Izakaya Koko

Yesterday we went to the "Izakaya Koko" here in Hakodate (yes, my dear friend Koko, that Izakaya really has the same name like you ^_^).

If some of you have the chance to come to Hakodate, I really recommend this Izakaya to you.

The quality of seafood is outstanding and the price is very reasonable.  

Yesterday we could not stay long, because Yuki caught a cold and still had headache, but we definetely want to visit there again.

Still busy but fine

After a very eventful week, sorting out stuff, having a great meeting with the people from our Waldmeister-project, packing things and catching up with my e-mails and snail mail, I'm looking forward to the weekend. 

There is still so much snow outside, but in a few weeks we might find the first Fukinoto. Fukinoto is the first flower/vegetable of Spring. It's the flower of Japanese butterbur and people eat it fried or in miso-soup. It has a bitter, but pleasant taste. As soon as I pick some, I'll post how to cook it here.

I could not paint much in these days. I started some paintings, but I did not like them much. Well, probably because I'm a little restless at the moment, but that's o.k... The Hakodate Fuyu-art will start soon and I will take part with one painting (not with this one here, this one is a present for a friend).

 Anyway, we will go fishing tomorrow, if there is no wind. Already looking forward to it. If we are lucky we might catch some flounders or even Komai.

Hakodate winternight

After a very stressful week we decided to go to the habor last night and enjoy the winterscenery a little.

Another nice restaurant there is "Hakodate Beer Hall" there. You can have all kinds of good foods, Japanese, European and also original Hakodate cuisine... the beer is very nice, too and they have a fire-place in Winter there which gives that restaurant a very cozy and relaxing atmosphere...

Here is Haring marine-salad...

duck-carpaccio...

and grilled lamp-chops.

Hokkaido Mountains

Before things get even more busy here, I decided to paint something today. It always helps me to relax and to release my stress...

Done with acrylics, airbrush and markers on paper... size is B4, original is available...

The weather is still freezing over here and we are having snowfall all day. I did only go out shortly and spent the rest of the days sorting out old stuff and throwing it away. In the end I had 5 plasticbags, all 40l of old things and I was quite pleased with myself... can't wait to sleep longer tomorrow. ^_^ Weekend, FINALLY !!!

Busy >_<

To all my friends... I'm sorry that you haven't heard form me for a while. I came back to Hakodate, but my life has been very, very busy in the past days and it looks like it will continue for a while. So I want to apologize to everyone, whom I owe an e-mail or letter, that it might take some time til I can answer you... I hope things will calm down in a couple of weeks and I will be finally "back on track" again with more art, e-mails and letters.

Here is some old art of mine...

Lake Mashuko in Hokkaido (one of my fave places)... done with oils on thick paper...Size is about B2 original available...

Singapore Birdpark and relaxing

Because I'm a bird lover the birdpark was a must for me...

We all enjoyed the park very much...

...and all the different shows for kids and adults.

Yumi was asked to perform with one of the birds and she did very well and was proud to have such a big one on her arm.

 

 

The last days of our vacation we decided to relax a little... beside our vacation so many more things happened (will write about that later)... and my poor husband hardly had a calm moment. So we took it easy and relaxed at the pool, just reading. In the evenings, we also took the opportunity to try many different kinds of food.

Near our hotel, there is a Vietnamese restaurant called "Madame Saigon" and we had wonderful soup and little tasty snacks.

 

and at Clarkes Square, we also had wonderful Spanish Tapas...

The Singapore Sling was a "must", too. It's the Singapore original cocktail and really optimized for the hot weather.

Singapore Day 3 - visiting the Zoo

 

Today, we decided to go to the world-famous Zoo in Singapore. And yes, it's really the most beautiful Zoo I ever saw. At first we took a boat-ride to the other side of the Zoo.

Then we enjoyed several shows... like the "Elephant-show" and the "Spash-show". It was so much fun for the kids and the first time they saw an animal performance. Especially Yuki was impressed by the elephants.

While Yumi loved the graceful white tigers and the flamogos...

Everywhere we saw exotic flowers...

In the evening our friends invited us to a great Honkong restaurant and the Peking duck was so wonderful there. We had so much fun and talked a lot... until the kids were tired.

Singapore Day 2 Little India

Today, we decided to see little India... a part of Singapore, where a lot of Indian people live. The main attraction beside the various shops and market-places with exotic fruits and crafts is the Temple there.

Just as we entered a fantastic ceremony started. The people played traditional instruments and there was a lot of incense and flowers and chanting. We and especially the kids watched with awe.

Here, you see the mainaltar, with the 3 most important gods of Hinduism. I always found the idea to have a god for creating, a god for preserving and a god for destruction very fascinating. There are so many opinions and different kinds of views and truths in this world, I can never believe in a monotheistic religion or ideology. So I was always drawn to religions like Buddhism, Hinduism and Shintoism.

  

After the ceremony was over, we went back and to the hotel and decided to have Indian food (of course! ^_^). The food was very nice, but I had to convince the waiter, what I wanted to order. He was firm that we had to try all kinds of tourism food, while we wanted to try more of the little snacks. In the end I won and it was good that we did not order too much, because for the kids the spices and different taste was a little bit too much and they only ate a little.

This is Tandori fish with Fenugreek, I love Fenugreek (Bockshornklee in German) and the Tandori was really delicious.

And here you see minced Lamb-rolls with cheese and different spices. It is something, I want to cook as well someday... the spices in this restarant were very good and balanced. It was the best Indian food I ever had.

Here is the skyline-view from our Hotel-room at night again.

 

Singapore Day 1

After a very tired morning (we arrived at 3a.m Japanese time), we decided to explore Singapore for the very first time. This is the stunning view out of our hotel room.

at first, we walked through all those big shopping aves inside the buildings and malls. I'm not a big fan of fashion boutiques, perfume-shops and jewelery-stores, but I was very impressed by the glamour, size and futuristic designs of the insides and outsides of those buildings.

Above you see a building, which will be the biggest casino in the world someday. I wonder how it will look, when it's finished.

There you can see more of the skyline and also the famous merlion statue, which looks rather little compared to the big skyscapers.

 

 

We had our dinner at the famous "Jumbo" Seafood restaurant near Clarkes Square. The dinner was delicious, the service a little bit harsh, but probably I'm spoiled by the excellent Japanese service I use to have. Here you see dragon fruit-salad, wich was really a tasty appertizer and it gave me a lot of inspiration for my own dishes.

here are some chilli prawns, which were also very, very good and not so hot, so the kids could eat it, too.

Here is the main dish... a Singapore original food, called "Chilli crab". Very delicious, good sauce, it was a little bit difficult to eat, but I really recommend it to everybody, who comes here.

When we finished our meal, it was already dark and so we enjoyed the night-life atmosphere, which was really "magic" and very relaxing. I felt like in Spain and we took another walk over Clarke Square.

After so much walking and warm, pleasant air, we longed for a good beer and found the Paulaner brewery, where we had a good cold draft beer, before we went to sleep.

Back in Hakodate

We just arrived today after a long trip and I feel very tired, but happy that all went well. Fortunatelly, we also managed to stop by the German embassy in Tokyo to get new passports for the kids (they have a German and a Japanese passport). I wonder, which nationality they will chose, when they are 21...Honestly, I hope they chose the Japanese one... for me?! One of my biggest dreams is to become Japanese citizen one day.
I really like Germany for making vacation, but I can not imagine to live there anymore.

Now we will stay for a couple of days and then go to Singapore for another week. I'm already excited...

I haven't painted in the last 2 weeks and I miss it very much... well, this is an older work from me, which fits the scenery at the moment here. Painted with oils, Size is A-3, original available.

Ruerborn at Diedenbergen

Another restaurant, which is always a "must" during our visit in Germany is the Ruehrborn in Diedenbergen.

www.zumruehrborn.de/

 

They have a wonderful atmosphere and deco there and you can also see the traditional Fachwerk-architecture there.

One of the "highlights" in this restaurant is the Kloster Weltenburg Beer, they serve. Kloster Weltenburg is a cloister in Bavaria and it has a traditional brewery... the oldest cloister brewery in the world (since 1056) and the beer is delicious.

The food delicious, too... here is the menue, I always order there...

Our trip to the Rheingau

Since the weather was less dark, we decided to drive to the Rheingau at the 28st of December. The kids enjoyed to feed the ducks.

Later, we had a wonderful "Steak a la chef" at our fave Italian Restaurtant in Rüdesheim "Da Toni"

 

Drosselgasse in Rüdesheim...

and a very nice decorated Cafe there...

actaully we wanted to visit some friends there on our way back, but my Dad was not feeling well, so we hurried back home.