honey murcott

I recently picked up a bag of these honey murcotts which were imported from Australia.

They are a type of tangerine and are super sweet.

I love that the pith is not white but orange too.

They have quite a lot of seeds and most are easy to peel.

BUT some were juicy while some were kind of dried out...boo!

Still, I'm glad we got to try these.

komin cafe

Friday, I met up with Tamakikat and after lunch we stopped into Komin Cafe for some sweets and coffee.

This cafe is Oceania themed so a lot of their food items come from Australia and New Zealand.

It was my first time trying pavlova.

Apparently pavlova is a "marshmallow"-ish meringue topped with cream and fresh fruits.

This version was served in a cup with the meringue, yogurt mixed with fresh cream and fruit purées (passion fruit, blueberry and raspberry).

Not overly sweet and perfect with a cappuccino.

Tamakikat had a custard square (square shaped custard pie) and a flat white (creamier than a latte).

I'm glad we tried this place.

It is rather quiet and you can just hang out there.

Thanks for meeting up, Tamakikat!

Komin Cafe 
Panasonic 2F, Grand Front Osaka
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6359.4750
Open: 10:00-20:00, open when Panasonic is

things I'm liking

If you take a look near the left corner of the photo there is a box of sugars.

Belle de Sucre, has an assortment of sugars called Meli-Melo.

I opened this box of sugars and was surprised, it was only held closed by a piece of plastic around the box.

On the inside, the sugar wasn't in a package or anything. Lots of trust in that one piece of plastic...

These are cute and colorful.

Byron Bay's muesli cookie..."crammed with oats, currants, cranberries, apricots, almonds, sunflower seeds & linseeds."

Soft and moist, this cookie is definitely crammed with "stuff"...delicious.

I found a bag of peanuts at the market recently.

In Japanese they are called rakkasei. I was hoping they were raw so that I could make a batch of boiled peanuts, but found out they had already been roasted.

At 200 yen for 300 grams, I thought these were a steal.

What are you enjoying?

thank you!

Just want to shout out to my blog friend, Michelle and say "thank you" for brightening my day.

She had told me she was sending me something small, but with everything going on over the past couple of days, I had forgotten and was pleasantly surprised with all these goodies.

Lobster infused oil, which she says is great on pasta. Murray River Salt, Malteaster (milk chocolate bunnies filled with malt candy...yum!) & Choc Chip Chai by T2.

*I've already tried the malteaster and chai which is strong with clove & star anise..both are delicious.

All the items she put into the box are products of Australia.

This was indeed special and a nice change of pace.

Thank you!

anzac biscuits

It is a dreary, rainy day here. Last year, I was intrigued by the ANZAC biscuits that Ellie made.

In Australia and New Zealand today, it is ANZAC day. I think it is like a combination of Veteran's Day and Memorial Day in the States. These biscuits were created during WWI and sent to the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) troops in their food parcels--they were crisp and lasted long because they were made without eggs, which were scarce at the time. The biscuits are still quite popular and many hand down their recipes through the generations.

I used the recipe from a book my brother gave me, "The Essential Baking Cookbook".

Here is the recipe: makes 26 cookies
1 cup (125g/4 oz) plain flour
2/3 cup (160g/5.5 oz) sugar
1 cup (100g/3.5 oz) rolled oats
1 cup (90g/3 oz) desiccated coconut
125g (4 oz) unsalted butter, cubed
1/4 cup (90 g/3 oz) golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1. Preheat the oven to moderate 180C (350F/Gas 4). Line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the sugar, oats and coconut and make a well in the center.
3. Put the butter and golden syrup together in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat. Dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of boiling water and add immediately to the butter mixture. It will foam up instantly. Pour into the well in the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.
4. Drop level tablespoons of mixture onto the trays, allowing room for spreading. Gently flatten each biscuit with your fingertips. Bake for 20 minutes, or until just browned, leave on the tray to cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

NOTES: I didn't have golden syrup, so I used molasses. I also didn't know what dessicated coconut was and only found shredded. I also didn't read through the recipe and didn't dissolve the baking soda in water before adding it to the mixture.

Still they were easy to make and the cookies came out very chewy and a bit crispy and reminded me of coconut macaroons and went well with a rooibos tea.

Hope your week is going well.

UPDATE: these cookies turned very crispy after letting them cool completely--almost like granola bars!

sharing

After a great sunny weekend, the rain is back...

I just got through reading the summer edition of Crema Magazine. It is a magazine for "Australia's pre-eminent coffee lifestyle". It was filled with all kinds of articles about...coffee, travel & wine (my favorites!) I particularly enjoyed reading a little about the history of the espresso machine, Berlin's cafes & cakes (kaffee & kuchen) and of course, Australia's cafe scene.

I'm always taking down cafe, restaurant & dessert/food info of places around Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe & Tokyo from magazines, television and the internet and am slowly making my way around to try them. The Japanese call getting information this way, kuchikomi (by word of mouth or through the grapevine). Also before travelling, I tend to surf the net for info on places to eat, what to eat and foodie things to buy.

While reading this magazine, I also took down the cafe info from this magazine (just in case I go to Australia...) I wanted to share the cafe info (for those of you living in Australia):
KAFA
224 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Phone: (02)9280-2624
Coffee by: Boutique Sydney roaster-Campos

Butterfly
25 Cookson St, Camberwell, VIC 3124
Phone: (03)9882-1649
Coffee by: Gravity
Breakfast served all day.
Pides and baguettes are popular at lunchtime. (By the way, what are pides?)

Bite
24A Ralph St, Alexandria, NSW 2015
Phone: (02) 9669-2412
Coffee by: Allpress Espresso
"Breakfast promises to become an institution-come by early for fresh fruit salad with coconut sorbet or toasted brioche with goa's cure, poached pears and rocket!"

lb2
Shop2, 1-3 Carre St, Elsternwick, VIC 3185
Phone: (03) 9528-6440
Coffee by: Gravity
Black Sesame Tuna Salad is most popular item at lunchtime.

Pulse
Shop2, 332 Kent St, Sydney
Phone: (02)9290-2137
Coffee by: Sydney's Voodoo Coffee-the organic blend, Sacred Grounds
Specialty: organic burgers

Also, if you are in search of a job at an Aussie cafe, here's a website that gives job info:
www.cafescene.com.au

It is intriguing to read an Australian English magazine. Although it is in English, I realized that American English and Australian English are very different. There are so many terms I don't know, like the pides which I mentioned previously. Also, I came across rashers and lovage. I went to the dictionary to see if I could find a meaning and only came across meanings for the latter two. I'm hoping my Australian friends will let me know what pides are!

Enjoy!

omiyage

"Omiyage" means souvenir in Japanese. When the Japanese travel they often buy LOTS of souvenirs to give away to friends, family and co-workers. Recently, the Japanese travel agencies have been selling "omiyage" to their customers before they even take off for their destinations. This is to relieve the Japanese of wondering what to buy and carrying the items around with them on their trip. The agencies also have the "omiyage" sent to the customers home, so that it arrives the day that they arrive back home!

I don't really like this idea of ordering items from a catalog. In fact, I like roaming local supermarkets to find stuff that the locals are buying. I think we were in Belgium when we roamed the aisles of a local supermarket. We found a lot of great foodie items!

Well, Satoshi is back from his business trip. He was in Sydney and the Gold Coast for the past week. Besides Tim Tams (a chocolate covered cookie made in Australia), I wasn't quite sure as to what kinds of foodie items Sydney and the Gold Coast had to offer, so my "omiyage" list was for him to buy me Australian food magazines. I surfed the internet and found an online subscription site that listed various food magazines. I wrote up a list and gave it to him before he left for Australia. I must say, he did a great job at getting most of them. (Thank you!!) He said he found most of them at Borders Books.

My list:
Donna Hay
Delicious
Australian Gourmet Traveller
Dish
Italianicious
Crema
Regional Food Australia

What Satoshi got:
Donna Hay
Delicious
Australian Gourmet Traveller
Vogue Australia Entertainment & Travel
Italianicious
Crema
Waitrose Food Illustrated

I'm so excited...now to read them all :)