Posted July 27th, 2011 in Eat out in Perth | No Comments »
It wasn’t a perfect day to go sightseeing on Monday as it was raining, but we did. We took D’s parents to Mandurah just to have lunch and walk around. …Well, we couldn’t really walk around much because it started to rain pretty hard while we arrived.
We went to Cicerello’s to have Fish n Chips. The interior of this restaurant is cute – like a log house. There is a fish tank just like the one in Fremantle, but smaller.
We ordered 2 senior deals – which comes with seafood chowder soup, 1 fish and chips, coffee (black or flat white), and a slice of black forrest cake -, and 2 seafood baskets to share.
The presentation of the dishes was much better than Fremantle restaurant. The tartar sauce came in a oyster shell. The coleslaw salad tasted better and fresher too.
The hot soup was served straight away 🙂 It was creamy, tasty, and a great body-warmer!
I was quite hungry when we arrived there, but these fried stuff made me full quickly and D had to finish most of the food. Well, he was happy to do so anyway.
The coffee was nice too. While eating I had to warm up milk for Hiro, and asked a mug of hot water from the coffee counter. The staffs were all friendly.
Hiro seemed to enjoy watching the fishes.
Afterwards we headed to Mandurah Centro shopping centre to walk around. It’s shame that it was raining. Walking on Mandurah Terrace would be much better!
a
Posted July 26th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »
The other night I was invited for dinner with in-laws to Tony Romas on Hay street. At first I didn’t want to go, because I’ve been doing “night time routine” for Hiro for almost 5 months now and didn’t want to mess it up. He normally takes bath around 6pm then feeds, and goes to bed around 7pm. But, sisters were saying “it should be ok~” , and I know I should be doing some trials of taking him out at night as our flight with Cathay Pacific is midnight. So we all went out.
Before we go, I searched the topic on internet and read someone saying “Don’t do it! My baby didn’t sleep afterwards at all and it was a nightmare”. Hmmmm…. bit scary, but we should try it anyway! The dinner booking was at 18:30, so we bathed him around 17:30 and fed him until he fell asleep.
When I put him in a capsule he woke up, but stayed very quiet and looked drowsy. He fell asleep in the car. Yey 😀
At Tony Romas, we started with few entrees : garlic bread and onion loaves.
I was very hungry that night, and ordered regular-size St Louis Rib (pork ribs with choice of sauce : Original, Carolina Honeys, Blue Ridge Smokies or Tony Roma’s Red Hots – I had Carolina Honeys). D ordered St Louis Sampler (a dozen of ribs with all the 4 sauces) . Boy, it was a big portion!
I did finish mine, and helped eating few ribs from D’s plate too. 😀
Hiro stayed asleep while we were dining. Everyone was asking “Is there really a baby in the stroller?! Maybe you left him in the cot in the house!.” But when we were about to leave the restaurant, he started moving and opened his eyes. In-laws started talking to him, so he was completely awake when we put him in the car. ….. Screaming and screaming… He didn’t shut up… Because he was screaming so hard, his voice started to be dried and high-tone. Poor baby…
When we got home, I quickly took him out from the capsule and held him in his cot room. He then fell asleep, and didn’t wake up when I put him on the cot. He stayed sleep until 2 am!
His routine went back to normal from the next day, and he’s been good. I’m glad to know that taking him out at night won’t mess up the routine we’ve established. Crying hard part (because he was exhausted and sleepy) is a bit of worry to me, but I’ll think about what I can do about it before out flight. I heard a baby hammock will do good job on the plane.
a
Posted July 21st, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 5 Comments »
Today I went to Target to grab some toys for Hiro, and it was CRAZY!!!!
This Target opens at 9am, and I arrived there 10 past 9. Then I noticed few mums with bubs and kids already leaving the car park. The car park was full. It’s not a big shopping mall, just Target and some other small shops, so those people must be after toys at Target’s toy sale!
I run inside the shop, with Hiro in Baby Bjorn, then I was surprised to see so many people in Target. It was crazy. The shop opened 10 minutes ago, and some toys that I was going to get were already sold out.
I made a list of toys I wanted to buy a day before, but I was overwhelmed buy the atmosphere and bought few more… :p
One thing I really wanted to buy was this baby walking chair thing. Because Hiro keeps trying to stand up, step forward, and jump a lot (with support) these days, I thought this was a perfect thing for him to play at the moment.
Others are spoons, a toy for a cot, and toys for his cousins and my friends’ babies.
When I saw my in-law buying lots of toys for her first son few years ago, I thought she had bought too many toys for the boy. I didn’t know that each toy actually has meaning and supports baby grows.
Now I’m at home, longing to have a cup of hot coffee…. I’m so tired. Wait, Hiro seems to be bored now. I’ve gotta play with him, feed, and put him to sleep. Then I get my time… (only 30 minutes though, as he only sleeps maximum 30 minutes during the day)!
a
Posted July 20th, 2011 in Food | 2 Comments »
I guess it’s not only me who gets craving for a hot bagel on a cold day.
The crusty, hard bagel is something I need to have once in awhile. This morning I baked few bagels – made with soy milk.
The bagel contains kina-ko (Japanese soy powder) paste inside. It turned out to be not too sweet, just right for me. 🙂
The hard crust was something I was just looking for. All my in-laws don’t like hard bread (they love soft & fluffy bread), so I guess I’m the only one who needs to finish them up. … Well, I don’t think it’ll be a hard job! 😀
a
Posted July 18th, 2011 in Perth WA | 2 Comments »
It was another beautiful weekend. Perth’s winter sometimes gets quite warm during the day, almost like spring!
On sunny Sunday we headed to Fremantle market. Some people were wearing halve sleeves.
I wanted to go to Target, but first we went to the Fremantle market to have a browse. The usual zakka shop “A Maize Homeware” , then went inside to walk around.
From ramen noodle to Turkish sweets, there are always something you can munch on at this market. Munch on fresh fruits, munch on pastries, munch on donut, etc etc.
We felt little hungry, so queued at the hotdog stall to get some Bratwurst hot dogs. D was thinking to go to Jus Burger which is located in front of market, but I insisted that one hotdog would be enough for a snack.
The soup from the stall Soul Food looked good too.
Then I found this place selling hand made Aboriginal collectibles True Blue products. When we were looking around, a shop staff taught me each painting on those plates has meaning. She picked one handcrafted wooden bowl, and told me that the painting on this bowl means “love and friendship”. Other ones have other meaning, like “travel and coming home” and “family”.
I bought the “love and friendship” for my friend, and “3 families” for us. It was fun looking for items while thinking about the meaning of its illustration.
The smell of body spray “Kakadu plum and Macadamia nuts” sold there was lovely, so I bought it too. 🙂
We didn’t go to Target in the end and headed home. It was a good day. 🙂
Posted July 14th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | No Comments »
Someone says it will be much easier when the baby becomes 3 month old, but in Hiro’s case, it was the 4th month.
He “knows” that night = sleeping time. Even if he takes lots of nap during the day, after bath time and feeding at 7 pm he fells asleep straight away. He wakes up around 12am – 1am, then feed, sleep, until 6am. It’s been like this for last few weeks!
He stays awake longer during the day, wanting to play. He now rolls over to his back when he is on tummy. (it might be because of his heavy head ?) He makes lots of bubbles and sometimes need to wear a bib. He used to sleep through in a capsule while we are out, but now he wants to look around people and places.
We went to a Japanese play group with my friend and her baby this week, and I’m glad I did. As I don’t speak much Japanese to him (I try, but English comes out), I think it’s a good chance for him to get used to Japanese environment.
Other kids were older than Hiro and friend’s baby, so they’re just watching kids running around and playing games. Hiro was so curious about other little people and kept looking at them. When he is older he can do things like drawing, running, jumping, reading, and singing!
s
Posted July 13th, 2011 in Food | 2 Comments »
My friend visited Hiro the other day, with lots and lots of lemons from her yard. It’s such a nice gift… I love lemons – they are great for cooking, and also look lovely by just leaving them on a plate in the kitchen. Especially, in winter, lemons are great source of vitamins!
I’ve got lots of mint leaves in the garden too.
Hot lemon mint tea made with fresh lemons and mint leaves. 🙂 Perfect refreshing hot drink in winter, isn’t it?
Served with hot sweet potato dumplings.
This chewy dumpling is one of my favorite sweets. I love chewy food 🙂
Mash cooked sweet potato, and mix with tapioca flour, then blanch in boiling water until it floats. drizzled with palm sugar syrup. It can be served with coconut cream too.
I love the food which I can enjoy the natural taste of its own 😀
Posted July 4th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »
Today Hiro turned 4 month old!!!
He now reaches his arms forward when he is on tummy. He may start crawling soon…??
And, lots of saliva and lots of eating his fingers (and fist). He grabs things and triesto put into his mouth. It has started….
I made balls of chocolate cake – I call them “choco cake ball pops”. The recipe is for Italian style chocolate cake, so it was very rich and sweet. The half of them are already in our tummy. (not Hiro’s) I will post the recipe later.
The air is really cold this morning. It is winter, yap. I bought Vicks Warm Steam Vaporizer to put in Hiro’s room. He doesn’t have any coughing or breathing problem, but I wanted the air to be moist when he sleep at night. This one works good, you can use it without adding the Vics inhalant, and the warm steam makes room warm too. But, it’s super noisy (noise of water boiling) …. Hiro woke up few times during night because of the noise 🙁
The sun is out today. We may go out later ! 🙂
Posted June 28th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »
This green turtle is his current favourite.
A cozy afternoon…
He was crying and crying, trying to catch the turtle….
Then, dozing off…
After this, he woke up few times, crying again, and finally caught the turtle in his hand and went back to sleep while holding it.
a
Posted June 23rd, 2011 in Eat out in Perth | No Comments »
It was a beautiful day yesterday – blue sky and gentle wind. After doing laundry and going walking to the park with Hiro, I took D’s parents for lunch at Sizzler.
As I only had one Rotiboy (a sweet bun from Indonesia) at 5am, I was super hungry. I could eat a horse… I ordered a Sizzler complete lunch which came with salad bar, drink bar, and today’s grill (Wednesday was small rump steak and chips). D had the same, and parents had basa grill and standard rump steak.
D’s dad always bring his own sambal (Indonesian chili sauce : the red bottle next to cheesy toast)) to any restaurant :p
My appetite is really huge… My bro used to say my stomach is a black hole. I had several trips to the salad bar with plateful of salads, plus 2 cups of pumpkin soup and some drinks.
And I finished my small rump steak too.
I concluded my lunch with a cup of hot camomile tea, and we all headed home with full stomach.
Hiro was sleeping through the day out. He always keep sleeping when we take him out on the travel capsule and stroller. ::)
a
Posted June 22nd, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 4 Comments »
Hire wakes up every 4 – 5 hours at night for a feed. It was quite disturbing when someone woke me up while I was comfortably snuggling in a warm bed and having a deep sleep, but now I’m starting to like the mid-night feeding time. One of the reason might be that I’m used to be woken up by the noise Hiro makes, but I also like sitting on a chair in a dark quiet room while I’m still half asleep. While I feed him, I think (dream?) about the things that I want to do in near future, like, how I want Hiro’s first birthday to be, what to make for the party, what furniture I should buy for our new house (if we buy), the floor plan of the house, what to buy in Japan, what to make for Hiro’s first solid, etc. I can’t think about these things with busy head during the day, so the night time feeding is the perfect time for me to just day-dream about my future plan.
Before, quite a long time ago, one of my friends went back to Japan for good and she gave me some interior magazines that she collected while she was in Australia. I didn’t open these magazines to read until recently, but now they are great reading materials during Hiro’s nap time and pumping milk. Thinking about designing the house with furniture and interior is quite fun.
Recently I ordered a campus print of Hiro’s photo online and am waiting for it to be delivered. I also have a big flame of Hiro’s hands and feet sculpture. They are going to be on the wall when we buy a house 🙂
Hiro smiles and laugh a lot, and seems to have discovered his hands. He tries to touch the turtle plush toy and also put his whole hand into him mouth and suck. Since I take lots of photos of him, I’m been sorting out his photos to make an album online. D and I made our wedding photo album online at Blurb, and this time I’m making one for Hiro. I hope I can finish it and get delivered before we go to Japan so that we can show it to my families too 🙂
a
Posted June 19th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | No Comments »
The other day Hiro and I visited our friends’ house. My friend’s son is almost 1.5 years old, and I’ve known him since he was 0 day old. They’ve also known Hiro since he was 0 day old too. We sometimes catch up at her house, cafe or park. Her son and Hiro can’t really play together yet as he can walk around but what Hiro does is sleeping… I hope to see them running around together sometime next year 😀
While we were at their house, she started making pizza for lunch. (from scratch, of course) Her husband works at a famous Italian restaurant in Perth, and he helped cutting the ingredients and making the dough (well, she ordered him to .. :p ) It’s so fun watching them talking (arguing?)
Hiro took nap shortly after we arrived their house (sleepy head…), but woke up just before the pizza is done in the oven (though he can’t yet taste the delicious food).
He is so relaxed as if it’s his own house.
Pizza is ready…
Three of us (and Hiro on the side) enjoyed the pizza and home-made pumpkin soup ♪
a
Posted June 8th, 2011 in Food | No Comments »
Today’s breakfast – chicken porridge and spring rolls 🙂
Eating hot breakfast gives you energy and power to kick start a day!
Porridge is very easy to prepare in a slow cooker, and needs just two ingredients: rice and chicken mince. 1.5 cups of rice makes about 6 serves. (my old post → recipe) I usually eat it with toppings of fried shallots & lemongrass, spring onions and cut chili. Sometimes with char kwee, parsley leaves, char siu pork, or omelette, too.
I made the spring rolls with leftover vegetables from coleslaw. The weather is bit too cold for salad now, so I used the shredded cabbage and red onion to the spring roll stuffing. Add some chicken mince and other vegetables (if you have), and season with oyster sauce, shrimp paste, sweet chili, soy sauce and ginger. Don’t forget to thicken the liquid with cornflour + water. Then, wrap the mixture in spring roll sheets, and deep-fry. Here you are – a delicious crispy low-budget snack. 🙂
Now, off to mothers’ group!
a
Posted June 6th, 2011 in Perth WA | No Comments »
How’s everyone’s long weekend? I actually didn’t know that today was public holiday until Sunday…
On Sunday I had lunch with in-laws (sisters, brothers, and a nephew) at Gourmet on Wray. It was such a beautiful day – I was wearing a jacket but it was pretty warm. I had a chicken burger, and D had beef burger with chili jam.
He said the chili jam tasted different from last time he tried. He’s been making his own chili jam at home, and he thinks his is the best :p
After that we went to Fremantle market to look for something for my friend in Hokkaido. There were so many people in Fremantle… especially around Cappuccino street and market area. I didn’t want Hiro to be in the crowd for too long (as he might catch some virus) so we headed home quickly.
After we got home, three of us headed to the park near the house and walked around a bit. Hiro was so curious of birds and trees… but fell asleep in the carry bag :p
Oh my gosh… look at the chubby bub.
It’s getting really cold at night and morning. Take care not to catch cold, everyone 🙂
a
Posted May 31st, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »
Hmmm … Hiro doesn’t drink much milk at night these days, and sometimes keeps waking up. During the day is ok, he drinks around 150ml – 180ml per feed. At night, just 60ml per feed. He doesn’t take long nap during the day, and we do play-time at least once a day, so he should be tired, sleepy, and hungry at night. And, he is happy during and after bath time, but once I finish dressing him he starts crying – every night. Is there any reason? Too tired? Or he know he’s going to be put to sleep?
I go out with Hiro very often now. Just two of us. Bit boring to stay at home all day… and I keep eating something if I’m at home. 🙁 But, I ‘m still not 100% comfortable about going shopping with Hiro. How people go shopping with babies?? I mean, I can’t push a stroller and a shopping trolly at a same time. Just carry a baby on shoulder? Using a baby sling or a carrier? Or just put him/her on the shopping trolly? Every time I go shopping I can’t buy big stuff, as I push Hiro in a stroller.
It’s been raining since yesterday, as forecast predicted. Outside is still dark around 6:30 am. I feel that there is no “autumn” in Perth. It’s hot in summer, then suddenly the air becomes very cold. In Japan, autumn is very distinguished. The sky is high, the air is cool down, less humidity, dragon flies everywhere, rice fields turns brown colour, and mountains start to change their colours to yellow, orange and red.
In Perth it’s winter now (It should be. It’s almost June), and it’s the middle of rainy season in Japan. Very humid season….
Two more seasons, then we are all in Japan 😀
a
Posted May 27th, 2011 in Perth WA | No Comments »
D, I and Hiro headed to Hillary yesterday to pick-up a bottle warmer which we bought on eBay. We were just thinking to buy one as we warm up BM (expressed breast milk) very often everyday, then we found this at very cheap price.
On the way back we dropped by at IKEA. They are doing a campaign that they take the cost of your food and drinks off your store purchase when you dine at IKEA restaurant – so, the food and drinks are basically free if you have something to buy. (This offer is until 27 May (today!))
When we arrived we headed to IKEA restaurant straight away – needed some sweets! After the tea time, we went though the store.
We bought two clock, some kitchen stuff and a canopy to put on Hiro’s cot.
After the shopping, we decided to take more advantage of this campaign and headed to the restaurant again….
And had early dinner…
Total we spent at IKEA today was less than $10.00!
We were so tired afterwards (spent for 2 hours there) … Hero slept very good at night 🙂
a
Posted May 25th, 2011 in Perth WA | 3 Comments »
Hmmm.. my friends, who are not married or don’t have kids, stopped contacting me since I gave birth to Hiro! I know they think I might be busy taking care of baby and won’t have time to go out or even answer the phone, but I actually do. I do go out because I get bored if I stay home all day. I do have my own time as D works at home and loves taking care of Hiro. We sometimes even fight who feeds him with expressed milk.
I emailed/sms/called them saying “let’s meet up”, but then I realised I’m the person who always asks for a meet up – even before I had Hiro. Doesn’t anyone want to see me? … ok, I know it sounds bit crazy – clearly I was having a negative thought. I even emailed mum asking “do you still remember me?”. :p
Just to take the stress off, I visited my friend who recently moved into a new house. She has two girls – 12 years old and 7 years old – and is working as a teacher assistant in Perth. She also has studied baking here and we used to work at a bakery in Claremont together : that’s how I met her.
Homemade cake and freshly brewed flat white. 🙂
As she used to work as a kindergarden teacher in Shinjuku, Tokyo for 10 years before migrating to Perth, she knows a lot about babies/kids. And, I knew I could get some advice on parenting (as I still don’t have much idea of it).
She gave me some Japanese books about baby’s food and health to read at home, and talking to her gave me a clearer idea of having and raising kids in Perth. I didn’t know that kindergarden here is only for 1 year! And, there is pre-elementary school?
In Japan, kindergarden is for kids between 3 and 5 years old. Then, 6 years of elementary school followed by 3 years of junior high and 3 years of high school. Here, 1 year of kindergarden (not compulsory), 1 year of pre-elementaly school, then 7 years of elementary school. I see, I see… I’m really glad I could talk to her about these stuff. I can’t imagine Hiro going to school yet (how he is going to look like??), but it’s never too early for me to plan and prepare for what’s going on in future. 🙂
Posted May 20th, 2011 in Ume's Thought | No Comments »
Oh it’s been raining very hard since early morning today… The sky is white, outside is noisy, and the air is cold 😀 I just had hot breakfast made by D.
My friend in Shiga is pregnant with her first baby boy, and we’ve been emailing each other every day for the last few months to talk about pregnancy and delivery. She is giving birth at one of the most famous/popular ladies clinic in Shiga, and I used to go there too for check-ups while I was in Japan. Thy are so successful that the clinic has three buildings across Shiga now, and the current director/doctor is my mum’s classmate from her high school. And, I was born at this clinic! Father of current directer delivered me before he retired. 🙂
Except the original building, the two new buildings are pretty fancy… The one where my friend is staying is located near the Biwa Lake shore, and she will be having a full course of French foods after delivery. And, she can chose to have either facial treatment or reflexology therapy using the choice of aroma oil during the stay. Sounds very nice!
My friend’s due date is May 30, and she is finally going back to her parents’ house to stay there until the baby is born.
Staying at parents house before and after delivery is very common in Japan, and husband usually stays at home alone. I asked her if her husband is going to stay with her in the hospital when the labour starts. She said he really wants to, but it depends: if her labor starts around Wednesday night to Thursday, he will be able to see when the baby arrives this world. But if not, husband will have to wait the news at his office. It’s just because he doesn’t work on Thursday.
Sigh… Japanese company is so strict and unreasonable. It may be once-in-a-lifetime experience, but his boss doesn’t let him leave the office even for a minute. It’s Japan thing… Some people can’t even visit their sick parent in the hospital because of work. I think it’s just stupid… This is one of the reason I like Australia.
Posted May 17th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »
Here is Hiro’s hand and feet sculpture when he was just a few weeks old (post). It was ready to be picked up around Easter holiday, but we kept thinking “let’s go and pick it up next week” “oh well, maybe next week”…. until now. Finally we did go out and pick it up from them, and now it is in our room. 🙂
Looks great 😀
Oh my gosh… He looks so skinny when he was getting his hands and feet done!
Hiro’s best shoot last week ↓↓↓
Posted May 14th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 6 Comments »
Oh boy… it’s been very busy around here. I feel like I’m working 2 full-time jobs! I really need to do something with my hair and face…. ah, I need massage and facial (><).
Hiro is doing ok, he seems to know that night time is the sleeping time. After each feed he goes to sleep straight away and doesn’t wake up for 3 ~ 4 hours. …oh, sometimes he makes some noise or a cry “ogya-!” “aa—n…!” then I rush to the cot room, but he is asleep! Is he dreaming?
He likes when I undress him to change a nappy or clothes – he used to cry a lot before, but now he just can’t stop smiling. His smile is so funny… and cute. And, he sticks his tongue out when we do that in front of him. He copies!
… I notice I show photos of Hiro with same clothes over and over a lot :p And on a same play mat. Many many similar shots…
I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been busy and feeling some stress, but my breast milk supply is decreasing! 🙁 I know it because I express milk and can see how much I made on the bottle. I do eat lots of sweets lately (maybe because I’m tired), and I hear eating sweets slows down the breast milk supply. I don’t know if it’s true though. Some people say eating chocolate and relaxing is a good thing to do in order to produce more milk… Confusing! I feel hungry but don’t know what I want to eat, plus I sometimes don’t feel like cooking, so I keep munching on bread with spreads and cookies/chocolate… I should be eating proper food. Ummm I hope it’s just a temporary thing and my milk supply will come back when things around me go slow down.
Posted May 11th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh….!!
I just received a great news from D!
Hiro is going to have another nephew / niece at the end of this year… 😀
D’s sister is 11weeks pregnant. I wonder how it was when I was at week 11. Was I already feeling strange??
Then I looked at my scrap book to find out. I was already feeling tiredness and sleepiness long before week 11. Week 11 was when I visited my OB the first time, and saw a little peanut on the screen. 🙂
It’s so exciting! I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that it may be a girl…!
Yesterday was my first day of mother’s group gathering, and I was surprised to see Hiro to be the biggest baby in the room. All other babies were so young and tiny!
Watching these babies reminded me of baby Hiro… and how I was struggling to even hold him and feed him during the first few weeks. I never thought I would feel this way, but I miss all of those struggles. And, I miss being pregnant! (wow) It was a long time of giving-up-things period, but now I miss the kicks I felt in my tummy and the excitement for the birth of a new baby.
By the way, here is how D described our reaction when we heard that sister is pregnant … ↓↓↓
Posted May 9th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 2 Comments »
It was my first ever mother’s day since Hiro was born. I still receive a strange feeling when someone calls me “mum”. …. Oh, Hiro doesn’t call me that yet (of course), just D and my friends calling me “mum” instead of my name!
D made me some yummy breakfast. I know the croissant is little burnt and the hash brown is just a frozen one, but everything was lovely. His scrambled eggs is getting better and better. 😀 He didn’t even know how to make it few years ago!
It was a perfect Sunday – the weather was pretty, but we didn’t go out. We were going to, but we lost track of time :p
These days, Hiro sleeps well during the night (yey!) and wakes up when the sun is out. We did lots of play time and tummy time.
He can lift up this head pretty good now.
His face changes in every angle! The faces when he is asleep and awake are different too.
Posted May 8th, 2011 in Perth WA | 2 Comments »
The other day I needed to go to Carousel shopping centre, so D, Hiro and I headed there. On the way, we stopped at a Chinese restaurant in Leeming to have Yum Cha. The prices are bit more expensive compared to the restaurants in Northbridge, but their service is great and the owner is very friendly.
We had the usuals : prawn dumplings, shumai, spareribs, ginger tripes, fried squid, and chicken feet. Yes, we are huge eaters! 😀
At Carousel shopping centre, I was surprised when a man came to us asking for $100. Yes, $100, not $10! Why did he think we’d have $100 to give to a stranger? I was in the car with Hiro, but I nearly jumped out from the car to say something to the guy and help D out.
And, surprisingly, it happened twice on the same day… Different guy, asking for money just before we wanted to leave. Our car had already started moving, but the guy kept following us.(>人<;)
a
Since when this area became so shady? Now I remember there was a car burglar at this car park last year. Ummm… we’d better make sure there’s no one around when you get into the car at car parks, and lock the door as soon as everyone got inside the car!
a
Posted May 4th, 2011 in Eat Out in Perth - Japanese Food -, Ume and Baby | 4 Comments »
I just realised that it’s May already…! It’s the middle of Golden Week (long weekend with public holidays) in Japan. Sakura should be all gone by now (in the main island / south), and it should be getting warmer and warmer soon over there. I haven’t heard from my family (dad and bro side) for a while so I emailed my bro to see what they are up to. I thought bro would be enjoying this long weekend, but he said he and dad have been working all-day at their rice fields. It’s that season already.
I haven’t been back to Japan during summer for almost 6 years now (because I don’t like hot & humid climate), but I remember I helped working in the rice fields a lot while I was there during my homecoming in 2005. I helped weeding (using a machine), bringing lunch to them, harvesting the rice, and bringing all the crops to the mill. The job is hard, but it’s very interesting. I like doing that type of physical work. Sometimes I took Mimi (our dog) to the rice field, and watched dad and bro working from the side of the rice field with her.
Ah, I miss eating our rice!
Back to Perth : It’s very cold at night and morning, but the temperature goes up to mid-20’s (or close to 30℃) during the day. I need to dress Hiro twice.
One of D’s sister has been visiting here from Jakarta, and yesterday was her last day here. She comes here quite often so we didn’t do anything special – besides she likes watching tv all the time at home. But yesterday I had to buy some stuff from Fremantle so we all went out for a quick drive.
We picked up some sushi from Oceans in the Woolstores on the way back. It was actually my first time to try their food. I go to Fremantle quite often, but I’ve never had a chance to buy anything from there. I believe the owner is Japanese (my friend used to work there before), and the location is good – close to the train station and car parks. We bought some mixed sushi rolls which were already packed for take-away. The sushi was not bad and I enjoyed it. Much better than Sushi Sushi …
Posted April 28th, 2011 in Japan, Ume and Baby | No Comments »
The other day we went out to get passport photo taken. He (no, I) chose to wear the UNIQLO suit we got from Hokkaido friend. It was still little too big for Hiro, but it could fit.
Oh my gosh, I should have called up the photo place beforehand so that they could have prepared for the photo shoot for a newborn…. There’s only one staff there, and she took about 20 minutes to look for a white cloth and decide where to take photos. Anyway, after several tries and milk spitting up, we could manage to take one ok photo.
As Hokkaido friend’s son(my former student)’s birthday is coming up, I have been searching for a nice gift – a birthday present, and also to say thanks for the gift for Hiro. The last email I received from her said that she uses Australian brand cosmetic called “Coral Moon”. I’ve never heard the brand before, but after searching online I found that this brand is pretty famous in Japan (more search results in Japanese than in English).
Coral Moon is operated in Noosa, Queensland, producing the natural skin care and aromatherapy products. I wonder if there is any shop selling Coral Moon products in Perth. Their products looks good, I may want to try one. 🙂
I’m pretty sure I’ll buy one or two Coral Moon items for my friend, but I’ve gotta think about the gift for her son too. He is turning 12 (I believe) this year…. Wow I can’t believe it. He was so little when I was teaching English to him in Japan!
I think I will look for something Australian or English related item. I wonder how good his English is… I know it’s very hard to keep track of other languages if you don’t use them. But, Hakodate is a famous city in Hokkaido and I’m sure there’re many foreign people living/traveling around the area. Maybe he’s got one or two English-speaking friend? 🙂 Hope to see them in Hokkaido or Perth sometime in near future.
Posted April 25th, 2011 in Food | No Comments »
It’s been a little warm again the last few days, but yesterday was raining and the air was nicely cool. This Easter holiday has been a nice and quiet one for me, as all in-laws are overseas and D and I don’t have any plan. It’s good, I like days like this 🙂
I made some white soup with chicken and leftover vegetables. I love eating soup all year around. It’s hearty, and you can eat many kinds of vegetables at once.
<White Chicken Soup>
- 300g chicken breast
- 1 onion (large)
- 1/2 zucchini
- 2 potatoes
- 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup milk
* You can add/replace with any kinds of vegetables!
a
- Slice chicken into bite pieces. Dice onion, zucchini and potatoes.
- Heat 1 tbs of oil in a deep pan, and cook chicken and onion until the onion is almost transparent. Add zucchini, and pour chicken stock to the pan. Add potatoes and bring to the gentle boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for few minutes.
- Add the mixed vegetables and milk to the pan. Season. Simmer further few minutes.
a
Posted April 20th, 2011 in Ume and Baby | 4 Comments »
We were wearing summer clothes just few weeks ago, but…
now, thick long sleeves and a blanket is a must at night. (He looks grumpy, I know! He just woke up… )
Someone says that the baby will start to settle down after 6 weeks. Hiro has been ok, he wakes up every 3~4 hours now, and drinks more milk. At 6th week check-up, he weighed 4.4 kg. He smiles sometimes, and he knows it’s a feeding time when we put a bib on his neck. (he changes his mouth/lips into a sucking-shape)
Since he was born, we tried to make a routine – we wanted him to know that the night time is a sleeping time. We bath him around 7pm every night, then dress him in pj, feed, and put him to sleep in the cot in a dark room. During the day, we let him sleep in the living room.
But, he doesn’t want to go to sleep at night sometimes – and when we’re tired we just want to take him to the living room and let him sit on a rocking chair. That’s what D did the other day, and that caused an argument between us.
After 7pm feed, Hiro didn’t want to sleep and kept crying in the cot. D took him from the cot and brought him to the noisy living room, trying to settle him down. Hiro wasn’t sleepy, his eyes were wide open, so D left him in the living room. I thought “ok, just until his next feed”. At 10pm Hiro was hungry again, and D fed him in the living room. Then, without trying, D left Hiro in the chair in front of the tv. I know D was just tired and wanted to go back watching tv and doing some work on the computer in the living room, but I didn’t want Hiro to be surrounded by the noise from tv and the blight light at night.
We argued, but then I started to wonder if it’s really necessary to make a routine – and make him stay in the dark and quiet room at night. I sought for the answer, and yes, it’s actually important to let him know the difference between night and day. So what we have been doing was right, after all.
It’s sometimes hard – he cries, and just doesn’t want to sleep sometimes. And, I’m a tv person, but I haven’t been in front of tv enjoying the drama/movies at night for weeks. I need to be impatient, I know, and now I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. Hiro started to sleep by himself if I leave him in the cot after settling down. I think he is learning…! and so am I.
Posted April 18th, 2011 in Ume's Thought | 6 Comments »
I know this must be the hormone that affects many women after having a baby, or just because of the daunting weather we had yesterday, but I just couldn’t help but think negative about everything yesterday. I was just tired of doing same things over and over everyday… I know it won’t be forever and I should be more concentrating on Hiro’s growth and be happy about having such a beautiful baby. But when I look at the calendar and clock I realize time passes so quickly and I feel like I’m missing something outside the world!
Before I was pregnant with Hiro, I was under lots of stress. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my life and should have been doing for the future. I wasn’t really happy with my situation that time. But then, I changed the view of thinking and realized that the worry I had was nothing but just my ego. I realized what the most important thing in my life is, and since then I’ve been pretty happy with my life and more easygoing. But yesterday, the feeling came back to me. Not all of them, but some.
Why yesterday, but not today? Yeah it must be either my hormone or the weather. I didn’t want to talk to anybody, not even with D (especially because we had a fight over a little thing the day before), so I went out for a drive by myself for a while. Right after I left home, I started to feel much better. Staying at home all the time is NOT good! Then I went back home and emailed my mum and friends (still I wasn’t in the mood for talking). After chatting with them over the emails I felt much much better. I wish my family and close friends were near I live.
Then I thought about my family and Japan. The happy memories. You know, actually the real life is tough. We dream things, but the reality is not exactly the same as what we dreamed. I keep saying that “I miss Japan” “I can’t wait to go back to my home”, but the things are not the same as it used to be. My family use to be 6 people, but now there’re only 3. My mum doesn’t live there anymore. My dog and cat are dead. And everyone is getting old… Writing this makes me feel depressed, but it’s the reality. Yet I still live in my memory and want to go back there – the place where reminds me of the life I had before.
Anyway, I’m sure it’s just an Autumn talk… We’ve gotta live!
Posted April 12th, 2011 in Japan | No Comments »
3 am – outside is, of course, dark and quiet, and the air is nice and cool. It’s been almost 6 weeks since I started being awake this early, and I’m used to it already.
After feeding and putting Hiro back to sleep, I sometimes sit on the cozy sofa in the living room and take a nap, or stay awake until his next feed. After awhile I start to feel hungry and make myself breakfast.
This morning I felt like toasted ham, cheese and salad sandwich. With black coffee (decaf), of course. And, smelling the toasted bread reminded me of “morning” (= breakfast). In Japan, cafes offer cheap breakfast and it’s called “morning”.
Going to a neighbouring cafe with my dad to have “morning” on weekend morning has been a ritual for a long time. That’s what we do every weekend morning while I’m back in Japan. The “morning” starts from 8am and finishes around 10am. I’m normally awake before 8am, and when dad wakes up we head to a cafe together.
The “morning” is not a special food, really. It’s just a set of salad, a hard boiled egg, toast (thick slice!) and drink. (depends on the cafe) It costs just few hundreds yen and is nothing special to talk about, but I just love having this “morning” in a cafe with my dad (and sometimes with mum and bro). It reminds me “oh, I’m in Japan with my family now.”
Now I’m here in Perth enjoying the “morning” time alone, and I miss the family “morning”.
Posted April 10th, 2011 in Perth WA | No Comments »
It’s so good to have Internet back… For the last few days the Internet connection was on and off at my house, and couldn’t check emails/websites at all since last night. It was so frustrating as I had to do something online and also was expecting an email from someone.
As internet connection is very important for D’s job too, we needed to fix it asap. Lucky it’s weekend and he didn’t need to work. He called up ISP and it’s ok now, but I think we’d better to change ISP…
Since the rain 3 days ago, the weather’s really cooled down! Now we are wearing sweater and ugg boots, and D took out a heater from the shed. Such a sudden change..
I feel like I did a bit of things this week. We finally received Hiro’s birth announcement cards which I ordered online few days ago, and sent off to my families and friends in Japan. I printed out Hiro’s photos for making an album, bought some cosmetics online from Japan (because AUS$ is strong now) and had them send to my house (I will bring them back here when I go back home in few months), organised and filed some paperworks, etc etc. Other time, I do some cooking in the kitchen. I know I should be resting, but when I stay at home I just have to look for something to do… it’s my personality, and it’s tiring (*_*).
The biggest worry I had few days ago was Hiro’s constipation. I don’t know if it’s constipation, but he didn’t poop for 3 whole days… before then he used to poop once or twice in 2 days. The poop is not hard, so maybe I just worry too much, but every time I see his face goes red and trying to push something out, I just think that he may be in pain!
Another thing that’s been staying in my head is a HOLIDAY. Not the holiday to my home in Japan, but somewhere else! For some reason I started to think about Bali – and now I can’t wait to go there with three of us plus my dad and bro. I don’t know when it’ll be, but I’m sure it won’t happen anytime soon. Probably when Hiro is around 2 years old. I also have a dream going to Disneyland (either in America or Japan) and stay at the Disney resort! Staying in the Disney resort hotel has been a dream since I was young. I’ve been to Tokyo Disneyland few times but it’s very long time ago, and I’ve never stayed in the Disney resort before. I really want to go there with Hiro sometime, and stay at the hotel surrounded by Disney characters. I know it’s not cheap, but it’s ok to do it at least once in a life, I guess. Now I’ve gotta save up some money for the dream holiday!
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