Living in Niseko during March

March was exceptionally busy for Niseko! We didn't expect this rush of guests, we were wondering why so many people decide to come during March? 

Snow condition during March aren't as powdery as December to February, it even rained heavily one day. But to our surprise, after the heavy rain, the next day we had heaps of powder and it was actually the best powder day for this whole season! I went skiing and actually enjoyed myself despite falling down and had my ski buried under the powder and I spent quite some time to dig it out. Fun times!

March has been quite a sweet surprise to us! We're glad! 

Organised farewell party for one of our colleague. Happy to see plenty of food on the table!

Wedges cooking station

Also organised end of season's staff party! 

It was super fun to plan the party, go shopping, and prepping for the food. Great bonding time between the girls as well :) Overall, spent about 20,000yen for everything! 

Also baked brownies but failed miserably! But so happy that some of my colleagues mentioned it tastes good that it's so chewy! :')

Brought Yee Sang from Malaysia for my friends who missed CNY. Great bonding session among us, also to invite other foreigners to try this out, I would say all of them were pleasantly surprised that it's delicious!

Colourful mess

Tried out cooking Korean food! Chicken and toppoki in spicy sauce. Success!!

 Baked brownies together with friend and it was superb!

Perfect with a scoop of ice cream!

Was adventurous one day at lunch where I made kimchi pancakes! It didn't taste good though...

 Roommates gathering again, korean style soup!

 Spent my last night in Niseko at a sushi party!

Made mini pancake for colleagues and I. 

I really enjoy cooking breakfast, breakfast in bed is like the best thing to wake up to.

Continuing on my journey in healthy eating. 

(Leftover strawberries by guest, and left over milk by guest, mix em up for a meal!)

Found hairy crab in the guest room!

Hairy and yummy. 

Not a single cent spent on any of the above shown pictures. Super blessed!

Dessert buffet at my favourite restaurant! 2 savoury food were served as well - Curry rice and hamburgers. 

Started off with desserts!

Had chicken curry rice + pickled cabbage in between dessertts

Ended with desserts again.

Massive udon!

The day has come!!! Finally it's White Day!!

Can safely say I didn't expect to reap such reward! Definitely made my day to be showered with sweets!

The above is self-rewarded though :) Can't get enough of cakes!

Also self rewarded! My fav lemon tarts!

Towards the end of March where the snow was pretty icy and it was so foggy!

Took a long time for me to descend the mountain.

I miss Niseko terribly and miss my workplace, my colleagues, my roommates, and the unforgettable 3 years in Niseko. Those 3 years has no doubt been the best time of my life.

Living in Niseko during February

Early February was so quiet where we wondered where all the people in the village went. At one point we were so free that we really had nothing much to do, phone didn't ring the whole day. During December, the phone rang non-stop!

But we get to relax only for about a week in early February, after that things went uphill and finally reached the peak during Chinese New Year time. Best part was I was relaxing back at home in the sunny Malaysia during CNY. 

And why do I miss home while I'm in Niseko but when I'm back to Malaysia, I missed Niseko so much? It's this love hate thing that I still can't get around with. Also the drastic difference in weather made me so grumpy when I was back home too.

Anyways, February was also the month we realized how time flies, most of the staff will leave by end of March including me, so we try to hang out as often as we can.

Baking session with colleagues in one of the empty guest room.

Feels so good using the kitchen as if it's ours!

Baked very very successful banana cake! Got compliments from other colleagues that tried :)

I'm totally bragging but I really was reluctant to share it and could finish all of it on my own!

Also had another baking session at friend's house. We baked peanut cookies!

Brought back peanuts all the way from Malaysia just to make peanut cookies with friend!

Before

 After

Cookies were so so good though, brought some for colleagues and they loved it too! 

 Roommate cooked 2 types of korean toppokki! (Spicy and non-spicy)

Oden with roommates again. Easy to cook and yummy!

Unlimited lamb barbeque with colleagues! So delicious and I really missed it..
Will visit one last time again before I leave Niseko for sure!

After I came back to Niseko after CNY, one of the lovely Malaysian repeat guest knew that I missed Milo so they brought all that for me all the way from Malaysia ;)

We chatted during last summer when they were here and I mentioned to them that I really missed Malaysian food. They remembered and brought this for me when they came back again, I was speechless when they gave it to me! Such sweet people really made all the hard work worth it. This is also especially special to me because I didn't manage to bring Milo back from Malaysia as my luggage was already overweight, and to receive this I just felt soooooo blessed!! Milo is my absolute favourite drink since I was young, other country's Milo tastes different compared to Malaysia's! Sounds odd but it's really true!

Enjoying my Maggi for lunch break!

 To balance out my unhealthy eating habits, oats every morning for breakfast plus any random fruit found in the staff refrigerator (Collected from guest's leftovers)

The same guest that left me the Milo and Magee also gave me pineapple tarts! 

Oh, really reminds me of home...

Since I'm not a fan of drinking water, I try to drink more tea instead. 

I have so many different kinds of teabags lying around and it's time for me to finish it all.

I've never seen such interesting teas before??

Best flavour would be the Green Tea with Orange flavour and lotus flower, second would be the Orange and Cinnamon flavoured. 

Interesting design! Since Sakura is coming soon so most of the brand will spam Sakura designs or Sakura flavoured food / drinks. 

Brought this all the way back from Malaysia for colleagues to try and I regretted sharing them cause it's so good! (Selfish much..)

Folded cranes to wish a colleague to get well soon!

End product! 1000 cranes folded by all colleagues.

Took almost 2 weeks to complete these though. Assembling the cranes took an incredibly long amount of time too.

 Valentines day gift shared by female colleagues for the male colleagues.

I'm still not used to the idea of Valentines day in Japan where girls will be the one to give gifts / confess to guys. Then it's the guy's turn on White Day (14 March) Just still so strange for me. 

 Night skiing after work!

February is over now, I'm having mixed feelings for March as I'm happy to go travelling in Tokyo yet I'm so sad to leave a job that I love. I'll be doing quite a lot of travelling from April onwards yet I feel a bit unsettling to not have any plans for my new job. Gosh. But I don't wanna think too much about looking for new job yet as I have loads of planning and research to do for my upcoming holidays!