Aachen Christmas Market

by Wen Christmas Market

The location of Aachen is very accessible from the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Try their Punsch or Glühwein (the local mulled wine). Aachen’s Cathedral is the first UNESCO World Heritage site in Germany. Aachen’s main Christmas market is concentrated on the large squares around the cathedral in the old town area. There are around 120 stalls at the main market.

The local specialty is the Aachener Printen (a type of Lebkuchen with Christmas spices). You will find the giant Printen cookies guard the entryway to the Christmas market.

My Broadway Show List

by Wen New York

One of my favorite things to do when visited New York is going to all the wonderful Broadway shows. These are the shows I’ve seen before and highly recommend.

Broadway Musicals
Cats
Jersey Boys
Wicked
The Lion King
The Phantom of the Opera
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical ❤
Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Radio City Christmas Spectacular
Mary Poppins
Miss Saigon
Chicago
Annie

Broadway Plays
The Vertical Hour (2007, Julianne Moore, Bill Nighy)
Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012, Matthew Broderick, Jessie Mueller)
Orphans (2013, Alec Baldwin, Ben Foster, Tom Sturridge)
The Trip to Bountiful (2013, Cicely Tyson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Williams)
Vanya and Sonia and Spike (2013, Sigourney Weaver, David Hyde Pierce, Kristine Nielsen)
Lucky Guy (2013, Tom Hanks, Maura Tierney, Courtney Vance)
The Present (2016, Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh)

Off-Broadway
❤ Avenue Q
Blue Man Group
The Book of Mormon

Men-Ya Kaiko

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

Men-ya Kaiko 麺屋開高

新千歳空港国内線ターミナルビル3Fラーメン道場
New Chitose Airport Domestic Terminal 3rd floor Ramen Dojo
+81 12-345-8787

Dinner

It’s located in the Hokkaido Ramen Dojo inside the New Chitose Airport. Ramen Dojo is an amazing street devoting to Ramen. There are various popular Hokkaido ramen restaurants along the street. I had the Tokachi Corn Cheese Ramen. The broth was overly salty to my liking. I left with half a bowl of ramen unfinished.

Tokachi Corn Cheese Ramen

Bar Cafe Soup Curry Zora

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

BAR CAFE SOUP CURRY ZORA

北海道札幌市中央区南1条西7丁目12-5 (大通パークサイドビル 1階)
+81 11-231-4882

Lunch

Sapporo is famous as soup curry’s birthplace. Soup curry comes with vegetables, rice, and various toppings. You need to choose your dish, spice level, and rice size. The soup is basically similar to south East Asian curries. A thinner curry essentially. Leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy in your tummy and fills you up all nicely.

Chicken Leg Curry

The chicken is cooked really well. I can imagine this being very nice in winter, and understand why the locals love it.

Cheese Curry

A Little Log Cafe Flower

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

A Little Log Cafe Flower ちいさなログカフェふらわ

北海道富良野市山部中町 2-2
Yamabe Nakachou 2-2, Furano-shi, Furano, Hokkaido
+81 90-6876-8118

Lunch

Omelette Curry Rice (Omu-curry) is a dish poured curry sauce over an omelette and is famous as a local cuisine in Furano. This restaurant is a little wooden cabin located on route 38 in Yamabe. Interior had a very homely feel. The curry rice was excellent and the omelette was silky smooth too. This was a really hearty meal using local fresh produce and great especially on a windy or cold day.

富良野オムカレー

Dessert

Sweets Cafe Sabor

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

Sweets Cafe Sabor スイーツカフェサボール

北海道富良野市倖町 13-1
13-1 Saiwaicho, Furano, Hokkaido
+81 167-22-1001
www.furano.ne.jp/marche/sabor.asp

Afternoon Tea

The café is very cute. You can buy pastries at the bakery and eat inside. We always visit this shop after shopped at the Furano Marche. I like their roll cake the most. First time to try cream puffs. The puff has a nice crisp on the outer layer with smooth Hokkaido cream filling. Good with milk or coffee.

Cream Puff

Haskap Berry Cream Puff

Farm Tomita

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

Farm Tomita ファーム富田

北海道空知郡中富良野町基線北15号
15 Kisenkita, Sorachi-gun, Nakafurano-cho, Hokkaido
+81 16-739-3939
www.farm-tomita.co.jp

Lavender Madness

Even though its summer but people were wearing jacket and scarf. You know what would be the fun thing to do in cold weather? Ice cream! We ate lavender ice cream, lavender cheese cake, drank lavender coffee, and bought anything related to lavender.

Lavender soft-serve ice cream

Taste minty and sweet with plenty lavender fragrance

Lavender-Flavored Furano Snowmelt Cheese Cake

Auberge de Tefutefu

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

Auberge de Tefutefu オーベルジュてふてふ

北海道上川郡美瑛町美沢双葉
Misawa Futaba, Kamikawa-gun, Biei-cho 071-0236, Hokkaido
+81 16-692-5137
tefutefu.com

Dinner

The facility and green surrounding given us a expression of homestay. The dinner was beautifully presented with combination of modern Japanese and french gourmet. The owner Kent Shiraishi is a professional photographer. You may be familiar with his work “Blue Pond” (iOS default home screen). We learnt to see Biei and Furano through the eyes of photographer, which was such an amazing experience.

Appetizer

Hairy crab & sea urchin

Sashimi

chutoro, scallop, spot shrimp & flatfish

Salad

Vegetable Fondue

Dessert

homemade ice cream with Biei milk

Breakfast

La Laiterie Ferme Biei

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

La Laiterie Ferme Biei 美瑛ファーム｜美瑛放牧酪農場

北海道上川郡美瑛町字新星平和5235
071-0473 Kamikawa District
+81 166-68-6777
www.biei-farm.co.jp

Ice Cream

The weather is grey and rainy today in Biei. We need a little sweet treat to bright the day. La Laiterie Ferme Biei is a beautiful dairy farm. In is also not far from the famous scenic spot “Shikisai no Oka” (Four Seasons Hill). It takes only about 20 minutes by bike.
The view is great here. We see lots cows eating grass outside which allow you to get really up close.

Soft Cream

The most popular products of the store are made from the cow’s milk such as yogurt, soft serve ice cream, and milk pudding. I like their original milk flavor ice cream. They produces ice cream with reputation for exceptionally high quality by using very simple and fresh ingredients. The high milk fat in Hokkaido milk makes the ice cream taste so creamy and rich.

Milk Pudding

The milk pudding is also creamy and not so sweet.

Daimaru

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

Daimaru だいまる大丸

北海道上川郡美瑛町中町 1-7-2
1 Chome-7-2 Nakamachi, Biei, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido
+81 166-92-3114

Lunch

Daimaru is a family style restaurant. People come here for their cutlet curry and curry udon. They also made pretty good fried chicken and churros.

Curry Udon カレーうどん

Chicken Karaage

Gyoza

Churro

Bi.Blé Boulangerie

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

Bi.Blé Boulangerie ビブレ

北海道上川郡美瑛町字北瑛第2北瑛小麦の丘（旧北瑛小学校）
Hokuei Komugi no Oka, Aza-Hokuei Dai-2, Biei-cho, Kamikawa-gun, Hokkaido
(former Hokuei Elementary School)
+81 16-692-8100
bi-ble.jp/boulangerie

Bakery

We drove by and bought some breads for take-out. A wonderful selection of French breads. Their bread tasted very light but good aroma of yeast.

Croissant

Bi.Blé

by Wen Hokkaido Japan

Bi.Blé ビブレ

北海道上川郡美瑛町字北瑛第2北瑛小麦の丘（旧北瑛小学校）
Hokuei Komugi no Oka, Aza-Hokuei Dai-2, Biei-cho, Kamikawa-gun, Hokkaido
(former Hokuei Elementary School)
+81 16-692-8100
www.bi-ble.jp/restaurant