• Daily Life - Strine Tucker

    Feel That Groove….Or, Don’t

    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…

  • Daily Life - Strine Sports - Strine Tucker

    Tour de Gutsing

    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.

  • Daily Life - Strine Strife - Strine Tucker

    Paws and Reflect

    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…

  • Daily Life - Strine Tucker

    Sodden But Sublime, Pigging Out in Yokohama

    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…

  • Daily Life - Strine Tucker

    Saving Things For a Rainy Day

    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…

  • Daily Life - Strine Tucker

    Sweetie Pies!

    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…

  • Strine Tucker

    Smashing Smashed Avo!

    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…

  • Japanese Kangaroos - Roo-ing the Day - Strine Biz - Strine Tucker

    Beauty, Athleticism Driving Boom in Sales of Kangaroo Meat in Japanese Convenience Stores

    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…

  • Strine Tucker

    豪州の国家象徴を食っちゃう!

     オーストラリアと言えば多くの人がまず思うのは特有の動物。最も有目名有袋類であるカンガルーが国の象徴であることがその証といってもいいけど、その象徴も食べられるのはしっていたか?  そうなんのよ。カンガルー肉消費が年々増加している。  オーストラリアでは、1970年代まで 一部を除いて、 人間がカンガルー肉を食べることが禁じられていた。しかし、カンガルーの繁殖などに有利な羊牧場の広がりによってカンガルーの数が大幅に増え農家にとって邪魔な存在となって大幅の殺処分が許されるようになった。結果として、大量な処分されたカンガルーが使われなかった。  そこで、タンパク質が高く、脂肪分が少ないカンガルー肉を健康面から注目されるようになり、食品使用が許可された。  昨年、全国でカンガルー肉が前年比63%増加で週18万トン以上肉食用の売り上げを記録した。オーストラリア全国でだんだんカンガルー肉の人気が広がっている。  日本でも 、ミートガイにてカンガルー肉を販売している。  そこでオーストラリアの象徴を国民食であるミートパイに食べてみませんか?  カンガルーパイのレシピが以下の通りです。 材料 バッター30g カンガルー肉500gサイクロベーコン2枚、みじん切り小麦粉 大さじ2 玉ねぎ1個、みじん切り にんじん2個、みじん切りセロリ-2本、みじん切り マッシュルーム、みじん切り125g グリーンピーズ50gビーフストック 250ml トマトペースト大さじ1市販パイ生地4枚溶き卵の黄身1個 調理法 中身:フライパンの中にバッターを温めて、カンガルー肉とベーコンを焼いた、約2分間かけ混ぜる。小麦粉を加えて、固まりかけるまで2-3分焼く。玉ねぎ、にんじん、セロリ、マッシュルーム、グリーンピーズ、ビーフストックとトマトペーストを加える。火を弱めてよくかけ混ぜながら約1時間煮る。味に調味料を加える。 生地:12.5㎝パイ型に油を付けて、各パイ生地から直径14㎝丸と直径12.5㎝丸をひとつずつ切り取る。大きめの生地の丸をパイ型に入れてベースとする。パイ型からあふれている生地を切り取る。各パイ型にパイ中身を入れる。 卵の黄身と水1小さじに混ぜ、ブラッシュを使ってパイ生地の周縁に付ける。小さい方の生地の丸を蓋になるようにパイ型の上に付ける。外さないように、端を押し込む。蒸気出来るようにパイの蓋に小さいな穴をいくつか空く。カバーをかけて、約20分間冷やす。. オーブンを200度に予熱する。卵の黄身と水で作られている液体を 生地にブラッシュで付ける。10分間オーブンで焼く。オーブンの温度を180度に下がり、ふくらんで黄金色になるまで、さらに20分焼く。 オーストラリアの象徴であるカンガルーを国民食であるパイという形をもちろん食べてもいいが、東京で本格的なオージーパイを食べたいなら世田谷区にあるPunk Doilyが絶妙な味を出し、絶対にお勧めします。

  • Japanese Kangaroos - Strange Strine - Strine - Strine Songs - Strine Tucker

    Not So Fast, Sonny! Skippy The Bush Kangaroo Has Turned 50!

    Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, probably the most-loved Australian children’s TV program in history, has turned 50 years old. The first episodes screened in Australia in February 1968 and the show remains popular to this day, though only three series comprising 91 episodes were made. The show premiered outside of Australia. Its run in Japan had effectively ended before Skippy showed in Australia, mainly because the series was made in color, which did not arrive in Australia until 1975. Skippy told the story of a grey kangaroo and her best friend, a young boy named Sonny Hammond, played by Garry Pankhurst…