Caught the bus out to Sapporo Kokusai yesterday. It was clear and sunny as was the day before. I still managed to find some untracked riding in the center bowl and in the secret trees, but it was settled, old powder – fun, but not wonderful. The sunny-side faces were windpacked and had a melt-crust, but the sheltered sides were fine. I took a break and had a “pizza-nan” and coffee set (750 yen) at the little snack shop at the top of the gondola (they used to be down midway by the slow old pair lifts, but moved to a more accessible location). I had a little incident with the paper tube of sugar for my coffee. While shaking it gently from the end to clear some air space to tear it, the paper disintegrated – sending granulated sugar everywhere. Darned those foreigners! Don’t they know how to open a paper tube of sugar? Lucily nobody saw me do this, and I managed to clean it all up. Food was more snack-sized. Probably a bit pricy for what I got. (B) The clear sky had turned a little hazy by the time I got done with lunch. A hint of snow began to fall. On the bus ride home, the haze in the sky was becoming more pronounced – snow was on the way. Dinner was sausage, kraut, some kind of gratin thing, and sauerbraten at a German restaurant. Had a good hefe-weisen too… can’t recall the name right now… Georg Someone & Sohn… All the food was really good (A, except the sauerbraten which was an A-). Around 7000 yen for everything including beer, dessert and coffee. Continue reading ‘Feast or Famine’
Archive for the 'Food' Category
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Okay, I found it. The Indian restaurant in Sapporo run by Indian nationals! They have a tandoor! They make mango lassis! Taj Mahal on the B1 level of Sapporo Factory mall, on the Northeast side. I even got to order in English! We ordered samosas, lamb biriyani, and chicken tikka masala. It was all very good. The nan that came with the chicken was enormous and slathered in melted butter. The lassis and samosas were around $5 each, and the entrees were around $10 each, so the total was around $35 or so for two. The entrees included the rice or nan, so those didn’t have to be ordered ala carte. They had chana masala – I was torn between that and the chicken. I’ll just have to go back!
Highly recommended
Four out of four grinning monkeys
In anticipation of some B/C work in Niseko, we went to Takino Suzuran park in Southeast Sapporo on Saturday to try out snowshoeing. We caught the subway down to Makomanai and got on the same bus line that heads to the Geijitsu no Mori (art/sculpture garden). Takino is a Natonal-Government-run park offering various activities year-round. In winter there are XC ski trails, a tiny one-lift ski/board slope, a tube/sled park, and snowshoe trails. The snow as coming down pretty heavy in the morning. There was easily 10-15cm of unsettled fall overnight. The snowshoe and poles were free. They had pretty nice hardware – Tubbs shoes and BD poles! Continue reading ‘Stay out of the Moors…’
Had dinner at “Joyful Garden” Chinese restaurant near Kozo Sushi in Kaneohe this weekend. Supposedly they also have a downtown location. The atmosphere is more upscale here than the more familiar “take-out”/family dinner Chinese restaurants here. It was very clean and bright inside, and they had a big Philips LCD TV to watch the end of the “Big Game” on. Cloth napkins – I think that sums it up well. The waiters had black slacks, white shirts and black vests! Continue reading ‘Yummy Nuggets’
So we had the somewhat annual ignore the Super Bowl gathering at Greg’s place. Well, Greg actually follows football so he kinda gives a hoot. Us, I didn’t know this particular game was happening until the email went out Friday. An excuse to get together, eat badly, and drink. Polish sausage, a 6 lb ham, chicken wings, some potato rolls, Doritos, oh look, throw some corn and some bell pepper & onions on the grill, those are veggies! And we only had one beer, split between the four of us even! 
 So it was a slightly big can….
Anyway, the game was actually fairly entertaining. I found the halftime entertainment to be fairly weak. Some commercials were pretty good. I think Amp won pretty well for a memorable commercial that also came at the end of the game. Come on, jumper cable clamps on nipples. That’s pretty good. Continue reading ‘Stupour Bowl’
Ahh! To be back in Honolulu where a decent Mexican dinner can be had!
Met Fabio, Tracy, and JT for dinner at Los Chaparros last night. I had a 2-item meal with a chicken enchilada and a soft taco al pastor ($13 USD). It was “$3 beer night”, so I had a Negra Modelo.
If it’s one thing that Whistler is missing, it’s a good Mexican restaurant. There’s Caramba, the Mexican restaurant that serves Italian food.  I’ve been there once the first time we visited Whistler and never had any hint of a desire to go back. There’s Dup’s Burritos, the little hole-in-the-wall with the ethnically insensitive sign (it features a round-faced dark-skinned man with a sombrero and a big moustache). I’ve heard mixed things about this place. Kevin and Naomi had nachos there and found them to be good, but the Symphony Ninja Sandwich Boys described a Dup’s burrito as, “a wrap with crap in it”. That has almost a Ted Geisel ring to it… There is a new place over on Creekside that opened this season, but we didn’t have a chance to try it. Maybe next time…
We went to Island’s Fine Burgers in AMC last night for some monster burgers and brews. The hostess was from Oz, so Fabio was briefly in dreamland, until our server with ADD showed up. They were out of “hef-wize-in†or however she mangled the pronunciation, so I got a Kona Big Wave Golden Ale. Fabio got their Kona-coffee-flavored Pipeline Porter, and root got the Longboard Lager (all Kona drafts were $4 USD). The Big Wave was lighter in both flavor and color than the Longboard, which is their version of a classic continental lager (like Sam Adams Lager). I’m not a big fan of Longboard – it tends to be a bit overhopped, and I’ve had a few in bottles that have gone skunky. The Pipeline Porter was coffee-flavored beer. The other coffee-flavored beer I’ve had was the coffee stout at Brewhouse in Whistler, and to be honest, I didn’t really like either. A good, dark roast on the malt is all the smokiness I need – no additions please. If I could point out one thing I liked about the Porter is that it was mildly hopped, so there was just the coffee and the malt flavor – no bitterness or floweriness. I did like the Big Wave, however – I’d say it’s the best thing from Kona Brewing Co. that I’ve had so far. They have some things on tap at their brewpub locations that I’d like to try, including a hefeweisen and a porter that doesn’t have coffee in it. Continue reading ‘In the Islands Again’
Chris mentioned in an email yesterday that a co-worker had gone to Los Chapparros and was raving about it to everyone in the office, and it brought to mind that the former Dixie Grill on Ward had been reformatted to a Mexican restaurant. On a whim, I walked down the block for a late lunch yesterday – nobody was in the office except me until 14:00, and the electricians showed up precisely at lunchtime so I couldn’t lock up and dig. Continue reading ‘Bob’s yer Uncle’
Sick.Â
Saw this at Times produce department on Saturday night. Supposedly it’s called a “Turban Pumpkin”. I guess when the meat-cutter’s union is on strile, this is what the produce department guys do…
The last time Fabio joined the manga/anime geeks from Collector Maniacs for a late dinner at Big City Diner in Kaimuki, he got a burger that was either poorly engineered, designed, or assembled. As soon as he tried to pick it up, it fell apart, making him explode with anger just like Steve Wilkos! Continue reading ‘Angry Food’