I have to apologize if you’ve waited this long for another post/update. Somehow I have the creeping feeling that this might happen more than once. That is me missing a post due to a busy work lifestyle. But hey, who isn’t busy, right?
And again, I tumble back to the internet situation. That is something that is crawling along at a very slow pace.
Nearly two months here abroad and still the unctuous machine that is setting my internet up is creaking, working slowly. Too slow.
But excuses aside !
I have been collecting morsels of ideas, things that I want to share with you. So, if you like salad and all the random bits of things that are found in salad, so you may enjoy the random bits of this post.
First and most importantly, I made it to the beginnings of the Sapporo Ramen Festival 2011. Now the large park that the central hub of Sapporo plays host to is big. I mean this park spans city blocks and just lolls along in one straight, well-defined meandering plot. This straight long line of a park was full of autumn vendors selling lacquerware, snacks and coffees, foodstuffs and beers, wines, juices galore !
There was also a smattering of people left, right, up and down enjoying all of it. Let’s just say that if you like meandering, looking lost, and shopping for nice quality aesthetics and tasty things, this would have been your scene. And it still could be if you come to Sapporo before October second !
Now the ramen was disappointing in slight. I have been slurping steamy streams of noodles for just a handfull of years but I have a few observations about the makings of this festival. The ramen festival vendors, I think, put in a lot of energy to make up authentic samplings of their region’s ramen. They sell this ramen to people with pre-purchased tickets.
I think if you have a craving for ramen, or an insatiable hunger this might not be the space for you.
I did however, try a tasty bowl of salt-based (SH-ee-yoh) ramen. So good. So good. You stand eating this lump of steaming soup at upright stands with other people dressed to look good for the weekend while beading sweat on their foreheads from slurping down hot noodles a little too fast. Hot noodles, cold weekend. What can I say? It’s getting cold here.
I did eat some more ramen from the vendors a few blocks down. The block of the park where they were selling everything from glistening skewered meats on the stick, to grilled sea urchin in-the-shell. Yes. I ate that, too. So good !
In case you are wondering, most if not all of my food experiences in this culturally quaint and food-saintly country have been smashing.
Carrying on with foodstuffs then, I also made it out to another part of Hokkaido nearby the main city to visit a friend. A few friends in fact. On the evening that we were preparing to make takoyaki -that is fried and batter-coated octopus balls to you- we made our most important stop at the local market. Well, let me tell you that I wasn’t helping my friends shop for very long before I was distracted and lulling around the store gazing at everything.
If you know me then you know that I like to -don’t laugh- look inside people’s fridges. Once I figure out why I can let you know. It might have something to do with the love of food and the accessibility of what you find in the well-stocked or non-stocked fridge. This supermarket was like a big fridge of a good friend. And I got lost in it.
One of the things that I found in this amazing space was the fresh and frozen fishes and seafoods. Along with the simply radiant and glistening fresh fish on ice that you serve up and bag yourself was a sample tray.
Now what I am about to share with you might make North American grocers a little loopy. There was fresh cubed and marinated tuna under a bowlish cover for self-serve sampling. I stood there for not too long catching my breath and counting my amazement before I took a tooth pick (yes, they have tooth picks here in Japan, too) and pierced for myself a juicy sample of tuna and chomped it down while walking in the cracker and tea aisle.
It wasn’t long until my friends found me gazing at the stacks and chomping on seafood that they pulled me along and we went to pay for our fare at the counter.
Note to self. Eat more fresh seafood in the store. Bacteria not included.
By the way, if you fear for my health, don’t. I have been to just a few countries where dining from street vendors while elephants are walking the dusky city streets beside you as you sit and eat from plastic chairs is the norm. I have survived those experiences along with schucking fresh oysters with fisherman at a schoolside wharf in southern Thailand. And hey, I’m still here. I’m not free and cured of everything but some of the best experiences are the ones you don’t read about in the travel books. Just a thought.
Now before I ramble on forever -and not out of guilt for not having posted for a few days- I will close in saying that last minute plans to travel out of town this last weekend paid off big. The big payment included dark, rich and piping hot coffee, a car ride into the biggest city in Hokkaido, sleeping on a friend’s floor with newly made friends (who are nice people and are all teachers here in the local school system), and taking a shower in a bathroom that is far nicer than mine.
I discovered this weekend that I really do live in the countryside. That is no real city-like resemblance of anything one could call a metropolis where I live.
My friend’s place is like a castle compared to my humble home. But I love my humble home and you, too, are more than welcome to visit my cozy space anytime.
As for this post’s photo I have done some pondering over which I will publish, but if you will allow me this as well the photo is of ramen that I had just before catching the last bus back up to, well, the oceanside town I now call home. The ramen shop was a store bursting with other ramen stores surrounding it -Sapporo’s own ramen museum found on the top floors of the lux department store turned train station. We’re talking about twelve floors here. And yes, the restaurants are located above the arcade and game center floor that houses an official Pokemon Center and goods shop.
You just gotta love it.
Thank you for hanging in there and I hope that you are enjoying, in your own and fantastically special way, the comings of Autumn. Because if you haven’t noticed.. baby, it’s cold outside.
p.s. this ramen is miso ramen. Miso ramen is who and what I love. This miso ramen is served with a lump of Hokkaido’s freshest butter. Beside the ramen is a bowl of hott-ish rice topped with lumps of char sui (you need to look that one up unless you’ve watched Anthony Bouradin’s Hokkaido travel special show; or unless you cook a lot)and mayonnaise. We love mayo here. And I love it here.
The Traveller's Typewriter 