And when you are in Japan

Don't miss onsen, or hot springs. There are thousands of hot springns scattered all over Japan as being a valcaniclly active country, and there are many beautiful inns around hot springs called ryokan, traditional inns. Going to onsen for a few days to relax is one of the popular domestic tourism in Japan.

Beautifully landscaped outdoor bath in Yufuin, Kyushu.

A day in onsen goes like this; Check-in around 3pm, have a cup of tea and sweets in the room, then take a bath and relax. Have a dinner in your room around 6pm. Most of the inns take pride in their food as well as their baths so it's usually like a 10 course meal which lasts for hours. After resting a bit, head to bath(s) again, enjoy a drink or two at a bar in the facility if you want, then go to bed. The following morninig, take a bath again before breakfast, then check-out is normally around 11am.

One of the villas built as an old stayle Japanese house in a big property

A simple and beautiful entrance of the villa

This ryokan has 10 villas and 10 baths in their property

Dinner time - this is just an appetizer. Organic ingredients in season, free range beef, fish caught in the local river always taste the best.

A part of the breakfast. It's quite a lot of food after a big dinner, but how can you pass it? Everything is delivered fresh from the local farms every morning.

By the time you leave the inn, your face is as smooth as a baby and your mind is completely soothed.

When to travel in Japan

Spring and fall are the good seasons to go visit Japan, unless you want to go skiing in Hokkaido in winter. Never plan your trip there in summer as the weather could be too hot and humid for you.

I used to plan my trip just on time for cherry blossoms until I realized pollen started affecting me so bad that I couldn't even leave my parent's house. Now I plan my trip in fall.

But I miss cherry blossoms and I didn't think I would miss it this much. During the season, there's a cherry blossom forecast on TV and newspapers as well as weather foreccast. We start seeing footages of blossoms from sounth in February and it keeps going up north till beginning of May. We take it very seriously, and it's a big part of or lives.

We planted a weeping cherry tree in '06 and had the first blossoms last March. We had cherry blossom viewing parties almost every night a year ago but buds are still tight this year.

......and it was like this 10 days ago.

My past two trips to Japan were in fall. It's also a good season if you get there on time for fall collors. And of course, good season to eat even more delicious food.

Pork Sausage

The celebration keeps going

OK, it's a day after but the birthday celebration keeps going. His Mom made his favorite cake from his childhood - Angel Food Cake.

She brought a vanilla tapioca pudding along so we whippied some cream and mixed them together. We put sliced strawberries in between and put more strawberries and some blueberries on top.

It was yummy - now this is my favorite too.

On his birthday...

We went out for a dinner with his parents at sake bistro called Amu in downtown Boulder. This place is a Japanese hangout in town, and I could go there everyday.

This unique restaurant doesn't serve sushi but offers authentic Japanese cusine, and I promise you a rare experience of fine dining and completely different taste in Japanese food.

More pictuures coming...

Surprise!

It was my husband's birthday yesterday so I decided to plan a surprise dinner for him by getting our friends together at a restaurant in downtown.

His parents were planning to come over for his actual birthday, so it was held a couple of days before. He, being told that we were going to see a couple whom we had been trying to get together the past a few weeks, had no idea what I was plotting so I was very pleased to see his confused then smiling face when he walked into the restaurant.

This Latin American restaurant called Aji in downtown Boulder is where I nomally go for a happy hour girl's get together, but I learned that they have a great dinner menu as well.

Vieiras en Arroz Negro con Salsa de Pina y Mango sea scallops, black rice, green beans, mango & pineapple mojo

FLAN DE CHOCOLATE chocolate custard, kahlua, caramel and HELADOS vanilla bean ice cream & dark chokolate ice creamd with a hint of Chipotle

Japanese sweets

One of the things I miss from my home country is "wagashi", delicate Japanese sweets. Seasonal Japanese sweets express colors and scent of each season, artifully designed and beautiful to the eye. Each season is celebrated with special sweets. Having spring around the corner, confectionery stores must be filled with lots of pink now, a color of cherry blossoms.

They come beautifully wrapped too.

Steamboat Springs, CO

You might wonder when we work... but we had a wonderful 4 nights/5 days ski holiday in Steamboat Springs. What a great place to snowboard - it's amazing how much choice we get in a mountain with one base and the condition was amazing. Great powder ! I finally had a proper powder day on Thursday. The snow report said there was 10" new snow but it was definetely deeper than that.

Winona's - Steamboat Springs, CO

You can't miss Winona's when you are in Steamboat Springs. It's a breakfast and lunch only restaurant in downtown, and they serve excellent food. And you have to try their famous Cinnamon Bun. Four of us shared one and this huge thing disappeared within 5 minutes or so. We agreed it was the best Cinnamon Bun we had ever had!

A month ago...

...we were in Jamaica!

Please see my other blog:

Rose Hall - Stephen & Damian Marley
Cockpit Country
Jake's in Treasure Beach
What we ate in Jamaica

Colorado Whiskey

My husband came across something unique last year - Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, which is a Colorado's first and only whiskey.

It comes with a hand written label that shows a name of the person who distilled it and also a name of the song he was listening to then. My husband thinks it is the best whiskey in the world!

Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey

Souvenir from Japan

A friend of mine from London who came here for a ski holiday, who also went to Japan in December broght me a gift from Kyoto. A box of incense. It's interesting to see what kind of things foreigners find in Japan, as I always have a hard time finding souvenirs to bring back to the US.

A strong smell of Japan came out when I opened one of the small boxes inside, which made me feel nostalgic.