Some Hokkaido Yummies (Patreon)

Hey hey!

We're back from Hokkaido and had a delightful time. Seeing and hanging out with the kids is the best thing ever. I've got loads of photos and short little B-roll videos to sift through, but I wanted to put up something since I missed last Sunday night's post.So, food!

Although, looking at these it feels like we ate more. My mom slipped me some birthday money for Julyan and told me to use it for a special meal for all of us. As it turned out, the strong dollar against the enervated yen ended up paying for all the meals. Thank you, Mom 💕

First, thing's first. We got to Sapporo a little before noon and it was 🔥. Sapporo isn't supposed to be that hot. Even the locals were melting. Only one way to deal with that problem, find a fountain at Odori Park, snag a table, an ice cream and a beer and people watch.

Odori Park runs right through the heart of Sapporo. It's where all those awesome snow sculptures are in the winter (the Snow Festival) and the blocks-long Oktoberfest in the fall, alongside all kinds of other seasonal events.

I just learned it was originally a street that was cleared and used as a firebreak in 1871. It separated southern Sapporo from northern Sapporo and was called Shiribeshi Dori, later changed to Odori (大通り), Big Street.

I reserved a place at a local izakaya (bar) near the hotel for that evening. We don't get a lot of craft beer where we are and we usually, actually, never drink beer, so I thought it might be a treat.

The beer tasted...watered down? Can you do that with beers on tap? Richard ordered a flight of ten beers (I told him they were NOT small sized, but did he listen to me?). We ordered a couple things to eat, somehow this was the only photo I took.

Zangi is a kind of kara-age (fried chicken pieces) that I saw a lot last time but didn't try until this trip. It looks like it was 'invented' around 1955 and the word comes from Chinese (za-ji, meaning fried chicken). Or another theory is that it comes from a dish in Ehime Prefecture called senzanki, which is also a kind of fried chicken.

The difference between zangi and kara-age seems to be zangi has a richer taste. The chicken pieces are marinated in a soy sauce marinade with extra spices like garlic and ginger added. J and K have lived there for over two years and said they still aren't exactly sure what the difference between the two are. Really good though!

The potatoes (in focus) on the plate were incredible. Parboiled, seasoned, slightly smashed then thrown into the deep fryer just long enough to crisp them up.

Julyan's first birthday meal, though, was soup curry. I've heard so much about it but wasn't too keen on trying. I love Indian food and raised my eyebrows at something called soup curry. But boy was I wrong. I saw lots of soup curry restaurants with long lines and I decided to go ahead an reserve a table for us for lunch the day we met J and K.

Here's mine. I think it was something like 19 different batter-less fried vegetables with cheese on top. That stick-looking thing is gobo (burdock root), which I usually don't like, but everything was so fresh and tasty.

Zangi on the side!

Soup curry, too, isn't so very old. Looks like it started up in the early 1970s at a cafe in Sapporo and was originally given to the staff only. Then it took off. The soup isn't a watered down block of Japanese curry roux (Vermont, Java, Golden...) but a really delicious broth base with spices mixed in. And it was varying degrees of spicy, too!

Oh, here's the whole road trip crew. They'd just driven over three hours. Despite traffic they were able to make the reservation time. Wew!

Speaking of potatoes (I was talking potatoes way up there with the izakaya photo), the next day (or the day after that), we wen't to Furano which is well known for its lavender fields. There we discovered not only did they have lavender ice cream (ice cream, again!)...

AND lavender coffee (no photo, 😔, just looked like coffee anyway). Tasted just like coffee, too.

They also had a potato cut into fourths with lavender butter.

Aksim when in Hokkaido, ramen.

I think it was our last night together and we weren't so hungry. We were in Asahikawa near the station and found this beauty.

Just had a few dishes we split between us. The tempura was fantastic. On the far left is motsu (boiled innards). That's always been a no for me. I think the others ate them and said they were good.

One of our breakfasts together was at a small coffee shop called Lloyd's. They had galettes. Which I kind of knew about, but not really. French crepe-looking delicacies topped with all kinds of stuff. Soba flour is used instead of white flour for the crepe. That was interesting.

Above is Lloyd's'.

After we came home, though, I immediately dug out the small package of buckwheat flour and tried to make my own. Photo below.

Notice I tried to recreate the potatoes, too. Boiled, a little butter, spiced, slightly roughed up, then roasted in the air fryer.

Okay, I think that is all the highlights. I just realized I owe you two Bedtime Stories this month! I'm also going to try and make a little video about anything interesting I took while there. It might just be a B-roll extravaganza. I'm working on postcards and will send them out this month as well.

Oh, in crow news: I inadvertently (kind of on purpose) taught one of the baby-ish crows to tap on the bedroom sliding glass door. This morning I woke up to tap tap, tap tap. Opened the curtain to see the little guy staring in, cocking his head, smiling. Yes, I sorta gave him some bird seed to peck at and now Richard is saying that the crow has me trained. I prefer to call it a mutually beneficial relationship. Although, I try to not over do it. I know they need to learn all the tricks and trades of hunting and catching their own food. And they do a lot of that, too! Richard called me when he went to take the garbage out. He saw the Dad crow snag a big bug, rip it up and feed it to one of the babies. Well, after watching, a car drove by and they flew away. I went to see if it had been a cicada that he'd caught. Nope. A kabuto mushi (stag beetle) and a BIG one, too. Those things are precious and I've never seen a wild one around this area. They're sold in stores for a nice price. 😱

Okay, everyone stay safe and well, and cool or warm depending on where you are, XOXO,

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