Friday, August 26, 2011

A Pretty Rickshaw...


This pretty rickshaw was seen on the street in Sapporo some three weeks ago, when we were walking around the city.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Beijing Style Sweet And Sour Fish...


We finally made it to Lao Beijing restaurant for lunch, all the five of us. We like a bigger group because we need more people to share more different types of food, including this Sweet and Sour Fish. It is quite a big size for two people, but it is just fine for five people. It has been a couple of years since we had it. I craved for it. Finally had it. Happy day!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Veal Lunch


It has been a little while since we dined at La Nonna, we decided to have lunch over there since we were in the neighborhood after we had our teeth cleaned at the dentist last Saturday. I am glad that I ordered this Veal Scallopini with Marsala Wine Sauce. It was so good!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Sapporo Gelato


It was Summer in Sapporo, and at times, it was quite hot there. So many times we were tempted to get ice cream or something cold. A lot of times, despite wanting them, we had no room in our tummy. Miss K got this Gelato on the cone in Sapporo Factory, one of the shopping places there that used to be a brewery. Yum.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Blueberry Crumb Cake


I love blueberries, especially when they are on sale and so affordable. I got quite a bit of them of them over the weekend and used some up for my Blueberry Crumb Cake from Ina Garten. This is surely for crumb lovers. I love to have more blueberries inside though. Next time!


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Eating Competition...


My guess, there was a festival going on in Otaru when we visited the place, we're not sure what it was. We saw ladies wearing traditional costumes, some men too. Or probably it was Sunday?? I don't know. One thing for sure, it was festive around the area we visited. On one end of the street I saw what looked like an eating competition. It was a roll cake eating competition, apparently.

Monday, August 15, 2011

One More Before Leaving...


All of us had Ramen again before leaving Sapporo, we had them at the airport. Chitose Airport has so many shops and restaurants that it feels like being in the shopping mall, more than an airport. You can find many different types of cuisines, mostly Japanese. Many shops sell Hokkaido-produced chocolate and cookies. They also sell fresh produce, crabs and other seafood. There are so many Ramen shops to chose from and they were all packed and most of them had lines outside.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

On The Red...



It was shorly after 1PM, some workers wearing purple uniform working on the red flowers on the field near Furano in Hokkaido Prefecture.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Meet The Japanese Burger!



This restaurant in Sapporo, which name I forgot to pay attention to, as always the case because most of them are in Japanese, was found on 10th floor in ESTA, a shopping mall adjacent to Sapporo Station. Aside from burgers, they had curry dishes and a few others too. Their service was excellent, we love being there. Language was a barrier, but workable. My dish was called Hamburg with demi glace sauce, served with a plate of white rice. It was a great dish, I truly enjoyed it.



Friday, August 12, 2011

The Lavender We See....



We went to Furano, a place in Hokkaido prefecture, that is famous for its snow in the Winter and superb field of lavender in the Summer. It takes around 2 1/2 hours to go there from our place in Sapporo. Although the peak of lavender fields is around July, we still managed to see plenty of lavender fields there. Beautiful!

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Orange Marigolds In Furano



Everyone that comes to Furano in the Summer want to see Lavender field there. It was there when we went yesterday. There were many other colorful flowers in the field too. These orange ones are Marigold. Gorgeous!

Sit And Smile!



These are some flower containers found on the door steps leading into a shop in Otaru. Adorable!

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Enjoying Ice Cream....



We took train to Otaru this morning, with the Rapid Train, it was merely 30 minutes. It was hot and sunny and helped by the fact that it was school holiday in Japan and also it was Sunday, there was a big crowd in heart of the town. Ice cream sellers were everywhere. We spotted, let's just assume, three generation of beautiful ladies wearing Yukata, enjoying ice cream.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

August In Sapporo



We are back, all in force, in Sapporo. It's Summer time this time. No snow, no coldness. The sun was up and the heat was here.



We arrived yesterday and today we walked around the town and headed to Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade, passed the lovely Odori Park, where people sat around and the children ran and played gleefully. It's totally different view than at the end of March last year when we came here.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

10 Years Back...

Ten years ago, my kids were still primary school children. The exhaustion resulted from looking after these kids were totally different than now. it was much more physical back then. When I was exhausted or short of time, I would made easy dishes for their dinner. There were simple dishes that would easily please them like these chicken nuggets. They probably would not mind having them twice a week or more.



They are easy to make and when you make them yourself, you are in control of what you put in there. I normally go for minced chicken, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, egg and flour. That's basically all. I made them the other day and they were as good as I remember them to be.

Monday, August 01, 2011

Not For Me...



To know how good the food is, of course you have to try it yourself. I have seen Bella Pizza being featured in one of the magazines that I read and at least one blogger talk about it having the best pizza in town. Let's not take their words for it and it surely is best to go there and try. All I can say is that they all are not for me. Their calamari is less than ordinary and their pizza is.... let's say, there's nothing special about it. It's likely to be my only visit to the restaurant. I can cross the name out from my list. There are other places that I rather go to and spend my money on.