April 12, 2006

Who said food in Helsinki was not good? There are many good restaurants. On the rainy day in Tokyo, decided to make a list of good restaurants in Helsinki for friends who are/will be visiting Helsinki.

Serata www.serata.net
My most favorite restaurant in Helsinki at the moment. Superb food!

Tony’s Del http://www.tonysdeli.fi/fi/Tony_s_Deli/Yhteystiedot/
This is also great Italian restaurant. Be careful, you might eat too much there.
   
Kynsilaukka Garlic Restaurant www.kynsilaukka.com/
The famous garlic restaurant. I’ve never tried garlic beer though.

Restaurant Lehtovaara http://www.ravintolaopas.net/lehtovaara
I love their steak!

Fazer www.fazer.fi/
The famous chocolatier. One of my favorite cafes in Helsinki. I always can’t decided what to eat. All the sweets look so good : )

Saaga http://www.asrestaurants.com/saaga/index.asp
Lappish restaurant. Reindeer stake was yummy!

Lappi Restaurant www.lappires.com/
The most famous Lappi restaurant in Helsinki, I think. Good food & atmosphere. They have even Japanese menu.

Summer Restaurant Saari http://www.asrestaurants.com/saari/index.asp
You need to take a boat to get to the island where the restaurant is located though it takes only a few minutes! An excellent place in summer with the good view. It’s closed in winter. Smoked fish is lovely. "saari" is "island" in Finnish.

Farouge http://www.farouge.fi/
Good Lebanese restaurant. Be careful not to order too much. I ate too much last time and had tough time after wards!

Villa Thai, Restaurant www.villathai.com/
Good atmosphere and Thai food.

Ravintola Lasipalasti http://www.ravintola.lasipalatsi.fi/
You can have reindeer stew even if you’re with someone who doesn’t want to eat Lappish food on the day. Variety of Western food.

April 9, 2006

(日本語は英語の後にあります。)

On Saturday, weather changed a lot in a day. When I left home, it was cloudy. When I arrived at Shibuya, it was raining a little. I went to the cinema to get seat reservation for 15:00-o’clock film. When I walked from the cinema in Shibuya to Omotesando, it was heavily raining. To get to Mizuho bank at Omotesando crossing, I once went to the underpass in front of KFC of R246, went through tube station and came up at Mizuho bank to avoid the heavy rain. But when I came up, the sun was shining.

We went to a cafe near the UN university for lunch. After that, we walked to the cinema to see Wallace & Gromit. On the way to the cinema, it started raining again. I’d heard about W & G but it was the first time to see it. I wasn’t sure how I’d like it but it was fun : ) We laughed and enjoyed it.

Again, we walked to Omotesando to have tea. (no rain…) As we didn’t think of any cafe where we wanted to go in Omotesando, we walked to Gaienmae and went to Dean & Deluka. I’d know they had donuts of Donuts Plant 😉 There were only two big donuts left in the cafe and luck me and the friend got it! Love it : ) Coffee goes best with donuts but I chose chamomile tea as I’d already had a cup. (please read March 16 post if you’d like to know more about me and coffee)…

To consume calories I got from the donut, I walked from Gaienmae to Shibuya (not that far though)and took train to home. No rain on the way home…

I took the photo on the way from Omotesand to Gaienmae.

(Japanese)

土曜日は天気がくるくる変わる1日だった。家を出たときは曇り、そして渋谷に着いた時には少し雨が降っていた。3時からの映画の指定席を取りに映画館に行って表参道に向かって歩いた。そのときは土砂降り。友達と待ち合わせしてた表参道交差点のみずほ銀行に行くのに２４６沿いのケンタッキーの前から地下に入って駅を通り抜けてみずほの所に出た。少しでも雨に濡れたくなかったから。でも地上に出てみるともう雨は上がっていた。それどころか日も差していた。

国連大学の近くのカフェに行ってランチ。それからまた渋谷の映画館に戻るときに雨が降り出した。リラックス気分でウォレスとグルミットを見た。どんな感じなんだろうって思ってたけどかなりおもしろかった。

映画の後またお茶をしようと思って表参道へ向かった。もう雨はすっかり上がっていた。でもなんだか行きたいところが思いつかなかったので外苑前のDean & Delukaまで歩いて行くことに。Dean & Delukaに行けば　Donuts Plant　のドーナッツが食べられると思ったので。大きいドーナッツは最後の2つだけが残っていてラッキーな私たちが頂くことに。いつもほんとにおいしい！ドーナッツといえばコーヒーが一番合う。でもがまん。（私とコーヒーについて詳しくはは3月16日のブログを読んでください。）

ドーナッツのカロリーを消費しようと思って外苑前から渋谷まで歩いて、渋谷から電車に乗って家に帰った。楽しくリラックスした土曜日だったけど唯一残念なのは２４６にいつも出てる果物と野菜の露店が出てなかったこと。雨だったから、仕方なし。

写真は表参道から外苑前に向かう途中で撮ったもの。

April 6, 2006

April 3, 2006

This morning was beautiful. The sky was blue and clear. Cherry blossoms survived the rainy and windy evening. There were no clouds around Mt. Fuji.    

とても美しい朝だった。空は澄んでとてもきれいな水色。桜の花もまだまだ見ごたえがある。昨日の雨と風をしのいだ感じ。富士山にもまったく雲がかかってなかった。

April 2, 2006

(日本語は英語の後にあります。）

Even though weather forecast had said it would rain today, there were a lot of people having hanami party (cherry blossoms party) in Yoyogi park. I went there with some friends but didn’t have a party. We walked and saw cherry blossoms, then went to restaurant to have lunch. When we left the restaurant, it was raining a little. When I started walking home from supermarket, it was heavily raining. Heavy rain is usually uncomfortable when I’m walking. Today, however, it didn’t bother me. Instead I felt it’s blessing of nature. Your feeling to the same thing could be different depending on how you look at it. I was happy since I had a good yoga practice this morning. I learnt joy of sharing in the practice. Even in the rain, the happiness didn’t go away.

Cherry blossom season is waning…

(Japanese)

降水確率60%の天気予報にもかかわらず代々木公園にはたくさんの人が花見をしていた。私も友達と出かけたのだけれど公園で飲み食いするのはやめて少しだけ散歩。それからレストランでランチを食べた。食事が終わってレストランを出るときには少しだけ雨が降っていた。スーパーで買い物をして家に帰るときにはかなり激しい雨が降っていた。いつもだったらほんとに嫌だと思う激しい降りだったけれど今日はそんなに嫌な感じはしなかった。というか自然の恵みだな、なんて思ってしまった。同じような状況でも自分がどのようにそれを見るかで感じ方はとても違ってくる。今朝のヨガの練習でみんなと時間や練習をシェアすることの喜びを感じた。それからずっとhappyな気持ちでいられた。土砂降りの雨でもhappyな気持ちは変わらなかった。

桜の季節もそろそろ終わりかな・・・