Something was amiss with the start of the weekend when I was barely able to sleep, spending a restless night ahead of plans to head into central Tokyo to pick up some parts, but little did I know that a vanilla slice “snot block” was on the way to rescuing me. Using the restlessness to advantage, I got stuck into the garden, weeding and then being able to cut the lawn courtesy of a quiet push mower and getting down on my hands and knees to manually trim the edges. A quick clean of the Brommie, which has been squeaking…
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Aussie beef and lamb provided a meating (sic) of minds in central Tokyo today at the surprisingly enjoyable Aussie Meat Festival . Dragged along by Mrs. Kangaeroo, who loves a good chunk of steak and is not averse to lamb either, the celebration of Australian beef, lamb and other fare turned out to be a ripper. Not normally a great meat eater (simply because I don’t really like the taste), the day turned out to be a feast for all the senses, and not just the taste buds. Walking up to the site, the mouthwatering fragrance of roasting lamb wafted…
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I’ve struggled to adjust to the realities of life over the past few weeks, but waking on this holiday morning and seeing tiny spots of green sprouting up where my lawn used to be has raised my spirits infinitely, even if not leaving me quite as chilled out as a kangaroo playing air guitar. While on the topic, I’ll stick with the good news. The onerous (and highly costly) process of getting an Australian passport for my daughter was finally completed. Even then it had been a bumpy ride, fighting with my daughter over instructions to fulfill the extremely demanding…
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Today was simply magnificent: stunning weather, delightful companions, fantastic bikes and serious gutsing of ourselves. Bromptons ruled the day and it was the common connection between us. Mechanicals slowed down our start, but also opened new doors. Following a slowdown caused by a flat, we got to eat at Hugsy Doughnut and then later rode on for pies, cakes and cuppas at Punk Doily. Related posts: 豪で発売するラム肉バーガーこそがオージー味であり、日本マクドナルドが日本消費者に不誠実 Rounding Biwa, Japan’s Largest Lake Sodden But Sublime, Pigging Out in Yokohama Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 5: Beppu to Uchiko Brommies More Than Just a Mere Bike Sunrise of the Year (So Far!)…
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Possibly the most meaningful part of my Australian seeds experiment arose today when I transplanted my kangaroo paw seedlings. The great experiment, which I expected would result in me proving to have a green thumb and presenting all my gardening mates with exotic plants has proven only that I am all thumbs. I’ve killed nearly everything I planted, even the everlasting daises and golden everlastings that appeared to be growing so well. I bumped them off by putting them in a hothouse on a boiling hot day, then giving too much fertilizer to the plants that survived. A desert pea…
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Rain continued throughout the weekend, barely stopping from the time it began on Friday afternoon. This made me miserable at a time when I was in the mood to celebrate, but the weekend turned out to be a ripper one anyway as we hit the streets of Yokohama. I’ve always had an affinity for Yokohama, as it’s a sister-port to Melbourne (my hometown), and I arrived in Japan at the same time as Aussie Bowl ’88, the last VFL footy game in the code’s Japan experiment, was played in the city in October 1988. But the weather was bleak and…
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It’s drizzling and miserable weather today, which provides a wonderful opportunity for an update as my customary lunchtime ride can be substituted. Lots has happened since my last post, but there’s little time to write about it, so this is a bit of a summary of the past couple of weeks. Perhaps most important is the passage of the first anniversary of my garden, Kangaeroo Corner, earlier this week. Amazing Alex, his mate, Mrs. Kangaeroo, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law built the garden as I was out with a broken leg at the time. It has since become one of the…
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Australia doesn’t really occupy a prime place in the mind of most Japanese people’s eyes, and the same goes for Australian cuisine. But for a short while, meat pies here were, well, the flavor of the month. オーストラリアは、多くの日本人の目から見ると、あまり重要な位置を占めておらず、オーストラリア料理も同様であった。しかし、一時期、ミートパイが流行ったことがありました。 Meat pies are, of course, probably the Australian national dish, or at least an iconic item on the everyday Aussie menu. ミートパイはもちろん、オーストラリアの国民食、あるいはオージーの日常的なメニューの象徴的な存在でしょう。 They’ve been pretty hard to come by down through the years, though. My first memory of Aussie pies in Japan came from watching a World of Sport segment on Channel 7 in the 1980s which showed Four ‘N Twenty pies…
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Kangaeroo was extremely fortunate to get to pig out on Aussie food while surrounded by kangaroos and koalas, all in the east of Tokyo! Restaurant Ensemble on the second floor of Tokyo East Side Hotel Kaie has been holding an Oceanian Cuisine Fair as part of its World Buffet Dinner series since April 1, 2022, and it will draw to a close on June 30, 2022. The food was fantastic, featuring such menu items as smashed avo, baked whitehead, roast lamb with rosemary sauce, fish & chips, whitebait fritters and chicken parma, all available in unlimited quantities. Desserts were also…
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Kangaroo meat is selling like hotcakes in Japanese convenience stores. Sales of protein-related products are skyrocketing against a backdrop of growing fascination for weight training. All protein-related products grew 40% year on year at Natural Lawson convenience stores from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019. And September 2019 sales increased 70% YoY, with kangaroo meat being a prime driver at the chain’s 143 stores in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Tokyo-based Vasel Inc. sells kangaroo meat under the RooMeat and Paroo brands throughout Japan, including the roo jerky selling strongly at convenience stores. “Kangaroo meat is the pinnacle of red meats. Its…