not much

A couple of days off seems enough, without actually going on holidays...its been good to do the daily drop off and picks ups and have dinner ready early and keep on top of the washing and wait stupidly long times for coffee and hang out with peoples, read many blogs, look at lots of nice recipes, think about work and life, go running when I feel like it, go every where without rushing, walk in the sunshine, avoid public transport. Time just to reflect. A nice few days!

happy holidays

We are having a ball and with the rest of the week as holidays and sunny days predicted, it couldn't be a better Easter!

brighter days

My 38th Birthday is looming so I received an early pressie, a point and shoot of the new variety. I am so impressed at the clarity of these shots taken from various locations at Vic market. I played with all the settings but basically it is automatic, point and shoot. The first shot is in China town.

beautiful japan

I have never felt such sadness and so connected to an event, external to my little world, before this past horrible week of events in my beloved adopted country, Japan. I am glued to the news reports and images, of the beautiful, devastated people, standing in lines for hours, feeling dazed and completely shattered by the loss of their lives, jobs, houses, friends and families yet remain incredibly dignified. The piles of lives once lived simply, in those small streets with sliding doors and no locks and pretty flowers, all smashed up and covered in broken pieces of everyone's private lives, now all mixed together, is hard to comprehend. I cant imagine the smell. I read an elderly lady had been interviewed and she had accepted that this is part of the cycle of life. How amazing, amongst all of this, to have such acceptance. The images of snow falling on the already broken communities is heartbreaking, photos of families discovering loved ones dead under piles of rubble make me cry with sadness. I can only feel empathy as I cant ever understand fully such a loss at such a scale. I feel so helpless and useless to return the generosity of help and support that I have, time and time again been shown by so many Japanese people. So I can only be so thankful that those that I care for are safe and unharmed, and keep my heart and mind on those who need all the kind thoughts and support they can get. Thoughts are nice but they cant provide any tangible help so I hope warmth, food and safety will come soon. Helpless.

weekend delight

warm weather and sunny days....
even a holiday for Long Long.
Good food and wine at T'Gallant,
mmm.....only some of the good food eaten over the weekend..
lovely views....
relaxing walks,
my favourite drink.....
with my favourite people. I hope you also find some time in your busy days to take a breath.

2011

I hope all of your 2011 days so far have been happy and productive. It has been a while since I dropped in so I would like to wish you all a safe and happy new year. I didn't do all that much, there was only one or 2 beach days and now work is back in full swing it feels like xmas and new year is a distant memory. I did enjoy the break in routine and we hosted a lovely xmas day lunch so that was fun. I have high expectations of what I can do in 2011, new things in my job, more creativity at home, a possible home reno project, a few more dates with my husband, a couple (!!) of holidays, more girlfriend catch ups, quality family time, less toys, more healthy living and eating and I can hope for less washing and folding of clothes, which I particularly hate, but that will remain a dream until I can afford a person to do just that job!
I walked past this cool shaped elastic band and although Tassie is missing, I think, Australia as a whole is feeling the pains of those who have been lost and those who have lost their homes in the floods. Lets hope for the best and help where we can.

2010 xmas cards

I couldn't bring myself to buy store bought cards since making them is so easy and so much fun!
A few simple ingredients meant a quick craft project and Christmas card problem solved. First part is a potato stamp with a random shape chosen, glitter and coloured, chopped foil....
using the stamp for shapes and as a kind of glue.....
and sprinkling the foil to decorate....
finished with a healthy dose of glitter...I must ensure the loose stuff is stuck down so when the envelope is opened, it doesn't look like out backyard did....heeellllooo sparkles!! I also made a simple illustrated version for 2010 which you can see here, so now I have two choices.....I had better hurry up and put them in the mail or they will be for 2011.......

summer project

I have a summer project in mind and its nearly summer and I haven't really made much progress on it. The goal is to have a nice garden environment to sit in, relax in and have dinner or brekky or just hang out. We have a great yard but after all, it is a square of pavers, surrounded by pretty garden. I want to create a nice space using recycled, renovated or second hand furniture and to have a mixture of things to sit or lay on. Since my creativity is limited to cooking dinner at the moment, its nice to have a small creative project to focus on. The painted pieces above are a small daybed bought from the op shop. Its needs some tlc and a few layers of undercoat finished with a bright red top coat should make it an outstanding addition to the summer project. The base of this daybed is the old spring type, so after some measuring and visits to bunnings, I will replace the saggy springs with pine slats. The last thing to be added is the mattress. That bit is easy. I have visions of very nice matching handmade fitted sheets in blue polka dots or gingham...but at this stage, with constant rain, I will be lucky to finish the paint job by xmas....I do love a project though so I'm happy about it and hopeful we can use it on xmas day, since this year we will host the lunch.
This is Long Long enjoying his part of the garage sale haul from around the corner....a new $1 rug. I also found an old BBQ table and teaming it with the chairs we already had, I'm well on the way to having a great place to hang out. Now, if it will just stop raining!!

mango season

Mango season makes me very happy, not only because I love mangoes, but I love the onset of summer. This year, especially the Xmas shop assault, doesn't seem to have happened too quickly, in fact, I'm quite excited to see all the decorations in the shops. Its also getting warm, much rain, but also warm.....it seems like the blink of an eye since we went to Tokyo and now a few months has passed, life has returned to normal, a wedding and a birthday and other dates have passed....all the while keeping busy, still keeping up with my running hobby, which is now even more enjoyable for instead of running in the cold and pitch black of the morning, I can see pink and purple sunrises, lunchtime runs are now along pathways with fluffy, leafy trees.....life moves on, my little moo turns 4 in a few weeks, amazing, so he has instructed me about the type of party he wants, a small affair, with a karate kid theme.......since my time in now limited I'm not sure the party will be as well planned as some of the ones Ive seen others do, but the most important thing is that the DAD of the house keeps to his promise of being Mr Han, the karate (or kung fu) teacher, then all should be OK!!........

tokyo report - food

I have blogged about visiting this restaurant before, it IS a truly Japanese only experience and it was high on my list to go back to. As with all restaurants, for a first time visit, it can be hit and miss, so we didn't want to waste a dinner on an average meal, so we scheduled each night a favourite place. This is on the very top. We sat again, in front of the chef, and we were the only customers. The menu is laid out above, handwritten on washi paper....as each dish was placed in front, we went through it in the menu....

..appetiser was as follows starting with the spoon and going clockwise, yuba - the skin of tofu, with a sauce, sea urchin - which I cant eat, spinach with tofu, soft and skinned eggplant, renkon or lotus root.....beautiful mix of crunchy and soft, sweet and salty, slippery and dry....tonight has an Autumn theme, using the most ripe and fresh ingredients...
followed by very big and meaty soya beans or edamade...
...very slightly flavoured soup with the famous matsutake mushroom (the one that can cost upwards of $100 for one mushroom....), included, fillet of barracuda, which was skillfully prepared in front of us. See top photo and notice the spear in the eye to give stability while he fillets the fish....
...preparing the next dish of the most amazing sashimi...
...this is how you prepare fresh wasabi....when I lived in Shimane, it grew wild on the side of the road.....
...there it is in the front, green and rich. I have never eaten the crispy garlic with sashimi but the flavour and texture contrast was just amazing.....
this is the small area he makes his magic...
this basket contained, 2 kinds of grilled fish, more matsutake mushroom, chestnut, ginko nuts and small kind of lime, all served on seasonal foliage...this was my favourite dish.....it was hard to choose!!!
next dish...grilled chicken with a miso paste sauce and small grilled veges which taste a bit like capsicums..
another incredible soup dish containing a slow cooked sweet mackerel, mushrooms, a kind of tofu make with flour, beautiful and delicate...
This was a beautiful noodle dish again with matsutake mushrooms, fish and green herbs....
the second last dish was fresh fruit of nashi pear and persimmon....
crunchy and sweet.....
followed by the last dish....I couldn't fit it all in...but I did try...it is made from sweet potato and inside has sweet red bean paste and a chestnut in the middle. It is very sweet and beautiful served with bitter green tea. The dusting of cinnamon not only smelled beautiful but tasted amazing
.....incredible!! This is truly a Tokyo secret! If you are going to Tokyo and you want the details let me know. This kind of food and the service around it is totally Japanese and totally unforgettable!!

delayed - tokyo report 1

Tokyo is a shoppers paradise, not only for its never ending supply of stuff to buy but the beautiful and clever way things are advertised, marketed and displayed...the icebergs created above are simply styrene foam......clever and breathtaking....a beautiful window display
the always familiar subway symbols, don't let the simplicity trick you, even after a couple of years using the Tokyo system, we still managed to get lost at Shinjuku station.....Its easy to forget the confusion you often feel when faced with non stop torrents of people that swell in and outside of the station....peak hour at Flinders Street feels like a little country town by comparison...
I love the illustration style of many, many signs, it is always so refreshing to see loose texts, little drawings and cute characters...Tokyoites are very accepting of colourful and pretty signs that send the message and that are well outside of the standard text list that we come to expect from signage and advertising here in Australia...I also notice how very seasonal signage is, even the biggest of chain stores have different illustrations and signs to advertise their latest gear.....
my favourite colours, this is for a very, very upmarket department store.....of course the standard LOFT, Tokyu hands and MUJI are always beautifully displayed but hopelessley overblogged....I did shop there of course, I LOVE those shops!! I love how in every store even the tape that is used on your purchase bag has a small illustration or thankyou message. It was a treat to return to Tokyo. It did rain, a lot, and the one pair of shoes I took with me took a hiding. Again I love the style of Tokyo peoples, rain hail or shine, they look so cleverly styled, beautiful objects, bags, umbrellas, rain boots......sorry for my delay, the next and final impression is of the food. Because I have spent a number of years in Japan, the funny things that I first noticed don't seems so funny or unusual any more, I found I didn't take photos of any of those things this time around....also, for the first time, we left Mooey with my parents. It was wonderful to have some time to be late, have a few extra beers if we wanted to and wander aimlessly... but this joy only lasted a couple of days, when a huge hole started to open up in my heart....it got bigger each day until I was left alone in Tokyo, my husband had moved onto the next country, my son was at home with my parents, my family and friends in Oz and I was by myself in a hotel room. I have not felt such depths of loneliness in a long time.......This was followed by a very long flight home...such joy to come home and see Mooey. What a wonderful trip!!

tokyo report

I have been back from Tokyo for a week and it was just so much fun! This is my last snapshot of the rice fields leaving Narita. It was wonderful to go back to a very familiar place, visit old haunts, see lovely people who don't change (who just get better) and eat and shop myself silly and experience real rain again!! Of course, returning home to Oz was ever so sweet to see my darling little moo who coped beautifully while we were away (mostly because of my awesome family effort, thankyou xxx).....more photos and sweet memories to share after I process my photos!!