Summer vegetables

Shinobu came home with this goodie box the other day - full of beautiful summer veges! Yum!

Meaty BBQ

We were invited to another great BBQ last night. About 20 of us were there who live in the same condo. Whenever we have been invited to these yummy BBQs, one of us (ie Matthew or me) was away. But finally we managed to join in together for the first time!!

Somehow we ended up with so much meat last night. James (the organiser of last night's BBQ) and Shem (who always puts on a wonderful BBQ) and Stefan all brought down so much meat!

BBQ pit:



We started off with some Aussie sausages, then very tender Aussie beef, NZ beef, and even some kangaroo fillet.

Here is Sue trying some of the kangaroo fillet - we thought it had a very distinctive smell...



Luca and Stefan:



We thought it was getting close to the end of the BBQ then these appeared!!



My favourite! Ribs!!! I couldn't say no, they were finger licking delicious :) :) :)

I now stock up on my iron levels when we have a BBQ. I am not a big meat eater but beautifully cooked sizzling meat and fresh air makes me into a carnivore Grraaaahhhh!!!

As usual the kids had a ball riding their scooters, playing touch, jumping in the pool or just chilling out on the beach chair.



It went on till quite late... I think by the time we came back upstairs it was almost 11:00. Believe it or not Luca didn't fall asleep at all. We had two exhausted boys and parents so we all went straight to bed.

Being there with Matthew was a lot more fun. I could actually enjoy chatting to my friends. I hope he will be off next time too :)

Little Masterchef

This morning we had some nice oatmeal and pear pancakes thanks to our little masterchef. Oliver is always so happy to be involved in cooking :) and the best part? He eats so well what he cooks :) :) :)

Luca and I were behind the counter to watch the show!



Instead of popcorn we had some grapes:



Pouring in some milk:



Mixing the egg into the mixture:



I am still scared of Oliver standing in front of the gas grill, so our big masterchef did the frying for us:



Looking very good!! Garnished with some beautiful raspberries and honey:



Muuuummmmm Yummy!



We followed this recipe we found online. It was so yummy! A little heavier than your normal flour-only-pancakes which was perfect for our hungry boys :)

11/2 cup milk
1 cup rolled oatmeal
1 tbsp oil (we used butter instead of oil)
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

You just need to soak the oatmeal in the milk before mixing with the other ingredients. We added half a grated pear and it was perfect but you can adjust the amount as you want.

Highly recommended!!

Bento fever

Apparently making pretty Bento/lunch boxes is very popular in Brunei at the moment. Oliver doesn't go to nursery at the moment so I don't need to make one. But when I went to the 100yen shop the other day I saw lots of cool tools so I bought some and made Oliver a special lunch. Cute ha?

Fruit picking weekend

We don't normally come back to Japan at this time of the year. We tend to come over in mid summer or winter. It is lovely to be here right now, wonderfully fresh air and just perfect temperature for the kids to run around outside. Plus lots of yummy fruits are ready for harvesting.

When I was 8 years old or so my friend gave me a bunch of biwa/loquat on the way home from school. They were so delicious. I took the seeds home and mum and I planted them in the backyard at our apartment complex. So many years (I think 8-10 years) later it started to fruit and now we have this huge fruit tree!

Mum has been watching and protecting the fruits from birds and a raccoon (someone must have had it as a pet but let loose) for us.











They were so sweet and juicy!!

In the afternoon we got in the car and headed out to the strawberry picking farm we visited in March. This time Aunty Kyoko (mum's little sister) joined us :)

This time I was very careful not to pick too many and ate very slowly. They had some cakes you can add strawberries you just picked, tea and coffee, ice cream etc etc. So great afternoon tea for us!

Mum was super happy!



Oliver knew exactly what he was supposed to do!





I am not sure why but they had lots of soft toy dress ups - I guess you dress up while you eat strawberries???

Mum:















Yuzuki and Runa:



Hinata and Oliver:



Luca and Aunty Kyoko:

Luca is so good at feeding himself - Yuuuuuummmmmyyyy!

Well in the end, as usual I ate way too much. I almost got strawberry flu! (flu-like symptoms I get when I overeat ...) Sadly the strawberry season is already over here, we just have to catch the next one down under! 

My little banana monster

Luca is into Banana Banana Banana right now. He can demolish a whole large one in no time.

Power of marketing

It is amazing how kids get hooked by successful marketing. Every time we are in the car Oliver is asking if we are going to "sushi train" for lunch.

Not only this fun sushi train that brings your meal attracts Oliver:



but also the prize you get from the lucky draw is perfect for a little three-year-old. We won again!!





Inside these little capsules you get free toy cars:



I don't really mind taking him there as the toys are free and he eats so well :) We LOVE sushi!!

Shinkansen lunch

We went out for shopping with my little sister Shinobu and her brand new baby Rua the other day. Before hitting all the shops we sat down and had lunch.

Oliver knew what he wanted straight away! Shinkansen kiddy lunch set.



And it came with a free fire engine toy (photo taken by Oliver).

More strawberries

We are so lucky with strawberries this visit. This time we get to eat ginormous ones!
Almost the same size as toy cars:



So biiiiiggg!



Yummy!

Strawberry picking

My sister Mako called me early this morning to see if we are interested in going strawberry picking - Yes Please!!



We had a one hour time limit and they told us which lanes we can go to in. I've never been to one in Japan and this was my first time to see this special harvesting style. The fruit were set up at eye height, so it was very easy to pick - how cool is that!





Oliver was so impressed he was surrounded by his favourite fruit:



Hinata was so good helping him out:





Oliver was very specific which one to pick:



There was a place for you to sit down and you can get cakes and ice creams etc to make your special strawberry dessert. We sort of picked a little too many... (But of course I ate them all!!)







I hope we get to go with Matthew next time. It was such a fun afternoon.