Because of full moon?

Everything went wrong this morning.


My kid puked in the car, l missed out a Pilates class and a massive traffic jam due to a tree fell across the road.

I went to a cafe I often go to de-stress and all the staff made mistakes too. (ie: Giving too much change, forgot to bring essential stuff for the shop, not packing the right food in a take away container, etc)

The owner of the cafe blamed on a full moon last night. So let's do that! I need excused for being disorganized everyday. Heat wave is enough!

Gelateria Gondola

I think this shop opened before Christmas last year but I only discovered it recently.

Gelateria Gondola

It is a gelati shop running by Italian men. They have flavours I've never seen else where. So far, I tried red bean and apple crumple&ginger flavour. There are many other fancy flavours I haven't yet to try. I heard their coffee is nice too.

Most of names are written in Italian but a friendly staff is very happy to explain about the flavour and you can try it before purchasing it.

I haven't taken photos of the shop yet but it's a small shop in Chatswood. If you know the busy intersection of Victoria Avenue and Archer street, it's pretty close to there.

The address is:

2/77 Archer Street Chatswood

Their website is http://gelateriagondola.com.au/

It's highly recommended!! 

New life

Since the arrival of my baby boy at the end of 2013, my life has been hectic. I am very happy with my little one but it's just that he is a reflux baby, looking after him can be very difficult sometime.

His reflux is mostly under control with medicine called losec but for some reasons, his symptoms were pretty bad last couple of days. When he has discomfort, he has trouble sleeping, hence I can't sleep either. It's very tiring for both of us when he is having a bad day.

He wasn't too bad today but if symptoms don't get any better by Sunday, I may have to call my paediatrician. 

He also has winding issue and someone online said losec actually causes more wind. I am not sure about that but if that's the case, it's annoying! I was told I can give other natural remedies to reduce wind so I might have to do that.

My business is up and running.  More owls are available at My Hair International in The Rocks and Tachi Hair Works in Chatswood. It will be available at Romantic Notions in Lane Cove next week too.

I have added new hair products at My Hair International and Tachi Hair Works. I will be uploading the photos soon!

Chattie's Komachi

This is a Japanese owned cafe/restaurant in Chatswood, Sydney.

They've been around for a year but I didn't discover them until recently.

So far, I've been there for dinner, lunch and take away lunch.

They use rice called "Kita Akita Komachi" from Akita, Japan. I always knew delicious Akita Komachi brand rice but I never heard of Kita (means North) Akita Komachi rice. It was SO tasty!
I dislike so called Asian or short grain rice from supermarkets so I usually Japanese rice from Japanese groceries. Yes I know it's a lot more expensive but for me, it's worth it.

You can buy Kita Akita Komachi rice from this cafe. There are small and big sacks available.

I loved their hamburg stake. It was so tasty. My husband loved his Katsu curry. Usually katsu we find in other shops are dry and tough. But this one was soft but still crunchy. It was so juicy too.

We also tried dessert which was made by rice flours. There were daily free cheese cakes available too.

When we went back there for lunch, unfortunately it was really busy and there were only 3 staff. We ended up waiting for a long time. We did receive apology from the owner. I'm not sure if one of their staff was absent or they were not used to with full capacity.

Their food is seriously great but in terms of service, they might want to improve a bit? All the staff were very friendly but I noticed there were few things they could do to minimise the waiting time.

Until they improve that part, perhaps, we should avoid busy lunch time. But we'll definitely go back there again.

Kyoto Emporium

Kyoto Emporium in North Ryde, Sydney is a Japanese take away and gift shop.

It opened a couple of month ago. I live near this shop but I didn't discover it until I started going to a chiropractic which was located opposite to this shop.

I was very surprised that there was a Japanese style gift shop so close to where I live! The shop is running by Keiko & Patric and also Akiko. They are all lovely people.

They are currently selling some of Kyo Modern's hair accessories, chirimen teddy bear and dog straps. They offer a large variety of other Japanese fashion accessories, kokeshi dolls, ceramics, traditional kids toys and many more.

As for food, they have a very good range of sushi, donburi (rice) and ramen & udon (noodle).

The shop is inside a little shopping plaza so it might be hard to see from the main road but you will see a sign outside. When you are in the area, please pop in and check out their amazing range of gifts. 

Kyoto Emporium
3/22 Blenheim Road, North Ryde
0403-644-290

Mon-Fri: 09:30 to 17:00
Sat:9:30 to 14:00
Closed on Sundays (catering available) 

Buku Buku Soap

 Apart from correcting and selling Japanese style fashion accessories from Kyoto, I love collecting handmade soaps.

I use them of course, but because I have so many of them, it takes me a while to use them up.  I recently found this Japanese lady who is based in Sydney is selling handmade natural soaps.

She runs a course on Saturdays but you might want to check availability first.


If you would like to purchase her soaps, you can place order via her site. There are many people who make natural soaps but she is the only one I know sells soaps with Azuki (Japanese red bean), Sake and sesami!

http://www.bukubukusoap.com/

I ended up buying few other ones and they all smell great. I just want to look at it. They smell too good to be used!

I will try not to buy any other soaps this year but the temptation is alwasy there.

One love project

It's been so wet and cold in Sydney. I can't remember when the last time the town experienced so much rain. It rained for at lease a week!

It's finally sunny today and I'm feeling more motivated. (Yes I know I shouldn't use weather for an excuse..)

Some of Kyo Modern's products will be available on discounted price at fundraising bazaar which will be organised by a none profit organisation called One Love Project.

One Love Project was established by a Japanese lady Shiho in Sydney. She runs bazaar and invites Sydney based artists to run workshops. All the sales are donated to earthquake victims in Tohoku region in Japan.

It's been more than 2 years since earthquake and tsunami hit Tohoku. Because we don't live there, many people don't think about it any more but victims still need lots of help. Many of them are still can't return to home, have mental damage from the incident and need more support for day to day life.

As Shiho says, sometimes it's difficult to keep supporting victims in natural disaster zones continuously. It;s so much easier to give one off donation. However her and her volunteers aim to give that continuously support. I'm very glad that I can take a part of this!

As for what kind of Kyo Modern's products will be available at the bazaar, I will be uploading the photos on Kyo Modern's Facebook page closer to the date.

The bazaar and workshops will be held from 9am to 12 noon on the 21st of July 2013 at 12/14-20 Eric Road Artarmon NSW.  

Play dough workshop commence at 10am. Origami workshop will commence from 12noon for adults and 1:30pm for kids. These workshops will be conducted in Japanese but of course, artists can speak English! 

Please the names below for more information of up coming events:

One love project

Kyo Modern

(Photo: Origami artwork by Midori  Furze. I will be joining her work shop from 12noon on the 21st. She  runs many other workshops in Sydney. For more details about her and workshops, please visit http://www.midorifurze.com   )