Chocolate Cake no Fruits

Yesterday was another stormy day…  Very windy with strong rain during the day and night.  I couldn’t sleep with one blanket because it was too cold.  Still now, it’s freezing inside my house and I just grabbed my thick cardigan from my room.  I saw a black hairy worm in the garage the other day and I thought it’s already spring, but now I feel like we are back to winter again.

I made a chocolate cake without fruits this time.  I hate delivering a decoration cake… so scary.  I keep thinking I may drop it and ruin the whole cake on the way.  Especially in a windy day like yesterday, I just had to drive super slow.

This cake doesn’t have any fruits or nuts, just Italian ganache, cocoa sponge, and cocoa cream – all chocolate!  I feel like eating like this chocolatey sweet once in awhile too.  Especially when I’m tired!

Today seems to be stormy too.  Everyone, drive safe – ☆

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PBC Expo and Pizza with The Lot

PBC Expo (Perth Pregnancy Babies & Children’s Expo) started yesterday, and D, Hiro and I headed to Claremont Showgrounds Exhibition Centre in the morning.  We assumed there’ll be more people on weekends.

It was around 12am when we arrived there, and the parking was full!  So many people with prams, as expected…  We wanted walk around fast, so we carried Hiro.  It was my first time going there, and I didn’t really search what’s there and how big the expo was.  I think I should have done it at least to check what exhibitors would be there.

Many exhibitors were offering free samples and discounts on their products.  At the entrance of the expo you can get a pamphlet of vouchers you can use at the stalls within the expo.  I didn’t even know these things and was wondering why people were handing those piece of paper to the exhibitors.  Soon I found out I had to tear the coupon out of the pamphlet and pass to the exhibitors in order to get the free samples.  I see I see…

I got so many free stuff and pamper bags.  I also bought some Curash bath-time moisturiser ($4.00), Heinz’s disposable bibs (5 for $1.00), and Sistema’s  set of baby feeding utensils and containers ($10.00).

We didn’t stay there for long (I think it was less than 1 hour) but many people seemed to enjoy the free stuff, talk to some experts (breastfeeding, postnatal depression, children’s health insurance etc), and the foods.  It could be fun going with mom friends.

At home, I wanted to clean up the fridge and decided to make pizza for dinner.  D likes eating salad rolls and keeps few containers of vegetables (say; tomato, red onion, lettuce, cucumber, etc) in the fridge, but once he runs out buns he doesn’t touch these containers and all the vegetables go bad  I hate wasting food, so I cut these left-over up and used as toppings for pizza.  I picked few leaves of basil from the garden and used it too.

Ummmm I think I put too much food on the pizza :p  Yes, I am a piggy…  But I like it with lots and lots of ingredients.  I added chopped bacon for D too (as he loves meaty one).  It was great – tasty, and the fridge is now clean!

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Grocery Expense

I started to record how much I spend on grocery each month, because I thought I might be spending too much for just 2 (& a half) people. When I look at the bank statement I sometimes wonder what I spent so much on, and so often (EFTPOS). I realized I go to Coles, WoolWorth and IGA few times a week… To think about it, we (just 2people) don’t need so much food in a week, and going grocery shopping few times a week is just too much!

I don’t know how much people normally spend for food each month, but I set a limit of $100 for August to see.  Now, it’s 10th of August and I already spent $180… :_(   ….  Maybe $100 for 2 people in a month was bit too tight, but it made me be more sensitive about spending money!  Since I’m not employed anymore I’ve gotta save as much as I can on everyday expenses…

Spud Shed isn’t really a place where you can buy “fresh” food, but things are very cheap. I just had to buy vegetables (because I can’t live without them), so I headed there to stock up my fridge. Some of the products weren’t something I wanted to buy (e.g. pre-packed vegetables : gone very soft, mandarins : obviously had been frozen) but some were ok. One whole Chinese cabbage for 99cents, a net of garlic for 99cents, iceberg lettuce for 99cents, a head of cauliflower for 29cents etc.  You’ve just gotta dig out the better quality one from the box (if there’s any).

We bought quite a lot, so I believe I won’t need to go grocery shopping for vegetables for awhile… The cart-full of food for $63!

By the way…..  About Japanese grocery shops in Perth.  What happened??   Nippon Food in Fremantle has closed, Super Fuji in Victoria Park has closed, and now Maruyu in Perth has closed for good.  Hmmmm, there is only one shop left (Nippon Food in Subiaco) which mainly sells Japanese goods and owned by a Japanese company in Perth.

I guess importing foods and goods from Japan is too expensive, and is not a good business?  There are so many similar products at Chinese or Korean shops anyway, and they are much cheaper.  They don’t have everything though, of course…    But I’m surprised to hear 3 shops closed all together around the same time.

Fremantle Market

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.

Support Net Niji-no-Kai

Support Net Niji No Kai is a not-for-profit and non-religion voluntary organization supporting frail aged, handicapped Japanese & other people, and mothers with young children in the Perth metropolitan area.

Niji No Kai did very good job on collecting donation to help people affected by earthquake in Japan.  Their first donation was $23,812.85, sent to Japan Red Cross which was raised at Sunday Market in Karrinyup Shopping Centre in March 20.  The Japanese Association, Perth Express, Nippon Food, Fast Link Cube, Asaka Japanese restaurant in Perth, members at Niji No Kai, and mothers from Japanese play groups across Perth helped raising the money.  The second donation $48,609.00 was made on June 9, sent to Japan Red Cross, which was raised at Friends of Japan campaign on Forrest Place on April 9.

They are still accepting donation to the following bank account until December 2011 :

Bank：Commonwealth Bank
Account Name : Support Net “Niji No Kai” Inc. Disaster Donation
BSB : 066103
Account No. : 10289450

Contact info ：0403 530 927 / 0403 530 928

Email: info@nijinokai.com.au

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