Being a stay at home dad

Hello everyone, I'm Paul - nice to virtually meet you all! Well, some of you might feel like you know a bit about me already - Allie sometimes mentions me in her blog and when she does it's always something nice...well, one of her many talents is seeing the best in people, so I'm very especially grateful for that :P

The first thing I want to say is how proud I am of Allie - hopefully you all have a sense of what a wonderful and caring person she is from this blog and she is genuinely all that and more in person. Her new business, nuno and stitch, reflects this - attention to detail, always doing her best and consideration and care for others are central to her character and I'd like to thank each and every one of you for supporting her and us.

Allie has kindly agreed to let me jump on her blog to share a little about my experience over the last two and a half months. For the ongoing followers here and our friends and family, you're probably already aware that I've been lucky enough to be a stay at home dad over this time. Well, what an amazing time it's been! I've been able to be a central and everyday part of Nico's growth and development, but I think I've grown and developed almost as much.

The last two and a half months have been the happiest and most wonderful time of my life...and also the most challenging. When I got extended leave from my work, there was a bit of a view among my friends and colleagues that there would be a bit of R&R involved. I think I even started to believe this myself! I'm a pretty lazy guy by nature, so two and a half months of just having to look after the little fella sounded, at least during the "down time", kinda relaxing...until realised there was no down time!

Nico is a beautiful, amazing, happy little kid and the absolute joy of our lives. He's also a never-ending ball of wriggling energy who needs to be monitored the whole time he's awake...and even when he's not awake. Is this the same for all 10 month olds??? Okay, dads can feel free to shrug their shoulders here, mums can feel free to roll their eyes...

Father's Group on Friday-my bro, brother in law and me (and the kids)!

Here's some things I didn't realise before, but now understand at least a little bit:
- I didn't realise how difficult it would be to make dinner, wash clothes, do the dishes, clean the house or do anything much while Nico was awake;
- I didn't realise the exhaustion I'd also feel as soon as he went to sleep and hence the difficulty with all of the above tasks even when he was sleeping;
- I didn't realise that his "two hour" naps were almost never two hours;
- I didn't realise how much carrying 10 kg (and growing) around half the day would exhaust me physically;
- I didn't realise that I'd look forward to afternoon tea time so much with my parents...almost every day;
- I didn't realise that thinking of something different to make for dinner every day would require every ounce of the brainpower I had left;
- I didn't realise I'd do this much realising!

I only did these things for a couple of months or so, but I hope I understand all this a little better now. It's the hardest job I've ever done...but also by far the most rewarding! I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to learn and appreciate all the things involved in looking after the little guy five days a week. So, thank you to Allie, to my mum and to everyone responsible for caring for someone else - you all do an incredibly amazing job! And thanks to my work for giving me this chance to understand all this a bit better.

Allie has been working extremely hard while I've been looking after Nico too. It's a huge thing to start your own business and she's done it as only she can, in the most thorough, efficient and thoughtful way possible. I'm sure it'll be even more of a challenge for her when I'm back at work, but I hope that with my new understanding I'll get home a little earlier, will make the dinner a little more often and will generally have more genuine empathy about what's been going on during her day.

Finally, when I was thinking about what to write in this entry, I had an idea that I might include a quick and easy recipe or two that I've made during my time off - I've always liked cooking, but it was more as a hobby than as an everyday necessity for the family (and there's quite a difference - another realisation). I think this entry might be more than long enough already though, so with Allie's permission, I might post a collection of recipes in a subsequent blog entry in a couple of weeks or so.

The other thing I wanted to write about was some tips for stay-at-home dads, but I'll hold off on these for now too.

Oh and thanks for reading "stitch by stitch" everyone, I hope this entry has been interesting. Allie's blog entries always come from the heart and I really love reading them (actually, I'm always the first person who gets to read them), so I hope you don't mind me crashing the party this time and maybe occasionally in the future.

Ah, I nearly forgot - Father's Day is coming up, so have a great day dads! There's some really great presents at nuno and stitch for the blokes (my personal favourites are the business card holders and the sports towels) and there's some more things that are super cool (but I can't tell you about) being announced soon. Stay tuned!

Cheers,
Paul

The attractive TENUGUI world - CHUSEN

Last week on Friday, I wrote about how I became interested in TENUGUI. This week, I’d like to share my TENUGUI making experience in Japan:-)

When I started to learn about TENUGUI, I was of course also interested in how TENUGUI were made. Originally I had thought they were machine printed like other fabrics, handkerchieves and those sorts of things, but was surprised to learn that they were hand dyed. 

measure out each TENUGUI and put a dye-resistant paster on each section

I found a TENUGUI making workshop in Tokyo, so I booked it and went there with my old university friend. Our instructor of the day was a young girl. I didn’t ask her background, but I was pretty impressed that a young Japanese girl was succeeding in the traditional Japanese TENUGUI making method of “CHUSEN”. (or maybe she was brought up with it…) 

make a guard with special paste around each pattern to prevent the dye from flowing into other areas

At the start, we watched a short video about TENUGUI making. More typical looking old craftsmen were showing their work and techniques. I could see how experienced they were and how much pride they took in their work. We have a word to describe a well-trained craftsman in Japan - it’s “shokunin”. When Paul and I were once talking about the word “craftsman”, we found that we had quite different images for the meaning, but then I found that the right translation for ‘shokunin’ is not really ‘craftsman’.  I came across this explanation:

pour the dye using special pot called "Yakan" or "Dohin"

The Japanese word shokunin is defined by both Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries as ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan,’ but such a literal description does not fully express the deeper meaning. The Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skills, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness… The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people. This obligation is both spiritual and material, in that no matter what it is, the shokunin’s responsibility is to fulfill the requirement.

— Toshio Odate

 I realise now that the people I saw in the short video were not just ‘craftsman’, but ‘shokunin’. 

our instructor was a young girl!

After watching the video, we experienced each process of TENUGUI making. We started by putting a dye-resistant paste on each cloth over a mould of the design, making a guard with another special paste around each pattern, pouring the dye using special pot and washing off the dye-resistant paste. (Please see how TENUGUI are made here)

washing off the dye-resistant paste

When the instructor was showing us how to do it, it looked quite easy, but when I experienced it, I found it quite difficult. Especially when putting the dye-resistant paste on the cloth, if you are not pressing a wooden spatula onto a cloth evenly, some parts get more paste and that can change the result. Pouring dye is also tricky - when you want to express a lovely gradation in the colour, you have to hold two pots in each hand and pour two different dyes at the same time. 

this MANGA explains how to make CHUSEN TENUGUI A typical Japanese way of learning!

Temperature, humidity, and the timing of when the ‘shokunin’ stops pouring their dye, all these small things can make a difference in each TENUGUI. That’s why each TENUGUI is unique!

soft line of CHUSEN TENUGUI

These days when I receive TENUGUI products from Japan, now I appreciate the different aspects a lot more - in the colour gradation, bleeding and soft lines of each TENUGUI, I can feel the shokunin’s pride there. 

the colour bleeding is also its charm

If you find a very cheap TENUGUI, it might not be made by this traditional Chusen method. I have often seen TENUGUI at a 100 yen shop (like a dollar shop!) in Japan. If you kinda like the pattern and want to use it without worrying about how to care for it, this can be okay. 

the colour gradation

But if you want to get a traditional TENUGUI, make sure you check the back of it. The back of machine printed TENUGUI is plain, but for CHUSEN TENUGUI, you cannot really tell which is the front or back, because the both sides are dyed. This is another difference between Chusen and other dying methods, like screen printing - all these details make me appreciate TENUGUI and the work of the shokunin masters more and more.

this is NOT CHUSEN

Do you want to learn a little bit more about TENUGUI? I will write about the history of TENUGUI next week! 

With love Allie

My favourite things – bribe citi plates

I've always liked ‘city skyline’ designs. Maybe that’s why I like this ‘city’ TENUGUI in my shop. My sister bought me these plates for my birthday present when she was visiting me in Melbourne.

It was after I moved from Sydney to Melbourne in 2008. They are a set of 4 - London, New York, Paris and Sydney. If I saw these at a shop now, I might get upset that Melbourne isn't included, but at that time, I really missed Sydney.

When I moved from Sydney to Melbourne in 2002, I wasn’t that confident in my choice. I just got a job here after I had been studying in Sydney for 1 year and had never been to Melbourne, so I didn’t know what it was like.

For the first 5 months, I missed Sydney terribly. I missed its blue sky, blue harbour, and lovely beaches. I felt like Melbourne was somehow a colourless place. But after 6 months, I started to feel more comfortable. I began to love all the laneways, lovely cafes and the vibrant European-style markets.

In 2003, I went back to Tokyo and then in 2006, I decided to come back to Australia again...but to which city? I wanted to choose Melbourne, but I knew it would be hard for me to find a job here, so I picked Sydney – well, a little bit later on my boss in Tokyo gave me a job which I could do from home, so maybe I could have chosen Melbourne at that time!

Anyway I had a lovely time in Sydney. When I was a student there, I couldn’t do much (with little money) but I enjoyed walking around the city every weekend and came to love Sydney even more. I was very happy and felt like I was living in heaven. Whenever I crossed the Harbour Bridge by bus and saw the Opera House and the lovely harbour, I thought I was the luckiest person in the world.

But somehow I always had a strange feeling like I was having a dream. I felt like floating and my feet were not touching ground. If you are in heaven too long, you might feel like this. I wanted to start putting down some roots. That was the time I decided to move from Sydney to Melbourne again.

Although I then felt very confident about my choice, I still missed Sydney again after I moved. Sydney is such a lovely city. Whenever I met someone in Melbourne who thought Sydney was not that good (because there is a bit of Sydney-Melbourne rivalry), I made it my mission to make the person like Sydney! This plate represented my love for Sydney and when I had guests at home, I always used the Sydney one myself.

It’s been almost 7 years since I moved to Melbourne. Now I have family here, so Melbourne really is my dearest city. I still love Sydney, but I like to use any of these plates now. They are all equally lovely ;-)

Which one is your favourte?

With love,

Allie

New arrival

We have some new additions to our Washi tape collection.

Washi tapes

Osharesan (yellow) 

Ongakutai(blue)

Cats (dark green)



For those who are wondering how to use Washi tapes… get some ideas here!



Follow nuno and stitch's board washitape! on Pinterest.





Also I'd like to share one of my favourite use of washi tape.I use it to mark my own stuff, to show “It’s mine!”



Look at this black plain USB. If you lend it to someone, it may not come back to you...but with this washi tape, it gets a bit more character and you are highly likely to get it back ;)

You can decide that “This is my signature washi tape!”, which will help other people to remember too. If you are choosing your signature washi tape from my shop, what would you choose??



With love

Allie

Party Planning

There's only two months to go until Nico’s first Birthday! I’m starting to feel a little bit pressure - for me as a newish mum, the first Birthday is such a big thing. We want to make it something memorable...well Nico won’t remember it, but we want him to be able to feel that we made an effort for him. So I started pinning some party ideas.

Follow nuno and stitch's board kids party idea on Pinterest.






His actual birthday is a weekday, but we’ll have the party on the weekend. In that case, I think we'll do something on his actual birthday too. If you had the same situation, I wonder what you did for your child's actual birthday.


For his (actual) first birthday, Nico’s little cousin Luca had a little afternoon tea celebration with his mum’s special ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ cake (and a big party on weekend)...but for me having 2 parties (even one of them is very small) is a bit too much, because I will try to make the little one as special as the big one.


So I was thinking to take Nico to the zoo or somewhere he can enjoy some time with us. Is the zoo good for a 1 year old? Are there any other places we can take Nico? I need your help!!!


With love


Allie

The attractive TENUGUI world -how I got interested in TENUGUI

 

OK, so I’m often talking about TENUGUI here and there, but you might be wondering..."What is TENUGUI?"

For the next few weeks on Fridays, I'm going to share my story and knowledge about TENUGUI. At the start, I will write about how I became attracted to the world of TENUGUI.

When I was younger, I had received a couple of TENUGUI as gifts. I grew up in Japan, so obviously I knew how to use them...in traditional way. Yes, it's a hand towel used for wiping! But the ones I got from my friends were a bit too nice for that, so I didn't know what to do and just kept them in my drawers for years.

One day, I got an idea to make a bag using one of those TENUGUI. After Nico was born, I started to carry a big bag that could fit all his baby goodies inside, but I realised that I didn't need to carry this big bag all the time. When I got out from the car to get some stuff from shops, we didn't need all the baby stuff, so I wanted to leave the big bag in the car and just take my wallet and mobile. I needed a small bag for that purpose, so I made this. 

I always really liked this print and thought it would make a lovely bag. Although the pattern was great, the material for this particular TENUGUI was extra soft gauze, so it became a bit weak to hold heavy things - I can still use this for other purposes though!

Now I know a bit more about TENUGUI, so if I'm making another bag, I'll put a liner inside and make the handle part with stronger materials. The great thing was that I realised that using TENUGUI as a fabric is pretty unique and interesting. There are so many fabrics if you go to Lincraft or Spotlight, but sometimes it's difficult to find a lovely, unique pattern.

This is how I initially became interested in TENUGUI. But I discovered its real charm when I went to Japan and experienced the TENUGUI-making process.

Next week, I will write about my TENUGUI-making experience. Stay tuned!

Have a lovely weekend. xxx

With love
Allie

My favourite things - Tintin mugs

 

Last week, I shared my favourite dinosaur designs cup, which was cracked by my little son Nico (but I know it wasn't his fault). I wrote that I almost felt like crying when I saw it was cracked...but I didn’t say I cried. Well, if these Tintin mugs are broken, I will definitely cry and will not be able to get over it for a few days :P

 

Unlike many Japanese people, I don’t usually like to have "character" goods at home. I like some characters like Moomin or Miffy, but to me too many character goods can make a home seem a bit childish. But somehow, Tintin is not childish for me. I’d be happy to decorate my wall with a Tintin picture book or a poster. As for our mugs, I think that they look pretty cool, especially with these black and white designs.

Paul and I got these mugs in France when we went on our honeymoon. Some of you might already know, but we didn’t actually intend to go to France for our honeymoon, we just accidentally appeared there. Our flight to Zurich from Florence was cancelled after a little bit of a drama at Florence airport. We had a connection flight to Tokyo from Zurich, so they transferred us to Bologna airport to go to Paris, then to Tokyo by Air France. We saw some Japanese people at Florence airport for the same canceled flight and they got Lufthansa tickets, so it was pretty random that we got a ticket to France. 

 

On transit, we had four hours in Paris. I had been to Paris before, but Paul hadn’t. We wanted to see something there together. We went to Information and asked where the closest thing to see was and they suggested Sacré-Cœur. Our plan was to go there by taxi (takes about 30 mins), stay there for 1 hour and come back two hours before our next flight. 

 

Howevere, the taxi we took got stuck in a traffic jam! We were so nervous about whether we'd make it back in time, since it actually took us about 1 hour to get Sacré-Cœur. We quickly looked around Sacré-Cœur, took some photos and went back to the airport.

 

When we got on a taxi to the airport, the driver could only speak French. I studied a bit of French at uni many years ago (Paul studied it too, but could only remember "Parlez vous Anglais?") and tried to tell him we wanted to go to the airport, but he still asked us some questions and we got a bit confused. Then we realised that he just wanted to know which airport and terminal we wanted to go to - there are so many terminals for Charles de Gaulle airport!

 

Luckily we arrived at the right terminal of the right airport and had a little bit of time before our next flight to Tokyo. There was Laduree (a famous macaron shop) just in front of the gate, so we got some lovely macarons and saw a couple of souvenir shops. At one of the shops, Paul found this Tintin mug and he wanted to get it, so I said I’d buy it for him. While I was in the long queue to pay, I thought about buying another one for myself, but it was 18 euro and I didn't want to go back to the end of the queue again, so I just gave up. 

 

 

When we got back from our honeymoon, we unpacked everything and found these two Tintin mugs in the box.  We were in such a hurry, we didn’t realize it was a set of two mugs! Whenever we see these mugs, we think about our funny, shortest trip to Paris and that bring back happy memories. We will definitely go back to Paris again...but hopefully we'll have more than 4 hours next time!

With love,

Allie

New Arrival

Our new TENUGUI have arrived!

Blowing Japanese maple http://bit.ly/1UQ79hP
Winter serenity http://bit.ly/1PiRtjw

I was going to wait to share these until next autumn/winter, but that was too long! They are so beautiful, I hope you like them.

With Love,
Allie

Get ready for Father’s Day

 

Looking for a Father's Day gift idea? Check out our Top 5 Father's Day gifts. 

Paul’s first Father’s Day is coming up...yay! Ah, but he had one in Japan when we went there - Father’s Day in Japan is in June. We had cake and my otousan (dad) got his favourite bread, "choko korone"（チョココロネ). (See Japanese Wikipedia).

 

 

Actually Paul received a Father’s Day gift last year too. Our little Nico was still in my tummy but I got this Train T-shirts for him. He really loved it! 

 

For Paul’s dad last year, we had a picnic at Jells Park in Glen Waverley. (Our present was a Nespresso Machine.) Usually we all go to mum and dad's place, but we didn't want mum to have to bother to prepare food for everyone and clean up afterwards, so we decided to do something outside. FYI, with all our nieces and nephews, we have many many kids in our family!
 

We had a lovey day, but Jells Park is enormous and it was pretty packed, so it was a bit difficult to find a parking spot and find each other (especially for poor mum who didn’t take her mobile with her!). Probably we will do something less stressful this year.   
 

Have you got any ideas about what to do on Father’s Day this year? What was your best Father’s Day? It’ll be great if I could get some ideas from you!

 

With love,

Allie

When I became a real Melbournian

Before I met Paul, I didn't have many Aussie friends. I just hung around with Japanese friends and some friends from other countries. I worked from home so it was a bit difficult for me to make new friends or get to know new people anyway.

Then I met Paul (that was through my Taiwanese friend!) . It was in October, 2010. We started dating in December and I was introduced to his parents in February. We were (and still are by the way) so in love and spent almost all weekends together up until March. But after that, Paul started wanting to spend some time of weekends with his family...to watch footy!

He just told me "I can't see you Sunday this week" or "Saturday this week", according to the AFL fixture. He didn't really ask my plans and I felt a bit like he put me in his schedule around footy. I was a bit disappointed.

Then one day, he invited me to his place to watch footy with his parents. Paul's parents explained all the rules to me while we were watching. I don't usually watch sports much but it didn't take me long to get into the footy world. I really enjoyed it! (I remember it was very exciting close match.)

After the game, I said to Paul's parents "I really liked it! Now I have to choose my team". Paul's dad looked a bit surprised by what I said and said "Well, you don't have a choice. Your team is Collingwood!"

Since then I became a Collingwood supporter. Although I didn't have a choice, I'm so glad that Collingwood is my team now because they are the most interesting team to watch in AFL, no matter if they win or lose. Well, that's my "one-eyed" Collingwood view at least :P

Paul's friends often say that their girlfriends or wives aren't interested in footy and they get surprised to know that I like footy. They usually ask "Do you really like it?? Or you just watch it because Paul likes it?". Then Paul has to explain that I'm the most enthusiastic supporter in the family. I know players' name better than Paul's mum and dad now. I'm also the one that always check the fixture...and decides our weekend schedule according to that ;)

Maybe it's a bit strange, but somehow I now feel more comfortable living in Melbourne because of footy. I don't have to feel like an outsider because I share the same passion with most other Melbournians. In Melbourne, if you're interested in footy you can strike up a conversation with pretty much anyone. An example of this is one time Paul and I were walking in the city and a pretty rough looking guy was walking the other way. When he saw Paul he stopped us, gave Paul a big toothy smile and said "I like you". It was because Paul was wearing his Collingwood scarf!

watching footy at RSL

Like me, of course our son Nico didn't have a choice - he's a born Collingwood supporter, but I'm sure he will love it! I can't wait to go to MCG with him someday.

Do you like footy, or does it seem a bit of a confusing sport? If you like it, which team do you support? Did you have to change your team when you get married or started dating? It'll be interesting to know other people's story!


With love,
Allie

My favorite thing - dinosaur designs cup

My husband Paul is the kind of person who never really cared about possessions (apart from his toy and comic collection), so I used to feel a bit guilty for often thinking about cute things I wanted to buy. Now we enjoy going to some of our favorite shops together.

We don't buy much though. We both love simple things, so we don't want to fill our home with stuff. My theory is that having lots of possessions isn't important, but living with some of your favorite things can show your personality and make you feel happy. 

I want our products at "nuno and stitch" to be things that make you feel happy. I want them to make you smile when you are using them or seeing them.

Every Wednesday from now on, I will share some my favorite things around me. They might sometimes be things from my shop, but most of the stuff will be things I've collected over the years. I will sometimes share my wish-list too!

My favourite thing for today is this little Dinosaur Designs cup. I always loved their marble colour series.

Well, you might have noticed that it's cracked. My boy (the little one, not the big one!) dropped it from a low shelf the other day. Well...it's my fault. I shouldn't have put it somewhere that he could reach. Initially I felt like crying, but what could I do? He is my ultimate favorite after all. (For those who wonder, I have two ultimate favorite boys! haha. )

I'm not quite sure what to do with this now though - should I keep it, or throw it away? Have you ever broken something that you really liked?


With love,
Allie

Win a cute, exclusive Tokyo Tenugui!

To enter, just visit our facebook page here and like our special campaign post, then like one of our tenugui collection on our web store! With these 3 easy steps, you will have a chance to win one of three exclusive Tokyo tenugui.

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What is TENUGUI? read here!
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I got this tenugui when we went to Japan ;) When I saw this tenugui online, I instantly loved it, but couldn't order because this is a limited edition that you can only buy from the shop itself in Tokyo.

Do you wish you could go to Tokyo but have never been able to do it? Or do you miss Tokyo and the places you once visited? Get a Tokyo feeling with this bright Tokyo tenugui!

With love,

Allie

lovely breakfast

We can now proudly announce that our shop 'nuno and stitch' is open! A special thank you to all those people who visited my shop last couple of days and those who shared my page/post on Facebook!

But more than anyone else I'd like to thank Paul, who supported me for this big project. Without him, I didn't even think about opening a shop! He made this happen. He also checked all the English on my website (and this blog), which must have been pretty hard work! Well, that means if you find any English mistakes on my website, it's not my fault ;) haha.

The day before the opening, I was so stressed. I had to test a couple of things after I published my website. I waited until 12am. I thought about having a rest until 12am, but I was so nervous and I couldn't sleep.  (FYI, I usually go to bed around 10.30pm because Nico wakes up 3 or 4 times during the night! ) When I finished publishing my website and checked everything was working okay, I felt exhausted.

Paul prepared a 'surprise' celebration breakfast with a few our friends and family. When Nico woke up in the morning, Paul took him to mum and dad's place and gave me some extra time to sleep! While I was sleeping, Paul cooked lovely banana pancakes and sourdough bread with cream mushroom sauce.

Awe I'm a really lucky woman! When Paul suggested that we should have a sort of shop opening party or something, I needed a little bit of encouragement to come around to the idea. I didn't want to make it a big deal for everyone else...even though it's been such a big deal for me. But Paul knew how much effort I had put into this shop, so he wanted to really cerebrate it.

I had a lovely morning and this is how my new career started. Does my new business seem promising? Because of this wonderful morning, I believe so!

With love Allie

We are open

Hooray! We are finally open. Please come and visit our shop at http://www.nunoandstitch.com.au. We have collected some high quality stuff from Japan for you. Enjoy your shopping!

Pray for peace

This morning, when I was folding this paper crane, I looked at my computer and the time was 9.15am. I closed my eyes and thought about peace. 

Today (August 6) is Hiroshima Day, the day the bomb dropped in Hiroshima. On this day at 8.15am (9.15am here in Australia) 70 years ago, so many people died in an instant.  They just disappeared in a strong light and didn’t even leave their ashes. Probably in any country, you can imagine how busy people are at 8.15 in the morning, getting ready to start a day, having breakfast, catching a tram to go to work or school. 

People who survived the blast also suffered from radiation effects. But it’s been 70 years and now many of those who experienced the atomic bomb have passed away. The people who were born after that can take peace for granted and it can feel inevitable that war and conflict will be part of the future also...

Having grown up in Japan, the only country to have ever experienced the atomic bomb, I also feel some responsibility to tell people how terrible nuclear weapons are, and how important it is for us all to have peace. My wish for little Nico is that he will learn all those things too and that his future will be one without war.

Pray for peace.

With love, 

Allie

A Taste of Japan in Melbourne -Ramen Bankara

Finally we went to Diamond Valley Railway in Eltham yesterday! Some of you might remember, but on Paul’s birthday we missed a chance to ride the miniature train because we went there on a Saturday without checking that it's only open on Sundays. We made sure this time :)

This was our second time to go there, but it was just as exciting as our first time and our little Nico really enjoyed himself once again. He probably can’t understand that he’s on a little train, but loves seeing all other trains with people passing by and the changing scenery, from a little bridge to a tunnel.

Paul and I pretend like we’re going to the miniature railway for Nico, but we’re probably the ones actually enjoy it most. I can promise you that this is the best $3 you can spend in Melbourne!

After the train ride, we went to Doncaster Shopping Centre for our lunch. I heard that a new, authentic Japanese ramen shop opened there and couldn’t miss the chance!

This new shop, “Ramen Bankara”, serves Tokyo Style Tonkotsu ramen. Tonkotsu is usually from Kyushu, so I was interested in “Tokyo Style” and it was really nice!! 

This is normal Tonkotsu flavour.Tokyo-style Bankara ramen was more dark colour!

It was pretty different from our favorite ramen shop “GENSUKE”, which means that now we have two options to choose depending on what type of ramen we feel like eating. After Gensuke opened, we didn’t want to go to any other ramen shops, so we’re happy to have found a new favorite.
 
Ramen Bankara
Shop G204 Doncaster Shopping Centre

With love,
Allie