Cinnamon Sticks

In a cold afternoon, drinking hot milk tea and feeling something to snack on….. Could it be only me?  Or, you just don’t want to throw away the bread crust – the left over from making sandwiches the other day?  Now here is the way to make delicious snack out of it.

This golden crisp cinnamon stick is a great accompaniment to your morning or afternoon tea (of coffee!).  And, is very simple to make too.

<Cinnamon Sticks>

• 8 pieces bread crust (from 2 slices of bread)
• cinnamon sugar
• oil to deep-fry

a

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Deep-fry the bread crust until golden.
3. Drain the oil well, then coat with cinnamon sugar.

a

You can also make it without deep-frying.  Toast in the oven, or in a frying pan (without oil) until golden crispy.  Keep them  in an air-tight container after cooled down.a

a

HCT French Toast

I had some stale bread in the fridge. I was first thinking to make just standard French toast, then I looked inside the fridge again and found that there’re some ingredients for sandwiches too. Like the Croque Monsieur I made with spam, this time I decided to make one with ham, cheese, and tomatoes.

It’s a savory French toast. With cheese and tomato, it became a nutritious snack for kids too.

<HCT French Toast> makes 1

• 2 slices bread
• 2~3 slices ham
• 1/2 tomato, sliced
• 1 slice cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs milk
• 1 tbs butter

1. Arrange ham, sliced tomato and cheese on a slice of bread, and top with another slice of bread. This is one portion. If you are making for 3 people, make 3 batches.
2. Beat egg in a bowl and mix with milk. Place the egg mixture into a wide, flat plate, and immerse the sandwich in this mixture. Make sure you flip the sandwich around so the another side also absorb egg mixture.
3. Melt butter in a frying pan. Over low heat, grill the sandwich until golden colored on both sides. Flip around several time to achieve the delicious colour.

Croissant

Croissant, croissant…  Many people love this buttery flaky bread, and it is one of the most popular bread across the world. Me, other hand, ummm not so much. I don’t hate it, it’s just that if I had to choose between croissant and hard crusty sourdough bread I would choose the sourdough.

Although it’s not in the list of my favourite bread, I do enjoy eating it occasionally.   Croissant reminds me of some memories.  A warm cozy log cottages in the middle of the forrest where I stayed during the school trip almost 15 years ago.  And, the memory of the stay in the hospital after giving birth to Hiro.

B&B (bed & breakfast accommodation) is still quite rare to find in Japan, so it was like a new experience to me when I stayed there overnight with my classmates and teachers. The location was so beautiful – in the middle of a big forrest, nothing else around.  I remember friends and I were excited to see a wild flying squirrel at night.  And, the owner couple was so friendly and welcoming.

One of the thing I remember in the memory is the croissant.  It was one of the menu in the breakfast.  When I woke up, the cottage was filled with the delicious smell, and everyone rushed to the dining room, and there were freshly baked croissants on the table!  In those days no one (at least anybody I knew)  had bread machine at home, and it was my first time eating fresh baked bread.  The croissant was still hot, just came out from the oven.

The memory of the stay in the hospital and croissant have nothing big, just that D and I ordered some croissant for breakfast several times and that’s it.  Now, the weather is cold, and having freshly baked bread in the morning is just perfect.  Especially in a quiet place away from the city noises – just like that cottage.

Croque Monsieur Ume’s Style

It was raining this morning!!  Finally I can actually see and feel that the weather is moving towards autumn and winter.  Outside is bit windy, and cloudy now.  I love it!

In the weather like today, I feel like something warm for breakfast.  This dish is what I made in the home economic class when I was in elementary school in Japan.  The name of the dish was “Croque Monsieur”, so I still call it so.  The original Croque Monsieur is actually a simple hot ham and Gruyere cheese sandwich, fried in butter.  This one, on the other hand, uses spam instead of ham, and the sandwich is dipped in egg mixture before being grilled.

It’s kind of French toast of spam and cheese sandwich.  Melted cheese and crispy bread – this can be a great snack for afternoon too. 🙂

<Croque Monsieur>  makes 1

• 2 slices of stale bread (toast slices)
• spam (as much as you want to put)
• 1 slice of cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs milk
• 1 tbs butter

1. Place spam and cheese on a slice of bread, and sandwich with another slice.
2. Beat the egg, and mix with milk.  Transfer the egg mixture into a shallow plate which is wide enough to put the bread in.
3. Place the sandwich into the egg mixture to soak for about 30 seconds, then flip it around.
4. Melt the butter in a frying pan, and grill the sandwich, both side, until golden.

The Miami Bakehouse Cafe

D has been having such a big craving for a sweet bun with icing…  He loves sweets, especially sugary ones and buttery ones.  I really think he should cut down his sugar intake!  I can’t believe his favourite flavour of ice cream is cotton candy.  The vivid colour (blue? pink? purple??) really turns me off…

Anyway, the other day he wanted to grab some icing buns from somewhere.  It was mid afternoon and Hiro was awake but quiet, so we decided to go out to get some fresh air and buy some buns.  Somehow, we headed to Miami Bakery in Melville. (I wrote about this place before here)

To be honest, I don’t really like their pastries… they look great, but  are not to my taste.  Pies are nice though, they have a variety of flavours.  The pie of this month “chicken green curry” was tempting.

…..  I did it again.  I thought “hey this apple turnover looks nice” and ordered one.  The pastry was too dry and hard (I think it was more than 2 days old…), and the cream was tasteless.  I think I had this experience here before, and I totally forgot about it.  I should not order anything with cream here…

I thought D was going to have something with icing, but he ordered chocolate croissant instead.

They do hight tea now. (only at Mandurah and Melville shop)  It’s $27 per head, and includes warm savoury pastries, finger sandwiches, scone with jam & cream, and a selection of desserts and cakes.  Ummm, if you chose a right dessert/cake, I think it’s a good deal.

* Miami Hight Tea $27.00 per person

* Sparkling High Tea (with a glass of sparkling wine) $33.00 per person (only at Mandurah)

Mandurah Foreshore: Saturdays & Sundays from 2PM (08 9581 3000)

Melville: Sundays from 2 PM  (08 9319 3555)

Utopia Bakery in Perth

Utopia bakery has been one of the popular Chinese bread shop, and now there are 5 shops across Perth.  I’m sure many people have tasted their bubble tea and bread, as well as some unique vegetarian dishes.  Myaree shop and Square shop have karaoke rooms and you can order dishes to your room.  Currently they are doing Ladies Day on Tuesday and Mens Day on Wednesday, which you can get 50% on your karaoke fee.

• Myaree … 50 Hulme Court, Myaree 6154 (08) 9330 1688
• Barrack … 73 Barrack St, Perth 6000 (08) 9325 1990
• Square … Shop14/109 James St, Northbridge 6003 (08) 9227 8588
• Victoria Park … 859 Albany Hwy, Victoria Park 6100 (08) 9362 3888
• Garden City … Near Dreamy Donut in Garden City Shopping Centre

Boulangerie Pommes de Terre

The other day I went to my favorite bakery called Pommes de Terre.  (not that famous one in Tokyo, this bakery is in Shiga :p )  My favorite at this shop is Mentaiko France (photo)!!! (>v<)/

This Mentaiko France has hard crust, and chewy body.  The mentaiko paste is seasoned with high quality butter and it is very yummy!  You can’t eat this if you like soft bread as this France-pan (baguette) is very very hard: sometimes it scratches your mouth.  I love hard bread!

… and, a happy surprise!  Their bagels just got out from the oven!  I asked the staff if I could buy them (as the bagels were still hot and couldn’t be placed in the display shelf yet), they said “ok” .

I bought a matcha bagel and a cheese bagel.  Nice and hot 🙂

As you can see, the bagel is pretty small.  Japanese bagels are about this size.  I had a bite on each bagel…

My feedback :  I thought their bagels were more like normal bread, not heavy and not really chewy.  I could taste butter in the dough. As a snack bread, it was really yummy ( good taste, sweetness and the texture) but I didn’t feel it was a bagel.

My time is running here (>0<)  I want to taste Japanese hard bagel while I’m here if I can!

Snack on Bagels

This morning was really strange…  very foggy.  Everywhere I looked it was all white.  It reminded me of winter in Japan.  Snow on the ground and snow from the sky, everywhere is all white 🙂

Anyway, it was pretty cold this morning too and I had a nicely toasted bagel for breakfast.

One of the difference between bagels and ordinary bread is the density.  Bagels are pretty heavy, and they’ll keep you feel full longer.  Just one bagel is enough for the entire morning even for a person who has a big stomach like me 😛

I like snacking on flavored bagels like Milky Maccha Green Tea and Cafe Au Lait, but also love eating just plain toasted bagel with cream cheese as breakfast.  I don’t feel hungry until lunch time at all.

This morning I had….

toasted bagel with cream cheese and berries, drizzled with honey.  I love eating fruits in the morning.  It was simply yummy!

Cheesy Toast with Condensed Milk

The combination of condensed milk and cheese was actually little shocking to me at first.  To me, toasted bread with cheese is supposed to be savory, not sweet.  I was told this recipe from my hubby.  He said this dish is very common in Indonesia…  I tried it anyway, and it tasted actually good!  Nice snack when you feel like some sweet stuff.

To make this is very easy…

<peanut butter version>

1. Toast 2 slices of bread
2. Spread peanut butter on one slice, and sandwich.
3. Top with grated tasty cheese, and drizzle condensed milk over.  Melt the cheese in oven toaster or microwave.

Azuki with Home Made Bread

Azuki is red colored tiny beans which oftenly used for Japanese sweets.  In Japan we use azuki bean paste (paste is called “An“) as a filling for manjyu (Japanese cake), steamed buns, bread (An Pan), etc,  or as a topping for pan cakes, sticky rice cake, ice cream…  there is azuki ice cream too.  I’m sure you’ve seen azuki ice cream in Japanese restaurants. 

An has actually different types: very smooth to chunky.  I like chunky An as I can enjoy the texture of beans.  

Here is the recipe for “An” …

• 250g azuki beans (raw)
• 250g sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

My friend gave me this beautiful loaf the other day, and I enjoyed thick toast with chunky An.  I love this bread!  It’s dense, and chewy.  Scent of honey really whet my appetite.  I can’t get enough of this.  So nice ♪ 

The Miami Bakehouse

It’s been a while since Miami Bakehouse opened its second shop in Melville.  They represent themselves as a winner of more than 300 awards, and their range of pies is amazing: more than 30 pie varieties.  Crab & Feta, Big Breakfast, Chili Beef and Stockmans (combination of kangaroo, camel and emu!!) are just examples…

All the bread are baked fresh every day, and they have a huge range of cakes / sweet items at the counter as well.  You can either take them away, or eat in.  They serve nice coffees and other beverages to accompany those baked food.  You also can choose to get gourmet rolls if desired.

Last week I went to Melville shop with my friend, and had a wonderful time there.  

My friend had decaf soy latte with coffee eclair, and I had skinny long mac with danish.  

There’re about 8 tables inside, and 5 tables outside.  

I definitely would love to try one of their famous pies – probably Seafood Medley!  combination of prawns, fish and scallops served in a lemon pepper sauce… sounds yum!

Bagels in Perth

I’ve been eating bagels quite often lately.  This Bagelier is an online bakery shop settled in Metropolitan Perth, which deliver freshly baked bagels and other baked sweets right to your door.

I love bagels, but I also miss Japanese style bread.  I hope someone open a Japanese bakery shop in Perth!  Japanese bread are different, and there are many many flavors.  Is there bakeries owned by Japanese bakers within Australia?  

By the way I love my Cranberry x Cream Cheese bagel at Bagelier.  Green Tea flavors are also nice.  After toasting they are nicely crusty and I can enjoy the hard crust as I like.  Personally I love very crusty bread, or very chewy bread.  The bagels from bagelier are nicely chewy and reasonably hard when you heat up.  If you have a small oven toaster it makes them nicely crunchy and chewy!  You can buy them in bulk and keep in the freezer, in this way you can enjoy a bagel anytime 🙂

サンドイッチでピクニック

月曜がLabour Dayなんで今日から３連休！明日から３月、早いなあ(>_<)日本ではもう春の兆しが見え始めてる時期で、ひな祭りの歌とかあちこちで流れてそう。こっちはこれからだんだんと秋に突入して、雨の季節である冬が始るよ。…って、まだ暫くは暑い日があるかもしれないケド。

３連休で良い天気なんで、ピクニックにでも行こうとサンドイッチを作り始めました。でも冷蔵庫にはあまり材料がナイ…☆今は車が無いから買い出しし行けないし、（まあサンドイッチの材料買うだけに車運転するのも面倒だけど）だから唯一あった卵を使ってカリーエッグサンドイッチを作りました♪

カリーエッグサンドイッチ(curried egg sandwich) って日本で見た事無かったけど、コッチじゃ普通に家庭で食べられてる一般的なサンドイッチ。何もスペシャルなモノじゃ無いんだけど、前に働いてたホテルのルームサービスでこのサンドイッチのオーダーもらって、私はこのサンドイッチの存在を初めて知りました（汗）実は最初はあんまり美味しそうじゃなかったこのサンドイッチ☆でも今では時々家で作って食べてます。

作り方は簡単！作り方載せるほどじゃないかもしれないケド一応☆☆☆潰したゆで卵にカレー粉とマヨネーズを混ぜて塩こしょうするだけ。レタスも一緒にサンドしてちょびっとだけでも野菜を摂取してマス。

あ、ゆで卵をスクランブルエッグに変えるのもオススメ♪卵にミルクかクリームを混ぜてスクランブルエッグを作る時、 well done になるまで火を通さずにちょっと半熟状態でストップ。しっとり仕上がるんでパンに挟んでもポロポロ落ちずに食べ易いです。カレー粉の他にマスタードとかアボカド、マヨやチャツネ etc をサンドしてもgood☆卵大好きな私はコレだけで充分なランチです(^^)v

Love Toast

Do you eat toast for breakfast every morning?  How would you eat them, simply just with butter?  or with eggs and meat?  

While I’m in Japan my dad and I always have breakfast in the cafe on weekends.  We wake up quite early every morning, and drive a car there.  “breakfast at cafe” = “morning” in Japan, for example we say “hey, let’s go for morning.”  I read an article about the “morning” culture the other day, and I found out that middle eastern – middle western Japanese people go for morning more often than people in other regions in Japan.  (I’m from Shiga, centre of Japan island)  

The basic morning menu is : one drink, one piece (or half piece) of thick sliced toast, one boiled egg, and small bowl of salad or seasonal fruits.  Very simple menu, and it costs around 250~500 yen.  (depends on the cafe)  Of course there are more menus there, such as scrambled eggs, sandwiches etc, but I always go for basic “morning” menu.

I love Japanese bread.  Texture and taste are different from ones in Perth or other countries.  Moist, kind of chewy, yet soft…  And the toast you get from cafe is really really thick! (about 5 cm)  Very nice :p  I usually enjoy them with just butter, or sometimes spread jam/boiled red bean on.

In Perth I sometimes make morning type breakfast.  One boiled egg, one piece of toast… but the bread is different :*(  Ummm.. but what can I do.

BTW you can enjoy toast menu in some of  Izakaya as well.  I love “toast tower” … which is a whole loaf of bread with lots of butter, syrup, ice cream (usually vanilla) and sometimes with red beans or chocolates on the top!  They are served on a plate as stood up in lengthwise, and there is a hollow on the top where ice cream and some other food are served in.  It’s toasted, so ice-cream and butter are melting…  Sounds very high calorie food (it is), but it’s yummy…!  It looks huge but just two girls can eat it up.  … well, I can!

Do you like bagels??

I wrote a post about bagels here, and I’ve tried bagels at the Trackside Bakery down by the Perth Train Station as Angie recommended me.  I loved the whole “bakery smell” 🙂  Freshly baked bread…  yum!  and bagels are really nice! but I wish there are more bagel shops in Perth.  

I’m starting to wonder… do people in Perth know what the bagel is??  I mean, of course some people should know, but is it like 20% of the population??  Not so many shops sell bagels, does it mean people here prefer soft & light bread?

Personally I love hard, crusty and difficult-to-tear-off type of bread.  I can get those hard crusty bread from my favorite bakery, but sadly they don’t sell bagels on regular bases 🙁

Do you like soft bread, or hard bread??

Finally… bagels!

One of my best friend in Osaka started a business this May 2008, a bagel shop 🙂  I’ve been checking up her blog from Perth everyday and thinking “aaa… I wish I could get nice bagels in Perth…”.

I don’t get to see any bagel shop in Perth.  I think there is none??  I only see bagels at a corner of supermarkets and some bakeries…  Not many people seem to know what bagels are too. (surprising!)

Bagel is one of my favorite food, I love its chewy texture (>v<).  This friend lived in America for about 2 years, and she loved American bagels.  After she got back to Japan she couldn’t forget the taste and texture, so she started making them up by herself!  According to her blog, she loves tough, chewy heavy texture like I do, so her bagels seemed perfect to me 🙂

To taste her bagels was on my To Do List in Japan, and today I finally had the chance!!  I met her in Osaka last night and she gave me some of her fresh bagels… 🙂  I was so happy♪  (thanks yutsuki♥)

If you live in Japan and love bread/bagels, why don’t you try them♪ Available through online Sysouer Bagel Recommended!!