Sunday in Freo

Posted March 29th, 2009 in Perth WA | No Comments »

This afternoon D and I were wondering around Fremantle area.  I wasn’t looking for anything to buy, but when we stepped into E-shed market I found these wooden plates at a small shop inside of market.

It’s a set of 6: 2 wooden plates and 4 small forks, and they were $2.00.  Yes, $2.00 for 6 pieces.  Pretty cheap, huh??  All the products in the shop are from 100 yen shop in Japan, and they are selling them here at $2.00.  Considering the current currency rate, I think it’s a good deal.  I suddenly remembered how things were nice and cheap in Japan compared with Perth.  If you want to buy this type of thing somewhere else here, I assume that it’ll probably cost around $10.00!

I was already happy when I left the shop, but then one bonsai stall caught my attention.  There were varieties of bonsai trees as well as some ornaments and bonsai instruction booklets.  I decided to buy one bonsai kit: including one bonsai tree, plate, soil, bonsai food, wire (to re-shape the bonsai tree), one ornament and instruction booklet.  It was $15.00.  The lady was so nice, and she taught me how to maintain the tree and soil.  And, she said that we can bring in this tree every Sunday to show her and check how the bonsai condition is.  of course free of charge.  I was so lucky that I came here today!  If you are interested in bonsai, check out her website  Bonsai Palace.  It’s got lots of tips and hints for growing beautiful bonsai trees.

I love this turtle ornament.  So cute 🙂


Retro Collection

Posted January 19th, 2009 in Ume's Interests | 4 Comments »

My interest in retro things started when my fiance took me to explore an old book shop.  He originally loves vintage stuffs and has some collections at home. 

In the book shop, I found several old cooking books in a shelf.  They are secondhand.  Some of them are pretty dirty, hand-written, very old-fashioned layout and illustrations.  I wouldn’t like someone’s secondhand cooking books, but they seemed very used and loved.  Some of them are published in 1900 and still readable…

I suddenly felt something inside me.  These old books have been in people’s kitchens for more than 100 years.  By reading them, I could go back in time and felt the differences to present days…

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We bought this retro-looking popcorn machine the other day.  This is actually not a real vintage stuff, but we just love its looking.

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This machine makes pretty good popcorns without oil.  Actually popcorn is not my favorite snack but I’ve been enjoying it 🙂  Good accompaniment to DVDs.