A Barbeque at Pacific View Villa

Pakdokter's son, Rastam, flew in from Tokyo on Friday and was taken around by Morisan while pakdokter played golf at Tarumae GCC. A barbeque was organised in the garden of the Pacific View Villa. Food was largely organised by Morisan and Yashushisan, Dato Takahashi's son, who had completed recently a stint at Ebi-Ten as a sushi chef and would be operating a sushi outlet in Niseko come winter, cooked the tempuras for the group.

The barbeque was also to celebrate TokWan's ( Wan Azfar) birthday.

We also had delicious sweet rock melon from Tomita's Rock Melon Farm in Furano.

 these guards dogs were very friendly and playful

 Tokwan playing his string instrument and entertained us during the barbeque

 Morisan working on the beef burgers

 succulent rock melon from Tomita's farm in Furano

 a birthday cake for Tokwan

Tarumae Golf and Country Club - Hokkaido

Being a bright and sunny day, pakdokter was again fixed to play another round of golf at the Tarumae Golf and Country Club the day after our round trip to Niseko and back. Many golfers from Tokyo and Osaka had also come in to play and the course was quite busy.

Tarumae Golf and CC is a 27-hole golf course. Located just about 5 minutes drive from the Pacific View Villas project, it faces the Tarumae Mountain which could be clearly seen from the clubhouse on such a bright and sunny day.

As in all golf courses in Japan you play 9-holes with a one hour break in between for lunch. Pakdokter thoroughly enjoyed this second round of golf at this club accompanied by Dato Takahashi and his son who had flown in from Shanghai that morning

We finished our game late in the afternoon.

 The Tarumae Mountain seen from the clubhouse

 Tokwan ( Wan Azfar) in front of the Tarumae Golf and CC

 The Tarumae Mountain reflected on the lake in front of the clubhouse

Ebi-ten in Chitose

We spent the afternoon( after the ice-creammaking  demonstration) at Niseko Village Hilton Hotel. Our host had a business meeting and we spent our time at the resort's onsen.

The drive back to Tomakomai took about 2 hours and a half and on the way we stopped for dinner at an excellent seafood restaurant in Chitose - called Ebi-ten.

 sushi chef at the bar

 an array of starters to stimulate the taste bud

 Hokkaido snow crab

 fresh oysters

 a platter of sashimis

 grilled crabs

grape prawn in season

 lovely grilled fish

 another type of prawn sashimi

 egg custard

 abalone sashimi

 another type of oyster

pear in jelly

Niseko - Making Ice Cream at a Diary Centre

There is a Dairy Centre near Niseko where we could learn how to make the famous Hokkaido Ice Cream. Everything was done manually. We made a strawberry flavoured ice cream which turned out very good actually.

 ice cubes in a bowl and a cupful of salt to make the temperature lower

 a few frozen strawberries were whisked in the bowl

 fresh cream poured in and whisked

 we took turns to whisk the cream

 half way there

 the final product

a cup of ice cream to taste

A Light Lunch at a Local Restaurant near Niseko Village

Dato Takahashi, our host in Hokkaido had driven up to Niseko earlier that morning and we met up at a local restaurant for a light lunch. After lunch we visited a property which our host has recently purchased in Niseko and was undergoing renovations to house some of his food-court staff as well as rooms for his guests who come to ski in Niseko in winter.