27 Jan 2006

Yesterday was Australia Day. It is the Australian Independence Day and occurs in the height of summer. We attended the free concert and fireworks in Parramatta Park. It was a beautiful fireworks display. They were literally exploding right above our heads. Afterward, I had to shake ash and burnt bits of debris off my clothes and out of my hair.

It dawned upon me, as we were walking back to the car, that I haven't attended a Fourth of July event in years. Maybe I'm just old and tired, but I haven't felt the urge. It seems that all the fireworks I experience in Au are long and magnificent. They obviously spend a great deal of energy and money upon them. Perhaps that is because Au doesn't allow public sale of fireworks. One cannot purchase anything more innocuous than sparklers. Instead, they offer grand performances for everyone to share at no cost. It was safe, it was sane -- we didn't have to worry about the youths chugging tin after tin of beer next to us blowing themselves, us, or the many children dashing around the field into the cosmos. We lounged on a blanket listening to fun music, watching the sun set, the stars blinking on for the night and the bats flying overhead providing natural insect repellent.

After the fireworks, Belinda took us to the Parramatta RSL (Retired Servicemen's League) Club where we gained free admittance to an INXS cover band. They were fun, the venue was intimate and gloriously smoke free, and G even pulled me up for a couple dances. I was lively and attentive right until I sat down in the car. As it was after midnight, I immediately pumpkined and G had to pull my sedated corpse out of the car in front of the house. It was a lovely evening.

Today, G and his family are having a day together in Cabramatta visiting family friends and eating spicy beef soup. I am happily having an independent day in the city. I'm currently sitting in an adorable Japanese tea house sipping sencha and eating a green tea and seaweed soup. It's lovely. What a treat. The atmosphere is an elegant, Western version of the beautiful tea houses we experienced in Japan. Instead of tatami mat floors, futon cushions and low tables overlooking a garden and water feature, I'm sitting on a French salon inspired chair (complete with overstuffed seat cushion and arms) at a granite bistro table. My shoes (with my feet still ensconced within them) are resting upon a Tasmanian oak floor the colour of rosewood. The owner and his wife are companionably chattering in Japanese as they putter about the open kitchen bar. He is from Japan (she is from Hong Kong) and he buys his tea from a large tea farm planted at the base of Mt. Fuji. Set before me on the table is a cute little glass teapot full of golden-green sencha. The aroma wafts beneath my nose from the steaming glass cup I've poured. My pot has already been refilled for me. I've finished my soup and was supposed to receive a small scoop of soy green tea ice cream, but they were out so they've given me a little plate of sweetened red beans. There is also a little bowl of yummy wasabi covered dried green peas. It was all aromatic and tasty. I wish we had a shop like this in Eugene. I wouldn't miss the recent demise of our last remaining tea salon, then. There is something eminently appealing about being surrounded by teapots that soothes the soul.

For those interested in their website, click below. There are recipes and nutritional tables to see.
http://www.japanesegreentea.com.au/