Kids Birthday Party

Last Sunday we had my nephew’s 3rd birthday party!  Sister-in-law does a big birthday party for him each year, and this time it was a party at a kids gym.  He had a huge Dora birthday cake …  He loves Dora :p

Sister asked me to cater some bagel sandwiches for the party, so I made them up fresh in the morning

“Making bagels very soft” was sister’s request (as Australian people prefer soft and light bagels), so I made them as she said.  I made few varieties : ham & cheese, ham & avocado & lettuce, chicken & avocado & mayo, chicken & cheese & semi-dried tomato, tuna & mayo & lettuce, and cheese & semi-dried tomato.

Seems that people enjoyed my bagels sandwiches, and I’m very happy

My bagels sandwiches were supposed to be just a snack, as kids and parents were playing in the gym from 9:30 till 12:00.  We had the sandwiched and birthday cake around 11:00, then go back to playing, then after 12:00 we all headed to Sizzler for lunch.

Hyogo Cultural Christmas Party

Today I went to Hyogo Prefecture Government Cultural Centre in City Beach to attend their Christmas party. It was my first time to sell my bagels and sweets in public and it was fun!

When I arrived this place everyone was so kind and speaking Japanese.  It was a nice cozy atmosphere.  People started to gather up around 3pm, including kids wearing yukata.  They enjoyed chatting and playing with Japanese toys until the special guest Camellia Cha (aka Anne Norman) started to play shakuhachi.  The sound of shakuhachi was so beautiful that everyone shut their mouths and listen to its music.

After the shakuhachi, she started to read her book, “Curiosi-tea”.  I was amazed by her story, about teas around the world, history of Japan..  It was really interesting.  She used to stay in Hyogo 23 years ago and then visited around the famous tea factories and tea field throughout Japan, includes Uji in Kyoto and Shizuoka.  She speaks Japanese very well too.  

I brought some bagels, New York style cheese cake, green tea cake, almond fingers and macadamia cantuccini.  I was with Chigusa, from Wasabi & Green Tea, and she sold many kinds of tea, including sakura black tea, kamairi-cha (pan-roasted tea), and ginseng tea.  She was doing free tasting as well, and everyone enjoyed it very much.  I really loved the kamairi-cha, which the tea leaf is made in Japan by a Japanese person, in Chinese-tea way.  Hearing about all the good stuff about tea, I really thought I should drink tea regularly! 

I sold out all the bagels (because it was a Japanese event, green tea flavor sold very quickly) and more than half of the sweets I brought.  I should have brought more bagels!  Thank you very much and I enjoyed this event from the beginning to the end

Tea Party for Tea Lovers

Do you like tea?  Do you like chatting with strangers? Are you interested in something Japanese?  If so, you may be interested in joining this Christmas tea party at Hyogo Prefectural Government Cultural Centre on 12th December, Saturday.  

Apparently Hyogo Prefecture and Western Australia have been sister states since 1981!  Hyogo is very close to Shiga, and the capital city of Hyogo is Kobe city - a famous for its international port, and being expensive and high class city.  Now I feel that Perth and I are closer :) 

“Chatterbox Christmas Par-tea” - a tea party is held at 3pm to 5pm at the cultural centre.  There are going to be a writer, Anne Norman, reading her book, and someone playing shakuhachi - a Japanese musical instrument.  Not only that, but also a demonstration of Japanese tea ceremony, free tasting etc.  If you like tea and want to know more about Japan / Japanese tea, this gathering may be interesting to you.

And!  I’m going to be there with a lady who is planning to do a simple tea party.  Actually I’m interested to see how to prepare Japanese tea.  I don’t think I know the proper way to do…  I will be displaying some Bagelier food there as well, and of course people can buy those

Fine Weekend

It’s been hot, dry and now I can feel it’s summer finally!  This weekend I could do many things listed on my to-do-list and I feel great :)  I could wash my car ( I was dying to wash it for few months already), finish shopping for Christmas, etc.

Oh, one thing I’ve been wanting to do but haven’t done -  I’ve been wanting to go to this new ramen noodle shop “Arigataya” in Northbridge for one month, but no time to go!   This shop is owned by Japanese people who used to own a ramen shop in Tokyo, Japan.  According to my friends who tried the noodle in Arigataya, this shop currently has just few menu such as “Sho-yu (soy sauce)”, “Shio (salt)”, and “Tsuke-men (noodle to be eaten with dipping sauce)”.  The chef is trying to add more menu at the moment.  Has anyone been there already?  If so, let me know how if you like their ramen

Another thing, there are delicious Bagelier sweets available at Wasabi & Green Tea!  Macadamia Cantuccini -  three colored (plain, green tea and chocolate) crisp biscuit with heaps of Macadamia nuts, and Almond Fingers - moist  finger size cookie with  almond meal and almond slices.