Saturday: Nakajima park, Susukino & Ramen dinner!

We had a really busy and fun Saturday! 

We decided to take advantage of the great (but cold and windy!) weather and walk to Sapporo station. Things didn't go according to plan, but it was still a great walk! 

We headed North up our street to Horohira bridge. It's really close to our subway stop. The views were amazing, it was a really open spot! They even had a large arch so you can get up higher to really take in the view. 

Definitely beautiful! 

I love that it's mountains as far as the eye can see. So different from home. 

Then we walked on to Nakajima park. If you remember, our hotel was at the north end of this park and we mistakenly meandered through a bit of it on our first day. 

We haven't been back since, so it was nice to really walk through it! 

Signs of spring...

...even though many places look like this...

Nakajima park is home to Kitara, a concert hall. (pictured) There's also the museum of literature. (snooze)

What I liked was the beautiful little pond! In the summer months you can rent little rowboats!

After Nakajima park, we walked north through Susukino and to Tanuki-koji (the shopping street, one of many). We looked at some souvenir stores and took in the smells of the restaurants. By this point, Elisabeth woke up and we were pretty hungry, so we didn't make it to Sapporo station as planned. Instead, we went home for a snacky lunch and made dinner plans! 

 (the photos above are all susukino)

(Tanuki-koji is blocks of this!)

We met our friend on Saturday night for some authentic ramen, Hokkaido style with a miso base. Yummmmmm. It was the biggest bowl ever, piping hot, and so so good. I forgot to take a picture though!! I know, I was bummed after I realized it too! :/ 

Elisabeth even tried some of the ramen noodles, she slurped it like a pro. I was a shy slurper, Kevin was not. We had so much fun and it was really a popular local spot -- always a line, all seats at the bar full. And for only 750 yen a bowl (about $7.50), a real deal too! 

After we ate, we went to the Susukino district downtown, known for party spots and bars. We went to an izakaya, a Japanese bar...with Elisabeth! Hahaha, gotta start 'em young. ;) She wasn't the only kid there though, it was more like a pub in a way. They had some food there too, and we actually sat at the bar (vs a booth) and were able to see into the kitchen and watch them cook. Fun! Kevin tried some Japanese whisky, beer, and sake. I had ginger ale and grapefruit juice. :) 

They actually have deals here where you can drink as much as you want for a set price for a set time (i.e. 1200 yen for 2h) if you also purchase some food. Pretty good idea! (especially to purchase food and not just drink unlimited amounts of alcohol, sounds like that could be trouble!) ;) 

It was the latest we've ever stayed out, we weren't home until just after 10 p.m. Wild and crazy, I know!

It was really fun because we got to see the infamous Susukino at night, on a Saturday. It's really known as the fun drinking part of town so seeing some Japanese nightlife was great! 

We saw this on our walk home from the subway station. We actually had just been talking about how little tagging or graffiti you see here... Then we found this in an underpass tunnel. LOLZ!

Miss Muffin has woken up (after an awesome long nap!), so it's downstairs for some lunch for us! I'll try to be back with yesterdays happenings soon :)

Lauantaina käveltiin keskustaan Nakajima-puiston kautta. Mutta ensin pysähdyimme maisemia ihailemaan Horohira-sillalle. Nakajima-puisto oli sulanut paljon siihen verrattuna mitä sinne viimeksi eksyimme. Varmoja kevään merkkejä oli! Ihastuttava pikku lammikko oli jo sulanut ja kesällä voi ilmeisesti vuokrata pieniä soutuveneitä!
Susukinoon käveltiin seuraavaksi. Oli tarkoitus Sapporo asemalle asti kävellä, mutta matka jäi Tanuki-kojiin,  sillä Elisabeth heräsi ja nälkä oli kaikilla. 
Illalla tapasimme yliopistolta kaveria, joka vei meitä paikalliseen ramen ravintolaan. Nam! Oli iso kulho misopohjaista ramenia, pienen possupalasen ja vihannesten kera. Kuvata unohdin, hupsis!
Ruoan jälkeen mentiin vielä lasilliselle izakayaan, eli japanilaiseen pubiin. Täällä siis kaveri kertoi, että harvemmin japanilaiset baarit ovat sellaisia kuin Suomessa. Täällä pidetään pubi/ruokameineingeistä enemmän kuin pimeessä tanssimisesta ja kovasta musiikista. (veikkaan, että hänen käsitys on tullut Fat Lady opiskelijapippaloista Tampereella ollessa, hehehhehe). 
Täällä erikoista baarikulttuurissa oli se, että voi tiettyyn hintaan juoda niin paljon kuin haluaa tiettynä aikana. Esim 12e 2 tuntia. Mutta sitten siinä tarttis ostaa myös pari ruoka-annosta tms. (jos juo ihan rajattomasti pari tuntia niin suosittelisin jotain muuta sinne mahaan kans, käypä idea!)
Oli kiva nähdä Susukino-aluetta lauantai-iltana, oli meno ja meininki siellä! Tultiin kotiin vasta klo 22 jälkeen, mikä on myöhässä meille!!!!! :O 
Oli hauskaa! :)

Nearby park

Ohayo! It's Monday morning here and absolutely beautiful! Sunny, warm, and for once, not windy! :) Yay! Elisabeth and I took a quick stroll to our nearby playground and back, just enough to get her to sleep so I can get a moment to catch up here! 

There's going to be a few posts in a row, since I have the time and pictures. Just splitting them up so it's not a book with 100 pictures of our weekend. ;)

Friday evening, we took a post dinner walk down the street. A not so appetizing or styled photo of dinner. It's tofu with onion, leek, spinach, mushrooms on a bed of rice which has a small coating of this amazing chili-garlic oil condiment. 

(We're bringing a suitcase full of it back home because I want to smother it on everything I eat!)

We walked just to see what was around and stumbled upon this park. I don't know the name of it, but I've seen the north end of it on one of my other morning walks with Elisabeth. We found the south entrance and were super excited by this:

Translation anyone?

Small bamboo species?

Vines here!

It was reaaaaally cold and windy that evening and we were freezing, so we hightailed it home. We had to take a higher road and walk parallel to this river park, because the paths in the park itself were still pretty snowy and not very stroller friendly. 

I can't wait to explore this park in spring! :)

Ok, onto the next post while the babe slumbers!

Perjantaina ruoan jälkeen käveltiin mutkan kautta lähipuistoon. 
(Ruokana oli siis tofua, pinaattia, purjoa, sipulia ym riisin kera)
Oli tuulista ja kylmää, mutta puisto kauhean nätti vaikka lumen vuoksi käveltiin vähän vierestä vain. Kiva kun kevät tulee, sinne menisin uudestaan lumen sulattua ja maan kuivuttua! :) 

Rainy day

The wind was kicking and it was pretty cloudy and rainy this morning. Thankfully, the clouds parted enough for us to get to the store and pick up milk (and ice cream!) without getting a drop on us. Yay! It was like a double whammy, Elisabeth fell asleep in the stroller and is continuing her nap as I type.

I'm taking this ice cream challenge seriously and Kevin is jumping on board with it too. Duh, who wouldn't?! 

So amongst our Japanese leek and spinach, Hokkaido milk, and dashi stock sachets, was this little box of heaven. I say that, because it was one of the best green tea ice creams I've ever had. Mind you, I like green tea ice cream! (We've been eating our share of ice cream before it's made its way to the blog...!) 

They're called Parm and made by Morinaga company. (it's a milk company apparently, they make everything from ice cream to formula!) They are also the makers of Pino, which are featured in the link I posted yesterday.

They're also pretty small. Definitely good for portion control. It means I can have one every few hours and not feel bad. ;) Huehuehue.

We also picked up chocolate melon bread. It's a sweet bun with cookie dough on top. You can read a better description here. It didn't taste like melon at all (the name comes from the way it looks), but apparently some do! Kevin's been on a search for melon bread, he had some high hopes for it. We've tried something similar, but with a whipped cream and custard filling. YUM! 

The grocery store by our house, co-op. Not the most flattering angle, but like I told Kevin, it's a phone camera, I'm not trying to win awards with these pictures today.

The view from their parking lot. I love the mountains!

And we've been noticing the attention to detail here. Most of the man holes and little covers on the street and sidewalk have designs on them. I particularly liked this one. :)

The soccer field has pretty much no snow on it. And in general, the streets are more and more bare. I looooove that we're really getting into spring now! The weather next week is supposed to be up to +15C (59F) during the day and sunny!

Speaking of sun, it keeps poking its head out through the clouds. Maybe we'll go for a proper walk when Elisabeth wakes up or if it's still sunny around sunset. :) 

Oh yeah, the translation.

Taisin eilen unohtaa suomentamisen! Hupsista!

Eilen siis aiheena oli rutiinehin asettuminen, kävelystämme kuvia ja jäätelöhaasteesta. 

Tänään siis kokeiltu uusi jäätelö: valkosuklaakuorutteinen vihreä tee-vanilja! 

Melonileipä. Joka ei siis meloneilta maistu, eikä sen välttämättä kuuluisikaan.

Co-op, meidän lähiruokakauppa ja maisema parkkipaikoilta. En kyllästy ikinä näihin vuorimaisemiin.

Täällä on koristeellisia yksityiskohtia joka puolella, jos niitä vain etsii. 

Jalkapallokenttä on sitten virallisesti jo sula. Muutenkin viime viikon lumi, +5-10 C lukemat päivällä ja tämän päiväisen sateet ovat saaneet paljon lunta pois katujen varrelta ym. Ihana kun kevät tulee! 

P.S. forecan mukaan, Tampereen ja Sapporon ilmat on aika samanlaiset tällä viikolla! 

Routines

Another day, another walk, another nap.

I think we're starting to create a kind of routine, which while I've never been one for schedules, routines bring a nice kind of comfort.

We wake up after 8, eat something, drink coffee, put away futons, get dressed, talk on skype, do whatever stuffs... then walk and nap... then I get to sweep and clean without distraction (the great thing about a tiny apartment is how fast you can sweep it!), and then I get to sit down and drink coffee. 

When she wakes up, it's lunch time and we'll probably go downstairs and heat some leftovers up or make a little lunch. 

Then Kevin gets home, we got to the store sometimes, then make dinner, then relax and skype or watch some movies or shows on the laptop. Then set up the futons and go to sleep. 

It's a simple life. I like it. Even though we don't have a dishwasher, washing machine, or even a kitchen. I miss those comforts of home and our apartment there, but life here is much more simple. It's definitely like an extended vacation for me in some ways. Or well, extended maternity leave anyway. Which is amazing and I'm so grateful I can spend this time with her as time is something you can never get back.

But oh, I've strayed from my topic. And the pictures.

We took a short walk, just enough to get her to sleep and then we walked back. 

We made it to the river, over the bridge, and south down the other side. 

We passed joggers, walkers, bikers, and a small group of preschoolers. 

Even the snow at these riverside parks has melted so much in a week. It's not sunny outside, but it's warmer than the past few days and not as windy.

The willow (I think) are in bloom in the photo above. 

I was a little...perplexed? by what the guy was doing in this picture below.

He was in this massive area of snow just driving around bulldozing it. He wasn't spreading it to another area, he wasn't moving it. Just driving back and forth pushing it around. Is that supposed to melt it faster?

Everywhere I go, people are trying to get rid of the snow. People in their yards with shovels making piles. People chiseling away the icy snow on their curbs. 

I'm really interested to see if the people here change with the season like they do in Finland. Summer brings out the happy side of Finns! :)

For those interested in gardening: remember how I mentioned they wrap their bushes in straw for the winter? Here's a photo of a bush still wrapped. I think it's actually bamboo and not straw.

And these were in someone's garden. I had to make up for the poor quality phone photo yesterday. Ick. 

 

I've accepted the "challenge" from a friend to try different Japanese ice creams. Here's the link of what inspired it. 10 awesome ice creams available from convenience stores in japan

At the grocery store yesterday, we found this one:

It was delicious after dinner last night. I could have eaten the whole box. ;) 

It's vanilla ice cream inside mochi (the same stuff in daifuku and other Japanese sweets).

If you're interested in reading about this vanilla ice cream daifuku, there's a short wikipedia article about it here: yukimi daifuku.

I guess it's time to start prepping tonight's dinner while the muffin's asleep. :) 

Ah, routines. ♥

From the Factory to Ario

On Sunday, we went shopping! Our main goal for the day was to find Elisabeth, some new toys since I brought the bare minimum with us and she was starting to get bored. Her favorite toys are the two farm animal puzzles we have at home, so obviously we were on the lookout for puzzles. I wanted anything Hello Kitty ;) 

The Sapporo Factory is a large mall that promised a toy store. We found a large arcade and a small toy store, but nothing we were really looking for. The mall itself was pretty, with an atrium complete with a local radio concert (fun!), and indoor garden. It was a little hard to navigate with the elevators though, as we were traveling with a stroller. 

The stores were all a a little higher end. There was some cute baby/kids stuff and a whole floor of sporting goods and clothes (made me think of you Sister!). We were a little bummed about not finding a toy store (we thought the local toys r us was there), so we gave up after a while of walking around to head to the Sapporo Beer factory for lunch since it's apparently something tourists just must do...

(side note: they sort their trash here and if you can see, you're supposed to even take the plastic caps off your bottles before you put them in the bottle recycling!)

 

Fortunately though, we got a little wee bit "lost" and found Ario, another mall! This one had a big ol' Toys R Us sign on the side of it -- YES! 

This one was not as uppity and PACKED with families. We could have spent more time here, but we just really wanted some toys and lunch so we didn't spend a whole lotta time going up and down in the very full elevators. 

 

What's that coming?

 

 A train!! I want to ride it probably more than the kids that were on it! :D 

  Once we found our way to an exit, we realized that 1) it was now snowing, ugh.

2) The Sapporo Beer museum etc was right behind Ario. Another win!

Alas, we didn't end up even eating there. It was a little more expensive than some of the places in the mall (which had its own restaurant street), so we turned it around and went back in. 

We chose a place that some other family went in, which to us made it clear it was family friendly. We even got a high chair...without straps? Elisabeth sat ok in it for like 10 minutes and nibbled her snacks. 

 

Kevin ordered udon noodles with shrimp. 

 

I ordered what I thought would be either pork or chicken.

It was chicken. Delicious.

 

I want a lemon wedge squeezer now. 

 

We watched dogs and owners walk though the park while we ate. We miss ours. :(

Afterwards, we had the task of finding out how to get home. We headed South hoping to run into Odori park but actually noticed the JR tower of Sapporo Station. Much closer!

We found it! Yay! 

The ESTA building and JR tower are another mall area that we will have to check out one day!

 

Was so nice to get home finally! Sapporo station is always really busy and yet again, we seemed to have hit a high traffic time (even though it was Sunday). We folded up the stroller and I held Elisabeth. I got a seat fortunately, since there are designated seats for the elderly and mothers with small children. And no one else ever sits in these!

We stopped by the grocery store, picked up some honey for tea and some ice cream for a hankering and home we went. 

Was such a fun day despite the cold, wet snowyness. Can't wait to go back again!

As for what we bought her? You'll just have to check back and see ;)