits are widely recognized recently : some of its beneficial effects are prevention of heart attacks, strokes, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and intestinal disease caused by pathogens.

How did Japan discover this food??  I remember reading a story of it when I was little.  Long time ago, when samurais are still rolling Japan, a group of samurais were travelling quite a long distance.  They brought some food for the journey, and one of the food was soy beans.  The soy beans were carried in a bag made of some kind of plant.  As it was summer and the climate was pretty hot and humid, the soy beans started to ferment in the bag.  Around lunch time, samurais decided to take a break and they all opened up the food to enjoy.  Then they found out the all soy beans looked strange – smelly, and slimy!  They were so disappointed, but one samurai pinched one bean and put in his mouth.  It turned out to be edible.  ”Oh well, we might not be able to make to the destination in this climate and not enough water.  We may die soon…  may as well eat these rotten soy beans.”  They ate up the rotten soy beans.  But, strangely, after eating the beans they felt their body full of energy and strong again.

That was the origin of natto, according to my memory  Now we normally eat natto with tare (sauce), and dress up with Japanese mustard, bonito flakes, mayonnaise, seaweed etc etc.

I like eating natto in the morning – just with freshly cooked steamed rice and miso soup.  This morning I made colourful miso soup with few ingredients including carrot, wakame, konnyaku and tofu.  Can any other food beat this healthy combination?

Hearty Tofu Dish (Tofu An-kake)

Tofu has been one of my favorite food since I was little.  I remember my 10th birthday, my grandma was asking me

“ume, what do you want to eat today?”

then I answered “tofu miso soup!  I want to pour it over steamed rice!”

Everyone was shocked and laughed, as they were expecting to hear some food that kids normally like, such as sushi or ebi-fry (prawn katsu).

“Tofu miso soup is so easy and cheap to make.  Don’t you want something special today?” My mum said.  But the tofu miso soup was what I wanted to eat that day

I make tofu dish quite often here in Perth too.  The simple one is miso soup.  It’s easy to make and very hearty.  In summer I make tofu salad and hiya-yakko (chilled silken tofu eaten with some condiments and soy sauce/ponzu sauce) very often.  Low in calories, high in protein, and it contains some nutritious stuff such as isoflavone : which can act as estrogens in the body and have protective functions.  Good for women!

Yesterday I had a craving for the warm tofu dish that I ate at a sushi bar back in Japan.  This sushi bar is owned by my friend’s mother, and she knows me very well since I was a baby  At the sushi bar, they have different menus everyday.  All the menus are decided depending on what items they got from the fish market on each morning.  Other than sushi, they also serve some izakaya type of menu.

She served me this warm hearty tofu dish with ginger-sauce.  I loved it!  The crunchy texture of diced carrots and broccoli matched with silky tofu.  I think some people wouldn’t like this as its taste is little bold, but I don’t mind eating this everyday.  A nice supper dish.

< recipe > serves 4

• 600g silken tofu
• 100g broccoli florets (about 6 pieces)
• 1 carrot, small
• 100g chicken mince
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbs sake
• 5 g ginger
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 2 tsp corn flour + water

By the way, I read an article about tofu sold in Perth.  The person who wrote the article (Japanese) used to live in Perth with his wife, and the wife started to have a heavy allergy reaction each time she eats tofu here.  It never happened to her back in Japan, he wrote.  I don’t know what is the reason: maybe the tofu here is made in different way from what they do in Japan, or there is some additional ingredient in the tofu she ate…  but what they assumed is that there may be genetically modified soybeans used in the tofu.

Most of soybean products sold in Japan, including miso paste, abura-age, natto and soy milk, state “genetically modified soybeans are not used in this products” on their packages.  I’m not sure if it is all true (I hope so) as 85% of soybean products around the world seem to be actually using genetically modified soybeans.  Anyway, thinking that the tofu I eat here may contain genetically modified beans makes me feel not good, but I have no problem with the tofu in Perth so far and I will probably continue eating them as usual.