Have to admit this one is a little out of Hirafu though, over Niseko/Higashiyama way.

This time, it was the Saison club courtesy of work.
I had been to this place before but only to the cafe (earlier entry) where they do really nice cakes.
This time was a dinner set with the work crew for a free dinner.
We were treated to an ishikari nabe (hotpot), shabu shabu and sukiyaki - all three are traditional Japanese foods.

Nabe - is a winter staple and is basically a hotpot of vegetables, meats and seafood. Basically you throw anything you want into a broth. At the end, you can add rice or noodles to soak up the last of the broth.

Shabu Shabu - this is a dish which I don’t normally like to eat. The concept is a little weird to me but nonetheless it was tasty. Basically you grab some raw meat at the end of your chopsticks and you swish it around in boiling water for a few seconds. The high temperature of the water cooks the meat within seconds. You then dip the cooked meat into a sauce of your choice such as a sesame tare, or a ponzu (citrus soy-like sauce). As you swish the meat around, you have to say ’shabu shabu’ otherwise it won’t taste as good.
For some reason, I think this kind of food cooking technique is kinda unhygienic. Everyone swishing raw bits of meat into boiling water. And then after you’ve done that - you throw in a whole bunch of vegies to boil up. Tasty but weird. It’s not something I want to eat a lot of.

Sukiyaki - is a dish which I have never actually eaten before, and my favourite of the evening. Basically it’s like a stir fried meat in a really nice tare/marinade sauce, and then you add vegies, which you dip in raw egg. Tastes awesome, way better than what it sounds. At the end, you add noodles.

yum yum. Another restaurant off the list.

Nice, cosy venue too. A great party room with karaoke facilities and they offer a free pick-up service.

But they had a limited offer for two days - sushi tabehoudai for about Y1500 (for ladies, a bit more pricier for men - little do they know that I can eat as much as any guy). An offer I couldn’t go past.

So a pre-dinner swim worked up the appetite for an all you-can-eat sushi session.

sushi

Yum!

These three are the most common examples:
4649 = よろしく
39 = Thank you (サンキュウ)
5963 = ご苦労さん

Here are a handful of my personal favourites which I found on the Super Information Highway.
084=おはよ
4510=仕事
4949=至急至急
64874 = 虫歯なし
4989 = 四苦八苦
4444＝良し良し
194＝行くよ
1122 = いい夫婦

A quick Google search and you will come across a few more.

The Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo is an amazing, classy hotel that serves a proper high tea. It is a luxury hotel where guests get free chaffeured rides in Rolls Royces.

An indulgent afternoon on a cold Autumn day was spent there in the Lobby lounge sipping champagne, drinking tea, and savouring sandwiches, an assortment of cakes, and scones.

Have to admit that the Wentworth Sofitel in Sydney still does the best High tea to date.

Lovely photos as usual.

I’ve also learnt a new word to accompany all this eating.
常連客　= regular customer/patron/frequenter of a place.
It has become my local study cafe. They do great teas in pots with hot water refills, and a hot breakfast to order.

I have become quite the Sekka じょうれんきゃく.

Last month they put on a Sunday roast and what a feast it was.
For Y2000, there was an assortment of breads with dukkar and olive oil, fresh Hokkaido salad produce, chick peas, potatoes, peas, roasted vegie sides, and of course, a roast pork.

All that savoury goodness, was topped off with a homemade caramel, orange, brittle ice-cream.

Literal translation is: no talents, big eater/meals
Someone whose only talent is eating, essentially an unaccomplished person.
To have no special talent besides the ability to eat a lot. Which, mind you, is not necessarily one would ordinarily be proud of.

And so I did what I do best, and ate some more.
Another dinner with workmates/friends. The occasion was a friends housewarming.
Fresh spring rolls, and tomato and cabbage bake, and thai curry which was so delicious. Finished off nicely with homemade cheesecake and ice-cream.

Youjijukugos are four kanji compounds to form an idiomatic expression.
Here’s one for today, after last night’s big drinking episode.

酔生夢死　　すいせいむし　

Let’s break it down:
酔　= drunk
製 = live/life
夢　= dream
死 = die

Live drunk and die dreaming. To drink your life away, idle one’s life away.

And now for today’s Word of the day:
解毒する　- げどくする　(’dissolve’ + ‘poison’) = to detox.

Yes, let’s dissolve the poison. 水をいっぱい飲むぞ。

This place also has the most hilarious English menu translation ever. Check out these gems!!!!

Monday night had a dinner party with work mates, personally cooked by a professional, young local Chef, Montoya, which by the way is a really cool Japanese name.
He served up a pasta dish with clams and capers, garden salad, chicken salad, pork and potatoes. All washed down with a few glasses of red and white.

Good times, good times.

The walk back was topped off with a soft serve ice cream - from the local Cheese factory store. Needless to stay it was Camembert cheese flavoured ice cream. It was actually really nice. It wasn’t too cheesy or overpowering. Dairy intake accomplished.