Former Hokkaido Government Office and Odori Park on summer

Akarenga - Former Hokkaido Government Office

Sunday was really a bright sunny day! We planned to go to the beach but then both of us had so many things to do the day before so we couldn't wake up, hehe. It was not so late to go to the beach, in fact, but then Javier proposed to go to the Hokkaido University Botanical Garden and Former Hokkaido Government Office, since he hadn't been there before and those two places are very close to each other. Yuhuu.. Why not? great idea!^^ I have been to the government office before but I didn't go inside. In regards to the Hokudai Botanical Garden, I don't know why I haven't been to this place until today while in fact I can go there for free. OMG. ___ ___ !

So, it was decided! We went to the botanical garden first. We had to cycle around the whole block because Javier decided to turn right at the place we had to turn left... o.O heh. Well, he thought there are more than one entrance, but there is only one. Too bad... 

We reached there, but ... unfortunately I forgot my student card.. =( so I cannot enter for free! I told him it's ok, I will pay, but he decided to just go back another day, because it is not the last time we can visit this place anyway. So, yah.. we didn't visit the botanical garden, haha =P Well, he entered and went out again ___ ___ !

The former Hokkaido Government Office, originally built in 1873, is one of the top tourist destinations in Sapporo city. It was said to be one of the largest buildings in Japan at the time it was built. Visitors can enter the building or enjoy the flower gardens and the ponds in front of the building for free. We will find a conference room, a museum shop, a tourist information office and a number of exhibition rooms and libraries with informations about Hokkaido and related histories.

After that, we moved to Odori Park to have a bit of "snack" under the sun. We went to 7-11 to check on some snacks, and finally we decided to buy... ramen salada =P haha! that's the kind of snack for us! hehe. Well it was a bit too much actually, but dunno why I just wanted to have ramen salada that time. It might be because it was too hot that day (you might notice it from my hair in the picture.. o.O).

Ramen salada is basically a ramen/noodle salad contains noodle, raw vegetables, and sometimes hard boiled egg and/or chicken, served with a dressing. It is served cold, thus very refreshing for summer. We usually buy 2 different kinds of ramen salada because I love the one with eggs, while Javier doesn't like hard-boiled egg (in this case, not so "hard" actually =P).

I love the feeling of sitting on the grass under the sun at Odori Park while watching some youngsters practicing juggling and stuffs, or looking at some people feeding the pigeons flying around the park. :)

The last photo below is not related to Odori Park or Former Hokkaido Government Office, but since it is interesting and gives the feel of summer, I post it here. ^____^ so what is it?

I'm not a plant expert, so I just call these plants "slipper plants" !! ^_^ Javier and I found them outside the building where I had my spanish morning class. The shape really reminds me of slippers... tons of slippers on summer! Don't you think so? :)

Cold days on summer in Sapporo

I dunno why it is so cold today!!! >__< it was raining 2 days ago, but it was quite ok yesterday. This afternoon the weather was fine as well, but it's getting colder and colder when the sun set. For the first time after few weeks I really feel that I miss my (working) kotatsu again. I was tempted to turn on the heater again ... O___o ... end of June! Imagine!

My kotatsu is not broken, by the way. I still use the kotatsu but as a normal table. It's just when thesummer came, I took out the kotatsu cover, washed it and kept it inside the storage until the time when I need it again comes on autumn. In this case, I unplugged the electrical cable too, of course.

Okay, it's time to go to bed! I'm curling on my super comfy futon under my down blanket (on summer?? ^__^v) now, trying to post from my phone for the first time. I hope the layout will be ok.. o.O

Anyway... I'm getting more and more relaxed and sleepy while enjoying the warmth, haha.. So glad that I decided not to keep the supposed-to-be-for-winter blanket so early! I'm still using it everyday, in fact =P, although sometimes only to cover my legs up to my waist. ^_____^ 

Good night!

Beer Hour Cold - A new way to enjoy drinking beer (and other drinks too) !!

A new fun way to enjoy drinking your beer! You can serve your beer like a pro with Beer Hour Cold, while its cold insulation feature also keeps your beer cold outside the refrigerator. :) It may work with other drinks too, as long as the cans fit well.

Beer Hour Cold - serving beer like a pro

We were at Homac buying soil and fertilizer for the plants (yeah.. summer is here! we are so in the mood to do gardening again! ^^), and we found this item for 1980 yen each. Based on the info from online stores, it seems the original price is more than 2000 yen.

It seems to be a popular item this summer. I roughly checked some stores online and they don't have many stocks left for this item. The compact design makes it recommended for personal use at home or travelling.

It is said that Beer Hour Cold can keep the coldness of the beer since it was taken from the previous container (fridge, cooler box, etc) for about 30 minutes! Of course, it will also depend on the temperature and performance of the refrigerator, etc we use to store the cans before. We can switch the pouring mode from liquid mode to foam mode, which let us serve a beer like a professional beer server! ^___^

The main points of Beer Hour Cold (picture taken from takaratomy-arts.co.jp)

It is compatible with can beers from at least the 4 largest beer manufactures in Japan: Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory. It also works with both 350ml and 500ml cans. One AAA alkaline battery is used with this item (not included in the package).

All pictures except the first one were from Takara TOMY Arts official website. Some were further edited by me to fit my page. :) The complete guide in pdf can be found HERE. It is in Japanese, but there a lot of pictures which are informative enough to make us understand the main concept.