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.

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