Banana & Walnut Cake

As last week has been super busy for me, I am so happy to have this long weekend  Less than 2 weeks to go, I’ve been meeting my friends to say “bye” before my trip to Japan.  … yes it’s just a 2 weeks trip and this may sound like I’m over reacting ( :p ), but that’s what we usually do

I’m not a phone person and I don’t really like talking on the phone, even to my family.  I don’t know what to talk about!  My family is all the same, when I occasionally call them, they are like “so… how are you?” “I see… we are fine here” and no more conversation.  So I (we) prefer just e-mailing.  While in Japan if I wanted to say something I just emailed people.  We can email from mobile to mobile in Japan and it is super cheap to use (we kind of have sms but never used it before - expensive and sucks..) and you could send photos, voice message, image character etc etc on the e-mail since long time ago.  So, if I find something funny, even a tiny thing, I took a photo and sent to my mum “hey I found this” ” how about oyako-donburi tonight?”  My mum is like my best friend.  .. she looks young too.  So, flying back to Japan and seeing their face & hearing their voice is something I need to do.  I try going back at least once a year.

Anyway, the orders for Bagelia last week has been different…  Someone asked me if I could make cheese cake with fruits, and another asked me if I could wrap banana cake individually.  I normally wrap a whole banana cake in a plastic film, but she said that her kid wanted to bring the cake to the school and give to the classmate.

I, of course, said “yes” and I individually wrapped the cake with ribbon and small tags (so that classmates know what it is).  They turned out to be cute.   She ordered 48 pieces of banana cakes, plus other cakes and bagels.  I hope the classmates liked it…

Bagel and El Salvador

Happy anniversary~~!  

It’s been almost a year since Bagelier officially started.  I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to my customers and friends who have been supporting me for this small business

Oh, and, I would like to state here again that our bagel dough needs to be rested for more than 10 hours, slowly in the low temperature environment.  Therefore, all orders need to be placed at least 2 days prior to the required delivery date.  I know it’s not really convenient but that’s how we develop the natural sweetness and flavor in the dough.  Sorry for the inconvenience…  I really appreciate your understanding!  :)

Different subject, 

I received an email from my friend who is in El Salvador.  She flew there on Christmas day, and was so looking forward to meet her in-laws for the first time… but, it seems that she is not really enjoying this long holiday.

She is so angry that everyone over there doesn’t throw away rubbish in the bin even though there is a bin.  There’s garbage everywhere even in the bus.   Besides people don’t even care.

She was saying that “what goes around comes around”.  In Japan we say “if you spit towards the sky, the spit will drop on your face.”  People should take care of their own country.  

She had to compare El Salvador to Japan, and was giving me an example of Lotte Gum.  Each gum is wrapped in a paper with “Please dispose of your litter thoughtfully” message.  It is a kind of etiquette and also education to people.  This is just an very small example, but she realized that these small things have built the present Japan …  

The reason why this holiday hasn’t been great for her is not only the garbage issue, she has been a victim of pickpocket!  :p  It seems that it’s not unusual to have a pickpocket in this country, and police doesn’t even bother looking for her wallet…  Lucky she still has her passport and return ticket to Perth!  I hope she arrive here safely…  

Back to School

It’s almost the end of January…  time passes to fast!  Whole this month has been pretty quiet for bagelier business as many people left Perth and went back to their home countries.  It was kinda nice  to me though, I could totally relax … :p

Now customers started to come back already and my everyday duty (making bagels) is back to as it was before, which is also a good thing!

By the way, I was so freaked out this morning …  There was a blackout around my house area, and Westernpower said the power will back around 10:30 am.  Oh my gosh, I have my dough in the fridge resting and waiting for being delivered to customer next day!  (T0T)  aaa…  I was so worried, but the power actually got back on around 9:30 am.   phew.. relief ..

It made me realized how important the electricity is in our lives! I couldn’t make coffee, I couldn’t toast a piece of bread, (couldn’t bother toasting on the stove) …  no tv, no computer …

The Markets

I was contacting The Perth Markets to inquire about holding a stall.  Then, I received this email … ↓↓↓

Unfortunately it has come to pass that the Perth City Markets can not meet the City of Perth health requirements and therefore will no longer sell food on site.

Ummm that’s a shame

I wasn’t trying to make a huge profit by baking bagels and sweets, but I just wanted to try out something new by myself.  If that’s the condition in Perth, it’s fine  although I’m still going to continue what I do.  

By the way,

My friend flew to South America few weeks ago, and is staying there for about 2 months.  She likes traveling and has been to many countries, but she is experiencing a huge home-sick this time :p   I hope she is ok…

Since I was a kid I always wanted to go travel around the world, but as I mentioned before, I have been to only 4 countries in my life including Japan and Australia. :p  I think it’s easy to go traveling around while you are young: have time and money to spend for yourself.  I will definitely go traveling around to different countries eventually, but it may take time and I think it’s going to be my life-time hobby   The place I want to go to is America, some islands such as Samoi and Hawaii (beach!) , Alaska (America), South Korea (the food is tempting!) and Africa (wildlife!).  I also want to go traveling around Japan - onsen (natural hot spring spa), skiing, food, shopping, etc.  I didn’t really think this when I was a kid, but I really love Japan and am happy to be Japanese.  Which country do you want to go most??

Hard and Soft

I think I really messed up…  I started Bagelier because I thought I could make some bagels similar to what I used to eat while in Japan.  Actually the bagels I make are not traditional ones, they are more “Japanese” style: which the dough is little softer and ingredients such as azuki paste are rolled inside of the dough while it’s been shaped into a ring.  I should have mentioned on the website and to everyone that “Bagelier bagels are little different from traditional Jewish bagels”.

One of my customer asked me why not sell the bagels and sweets in a newly opened market in Bentley. I went down there and had a look around.  I was surprised to see many cars turning left into the market from Manning Road, and the market was packed with people.  I had a chat with an organizer of the market, and he was saying “it’s funny that we have two bakeries in this market and they are Jewish, but they don’t sell bagels.  Instead, a Japanese girl wants to sell bagels!”

I don’t think I can sell bagels there as there are already few shops selling bread, cakes and biscuits.  He said he is looking for someone who wants to sell hand-made clothes and crafts.  If someone is interested in..

Some of Japanese bagels are soft because some fillings are rolled inside of the bagels.  I like hard crust and chewy dough inside.  If you buy bagels and eat at home, I recommend to toast them before eating so that you can enjoy the nice crust.

I was trying out some new flavor bagels.  Oven-dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese (right) and Earl Grey Tea (left).  These two bagels on the photo are made with softer dough (looks fluffy).  I still prefer more “crusty” and “heavy” dough like the photo at the top :p  

Tomato and Cheese bagels has a nice flavor.  I don’t know which dough would be nice: soft and fluffy or hard and dense for this flavor.  Earl Grey bagel, personally it’s not for me.  Some bakeries in Japan sell “milk tea bagel” with Earl Grey.