Australian Souvenirs

I am quite proud of the Aussie souvenirs I found in the local supermarket.

Australian Goodness

This trip has been amazing. All I can say is everyone should come to Busselton and stay at my aunt's house.

You will be served gourmet food and drinks and put on two kilos in six days.

You will be taken on tours to exotic and interesting places, on yachts and through caves.

You (possibly imaginary) son will get thoroughly wet every day.

You will be taken to view kangaroos hopping around in nature and yachtsmen hopping around on their boats.

In the evening, you will be shown a selection of movies and TV shows tailored to your tastes - Aboriginal culture / Wallace and Gromit / Iron Chef.

You will be accommodated in a luxury apartment located separately from the house - with your own bathroom, kitchen, hammock, chooks and fruit bowl filled with summer fruits.

Your house will be situated directly across the road from a supermarket and liquor store. You will be within easy walking distance of galleries. In fact, the very house where you are staying will contain its very own gallery.

You will be close to at least three op shops - within which you can pretend you are very, very wealthy.

You will have instant and unlimited access to the internet.

You will be approximately two blocks away from a beautiful beach and a famous jetty - near which annual Ironman competitions take place.

You could not buy this experience - even with a Mastercard.

Wow!

Loving this cutie! Want to live in a small space so I can try it out...oh, I DO live in a small space...seem to be doing fine.

My main concern (although I do LOVE this) is where to put all the cushions when I'm sleeping.

KIVA gifts

Since it is the end of the school year here in Japan, a few friends are leaving and it is SAD, SAD, SAD.

In the old days (my 20s) I would have bought goodbye gifts, but these days it seems like an extra burden for people -

"You're leaving? You've just packed everything you own and are stressing that the airline will charge you $1 million for overweight luggage? That sucks. By the way, here's a miniature sized Mount Fuji and some very fragile pottery from a famous, but internationally unknown, location in Japan! It was kind of expensive, but you're worth it. Just be a little careful carrying it. I'm gonna miss you so much!"

So, instead, I'm thinking of using these dinky Kiva gift vouchers to show I care! They're like the UNICEF gifts, but I like Kiva donations more, because you GET YOUR MONEY BACK - love it!

Gadgets

My sister posted on all the new gadgets she got this last year and asked for more ideas to fuel her shopping fantasies...

Well, this is what I WANT. NOW.

I can use it to threaten Rai - "Clean up your toys! I'm setting the Roomba loose!"

Eye strain and bulging head

I don't know why, but when I find a new blog that I like, I HAVE to read it all. In this case, about three years worth of blogging. What an amazing woman though! I also looked at some other sites, and found out about sending faxes via email - who knew?

My brain is now officially fried, and although I have been inspired to be a better mother and blogger (not to mention housekeeper and gardener and teacher)...I feel too tired and will watch some TV instead!

Maybe I'll take Rai out somewhere today after creche?

P.S. This blog is also a favourite of mine - loved this post! (Thanks Marth for pointing blogger one out to me).

Ah Australia...

Since I am visiting Perth this week to see relatives, I have been following the Victoria fires quite closely. It's really sad. I looked at over 200 photos today and read numerous news-stories. Then I donated some more money to Red Cross and also made a small donation to the Healesville Sanctuary, an animal park that Seiji and I visited when my parents lived in Melbourne.

Hope those fires don't last much longer...

On a more positive note, I am trying to see if I can use Google Documents (and other Google applications) exclusively for all my work and home stuff. Google Docs seems to have a few bugs, but I am ever hopeful...I am sick of converting files between Microsoft and Open Office and sending myself attachments all the time : )

Officially a geek

I have known I'm a geek for a long time, this finally proves it. I like this site and I think this product is funny.

Ah Japan....

'Tis truly a unique place where you can buy theme DVD players and enjoy air yakiniku during these tough economic times.

Dreams 1

I wanna open a cupcake shop so I can use these cupcake liners and put these cuties on top.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

My latest TV viewing pleasure - and this episode is GOLD.

How to get great abs - it works!

I thoroughly enjoyed these Cake Wrecks.

Then I found this video on the original site. Classic.



Reminds me of the Dark Crystal.



Quite a traumatic scene to watch - don't see torture scenes like this in kids' movies these days!

Cooking 5

Insane in the membrane! She cooks again!

This time I cooked "oyakodon" - I won't provide a recipe, because this You Tube video says it all - however, I didn't use all those fancy ingredients - just soy sauce, sugar and some light dashi. I also used spring onions instead of Japanese parsley (less subtle, but still good).

Cooking 4

Wow, I cooked two meals in a row this week - amazing!

They were ridiculously easy, so I'll share them here.

HONEY SOY CHICKEN

Mix SMALL CHICKEN BITS with SOY SAUCE, HONEY and SESAME OIL (amounts don't matter). Chop up BROCCOLI (or some other green vege) and stir fry, add chicken and fry until cooked. Add some WATER at the end to make a sauce. Serve on RICE. Voila!

JAPANESE STEW

Stir-fry BEEF (mince or strips, or even CHICKEN) until cooked, then add FOUR POTATOES (cut into 4), ONE CARROT (cut up chunky) and one ONION (also chunky). Fry for a minute or too, then add SOME SOY SAUCE (about 1/4 - 1/3 cup! sounds like a lot, but no salt is added to this recipe) and 1 - 2 SPOONS OF SUGAR (about 1 heaped teaspooon will do). Add enough WATER to JUST cover the ingredients, top with TINFOIL or COOKING PAPER, and let simmer for as long as it takes to get cooked through (20 - 40 minutes). Serve on RICE.

Of course, Japanese sticky rice is best, because it soaks up the flavours properly and tastes amazing - but then a rice cooker is needed (well, it certainly makes it all easier). No rice cooker - get one now :)

A Good Sick Day

I was a little sick today - up last night with a sore throat. However, it worked out quite well, as I stayed home instead of going out somewhere and got to relax "well and proper". I watched some Japanese T.V., then Fahrenheit 911 (fairly moving, as I imagined it would be) and looked at this cool website.

David Byrne

David Byrne's concert last week was awesome. I love the songs on his new album.