restaurant 'Korea-Haus' (Korea House) in Duesseldorf

The Saturday before last a colleague visited Duesseldorf, so we met for a little shopping in the afternoon. For dinner we had reserved a table at a Korean restaurant I wanted to try out. We both love Korean food so that was the perfect chance!

The restaurant is named ‘Korea-Haus’ (Korea House) and situated in the Bismarckstraße near Duesseldorf Main Station. The street looks kind of shabby and we passed two other Korean restaurants as well, so I was really curious what it would be like. The outer appearance was okay though the restaurant is opposite to a game hall and a sex shop^^;

restaurants' window

But we were friendly welcomed at once and brought to our table. The interior looked very nice. All tables are fitted with a modern Korean BBQ grill inside on side of the tabletop.

interior 1

interior 2

The menu was also quite impressive. They had the typical salads like spinach salad and Kimchi, starters like Korean pancakes and mandu (fried buns filled with chicken and vegetables), dishes for the grill, main dishes (pan fried meals), hot pods and Korean meals served on hot iron plates. It was really to decide for something^^;

My colleague loves Mandu, so she ordered one plate. We get it along with typical Korean side dishes served with every main dish. I liked the choice, especially the fried potatoes and the marinated tofu^^

As main dish we ordered Bulgogi (marinated beef with some vegetables for the grill) served with salad leaves and a spicy tofu hot pod (it’s called tofu hot pod but it also contained pork meat^^;). Of course you get a metal bowl of rice along with it.

Everything was soooo delicious, I was really overwhelmed. We made a good choice with the restaurant and the food!

starters & bulgogi in the grill

hot pod

The staff was also very kind and the restaurant was visited by many people of every age. I can really recommend it and I am sure that I will visit again^__^

Afterwards we stopped by the Chinese Asia Market to buy some stuff. My colleague recommended Ginger Beer to me. I didn’t like the idea because I don’t like beer but she said though it’s called beer it is a lemonade (non-alcoholic). So I give it a try and took two cans for us. At home I put it in the ice box for some time for having a cold taste. I was really curious and positively surprised! If you like ginger, this lemonade tastes awesome and is really refreshing! So I think I will enjoy it again^__^

can of ginger beer^^

Japan Day Duesseldorf 2015 ~ 日本デー

On May the 30th the 14th Japan Day took place in Duesseldorf. Like always crowds of people visited the event. Unfortunately the weather wasn't friendly and it rained from time to time >.<

Nevertheless my friend from Switzerland came for a visit and we went to the Rhein riverside to take part in the festival. We looked over the many booths which presented everything about Japanese culture but also anime and manga stuff etc.

It was also funny to see the many applications of the 'Duesseldorf Stadtwerke' everywhere in town. I love Duesseldorf^o^

"I love Düsseldorf"

I also watched the Taiko group on the main stage. They were pretty good^-^

Taiko Group on stage

But then we already left and spend the afternoon at my place because of the rain. In the evening we went out again to have Japanese dinner. And we were lucky, we got a seat in one of my favourite restaurants: Café Bar Relax ^__^

They also had a special menue for the day. My friend decided for Teriyaki Don while I had my beloved beef curry with karaage X3

It was su~per delicious!!!

my Japanese dinner^o^

Anime- & Manga Convention with Cosplay and bento picnic

Two weeks ago some friends visited me because the Anime- & Manga-Convention Dokomi was held in Düsseldorf. We visit this convention every year and again we planned some cosplays for the weekend.

On Saturday my friends Kirschu, Lynn and I cosplayed characters from Ouran High School Host Club. Kirschu was Haruhi, Lynn Kyoya (always the guy with glasses *lol*) and I was Tamaki. I like him but I’m not so good in being stupid in love^^;

Nevertheless we had pretty much fun. Our friend Lau from Berlin joined us as Ran from Super Gals in a short, beautiful Yukata dress^.^

Kyoya, Haruhi & Tamaki ^-^

The weather was nice and next to the convention hall is a huge park located which also contains a little Japanese garden. So I decided to make bentos for us and have a picnic. Of course everyone helped me with the preparation (otherwise I would have needed the whole day to peel and cut everything^^;) and I filled up my two big bento boxes X3

Lunchtime^o^

Sakura bento box:

1^st layer: cooked sushi rice with different fillings: tuna-mayo, pumpkin & tamagoyaki

2^nd layer: sweet potatoe salad & sprouts salad

square bento box:

1^st layer: kinpira (with carrots & zucchini), teriyaki chicken & tamagoyaki

2^nd layer: tomatoes, physalis & sliced apple

I was really satisfied and everyone loved it; I’m so proud X3

So we had a great day!

Sunday was even sunnier than yesterday. Lynn and I finally managed to wear our cosplays from the Kobato series (by Clamp). Lynn was Kobato in her summer dress while I wear my Kohaku cosplay again. She even made a Ioryogi-san Plushie^.^

Kobato & Kohaku

Ioryogi-san^.^

It was so great and the park was just a perfect location for making nice photos!

Lau cosplayed a character from Record of Loddoss and Kirschu was ‘Milk’ XD It’s a food gijinka from an artist who was also at the convention. They had a great group of her characters, that was funny^^

Of course I couldn’t resist and make bentos for everyone again X3

This time everyone get her own box – so this weekend I could use almost every box I have *lol*

I had some kinpira and pumpkin left and I made tamagoyaki again. In the 2^nd layer everyone got some tuna-mayo rice again. For myself I made a bento with vegetarian curry and rice and put the rest of the tomatoes and physalis’ in the other layer.

So lunchtime was always great X3

Because of the nice weather we stayed pretty long in the garden before heading back home and make ourselves ready to get into town to have dinner in our favourite Japanese restaurant (unfortunately I didn’t make pictures there >.<): Café Bar Relax!

Lau and I shared a portion of Takoyaki and a Matcha Honey Toast*_*

Kirschu decided for a Honey Toast with banana and vanilla icecream and Lynn ordered Takoyaki and a miso soup. Unfortunately the miso soup was never brought >.< (it was late and the kitchen already closed for new orders, so I think they just forgot though we ordered just in time)

We had a wonderful weekend! I hope to have more spring weekends for having another picnic with self-made bentos^.^

Aftermath of Japan travel...

The week after my journey to Japan I had still holidays. We arrived back in Germany on Monday and I needed the Tuesday for doing nothing important, just chilling, looking at my photos and stuff like that.

But I have been really missing Japan... so to get a bit of this feeling back I went to the Immermannstraße here in Düsseldorf in the afternoon to stroll around the Japanese supermarkets and get myself a bento for lunch^.^

I was so happy because it's like going to the Family Mart XD

And the taste is really like in Japan! So I was glad having a Japanese Teriyaki Don (with few vegetables and pieces of Tamagoyaki) here again^o^

Teriyaki Don

I hope to keep these holiday feelings over the next days, too, because on Wednesday I will tell my holiday stories to my old collegues and from Thursday to Sunday I will visit the Book Fair in Frankfurt where I meet my Korean friend again! So I keep staying in East Asia in some way^.~

I will tell about the Book Fair in my next post!

living in Düsseldorf ~ Japanese events

Finally I finished my blog postings about my last Japan journey but in the meantime happended so much...

Since the end of April I live in Düsseldorf now where most of the Japanese people live in Germany. So here are many Japanese restaurants, stores and so on and of course many events take place here.

The most popular event is the Japan Day in the old city. It is held every year and more and more people are coming to this event which took place at May the 17th this time. Of course I went there as well especially while I'm living in Düsseldorf now^__^

Some of my friends also came for a visit: Kiki, Lau and Kirschu stayed over night and we were happy that we could enjoy the fireworks for the first time.

The Japan Day is also a good oppotunity for us to wear our Yukatas. I tried my new Yukata which I got from Tomomi's mother as a gift^.^ (and I lend Kirschu my short Yutaka I bought 2012 in Japan)

Many people took pictures of us (the first ones were some older men in the pub around the corner XD) so I guess we were looking pretty good, don't you think:

peace^^v

we four girls^^

me in front of the Düsseldorf skyline^^

But it took quite a long time for my friends to got dressed up and styled^^;

So we arrived around 4 pm at the location and we were open-mouthened because of the crowd >.< There were so many people... we hardly got a free place at the meadow to sit down, chill and enjoy the atmosphere. We also met our friend Sato who was there with her cosplay group (she was the one taking photos of the four of us^^).

While my friends went to a Gyaru meeting I met with my friend from Switzerland. She came all the way here by train but I was really happy to spend some time with her. We went over the place and watched the stands. We looked at the merchandise but didn't buy anything. But I couldn't avoid to stop at a little stand selling Matcha food *_*

I had to try the Matcha cheese cake! And it was really good^.^

Matcha cheese cake *yummy*

The highlight of the day was of course the Japanese fireworks in the evening. But before we went back home and dressed up in casual clothes because it got quite cold after sunset and it was more comfortable. So great that it was possible this year because of my new flat X3

The fireworks were really beautiuful, it is so much better that seeing it on TV. But if you want to take a look, our reginal TV channel put the video online:

http://www1.wdr.de/studio/duesseldorf/lokalzeit/japantaguebersicht102.html

But at the end of the day we must say that it was just too crowded >.< If I hadn't meet my friend from Switzerland it wouldn't have been worth a visit. It's more comfortable to enjoy the place in Düsseldorf without an event and because of my many travels to Japan I know everything they offer. So maybe next year I won't go again.

+++

Three weeks later the Anime and Manga Convention 'Dokomi' took place in Düsseldorf, too. It is situated in the Fair of Düsseldorf. Next to it is a great park with a Japanese garden, so the perfect location for fans.

On Saturday we were cosplaying alltogether but the Sunday I took the chance to wear my short Yukata for the first time in Germany (really useful with over 30 degrees^^v).

Kiki and me cosplaying Golden Bomber in Kung-Fu Outfit (doing some 'practise' XD)

me in my Yukata in the Japanese garden

The Japanese garden is really a nice place. I think I will visit once again when there is no event as well. But we had much fun.

I really love it that in Düsseldorf you get to experience many sites of Japan. I'm looking forward to more events like these^__^

Japanese Film week Duesseldorf ~ 春の雪 ☆

Tomorrow ends the Japanese Film week in Duesseldorf. Since 2007 the film museum of Duesseldorf shows a choice of Japanese movies during one week in January in coorporation with the Japanese Embassy. The entrance is always free but you have to be early to get a seat in the cinema room so I arrived there almost one hour before the start of the film.

On Sunday I managed to make it to Duesseldorf and watched the movie 春の雪 - 'spring snow'

春の雪 film poster

Here is a link to a description of the film: Wikipedia spring snow

It was a tragical love story which took place in the Japan of the 1920s. It was kind of a Japanese Shakespeare version^^;

But it was something compared to American or European movies.

The main characters developed during the movie and the most fascinating point was the mixture of Japanese and Western culture and costumes. The era was really good pictured and some side characters really caught my interest. The movie wasn't boring though I had expected and also hoped for another ending.

But the movie was quite long and some scenes were obviously unneccessary. It's not a movie I would watch twice but I had a nice afternoon.

film week flyer & cinema program

waiting line & film posters in the background

Next year I hope to see more movies during the film week and maybe also one of the Anime productions.

many many sweets ♥ ♥ ♥

It's about time to blog about some new things and what was happening during the last weeks.

Two weeks ago I took a trip to Duesseldorf. Usually always something I'm looking forward to, but this time I had an job interview! I was so nervous... >.<

I don't know the result yet, but afterwards I took my time in the Japanese quarter in Duesseldorf. I had Lunch in my favourite restaurant 'Don' and had a 'Niku-Don' (thin sliced beef with special sauce and red ginger on a bowl of rice). As good as always (^o^) [unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I couldn't take a picture of it *sigh*]

Before heading back to the train station I also visited both of the Japanese-Korean supermarkets on the Immermannstraße to look for maybe new interesting products.

I really found some interesting stuff in the refrigerated counter: Matcha Chiffon Cake and Sweet Potatoe Dessert. Unfortunately I was too sated from lunch that I didn't try one of them. But they looked very delcious and I will taste them the next time!

Then I was surprised by the many kinds of Mochis they have sold. Besides the ones I already know I found Mochis filled with pumpkin, Matcha-Mochis filled with Anko and Pandan-Coconut Mochis. I had to buy all of them XD

The pumpkin and Pandan Mochis I have already tried and especially the Pandan Mochis are so tasty X3

Besides I got a new brand of Instant Matcha Latte. It's also good but I miss the last one. I don't know why they don't sell it anymore.

Mochis & Matcha Latte

In the Asian Supermarket on the main street and I bought some usual stuff like rice and tofu to refill my supply but they had also some special offer for 'Moon cakes'. Moon cakes are a traditonal sweet for the harvest-moon-festival in Soth Korea and China. These festival was held the week before and so now they sold all the stuff for lower prices ^.^

I couldn't resist and bought some little cake with Anko-filling.

Chinese Moon Cake

So after the job interview the day was really nice, ha ha.

Garden Feast in the EKO House of Japanese Cultures

Yesterday I went to EKO House of Japanese Cultures in Duesseldorf because they held a garden feast and showed traditional Japanese arts: Taiko, Koto Play, Traditional Dance, Bon-Dance, singer, choir of the kindergarten and self-defense demonstration.

The feast started at 3 pm but the house was opened since 1 pm for the public. Entrance fee was 6,- €, that was okay. In the house itself was an Ikebana exhibition shown, so because I arrived at half past 2 I took some time to watch the exhibition. It was nice and very modern.

Ikebana Exhibition

special placed Ikebana

At 3 pm the first Taiko group started. I love Taiko and the group was really good^^

Taiko in front of the temple

On a stage in the middle of the garden followed the childrens' choir of the EKO kindergarden. Their singing wasn't so good but the children were really cute with their dancing XD

the children singing and dancing

After the children some Japanese women dressed in beautiful kimono performed traditional dances (also with umbrellas and fans). Also a group of little children (5 years old) did a performance! They did all really well! After this traditional dancing they invited everyone to take part in the bon-dancing. Bon feasts are Japanese summer feast where everyone dances around the stage in the same way. Every song has its special dance and it's quite easy so everyone can take part in it. It was really cool, some people came up on stage and others did the gesticulation and claps on their places.

women dancing

children's dance

Bon-dance

Next was a Japanese female singer, her songs were accomapnied by one Taiko drum. That was cool and the singer's voice was really nice.

The Koto Play afterwards was very relaxing then. Five women played on huge Kotos, it was very beautiful.

Koto Player

For the change followed the self-defense demonstration. It was a group from Wuppertal and some moves were quite impressive.

pupils and sensei

The finish made another Taiko group - Wadokyo from Duesseldorf - THEY were really AMAZING! Their drums were soooo cool (that I didn't take any photos *drop* just videos^^;) 

It was the perfect end for a perfect feast^^

Japanese cooking class in Duesseldorf ~ Oyatsu

On saturday I visited a cooking class in Duesseldorf City, the topic was Oyatsu ~ Japanese summer sweets ^o^

So totally my cup of tea! I love (Japanese) sweets but especially Japanese sweets are hard to make or it's really different from baking a normal cake or so. So I was pretty excited what we would do that day.

The teacher prepared four recipes for us: strawberry softcream (that's not Japanese, but they love it as well *lol*), Melonpan & Anpan (sweets buns), Yatsuhashi (sweets made of sticky rice flour) and Milk-Kan (kind of Jelly pudding).

We were splitted in groups and started to work. The kitchen room was really nice though it was unfavourable that it hadn't got a microwave and a water boiler.

I was in the group for the buns because I like them the most and in the past I failed in making them properly. Everyone worked together very well so we were working good on time.

the kitchen

The only bad thing was that our teacher didn't hand out the recipes, just the list of incredits. So every group had to ask her for the different steps and I spend much time writing everything down^^'

But everyone helped with filling the Yatsuhashi and forming (and filling) the buns. Unfortunately we made too much pastry for the Yatsuhashi and some buns didn't stay in form during the baking process, they looked more like a pizza but the taste was pretty good nevertheless.

We had some sticky rice flour, milk and sweet red beans left, so our teacher made spontaniously a rice pancake out of it, Just putting flour, milk and sugar together she made a real good pancake. The sweet beans were added in the pan and baked into the pancake.

The results were really delicious:

Yatsuhashi with red bean filling and cinnamon

Anpan (buns with red bean filling)

Milk-Kan with oranges

 (sorry, I don't get why blogger turns my pictures >.<)

Finally it was time for tasting/eating ^o^

the table full of sweets *o*

It was really good and all the people were quite nice. Only one woman had to leave earlier and couldn't stay till now. Unfortunately she - who was in charge of making the strawberry softcream - hadn't put it in the freezer but only in the fridge... so we just had a kind of cold strawberry drink^^'

Many things were left over so everyone could take some of the sweets home^^

But the cleaning of everything was also quite hard work X.x
And I must say if I have to work alone, the buns and the yatsuhashi are really time-robbing, it won't be worth doing it. So I don't think I will make these things in the near future.

But it was a nice class and I had a good and tasty day^__^

Matsuri Puppet Exhibition

Hello everyone!

Two weeks ago a friend and I visited a Matusi Puppet Exhibition (Puppets for summer feasts) in the EKO house of Japanese culture in Duesseldorf. The puppets were made by Harumi Oshima and showed some feast scenes mainly with children. Besides the detailed-made puppets many pieces of information about summer festivals and other feasts in Japan were presented in the exhibition room.

advertisement of the exhibition in the EKO house

It was just one room with some showcases but the puppets were made with many details, colours and traditional clothes. I must say some of them looked quite scary and I'm not so into puppets but it was interesting to see some scenes, behaviour and clothes from traditonal feasts.

Here are some impressions:

Besides the puppets there were photos and information papers hanging on the walls between the showcases about summer festivals, fireworks and what happens on such 'Matsuri'. That was really cool, I hope to take part in some Matsuris one day, too^^

Afterwards my friend and I wanted to return home but before we entered an Asian backery near the main station and there a nice surprise got me: they sold Pandan cake! (which I knew from London only) 

So I take a piece of Pandan roll and my friend a piece of the strawberry roll. The cakes were really good^o^

I like Pandan cake now very much and I will remember this backery for that *lol*

Pandan roll with cream coconut filling

So we had a nice day and I'm looking mor forward to my next Japan journey X3