Up the wall

Before

More than a week ago I measured the walls in the small sitting room off the main lobby for a set of black and white framed photographs that were bought by my colleague on the design committee. Today we managed to muster the requisite number to complete the task of hanging them. Jobs such as these always require a team, (as in how many does it take to change a lightbulb?). For some reason the task took over 2 hours, but I am pleased with the result. I am also pleased that one of the pictures is of the capital of a Corinthian column. This is quite by chance, as I only unwrapped the pictures from their bubble wrap today, and had no idea that one of these was the subject, and neither does my colleague know of the existence of this blog.

After

Sunday roast

Sunday's supper of roasted pork tenderloin in black bean sauce, accompanied by baked vegetables nicoise, (courgettes, yellow peppers, black olives, onions, garlic, capers and tomatoes roasted in extra virgin olive oil).

Pudding was apricot tart, provided by our kind neighbour from upstairs, who'd had it baked this morning by his hotel, but offered us the leftover, which he and family could not finish, when we met them in the lobby today.

Our abundance of riches was supplemented by my better half's cousin and her husband, who came to visit us from Hokkaido on Friday night, and brought with them two fine bottles of shouchou, (distilled barley alcohol), which I enjoyed so much on our recent skiing trip to Japan.

It was rather good tonight aswell.

Beauregard or botox?

I met one of the less charming of our fellow residents here in the Lobby of the condo recently. She remarked how well I looked and complimented me on my complexion and skin. She then rather typically followed that with "Have you had botox?".

Unfortunately this lady has been extremely unwell with two severe cancers, and I was amazed to still see her around at all. Whereas some people mellow with such events, she clearly has not. It could be that her husband's recent decision to file for divorce, (whether before or after her diagnosis I know not), has left more bitterness than sweetness in her life.

My reply was "No, a face lift". Silly remarks require silly responses. Can I help it if my devastating good looks overwhelm lesser mortals? No, I think not.

Land of the red tomato

Tomato and daikon (white radish) salad, with herbs and French dressing.

Grated potato wrapped in thinly sliced pork

Our recent visit to Japan opened up two new and very simple recipes. The first is a tomato and daikon salad, which we ordered and ate at the Japanese restaurant every night. It is sliced tomato with sliced daikon in a French dressing with herbs.

The second is grated potato wrapped in very thinly sliced pork. We parboiled the potato before grating it, and then fried the olive-like parcels, with mirin and soya sauce added towards the end. They look rather like pork sausages, and although they have a similar taste, are much less heavy. This was from a recipe seen on Japanese TV, which seems to comprise of cooking shows and rather mind-numbing games shows. We also served ours with boiled Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce.

Flushed with success

Today is the 4th anniversary of this blog. I'm celebrating it by extolling the virtues of Japanese lavatories, which as the instructions tell us, "rinses your posterior with warm water". I did mention the politeness of the Japanese, and this phraseology does perhaps encapsulate that rather vividly.

Perhaps that's enough said on that subject.

But many thanks to my readers, and to those of you who write comments, which whether they are complimentary or not, are encouraging, and instructive. Why do we blog? I like the dear diary aspect of it, but I also value the virtual interaction of my commentators. Carry on; calm or excited. Do.

Dog days

The flights from Bangkok to Hokkaido in northern Japan occur at inconvenient times and so we broke the journey, and stayed a few days in Hong Kong on our way there and on our way back. Apart from alleviating the tedium of long layovers and the annoyance of early departures, it allowed us to visit a very dear friend, and it must be said, to stay in his rather lovely house.

This time there was a little surprise waiting for us, in the shape of Melon, a complete cocktail of Chow, Labrador and perhaps even Chihuahua. There might even be a bit of fox in her, with the unusual antennae-like ears. The puppy is only 4 months old and was adopted from a shelter for the children of our host, who are away in England at school. She is undergoing training at school and is lovingly doted upon by the maid. The house on the Peak has beautiful walks, so we introduced the dog to one which we usually take. At first she was very nervous, but gradually she began to get used to the noise of traffic at one crossing point, and to other walkers on the route, and indeed to us.

Our host is a great collector of pictures, and as always on our visits, there were new additions, some hanging and some resting on surfaces, (which is a no-no in my book). Accordingly, and as previously, I made some suggestions about what should be re-arranged. As the night wore on, the ambition became greater, but I did decline the suggestion that I do the re-arranging there and then. We agreed that a man would be sent round the next morning to fulfill the new ideas. And indeed the said man duly arrived, armed with the necessary accountrements. The top picture is how the wall opposite the chimney piece used to look, (except with a recent addition it now had an additional and completely wrongly-hung picture to the extreme left).

And this is the new arrangement. The two outer pictures are by the same artist, Claude Venard and align at the top. The smaller picture (second from the right) is by William Beckwith McInnes, and aligns with the bottom of its right hand neighbour. We changed two other pictures in the hall, and have left several others in the dining room as they were, (part of the unfulfilled greater ambition). But these will need attention, and quite obviously justify another visit. It was nice to be useful, both in dog walking and picture hanging. I have imparted my thoughts on other aspects of the decoration, which are always sought and sometimes carried out. I'm also rather keen to get my mits on decorating a flat the host owns in Kensington, but more entreaties are obviously required there.

Apart from the obvious, Bangkok is experiencing some searingly hot weather, something you term a dog day afternoon. Crackles of thunder may be about to relieve the heat. I hope. 

Name dropping tip

Lord St John of Fawsley was a minor cabinet minister in one of Margaret Thatcher's governments. As you can see from his obituary here in The Telegraph, he was prone to name dropping, and was picked up on it by a colleague:

“The trouble with you, Norman is that you’re such a compulsive name dropper.”

“The Queen said exactly the same to me yesterday,” came the rejoinder.

If you're going to name drop, make sure it's a big one.

Polite society

Having just this evening returned from our Japanese visit, and after a few days in Hong Kong catching up with old friends, it is of course time to remember the many thousands killed in the earthquake and tsunami on 3/11 last year. We had a most enjoyable trip in both places, and an abiding memory for me is of the extreme politeness of the Japanese. Emperor Akihito led the nation's memorial to the victims of the disaster. He is only recently out of hospital having undergone heart bypass surgery, and against doctors recommendations, he insisted on fulfilling this function in person.

The image is of two glasses of shouchou, in the distilled barley flavour, which we inbibed

in our room before dinner in Niseko.

Obviously

And other choice offerings for breakfast:

Counter productive

Unexpectedly the Japanese restaurant, (called An-non, which means "relaxed"), where we dine at night was quite busy last night, so we decided to perch ourselves at the sushi counter.

The two chefs work tirelessly to fulfil customer requirements from the entire restaurant, but sitting at the counter

provides interest in watching their skills and is an excellent way to eat one's choices piecemeal, and to consume them with my newest favourite tipple - a glass of iced shouchou, (distilled alcohol from a variety of grains; my preference is that made from barley, giving it a whisky-like flavour). In unmistakeably Japanese fashion, it is all served elegantly and with style and grace, and although not anonymously, in total privacy from other patrons.

The view from here

It was the right strategy to take a break yesterday, both because our bodies told us so, but also because there was quite a bit of snow in the afternoon and evening.

This allowed for us to be in better shape to take advantage of the new powder, and a spectacularly sunny day.

We have made the most of it, starting quite late, in the mid morning, and stopping for lunch in the hotel's restaurant where I took these three photos. This is also where we take breakfast.

Mount Yotei was looking its finest; it is known as Ezo Fuji, (Mount Fuji in the north), and it is easy to see why. As we were embarking on our post lunch ski session we passed a happy older man who quipped "I'm done for the day, now it's time for beer!". I understand the sentiment now that we have completed our exertions, but chilled sake might be more on our drinks menu, as a pre prandial. The inconvenience of some of our previous ski trips has been eliminated by the ski-in, ski-out facility of the hotel, meaning that walking in the cement boots is only for a very short distance. Not quite bliss, which is only really achieved when the boots are taken off.

Snow report

Despite the marathon journey that it takes to get here - 12 hours door to door from Hong Kong to Niseko in Hokkaido, we have enjoyed a fine first day of skiing, with glorious sunshine that makes this activity so worthwhile. The above is the view of Mount Yotei, from the summit of our mountain, Annupuri.

An image from our gondola of the adjacent ski lift, on the way to one of the ski points.

After an hour and a half we took a coffee break in the hotel's bar. It has a rather disconcerting arrangement of bricks on one of its walls, and we discovered quite quickly that it is best to avoid concentrating one's gaze on it, because it will provide an unwelcome sense of imbalance.

Our endeavours today have been highly energetic, so we will now repair to the onsen to soothe tired muscles, and decide tomorrow whether we should have a break day, or whether we can tackle another mountain. There has been a huge amount of snow, but none in the last few days, and none forecast in the immediate future, which makes for much more pleasant skiing.