Chicken Katsu and Apple Store

Today it’s raining, but it had been wonderful weather here in Perth.  Warm, sunny spring.  Not now though… Heavy rain outside. News of Steve Jobs has been everywhere since Thursday. I knew him just as little as other people did, but D has been one of the people who admire Steve since long time ago.

I didn’t really think about how we started to use computers and Internet in everyday lives many years ago, until I saw the news. GUI, mouse… To think about it, we wouldn’t be leading our lives like today if Steve didn’t invent these gadgets… I can just say “sugoi” about him. He changed the way we live.

D wanted to visit Apple store yesterday, so we headed to city. We had quick lunch at Matsuri in Enex beforehand. This Matauri does special bent box for $6.00. The menu changes day to day, but yesterday was chicken katsu again. They keep 1 ~ 2 in the counter showcase so that busy people can just grab and run, but you can also ask for fresh-made.

The Apple shop was busy just like normal Saturdays. There’re flowers and fruits for Steve in front of the store, and people had written few words for him in Post-It and sticked to the shop windows. Few people were gathering around the flowers and taking photos.

Inside the store has been changed.  There are iPads placed next to each products, and customers can brows the info of the products on iPad.  You can call staff via iPad if you need assistance or purchase the item as well, by tapping the “call staff” button.

We bought a iPod Nano because D wanted to use it as a watch. New Nano has new watch faces, which you can also download online.

They look so cute! Colorful Nano would go with Carmit and Micky watch faces, but D bought dark silver and wants to get metal watch band, so he will probably use something less casual for the watch face, I guess.

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McDONALDS PLAY I SPY

My quick lunch at McDonald’s last week.

McDonald’s is doing this Play I Spy campaign, which could win you some prizes.  When you buy selected items from McDonald’s, the items come with Play I Spy stickers and 1 in 5 wins instantly!

I got McNuggets value meal and D got BigMac value meal, so we had 4 stickers in total to peel off….

Did I win something??   YES!!!!!!!  …. just a cup of coffee  But it’s better than nothing!  D didn’t win anything..

There’s also 2nd chance where you can enter to win unclaimed prizes.

Hmmmm, anyway, I did enjoy McNuggets.  I used to eat McNugget a lot back in Japan, and this is one of the foods I craved for while I was pregnant!  I normally get mustard and ketchup to accompany, but this time I only got mustard.  Yummm…

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Sweet Fix

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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A Rainy Day

It’s been cloudy for the last couple of days, but today it’s been raining since early morning.  The sky is white, and the air is cold.

I actually like the rainy day. Some people may get depressed feeling because it’s dark and cold, but it kinda make me feel relaxed.  I had pumpkin soup and toasted ham & cheese sandwich for brunch, and enjoyed it while listening to the sound of rain.

Oishii–!

I started tidying up my room yesterday, and found that I have so many things I actually don’t use. Clothes, zakka stuff, toys, kitchen tools…  I know I should through some of them away, or at least give them away to someone.  I’m still working on sorting these things out.  I can only do this while Hiro is sleeping (which is only 30 minutes every 4 hours), so I think it will take a while…  I’m Year of the Pig, so I can’t stop doing things once I started.  No wonder I dreamed about tidying up room last night. :p

I thought I should also remove all my kitchenware (plates, cups, etc) from kitchen and put them in a cardboard box, because I’m not using them and won’t need them until I move out this house. (I don’t know when though…)  Now the kitchen storage looks great.  I think in-laws will be happy when they come back here from Jakarta sometime next month.

It’s so funny that I have so many things for house even though I don’t need them.  Like, a frying pan, a panini press, cutlery, plates, etc.  I’m so ready to move out, I guess.

Wow, now it’s stormy outside.  I was going to go to a swimming pool to have a look at baby swimming class, but I’m not sure now.  It looks cold…  Probably afternoon.

A Beautiful Spring Day

It was bit cloudy yesterday morning.  I thought it was going to rain. I checked the weather on my iPhone and it had a illustration of half rain/half sunny.   The whole week seemed to be like that.

I felt like eating Japanese food in the morning, so I quickly prepared my breakfast.  Steamed rice, umeboshi (sour plum pickles), natto, seasoned nori, and osuimono (clear soup).  That’s it??? You ask.  Hmmm, it doesn’t seem to be a meal, does it?  But yes, it is to me.  I love soshoku (plain/simple diet).  Placed on a box of toy….  This is my dining table now.

During the day I took Hiro to a neighboring Duck Park for a walk.  The sun was blight then and it was a perfect weather for strolling in the park.  It was just after 1PM and there was no one around, except one mum and one baby girl sitting near the pond enjoying their quality afternoon.

This is what I love about Perth.  There are so many parks… almost everywhere.  The beautiful ones.  Lots of greens, lots of birds, lots of nature….  Walking through a quiet park in such a beautiful weather, I just wanted to scream! “I LOVE THIS”

For lunch, we headed to Northbridge because D wanted to buy some Indonesian noodles.  We went to the usual Vietnamese place on William street, again.

D ordered Pork Chop Rice and I ordered Mai Fun with Braised Chicken.  D loves this place because there’s always not many people inside.  Yesterday when we arrived, there’s no other customers- only us.  It was lucky because Hiro was screaming while we were eating our lunch.

We had a look inside Kong’s and VHT, but D couldn’t find what he was looking for.  D wanted this particular Indonesian instant noodles which we haven’t seen anywhere for a while.  Maybe it’s not permitted to import to Australia anymore.  We could go to other grocery shops to have a look, but we didn’t want to bother.  There are many Chinese grocery shops, but I wonder if there is any shop selling many Indonesian items.  Maybe the one in Market City in Canning Vale?  We’ll give it a try another day.

I actually wanted to go to Emma’s Seafood to buy some Japanese stuff too.  But it was bit too far to walk….  I felt like making kappamaki (roll sushi with cucumber).  I have lots of wasabi left at home.  Well, I will come back another time.

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