Remembering Japan (Part 1)
Its been a little over a year ago when the hubby and I visited Hokkaido, Japan. Sapporo and the other towns we visited were blanketed in fresh snow. Only a few days ago there was this heartbreaking earthquake/tsunami at Sendai (north east of Japan?). Its more of a mountain/agricultural area..and the damage is devastating. We didn't go there but the news of it certainly made me sad. I can't bear to watch anymore of the news on television....
Anyhow, lets go back to the happier side of this post. Now where was I? Oh ya...there was a lot a lot a lot of snow when were there in January. It was actually new years when we were there.
We experienced all forms of snow:
1) Light, soft and fluffy snow...gently falling on your face.
2) Heavy, piercing..OMG get me outta here snow
We went skiing...and I must say its the best snow! Soft powdery snow... We skied on snow that were fresh...and no one has skied before us. Falling over (which did not happen too frequently :P) was comfortable :P because it was like falling on fluffy cushions. The scenery was very picturesque. Too bad the ski trip was a little too short. We were on a tour from HK and no one wanted to ski except us. So we had only the morning to ski, and by noon....we had to do compulsory 'shopping'/'sight-seeing' stuff.
Me and my snow angel. Bringme back to the snow!
We went to some mini bear zoo. This is the part I do not agree...they kept bears and raccoons in some enclosed area out in the open in the middle of winter. Tourists like us will then buy apples or whatever to feed them. I thought bears we supposed to be hibernating in winter? These poor animals were doing tricks to make us feed them. I have to say I fell in love with a few..ehhee... because he/she was too cute. Check out the photos below. Which one is the cutest?
Of course we ate and ate. How can one go to Japan and not stuff their face with their cuisine? Boy did we eat. Seafood is abundant in Hokkaido. There must be some form of growth hormone in the sea of Hokkaido. The size of the prawns, crabs, scallops, abalone are like XXL compared to the ones we find back in Australia, Malaysia and HK.
One thing I didn't enjoy was the way it was cooked (or lack of..). We were adviced to eat them all raw...... I can eat raw stuff but not everything...every meal. Not in the middle of winter when it is 1 degree outside. Sometimes there is a shabu-shabu style meal but still...where is my stir-fry crab with XO sauce served on a bed of noodles? I have Chinese blood flowing in me....so I love my stir-fry :P Yeah too much raw stuff on this trip. I gave up on raw stuff one lunch and ordered a Tonkatsu Bento. MmmMMm crispy deep fried pork.
We did eat some non-raw stuff too.. We had some ramen.
My ramen chef cooking away...and my lovely buttery Hokkaido ramen..mmMMmm.
Dinner is complete with Sapporo beer on tap ^^
Of course the Japanese McDonald. Joe's mum told us we had to eat their prawn burger. Hmm nothing special..... Maybe it had to do with us trying to gobble it down quickly while we were there because our eyes and noses were burningfrom the cigarette smoke. Smoking is allowed indoors in Japan.All these ladies were puffing away in McD. EWWwww......
I didn't get to do any clothes shopping in Hokkaido :( The one thing I did get though was a Blue Label Burberry scarf. Since Blue Label is exclusive to Japan, I had to get one :) The tour didn't allow us much time to do retail shopping.
Oh yea, I did buy another thing...I bought a Le Creuset Round 24cm (Wasabi Colour). The tour guide was SHOCKED that we were going to lug a pot home. He said he's never ever seen someone buy that :) What can I say? I'm special. Also, the Wasabi range is only available in Japan. Good purchase! (oh it was on sale too). I love cooking with it........ So pretty :)