CERES Farmer's market

I went to Ceres Organic and Craft market with my friends today.

My friend is really into Organic stuff.

It's fun hanging out with her cos
she always takes me to new places and I can learn a lot of things from her.

Today she took me to the CERES organic farmer's market.

Look at this picture above!
Isn't this adorable?

puppy parking!

Different kinds of pumpkins

Organic veggies

The sign boards tell you where those veggie came from

and how far those farms are from this market.

ex)96km

The further the place, the more energy they consumed

to bring the veggies to this market.

Therefore, it's better for the environment

if you can buy veggies with short distance sign boards

because you'll have smaller carbon footprints.

Baskets

You can pick up your favourite bascket and carry veggies inside.

I love this bit. I found it soo cute.

BBQ

A lady cooking eggs

Stalls

Besides the veggie market, there were also individual stalls

selling clothes, accessories, books and more!

Beautiful blue sky!

Such a nice day

Such a beautiful place...


This place looks like countryside but it's just 30 mins away from city.






Garden?

They grow vegetables here too.

Market CAFE

Menu

I really enjoyed the market.

On our way home we found this sign board...

"Tina's Hot bread "

I have a friend called Tina,

and so I just found it funny.

I'm gonna show this picture to her tomorrow.

Sardines with ginger and sweet sauce recipe

Wednesday's dinner

Menu

• Sardine with ginger and sweet sauce
• Japanese sweet pumpkins
• Japanese curry
• Udon
• Japanese cucumber pickles
• White rice

I bought some cheap canned sardine from ALDI the other day

As few sardine pieces were squwashed in a small can,

they were already a bit out of shape even before I started cooking them.


Therefore, these sardines in the picture look a bit messy.

However, they did taste great!

Sadine with ginger and sweet sauce recipe

Ingredients

• 6 Sardine pieces (you can either buy a can of sardines or buy the fresh sardine and take out heads, borns etc...)
• shaved ginger 1 table spoon
• soya sauce 2 table spoon
• Mirin 1 table spoon
• Japanese cooking Sake 1 table spoon
  
  

Instructions

1. Put everything in a pot. Cook them slowly till the sardines absorb all the sauce.

あれから１年

昨日はおじいちゃんの一周忌でした。


おじいちゃんのこと、本当に大好きだったのに、

私はその日、オーストラリアにいて最後を看取ることが出来なかった。


そして一周忌だった昨日も、オーストラリアにいてお墓参りにいけなかった。


本当に、自分は何なんだろう。



おじいちゃんは戦争に行ってからずっと飛行機が嫌いで、

海外に行くのもあまり良く思ってなかったから留学しようって決めたときもなかなか言い出せずにいたけれど、


ある日思い切って、

「オーストラリアの大学に進学したい。」

って報告したとき、

心配しながらも、おじいちゃんはたくさん応援してくれた。


大学に入れたときはすごく喜んでくれた。





一年に一回、お正月に日本に帰ってくるのをすごく楽しみにしててくれて、


ともこが頑張っているから、おじいちゃんも頑張ってるよ、って笑ってくれた。





私はオーストラリアの大学でメディアを専攻していたけど、おじいちゃんの方がいつもオーストラリアのメディアについて詳しかった。

いつもあたしの住んでるオーストラリアのニュース見て勉強してくれてるんだな、ってすごくうれしかったし、あたしももっと勉強頑張らなくっちゃなーって思えた。

おじいちゃんは昔から、あたしの好きなものを同じように、むしろそれ以上に一生懸命勉強してくれて、



あたしが幼稚園の時大好きだったアンパンマンも、


小学校低学年のころ大好きだったセーラームーンも、



いつでも一緒に話が出来るように毎週欠かさず見てくれた。



中学校に入って難しくてついていけなかった理科の実験も、

ちょっとその話をしただけだったのに、


次の日に、おじいちゃんは自分の家で同じ実験をしてその後分かりやすく私に教えてくれた。







もらったものがありすぎて、


私は全然返せてなくて、



すごく悔しい。



大学も、後半年で卒業だったから、

卒業式のかっこいい写真見せようって思ってたのに、


結局見せられなくて、


最後のお別れも、


ちゃんとできてなくて、



もっとたくさん、


大好きだよ、

ありがとう、



ってたくさんたくさん言いたかったけど、


言えてなくて、



きっと見ててくれてるって信じて


毎日毎日頑張ってるけど、


１年経った今も思い出してすごく悲しくなって、

立ち直れないよ。



でも信じていれば、また会えるかな。



会えるよね。



今日、弟が大学入試だったから、

心配でお母さんにメールしたら、



「おじいちゃんにお願いしたから大丈夫だってお父さんが言ってたよ。」


って返事がきて、



ああ、天国に知り合いがいるのってすごいなって思った。



自分の味方が、いつでも見守ってくれてるのってすごく力強い。


今日は顔がぐしゃぐしゃになるくらい大泣きしても、


明日からはまた、笑顔で頑張れそうだよ。

Shiso hamburger steaks recipe

Tuesday's dinner

Menu

• Shiso hamburger steaks
• Wakame seaweed Udon noodles
• Shiso minced cutlets (recipe★)
• Pickles
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I bought shiso on last thursday from Victoria street→★
  
  I made the Shiso hamburger steaks on the next day

and kept them in the freezer

I did this because I was scared that shiso would be spoilt

by the time I come back from Blargowrie.

By the way, my housemates are finally back!!

I LOVE SHISO and SHISO HAMBURGER STEAKS







Shiso Hamburger steak recipe

Ingredients

• Minced pork 200g
• Shiso leaves 6-10
• Bread crumbs 1/2 cup
• egg 1/2
• salts
• papper

Instructions

1. Put all the ingredients in a bowl, mix them well with your hands.
2. Make round shapes.
3. Cook them in a pan with some oil. (strong fire-> once the clour became brown, flip them over-> change to low fire and close the lid)

Onion sauce recipe


Ingredients

• Onion 1/4
• Soya sauce 4 table spoons
• Mirin 2 table spoons
• Sake 1 table spoon

Instructions

1. Shave the onions
2. Add all the ingredients in a small pot. Cook them for few minutes.

Blargowrie trip #2

More photos

Trip to Blargowrie

I went to Blargowrie with my friends over the last weekends.

We stayed in a lovely holiday house near the beach.

It was a mixed weather of sunny and cloudy.

I found that the water was too for swimming.

So, while others were swimming, my friend and I made this

I can't really explain what it is.

But itsn't it pretty

We did BBQ for saturday dinner and I grilled hamburger steaks!

My friends made scones for sunday beakfast,

nachos for lunch,

and Japanese curry& dumplings for Sunday dinner.

Yum yum...

Most of them stayed in blargowrie till Monday afternoon

but I rushed home at 5AM

cos I had a career workshop from 9am at uni

I wasn't close to most of the people before the Blargowrie trip.

I'm happy that we got to knoweach other better through the trip

and became good friends

Career workshop

Job searching...

Editing resume......



Job searching...

Editing resume...





I've been attending a 3 day intensive career workshop at uni since monday.



Tomorrow is the last day

Bananas: shopping at Vietnamese street

A cat in my neighbourhood

Yesterday, I went to Victoria Street.

This area is famous for Vietamese shops and restaurants.

But there is also Daiso (Japanese 100yen shop).

My Japanese friend wanted to shop at Daiso so I accompanied her.

After shopping at Daiso, she showed me one of the Vietamese shops selling Shiso leaves.

OMG I love Shiso


I love all the Shiso products such as Shiso drinks, Shiso cutlets

and Shiso salad dressings.

I had never seen any fresh Shiso leaves in Melbourne before

so I was very excited when I finally saw it

I guess many Japanese come to Victoria Street to buy those rare veggies.

And maybe that is why Daiso is also here.

With the precious Shiso, I made Shiso cutlets for tonight's dinner.





While shopping at the Vietnamese shop, I also found THIS

I found cheap bananas

1 banana for $0.60



1 banana costed $1.20 in safeway the other day and I was so depressed.

But now, only $0.60!!

Yahooo

Finally, I could make Banana smoothie

1 cup of milk, 1 table spoon of Milo and 1 banana

and

Yummmmmm

I also bought some pickles (my friend recommended this)

Only $1/80 at ALDI

Nice!

Shiso Cutlets しそメンチカツrecipe

Today's dinner

Menu

• Shiso menchi katsu -Minced cutlets with Shiso (labiate) leaves
  

• Baked potatoes with tomatoes, mayonaise and cheese
  

• Pickles from yesterday (friend's recommendation)
  

• Stir fried Chinese cabbage with garlic and mushrooms
  

• White rice

Stir fried veggies ←recipe

I didn't like mushrooms when I was in Japan.

But I love them now

Shiso Cutlets

My Japanese friend took me to one of the Vietnamese shops on Victoria street yesterday.

They sell Shiso leaves! I was so excited

My friend said I can make Shiso drink if I get a lot of Shiso.

But yesterday I just decided to get few.

Just to try.

Only $0.80 for a bunch

Shiso Cutlets Recipe


Ingredients

• Minced pork 350g
• Onion 1/2
• Shiso leaves 6-10 pieces
• Egg 1
• Bread crumbs 1 cup
• Flour 1 cup

Instructions

1. Take the Shiso leaves out of the stem. Wash the leaves.
   
   
2. cut the onion into really tiny pieces, mix the onions and meat well (better to use your hands)
   
   
3. make round shapes, in between the meat, place 1-2 Shiso leaves.
   
   
4. prepare 3 bowls, put the flour, the egg (stired), the bread crumbs in each bowls. one by one, put flours around the round shaped meat, then dip into the stired egg, then put bread crumbs.
   
   
5. deep fry in the oil. they are cooked once they rise up from the bottom of the pot and float on the oil.
   
   
   
   

Nice to eat with Yuzu dressing (right)or Bull-dog sauce (left)

☆ ←you could also try my long beans minced cutlets recipe