Today is Christmas Eve. It's a day for family eating nice food and cake, or going to a fancy restaurant for loving couple in Japan. But we are too busy to do that before our trip to Hokkaido tomorrow. I just bought new years cards from a post office. I will write them very quickly (sincerely), and post them today! (I will design a card next year!) No cards, just email to close friends... Anyway, I won't be able to update LDK for a week. This is the last weblog this year. Merry Christmas & a happy new year for all of you!

Yesterday was my husband' birthday. We had a party at our place to celebrate for him and other friend together. I bought a cake from Swing where I always wanted to buy some cakes. The cake shop/restaurant, the woman who works there and the birthday cake, everything was stylish. This berry mousse with honey (I forgot the proper name) was so good. The honey makes it very special, I think. Happy birthday for both of you!

Just before we came to Japan, I bought this Kalamata olive oil from a Greek grocery where we used to buy custard tarts in London. 3L. The shop assistant recommended to buy 1L in a glass bottle, but I always wanted to buy one in a big tin. I realised that we need more than a year to finish 1L of olive oil, so it will take nearly 4 years to finish this?! I separated the oil into a 500ML bottle and kept the tin tightly sealed. I hope it doesn't continues to oxidize!

I bought a new bathroom sponge. I fell in love with it when I saw it in the shop. This is the best sponge I ever had in my whole life. Good design (but pricey!). Dotted side gets rid of dirt, and blue soft artificial leather side wipes away dirt for a sparkling shine result. Good for wiping a mirror too. German products. Made by Flinka.

We had long dinner at Naulo Bhanchha in Shibuya. Very cosy, nice restaurant. All the curries we ordered were not too spicy, so I could enjoy the flavor of ingredients. I liked the fried bread which was very very slightly sweet. The name reminded me of kind of a doughnut, but it was more like between nan bread and pancake? I will order fried bread again!

It is a time for house cleaning. In Japan, we say 'the dirt this year, within the year'. Yes, I know but... I understand that people clean thier house in spring time in England, it's too cold to clean windows! Oh well, I will start from kitchen today. And I'm going to use Astonish. About 10 years ago, my mum bought this after seeing a guy promoting this cleanser in a department store. I remember that I thought it was an expensive cleanser (seems much cheaper these days). Actually I bought this at £1 shop in England! Lucky! My kitchen will be perfect with this. And this 'German-born (always says on a package)' melamine sponge is super good too. Make a sponge wet and rub a tea-stained cup, and your cup will be bling bling!

You might say 'Are you still baking cookies?' I know... this is the last one. I made spiced cookies decorated with icing. It was quite a work. What? There is something? You mean this?

I went to Sangen-chaya to go to a shop called fog. I haven't been to San-cha for ages. Chazawa street is very local atmosphere and I like it. After 10mins of walking towards Shimokitazawa, it changes to a quiet residential area. I found a nice fireplug. I bought a red linen table cloth for christmas and a blight orange cross stripes kitchen cloth. I got a red glass as a christmas present from fog.

I wanted to use a different recipe for Kokosmakronen (coconut macaroon) from last year, asked C to find a Gernman recipe. We chose a recipe which needs marzipan. C had to help me a lot (thanks!). They were superb!! Crunchy outside, chewy inside. It was a great idea dipping into a tempered chocolate. We didi it!

We did a good shopping at open by trico. It was worth walking along Harajuku on a nice sunny Saturday afternooon being annoyed by many people! Nicely recycled wine bottle (using the bottom half) to a glass. It might be difficult to hold for small hands but they are good on our hands! We bought 6 glasses for us as a Xmas present. Designed by Green Glass.

I baked Weihnachtsgebaeck (christmas cookie in German). I should have baked for St. Nikolaus day which was 6th Dec, but I completely forgot about it. Kids in Germany hang socks outside of their room and they find treats in their socks in the morning. I wonder if they buy new socks for St. Nikolaus day?!

I went to Jiyugaoka in the rain. I found a nice christmas tree at Formio (in Japanese) which sells furniture and toys for kids. It is made in Denmark! Cool! It is poorly made, smells like a tipped pen but I hung it from the ceiling anyway. There was also a paper tree with snow (colored in white). I liked that too. H69cm, ø48cm, ¥1,400

It is snowing in Hokkaido finally. I started to look for a place to stay on internet. All hotels I want to stay are fully booked, we decided to stay at a pension. We use this term 'pension (pen-shon)' as Japanese, but what does it mean exactly? According to Japanese dictionaly small hotel like 'Minshuku' (B&B). It has a warm family atmosphere and a function of hotel. Is this French word? By the way, Japanese say 'gelände' for a ski slope without knowing it's German!

I haven't had this strong feeling for ages. I want a paella pan! Of course, I also want to cook and eat paella. But there are lots of things to think about ...

Yesterday was my friend' birthday. We have been known each other for 12 years. We both aged a lot!

We went to a German pub Bernd's bar in Roppongi. This pub was on the list of German restaurants/pubs I have to go in Tokyo. It was very genuine but.. it was a bit expensive for me! We didn't stay long and went to Ebisu. Good to be home!

This is my first Le Creuset. All pots were 30% off at Selfridges' summer sale, but it was still expensive (and very heavy!) for me and I was wondering around in a shop about an hour. It was hard to make a decision between white and orange, and I chose this one in the end. The non-stick lid for frying, the base as a saucepan and the two together as a casserole, 3 products in 1! I thought it was a great deal but I realised it looked a little bit stupid after I came back home. Maybe that's why this is not available in Japan? But I use this for cooking rice very often. Great performance! I can't use other pot for cooking rice anymore. Click here for my cooking page.

I rarely see this FUJI mineral water in a shop. What a great graphic. It's only 15 years since I started to buy mineral water (we didn't have any problem drinking tap water when I was a kid), but this company started to sell water since 1929. I wonder who paid for drinking water 70 years ago, they were hotels and restaurants. And it is an official water of summit conference in Japan. 380ml (plastic bottle) ¥50 at a sale.

I cannot forget adding this to my favorite kitchen gadgets list. I had been telling my friend that I want Le Creuset, so our friends gave us a cocotte oval 4.2L and a non-stick skillet 20cm as a wedding present last year. They made sure which color I wanted, but now I feel like I should have chosen white one. Or maybe it's a hassle to keep it white? I made beef stew with a cocotte yesterday. I don't know if this pot makes stew tastier (like everyone says) but I think it looks better at least. Tonight we will enjoy the 2nd day stew.

The first Apple store outside the U.S. opened in Ginza on 30 Nov. I went to see my friend who took a part in the event in a theater on the 3rd floor. The big apples on the building attracts attention even from far away. But a rotating apple logo on the top... having competitive spirit to car industry? Maybe not.

I couldn't believe my eyes in a shop. This is the cracker made by Maeda confectionery company. I didn't know it is still exist, and I've never seen this before. This cracker is very well known because of their TV ads in 60's. And the famous phrase is 'AtariMaeda no Cracker'. Atarimae! (Of course!) and Maeda (company name) were combined. Yes, it isn't funny at all, but everyone (not me + my family) used this phrase instead of 'Of course' to make their friends smile. Anyway, my generation is the last one to know about this.

It is December already. We visit my parents in Sappporo this winnter holiday. We are planning to snowboard in Niseko but there is no snow... It is very strange that almost all ski slopes in Hokkaido don't have any snow yet. Niseko' slopes were planned to open on 22 November but it hasn't open yet. I don't mind going to a hot spring resort instead... (the photo is today' Niseko taken by Livecam!)