Japanese x Italian = Yum!

Posted December 4th, 2016 in Eat out in Perth | No Comments »

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Whisk Creamery opened its second shop in Northbridge, and it has been a most-talked-about place by Japanese foodies here in Perth.  It’s not just because this Italian-owned gelato & sweet shop serves freshly made yummy gelato, but also this Northbridge store has unique menu that catches Japanese people’s eyes.

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TAIYAKI soft serve corn….!!!

Who can resist this?  I chose matcha green tea (comes with cooked red beans inside) + fruits/marshmallow topping, but you can customize the flavour of gelato and topping.

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The good size Taiyaki dessert amazed me – the Taiyaki pancake is cooked in store (they may cook the taiyaki in batches in the morning), and it was soft and tasty, especially around the tail part.  I loved the taste of gelato – good strong Matcha flavour & taste!

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The inside of the shop is not huge, but it has friendly atmosphere.  They, of course, do takeout too, and other sweet & drink menu is amazing…  On my second visit I tried Gelato Fritto (A deep fried banana gelato ball, with crunchy batter and hot caramel fudge syringe.).  NICE. (though it was smaller than I was imagining)

gelato-fritto

I haven’t tried but I must try Black Sesame (kuro-goma) gelato which is only available at Northbridge store.  They have a trendy sense in creating menu!

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Whisk Creamery Northbridge
246 William Street
website
PH: 08 9227 7041
EMAIL: GELATO@WHISKCREAMERY:COM:AU

OPEN
Sun – Thu: 11AM – 10:30PM
Fri – Sat: 11AM – 11PM

Bûche de Noël

Posted December 23rd, 2015 in Food | No Comments »

bush-de-noel

It’s that time of the year again!  It’s a time to express our love to family and friends, time to reflect on the past year, a time to set new goals for the upcoming year….  I wish 2015 was a great one for you.  Mine was great 🙂 Not many posting on Umeboss this year though… so it will be one of my goal for 2016 “write more posts for Umeboss”.

This month has been an event-full one for me : lots of cake-making, a family trip to a town of dolphins Bunbury, my son graduating kindergarten and family gatherings.

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After making these 4 huge cakes for my son’s Japanese kindergarten’s Christmas party, I had some leftover of sponge and whipped cream in the fridge.  Then I remembered when I was little I used to make this cake Bûche de Noël for Christmas.

Bûche de Noël  is the French name for a Christmas cake shaped like a log, and is a traditional dessert served near Christmas, especially in France.  It’s fairly easy & fun to make.  I used to just buy a Swiss roll cake from a store, and cover with whipped chocolate cream.  I loved the decorating part – making the pattern resembling skin of log using a folk, and place these “kinoko-no-yama” chocolate on top.

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It was a fun “cooking” as a little girl, and tasted good too 🙂

You may find this chocolate “kinoko-no-yama” in Perth too, (Korean version maybe available as well) but I didn’t even want to go out to buy extra ingredients for the cake – I just wanted to make now!  So here it is;

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Very simple 😀
It actually should have a Holly leaves as a decoration, but I substituted with mint leaves and M&M….   Some “kinoko-no-yama” on top and side of the log would look much nicer, I think.

You used leftover sponge for this, but you can buy a Swiss roll cake from store (like I used to do) and cover with whipped chocolate cream.  Place the cake in the fridge to set the cream (about 15 minutes) then draw a pattern using a folk.  Then, you will have a lovely0looking Christmas cake for yourself.  Please try!

 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!


Dinosaur Themed Birthday Cake

Posted March 20th, 2014 in Food | 2 Comments »

Dinosaurs on cake

As my son is currently crazy about dinosaurs, it was no surprise he requested a dinosaur birthday cake for his 3rd birthday.

I’m sure a dinosaur shaped cake covered with colourful sweet icing will excite him, but I still feel uncomfortable with these Western too-sweet-treat :{ I love Japanese cake and I’ve been baking Japanese style cake for his birthdays, so I decided to make one again for his 3rd birthday.

To make it more appealing to him, I put some dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs (Easter eggs, actually lol) on top of the cake.  The cake consists layers of sponge cake, whipped cream, and lots of fresh fruits as usual.

Chocolate dinosaurs

 

I started making dinosaurs few weeks ago.  It’s made of chocolate and it can be kept in the fridge for a long time once it’s made, so at least one thing is done in early stage it gives me lots of relief.

If you love drawing, you will love the process.  Of course you can create anything rather than dinosaurs!

It’s pretty easy and you’ll just need chocolate (dark and white) and some colouring.

Here is how I made these dinosaurs… ↓↓

Firstly, print out an image of what you want to draw.  An image with simple lines and not too many colours is a better choice.  You can draw the image from scratch if you’d like.  Remember, the image will be reversed once the chocolate is set – so if you are writing any letter it has to be reversed to a mirror image.

Once you have a clear image on nice clean paper, place a piece of baking sheet on top.  Staple the paper so it won’t move.

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Secondly, melt dark (or milk) chocolate on a plate or small cup over hot water bath.  Using a skewer, just like a pen draw the line according to the image.

Let the chocolate set in the fridge.

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Thirdly, make coloured chocolate.  Melt white chocolate in a place or small cup.

If you decide to make green colour, I found Matcha green tea powder works the best when mixing with white chocolate.  For other colours like red or yellow, if you happen to have some colouring powder (e.g. jelly powder) I think it’s easier than mixing with liquid colouring as chocolate and liquid don’t really get mixed well.  Too much liquid colouring will curdle the chocolate.  So, if you are working with liquid colouring make sure you start with a super tiny bit of drop.  Mix with melted white chocolate, and add some more until it reaches desired colour.

Make few colours according to your image.  I made green, yellow and red (pink).

Carefully, spread the coloured chocolate over the image.  Be careful not to move the chocolate line you drew.  (I do sometimes…)

Let the chocolate set in the fridge.

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Lastly, melt white chocolate in another plate or small cup.  Spread to cover the thin area or all over the image.  Let the chocolate set in the fridge.

Once the chocolate is set, carefully remove from the sheet and flip it over.  Now you have a cute image to decorate your cake 🙂

Chocolate dinosaurs

 

TA-DA!!!

The green dinosaurs’s dots look like they’re bit melted when spreading green chocolate :p  But still look good aren’t they?

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I made this Japanese anime character “Anpanman” for my son’s 2’nd birthday.

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Another dinosaur for my friend.

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A truck for a 3-year-old boy.

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1st Birthday Cake for 13 Babies

Posted December 16th, 2012 in Food | No Comments »

This is a birthday cake for 13 babies who is turning 1-year-old this month.

Haha, I was bit nervous about writing 13 names on top of the cake – what if the 13th name can’t fit in the space?  What if I make a mistake on the spell? …. I only had one chance to do it, and I’m so glad that all the names fit perfectly!

2 different colours on right and left for boys and girls as requested.

The cake with filled with fresh fruits and whipped cream.

13 babies…. the party must had been gorgeous 🙂


Chocolate Cake with Fruits and Ganache

Posted November 11th, 2012 in Food | No Comments »

A special order from my friend for her son’s birthday.  Chocolate cake with lots of fresh fruits!

I used chocolate sponge and whipped cocoa cream, topped with handmade ganache 🙂

The side of the cake is covered with white chocolate.

… I think I over-whipped the cream a little :I

It was a birthday party for 2 boys (similar birthdays so they combined the party together) and boys love Thomas, so I made a small Thomas the Tank using chocolate.  Does it look like Thomas the Tank??

Boys were happy, and it all matters 😉

 


Happy Birthday Cake

Posted September 18th, 2012 in Food | 2 Comments »

Another birthday cake I made last week 🙂

Lots of fruits – especially strawberries.  They are in season now and super sweet!

I should have asked beforehand if I should use peanuts…. It was my big big mistake 🙁  I should be more careful of what I use on my cake.  (I’m sorry…  :(((  )  I hope everything was fine….!!

Decoration.  This is my favourite part of cake making.

Tada!!


Thank You Everyone!

Posted August 15th, 2012 in Food, Jakarta | No Comments »

First, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who messaged me through this blog and email.  I feel much better and strong knowing that I’m not alone and there are people who read my blog from many countries.  It’s kinda amazing feeling.

🙂

I’m gonna write about an amazing food I had last night.  This is banana-cheese-pastry thingy (I don’t know the proper name!) that my sister-in-law brought from Indonesia.  It’s so yummmmmyyyy.  It’s from Bandung city (in Indonesia), she said.  It’s got a whole banana and cheese inside, kind of melty, and doughy throughout with crispy pastry on outside.  I don’t know how to explain the taste, but it’s somewhere between sweet and savoury.  Very interesting.

There are many food in the world that I haven’t met.  I do want to go to many countries and try these things out someday.

Oh, I’m actually going to Bali in November this year.  Believe it or not, it will be my first trip to Bali!  Even though I have an Indonesian husband, I’ve never been outside Denpasar airport.  Actually, my husband has also never been to Bali before!  Haha.  So it will be our first Bali experience.

Going to Bali is kind of the thing that I can look up to.  It had been a rough idea of me and my dad who is in Japan, but  now we are booking air tickets and accommodation in Bali.  My husband, Hiro, and I are meeting my dad in Bali who will fly from Japan by himself.  It will be great holiday for all of us.

What I want to do in Bali – I’m not pretty sure about it yet, as I have no idea what Bali is like, but I think we’ll get massage and eat lots of local food.  Near the beach, probably.  I can’t wait to take my dad to eat Indonesian food.  I’m sure he will love it!

 

 

 

 


Chocolate Cake

Posted July 20th, 2012 in Food | 1 Comment »

decorated Chocolate cake 🙂

Layers of cocoa sponge with freshly whipped chocolate cream and rich ganache, covered with whipped chocolate cream and topped with fruits and ganache balls.

I like making cake with lots of fresh fruits 🙂

Garnished mint leaves are from my garden.

Happy birthday 〜!!


Birthday Cakes

Posted July 8th, 2012 in Food | 8 Comments »

It’s been a little busy week for me – making birthday cakes 🙂

For birthday cake, I always make the same one; sponge with freshly whipped cream and lots of fresh fruits.  That’s my favourite cake in Japan, and people who ask me to make cakes seem to be the same.

Strawberries are getting cheap here as spring approaches.  I love the combination of strawberries and cream!

This is the another one I made last week.  Pink-themed cake 🙂

I mixed strawberry jam and fresh strawberries to the cream when I whipped.  It tasted fantastic and sweet so I didn’t need to add sugar to it.

Yum yum…..  I made extra for myself, and that’s a real treat for my tired body and brain 😀


Homemade Martabak

Posted March 26th, 2012 in Food, Jakarta | No Comments »

Martabak is a stuffed pancake or pan -fried bread which I first tried in Jakarta, Indonesia, few years ago.  They make and sell martabak in small stalls on the street, and the sweet smell is hyper irresistible.

My husband wanted to make it as it’s pretty expensive to buy here (compared to the price in Indonesia), and we found “martabak mixture” ($3.00) at Yee Seng Oriental Shop in Myaree, so we gave it a try.

D likes “keju” = grated cheese and condensed milk filling where I also love “coklat” (chocolate and crushed peanuts).  We made both 🙂

Martabak is very very sweet and buttery.  They use this “special butter ” (?) to boost the richness and butteriness.  (got from Yee Seng at $2.00)

Martabak has two kinds – one is thick (like the one in the photo above www.kaskus.us) and another is thin.  It’s like the pizza base where some people prefer thin crispy base and other like it thick.  It seems the thick ones are more common in Indonesia, but D prefers thin one and that’s what he made.

Sprinkle the toppings…

and close it.

I never thought of the combination of cheese and condensed milk until I went to Jakarta.  The sweetness and saltiness match and it creates interesting flavour.

This made me think of dorayaki.  I think I will make dorayaki next time 🙂


MisDo!

Posted December 13th, 2011 in Eat out in Japan | No Comments »

Hi there, happy Hiro from Mister Donut.  We’re having afternoon tea 🙂

Three donuts and OJ for ¥500.

At MisterDonut, they are selling these “Christmas donuts” right now for limited time only ↓↓↓

Snow-man-looking donuts (the face is coated with icing), and Christmas-wreath-looking churros (one is coated with icing, others are with chocolate).  The icing donut is sweet, but it’s kind of addictive!  I love the icing Christmas wreath churros.

I went back there in few days to eat another icing churros.

They’re collecting the orders for Mister Donut Christmas Set (¥1000), and I wanted to order one, but I couldn’t…..   They were all sold out by the time I went to submit the order sheet. 🙁

The donuts are yummy….  Unlimited drinks (cafe au lait etc) make afternoon tea perfect relaxing time of the day!


Happy 30th Birthday!

Posted December 3rd, 2011 in Food, Japan | No Comments »

Today is D’s birthday…. entering his 30th!

We are going out for big lunch today, but I will write about it later.  I bought him birthday cake from this cute cake shop.

The shop’s decoration is all Christmas!  So cute…  This shop has been popular around this area ever since I can remember.

I picked individually cut cake, not a whole cake.  I thought it’s easier to eat as there is no need to cut by ourselves.  I could pick few different flavours too.

I chose sponge and cream cake with fruits (everyone’s favorite!), monburan (cake of marrons – chestnuts), chocolate cake, fruits tart, and cheese cake.  They all look yummy!!!  Pumpkin tart looked nice too, but maybe next time…

Hmmmmm… a whole decorated cake looks also nice and delicious…  Japanese cakes are so cute.  And, the decoration is amazingly beautiful.

We probably get a whole cake on Christmas, maybe!


Birthday Cake for 2nd Birthday Boy

Posted November 17th, 2011 in Food | 2 Comments »

When I was asked to make a birthday cake for my friend’s toddler, I wasn’t sure if I could do it at first.  It’s just less than 1 week away till I head to Japan, and I still had lots of things to do.  Packing, cleaning the room, laundry…  But I said “sure” because it’s his 2nd birthday party and I’d already bought a birthday present for him.

My friend wanted something simple – sponge, cream, and fresh fruits.  Just like Japanese cake.  I was little worried though, because the location of the party was at the park (BBQ party) and the forecast said it’d be raining!  If outside, there might be many flies too.  Because I use fresh cream, I thought it might be ruined if it’s windy and raining.

I finished making the cake anyway,

Now it’s the most scary part – delivering the cake!  It was a quite big one, so I had to put it in a big box.

When we arrived there, the sky was all white and grey.  I quickly showed the cake to my friend, and covered it to protect from the wind and flies.

There’re so many yummy foods – hotdog, grilled veggies, and some food made by Thai chef (our old friend)!  I especially loved a spicy prawn salad she made.  I must get the recipe!

She even brought a deep-frier for spring rolls.  She said that if she cooked it at home and brought there it won’t be crispy.  It’s true…

They all seemed to love my cake too.  I was relieved.  Although it started to be drizzly while enjoying BBQ, it was a lovely day. 🙂

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Theobroma Chocolate Lounge

Posted November 15th, 2011 in Eat out in Perth | No Comments »

As I wrote about it here, I went to Theobroma Chocolate Lounge in Waterford on the weekend to try out their sweets. 🙂

The place is well-decorated and I love the colour tone of chairs, walls, and lights.  Yap, all chocolate-like colours.  It was Saturday afternoon but there wasn’t too many people inside.

I actually had a cup of hot chocolate before going there (I didn’t know we’re going to a chocolate cafe!), so I didn’t feel like chocolate drink at the cafe (which was a shame).  I ordered a mug of latte, and D ordered white chocolate milk shake.

I must admit –  I didn’t expect them to serve such perfect coffee!  White chocolate milk shake was also delicious – I could taste real white chocolate, but not too heavy.

We shared a piece of cookie’ n cream cheese cake as well, and it was another hit.  Quite sweet, and creamy.  The cookies are soft and rather chewy.

As well as other sweet drinks and cakes, they also serve savory foods such as Turkish roll, bacon and egg roll, and quiche.

The staff was friendly too.  I will definitely come back there again 🙂


Sweet Fix

Posted September 25th, 2011 in Food, Perth WA | No Comments »

Our window shopping at Carousel shopping centre ended up as a hunting trip for sweets this week. We found a stall in the centre of hallway selling unique candies and soda drinks.

They all looked colorful, and reminded me of a candy shop I used to spend my whole afternoon while I was little. The products they sell at this stall are different from what I used to eat in Japan though. They are more like  American-style sweets which are in different colors and flavors.

D wanted to buy something, but I thought they’re bit expensive compared to other chains such as Darrell Lea. But, they all looked cute and we bought few packs of sugary candies. One of them, “fruit sticks” tasted like the one I used to get from a game centre machine in Japan, and recalled my memory of feeding the sugary candy to my brother when he was sick. He was around 5 years old and that candy was the only food he could manage to eat. I remember I thought he was dying (he was actually having measles) and worried about him a lot. So I got lots of the same candy and kept feeding it to him until he said “enough…”.

While remembering these childhood memories, we walked pass Darrell Lea and went inside the store to have a look around. Then we bought 2 packs of peanut brittle and 1 pack of caramel snows (which is finger-sized candy with layers of chocolate, caramel and white icing). Caramel is usually not my favorite thing, but I felt like eating it then. I even wanted to buy caramel McFlurry (which I ended up not buying). Our bodies needed some sweets!


That night we went nuts over these sugary treats…..   I had stomachache afterwards, but no regret! :p

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Kids Cupcakes

Posted September 19th, 2011 in Food | No Comments »

Cupcakes with icing are not common sweet you can find in Japan. They are more like “foreign sweet” to us. Colorful green and purple icing used to freak me out. They looked so artificial, very sugary, and appetiting to me. But now, after living in Australia for over 8 years, I see this type of cupcakes everywhere and have started to think these are normal food we eat reguraly. I even get a craving for this sometimes.

Cupcake is easy to munch on, and looks cute with varieties of decorations. It’s a great item for parties and afternoon teas as well. I think cupcake is one of the most popular sweet for kids, as it’s colouful, sweet, and just right size for little ones to hold and eat.

I used to make this “face cupcake” when I was working at a bakery in Claremont. This sure looks cute, and loved watching kids picking the one with smarties and jelly beans in their favorite colors. Like, “can I please have the one with pink eyes and a green mouth?”.

Mini mrshmallows and 100’s & 1000’s are other typical toppings for cupcakes, especially for those who love sugary treats. Personally I wouldn’t want my kid to eat these sugary food often, but I’m sure most kids love them and eat them with smiles! 🙂


Morning Walk and Bacci Cake

Posted September 11th, 2011 in Food, Ume and Baby | No Comments »

I love the smell of cold morning….  Cold air with bright sunlight and birds singing are somehow different from what I remember of Japan’s winter morning, but they still reminds me of how I liked waking up early in winter while I was in Japan.

I took Hiro for a walk this morning, because I felt like going outside and also wanted him to wear a hat I found in the closet.  Looks like Mongolian baby 🙂 … or a girl.

Ohhh my right wrist is so sore… It was ok until I visited Play Group on Friday though. I was holding Hiro for 2 hours there and after I got home it started to be really sore.  Now I need to wear tape around it so that I can do things like holding him, cutting vegetables, and even opening a lid of a jar.  Did I strain it?

This photo reminded me… In-laws came over to eat a cake together – a Bacci Cake from Cookie Barrel.  It was very rich chocolate and nut cake…

I mean, very rich.  I couldn’t finish one piece…  but I know this is how people in Australia like chocolate cake to be!  A very rich and sweet.  Hmmmmm, if there was less cream in the ganache and less liquor in the Bacci filling, I might be able to finish it.  Having it once in a while may be a good treat for myself?

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Taka’s Kitchen and San Churro

Posted September 5th, 2011 in Eat out in Perth, Perth WA | No Comments »

Sigh… I regret that we went to crowded Fremantle market area on busy Sunday. We didn’t do much – just had quick snack at Taka’s Kitchen then had churro and iced chocolate at San Churro. We walked around the busy cappuccino street and it just tired us out. We really shouldn’t go out to a busy place on weekend. We should go to a quiet park or beach instead and relax. It was Father’s Day but I don’t think D enjoyed the day. We were both tired from pushing a big stroller around and watching for cars, people, and trying not to get blight sun light on Hiro’s face. It’s not like we really wanted to eat Taka’s food and churro and chocolate. We simply just wanted to do something together. No more going out to busy places on weekends!

Miso-katsu-don and kaki-age-don.

I don’t know why D chose to go to Taka’s kitchen… It’s the worst place to go with a big stroller and a grizzly baby.

San Churro was also crowded as usual. It was much nicer when I came here with friends in early morning the other day. It was quiet, much less people, food and drink were perfect (because they weren’t busy and had time to prepare with care), and we could totally enjoy the moment. Yesterday was opposite. …Well, at least D enjoyed the churro and white chocolate..


Father’s Day and 6 Months and 2 Year

Posted September 4th, 2011 in Food, Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »

Today is not only D’s first Father’s Day, but also Hiro’s 6 months birthday…!  Plus, tomorrow is our 2nd wedding anniversary as well.  Hmmmm, 3 things came at once.

We didn’t really plan what to do though….  Both of us have been pretty busy and everyday passes very quickly.  I can’t believe it’s September already!

I baked cupcakes for D.  He loves sweets, and I haven’t made this for him for a long time, so I thought it’s about time to treat him with this sweet cake 🙂

He loves green colour, so I made icing green (with pink on top).  He likes eating cupcake slightly warm (warm up in microwave) then spread icing by himself, so I put icing on only 2 cakes.  They are almost gone…!  I should have made more?

Hiro has been eating carrot (2nd solid after rice cereal), and he loves it!  He opens his mouth very wide when I move a spoon to his mouth.  Very messy though….  rice cereal is white so it’s ok, but carrot….  lots and lots of washing!

Hmmm he is growing very fast.  He wears size zero now.  I bought some winter cloths for Japan and hope it will fit him when we are there!


Snow Ice, Crepe…. and Oden

Posted August 30th, 2011 in Eat out in Perth | 2 Comments »

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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Donuts!

Posted August 18th, 2011 in Food, Japan | No Comments »

Donuts are definitely one of my tea-time favourite.  I was just browsing some Japanese donuts websites and they all look so yummy…. !

I love going to MisterDonut because they have many shops across Japan, even near my house, but there are other donut shops in Japan includes franchised and private-owned.  Here are some of them.

DoughnutPlant is one of popular franchise shops originally from New York.  They don’t only sell bakery donuts and sweet donuts but also bagels and donut cookies.

Their products don’t contain eggs.  Their sweet donuts (cake donuts) contain kanten (agar), and it tastes like fluffy sponge cake.

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Canezees Doughnut are hand-made and fried in rice oil.  Their donuts don’t contain eggs, and use dark sugar instead of white.

They have unique flavours such as Black Sesame Kinako (soy powder) and Yuzu Lemon.  They re-use the oil which has been used to fry donuts as fuel on their van!

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Zen Donut are baked, not fried. Zen donut uses Japanese products in their donuts, and the flavours are very unique.  Soy Milk Sesame, Ho-ji-cha Tea, Bamboo Charcoal, and Warabi-mochi are some examples.

They also sell karinto, one of my favourite Japanese snacks!

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Floresta sells donuts made from only natural ingredients, called ‘nature doughnuts’.  The owner started selling donuts from a stall inside shopping malls in Nara prefecture, but now they have 30 shops across Japan, from Hokkaido to Kyushu.

They sell seasonal donut desserts as well.  Now, during summer, they are selling donut and ice cream sundae.  Sounds yummmm…

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Hara Donuts use soy milk and tofu extract (okara) in their donuts.  Their hand-made fresh donuts are naturally delicious and so healthy!

Again, their flavours are unique – spinach, carrot, sweet potato, kiwi, passionfruit, lemon tea, sakura , etc.  They use fresh fruits and vegetables in their products.  By that, you can know what they are trying to tell you – the simple, natural ingredients are the best.

They also sell donut ice cream.  Bitter chocolate, purple sweet potato, and pumpkin etc etc…  You won’t  get bored with these unique flavours.

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Miel Donut is another shop selling baked donuts, not fried.  Although they only have 8 flavours, all of them look delicious~! Baked Sweet Potato and Rum Raisin sound good. 🙂

As their donuts are baked, the texture is soft – just like butter cake.  The best way to enjoy a baked donut is to lightly warm it up in an oven toaster.  This way, you can create the contrast of fluffy interior and crispy outside.

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Chocolate Cake no Fruits

Posted August 16th, 2011 in Food, Perth WA | 2 Comments »

Yesterday was another stormy day…  Very windy with strong rain during the day and night.  I couldn’t sleep with one blanket because it was too cold.  Still now, it’s freezing inside my house and I just grabbed my thick cardigan from my room.  I saw a black hairy worm in the garage the other day and I thought it’s already spring, but now I feel like we are back to winter again.

I made a chocolate cake without fruits this time.  I hate delivering a decoration cake… so scary.  I keep thinking I may drop it and ruin the whole cake on the way.  Especially in a windy day like yesterday, I just had to drive super slow.

This cake doesn’t have any fruits or nuts, just Italian ganache, cocoa sponge, and cocoa cream – all chocolate!  I feel like eating like this chocolatey sweet once in awhile too.  Especially when I’m tired!

Today seems to be stormy too.  Everyone, drive safe – ☆

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Cinnamon Sticks

Posted August 15th, 2011 in Food | No Comments »

In a cold afternoon, drinking hot milk tea and feeling something to snack on….. Could it be only me?  Or, you just don’t want to throw away the bread crust – the left over from making sandwiches the other day?  Now here is the way to make delicious snack out of it.

This golden crisp cinnamon stick is a great accompaniment to your morning or afternoon tea (of coffee!).  And, is very simple to make too.

<Cinnamon Sticks>

  • 8 pieces bread crust (from 2 slices of bread)
  • cinnamon sugar
  • oil to deep-fry

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  1. Heat oil in a pan.
  2. Deep-fry the bread crust until golden.
  3. Drain the oil well, then coat with cinnamon sugar.

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You can also make it without deep-frying.  Toast in the oven, or in a frying pan (without oil) until golden crispy.  Keep them  in an air-tight container after cooled down.a

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Chocolate Bagel with Cocoa Cheese Cream

Posted August 8th, 2011 in Food | No Comments »

If you feel like something sweet, this chocolaty snack could be an option. 🙂

Toasted chocolate bagel with cocoa cream cheese topping….  The combination of a bagel and cream cheese is still the best for me.

Adding whipped cream to the cream cheese adds milder texture and taste.  If you are not a big fun of cream cheese, more cream can be added –

I don’t add sugar to the mixture because I wanted to enjoy the taste of cream cheese and bitterness of cocoa.  You can add sugar if you are after sweet stuff.  Few drops of choc bits give a crunchy sweet contrast.

<Chocolate bagel with cocoa cheese cream>

  • 1 chocolate bagel
  • 2 tbs cream cheese (room temperature)
  • 1 tbs whipped cream
  • 1/4 tsp cocoa
  • few drops of choc bits

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  1. Halve the bagel and toast.
  2. Place the soft cream cheese and cocoa in a mixing bowl.  Add whipped cream, and mix together.
  3. Spread the cream mixture on top of each slice of bagel, and sprinkle choco bits.

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Chocolate Cake with Fresh Fruits

Posted August 2nd, 2011 in Food | 4 Comments »

I usually make decoration-cake with vanilla flavour – vanilla sponge cake, whipped cream and fresh fruits.  But, this time, I was asked to make it chocolate flavour.

I know chocolate and strawberries go very well, so strawberries were the first thing I put on the shopping list.  Some fruits wont’ go with chocolate, so I sticked with just few fruits to decorate this cake.

It’s a layered cake with chocolate sponge, strawberries, cocoa cream, and thin layer of rich Italian style chocolate cake and ganache.  Not much sugar it used, so this cake is not too sweet.

The side of the cake is covered with dark chocolate.  It will keep the cake moist, and has a good eye-appeal.

I was asked to make this cake for around 15 people, but I think I made it too big :p

Finished with piped cream, strawberries, peaches, apples and mints from our garden. 🙂

The smell of chocolate and strawberries was so irresistible…..  I nearly poked my finger into the cake!


Taiyaki

Posted May 24th, 2011 in Food | 12 Comments »

Taiyaki, fish-shaped baked Japanese sweet, is one of my favourite snack.  This is a kind of stall-food you buy at festivals or shrine on New Year’s Day, but now you can also buy from the food courts in shopping centres or some convenience stores across Japan.  The original filling is azuki an – red bean paste, but there are more varieties such as custard cream and chocolate.

At the shop they use this type of big grill to make taiyaki, but there’s a small version of this to use at home.

The weather like today makes me miss taiyaki. It should be eaten warm, and is kind of a winter sweet.  I don’t have a taiyaki maker at home, so I bought a pack of frozen taiyaki from an Asian grocery shop.

I warmed it up in the microwave, then toasted in a toaster oven to make it crunchy outside.  Eating it with vanilla ice cream gives you the contrast of hot and cold, and the texture of crunchiness of the skin and melty ice cream.

Yuuummmm!

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Happy 10th Birthday!

Posted November 29th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »

On the weekend I made a birthday cake for 10 years old girl!

As it’s for a girl, and she is turning 10, I made the cake into “10” shape and decorated with pink cream.

It’s a sponge cake layered with fresh fruits and whipped cream.

It was very rush, actually.  I told the father to come to my house to pick it up around 11 am, but I woke up at 9 am!  All the ingredients were ready – the sponge cake was baked, cream was whipped, and the fruits were washed and dried already – I just had to assemble all of them and create a “10” shaped cake.

When I was covering the sponge with cream, I realized I will need more cream- the amount I whipped last night wasn’t enough to cover this huge cake!  I was panicking a little, but tried to calm myself down and whipped another pack of cream.  Lucky I had bought 2 packs of cream!

I layered lots of fruits inside.  I wanted to make the surface simple so I just decorated the side of “0” with sliced strawberries, and I decorated the top of cakes with pink cream flower.

Hope she had a wonderful 10th birthday 😀

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Bakar Chicken and CORICA Apple Struddle

Posted November 19th, 2010 in Food | 3 Comments »

My in-law made ayam bakar (grilled chicken), sambal kan kun and stir-fried kairan with oyster sauce.  Kan kun is my favourite Chinese vegetable!   Every time I go to Hawker restaurant I order stir-fried kan kun.  I just love the slimy and crunchy texture.

“Bakar” means, according to my husband, “burned”.  I assume it’s a similar word to “kogeru” or “kogasu” (焦げる) in Japanese.  The process of “bakar” enhances the flavour of the dish (meat/seafood).

The chicken was marinated in some kind of Indonesian spicy sauce, then grilled.  It was so yummy that I ate 3 pieces!

Sambal (chili paste) kan kun (front) and stir-fried kairan with oyster sauce (back).

It was a hot day!  Eating spicy food in such hot day is so perfect…

My husband’s friend from Malaysia had been here for few days, and he just left to the airport.  They are such close friends… it made me jealous sometimes! (>0<)

He left a box of Corica apple struddle for us in the fridge.

The sweet custard cream and crispy pie sheet….   It was a perfect dessert after the spicy Indonesian dishes!

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Icey Ice Snow Ice

Posted November 12th, 2010 in Eat out in Perth | No Comments »

After a little shopping and printing a photo of father-in-low with the Indonesian Comedy Singer at OfficeWorks, we took a dessert break at Icey Ice in Northbridge.  It was a slightly hot day and I was little thirsty, and I was craving for the cold snow ice to chill my throat.

When D and I arrived the shop, the sweet delicious smell hit my nose and I wasn’t sure if I wanted snow ice or sweet crape anymore.  In the end, we ordered 2 crapes and 1 bubble tea (there was a deal of “buy 1 Icey Ice crape and get 1 bubble tea with one filling for $2.00”)  

Their crispy crape is pretty huge, and I realized that ordering bubble tea was a mistake!!  Super sweet….  Besides, I was eating Icey Ice green tea crape, and D was eating condensed milk and white choco bits!  The sweetest crape ever…

Their crape is different from normal soft crape and is certainly different from those you get in the crape shops or summer festival stalls in Japan.  I’m not talking about only the crape skin, but also the contents.  Banana & Peanut Butter, Nutella & Rainbow Sprinkle,  Condensed Milk & Crushed Oreo…  They might be a good snack for a sweet fix though.  

I’m also curious about the eel crape, by the way.  Has anyone tried the grilled eel crape?   

website

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Petit Parfait and Baby Book

Posted October 29th, 2010 in Ume's Pregnancy | 2 Comments »

I had lots of leftover fruits and cream from the big birthday cake I made (post), so when my friends came to the house I made this petit parfait using those leftover.

The components are all the same: sponge cake, cream and fruits (minus the glaze).  The cream had been whipped to the decoration stage (quite hard) already, so I just squeezed out through my piping bag. 

In the afternoon, I started to work on my project: making a baby book!

Actually I was going to buy one from a shop and looked through Myer, Kiki-k, Newsagency etc including online shops, but they all sell similar looking ones with similar contents.  And, they contain some pages which I won’t use (such as “what was the news headline when the baby was born”).  I prefer putting lots of ultrasound photos, and write down little notes of what I felt, did and what the baby did each day.

So, I bought a scrap book album so that I could put photos and memo anywhere I want in the page.   It’s easy to arrange, and I can make it a whole page with just photos, or one page with a photo and the memo describing the photo.

Little notes in both English and Japanese….

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