-
Doublesix Dice – Board Gaming Opulence Part 1
Good afternoon internet folks. Allow me to introduce you to a short series on what I am referring to as ‘Board gaming opulence’. Essentially, items and accessories for the board/card/tabletop gaming world that are pretty much unncessary but bring a massive smile to my face for their existence! Doublesix Dice have the honour of featuring in this first installment. What are double six dice I hear you say? Well they are just like regular 6-sided dice (d6 to the dice aficionados out there) except that the dice have 12-sides (d12) with numbers 1 through 6 printed twice. What is the point of such a thing when we already have had…
-
Leipzig – a wonderful day out
Das Essen soll zuerst das Augeerfreuen und dann den Magen [feast the eyes before feeding the stomach] . – Goethe My Japanese grandmother spends around two summer months in England every year, as Tokyo is just too hot and humid to breathe in, let alone live in. Once again she came to visit us in Berlin and this time we wanted to grab a car and see a new part of Germany, so off to Leipzig we went. We actually accidentally timed our arrival at 13:30 perfectly, as it was the beginning of the English-language walking and bus tour. It was around 35 degrees and blinding sunshine, so a quick…
-
Animal upon Animal – Boardgame
Today I’d like to introduce you to one of the most accessible (and possibly funniest) game we have in our collection. Animal upon Animal (Tier auf Tier in German) is published by HABA, a company known for its extensive range of games aimed at children. Animal upon Animal is no exception to this but as the box states, it can be enjoyed by all ages up to but not exceeding 99 years. Sorry all you Centenarians out there! This is a simple dexterity game of stacking different wooden animals on top of each other until one person manages to place their last animal successfully on the animal mountain and wins…
-
Go (Outside on a Rainy Day)
It’s no secret to anyone that I love playing boardgames. I will usually never pass up the opportunity to sit down around a table with some nice people and put our minds together over some fun, interative game. (By the way, if I do decline a game invite then I’d recommend calling an ambulance as I may well be very sick). Of all the games I have played and enjoyed, nothing compares to my love for the game of Go. Known as Igo (囲碁) in Japan, Baduk (바둑) in Korea or Weiqi (圍棋) in China, it is one of the oldest boardgames in existence and, in my humble opinion, the greatest.…
-
Blueprints – Board Game
Following on from yesterday’s post about board game stores in New York, today I’d like to introduce you to a current favourite in Maison L&A… Blueprints! We picked Blueprints up on a whim while in the Twenty Sided Store in Brooklyn, NY (which is very unlike me, normally I research the any game I buy endlessly before I buy it!). I had no idea what the game was about but the box caught my eye and the theme of the game grabbed me instantly. In Blueprints, players take the role of architects and compete against each other to construct the best building possible out of several different materials. The game is played over…
-
Friday Links
Darling I, will be loving you, till I’m 70… Are Brits making tea wrong?? Stressed? Doggy denies his owner some kisses! My cousin Charles writes for the Durham University Student Magazine and his latest article was about his hair – I’m in one of the photos! I’ve worked for TV Asahi before and absolutely LOVE this story about how they brought cherry blossoms to Berlin once the wall fell. Part German?
-
Burgers in America
Dayum, dayum, dayum… Jason’s has two favourite foods: burgers and pizza. I’m not the keenist on pizza (must have eaten too much of it as a child) but I am growing an obsession with burgers. We have found the best burger in Berlin and were in search of the real deal in New York. If I’m honest, I was pretty disappointed. In the two weeks we were in America, we had four burgers in total – that’s a lot, but… yeah, we were on holiday! 1) Ellen’s Stardust Diner Jason got the burger – and enjoyed it-ish. It wasn’t amazing he says, just an ordinary burger, no real meaty-taste to…
-
Ellen's Stardust Diner
Sing a song… This magical place deserves its own post. If you haven’t been here, then save this link! It’s one of the most fun and random ways to have a meal I have ever known. Ellen’s Stardust Diner is a 50s themed eatery with a difference – the waiters and waitresses will sing to you while they serve food! It was such a giggle – one minute our waiter was taking our order, the next minute he was up on the benches singing Bruno Mars to the diners. The place is loud – we met some friends inside and could barely talk to them – you have been warned!…
-
Tipping in America
To tip or not to tip… OMG, this is the biggest stress whenever I visit America. I try my hardest never to eat without a local, so they can just tell me how much to pay on top of the bill. It’s complicated. In the UK, if the service was good, you normally add around 10% if it’s not already included in the bill (I love it when it is – no thinking, just paying!). If you try to tip in Japan, the staff would probably chase you down the road to give it back to you – they hardly ever accept a tip. In Germany, each server has a…
-
The Twin Towers
Remember, Remember… There are certain events that happen and everyone remembers where they were at that moment – when the first man landed on the moon, when Princess Diana died, when the planes hit the Twin Towers in New York… I remember that day well. I was 18 years old and living in Japan for the first time. I had only been there a couple of weeks and my host-mother came to wake me up. She showed me the images on the TV – the planes hitting the towers, fire, people panicking… I didn’t understand what was going on. My host-mother spoke not a word of English and I could…