With thanks to our wonderful hosts, Keisuke and Olga.(shiraoi.k.hayashi@gmail.com)
A wonderful day out: fresh eggs from a vending machine; Shitake mushrooms from the farm; fish from the sea …
I don’t know why I hadn’t bothered to look out of the window before I left the hotel, let alone check the weather forecast. Since I arrived in Sapporo it had warmed up and for some reason I assumed that things would continue in the same vein. So I was surprised to step into the street and straight into a blizzard. The pavements that had begun to clear of snow were now white again.
I battled my way to the station, which should have taken no more than ten minutes but took twice as long as the going was traitorous with new snow hiding old ice.
I met up with my travelling companions at the station. They were a very nice couple from Taiwan, travelling with her mother. Daniel was born in Poland, raised in Canada and is now settled in Taiwan. The mother, who only spoke a little English, turned out to be exactly my age. We managed with the usual sign language, smiles,and Theresa and Daniel’s excellent English to bridge the gap.
I wonder if I would have booked if I had realised that the cooking class was not in Sapporo, but in a town some 90 kms away? However, we were comfortably seated, whizzing across country and enjoying the snowy scenes from the comfort of our seats. We alighted in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere but there to meet us was our smiling host Keisuke, and we were quickly ushered into his warm car.
From the minute Keisuke met us we were taken care of like visiting royalty. He took us to so many places of interest before we even got to his and Olga’s welcoming home for the cookery class, that that alone would have been a worthwhile experience. We were gathering ingredients from local sources and we travelled miles and miles through the countryside, a great adventure in itself.
Apparently there is quite a bit of wild life in this area, including grizzly bears that come down from the mountains to forage round the areas of human habitation. I wasn’t sure if I hoped to see one, or not. (I didn’t.)
Our first port of call was to buy fresh eggs. Japan has the most incredible range of goods on offer from vending machines, which are everywhere. Hot soup, toiletries, toys, complete meals, you name it, they probably have a machine for it.
The “Mother’s egg” company also had a beautiful shop alongside that stocked egg based products.
From there we went on to a fascinating grocery store where the freshest fish and vegetables awaited us, and where Keisuke chose a splendid looking salmon trout, fresh from the Pacific Ocean, which is where the town is situated.
After that we drove for miles on winding country roads with Keisuke seemingly unfazed by the snow-covered road and the constant sound of crunching as the frozen snow clunked against the underside of his car.
I really thought we weren’t going to make it up the steep incline which led us to a Mushroom farm where, in spite of the blizzard that was now blowing the owner came specially to give us a tour, and of course Keisuke picked up some wonderful looking Shitake mushrooms.
We travelled on through the snowy landscape with Keisuke giving us fascinating facts and figures about this rural area. He and his wife are both employed by the local council as innovators and ambassadors for the region, which as yet has not been discovered by tourists but which has so much to offer.
It was getting dark by this time, the wind was howling and it was time to get cooking. As we drove, I spotted some wild deer along the way.
Arriving at the house we were greeted by Olga, Keisuke’s warm and friendly wife. She turned out to be as delightful as her husband. What can I say? I expected to make a dish or two … we made a feast. So many different dishes, all fun to prepare, all explained in detail, and of course all delicious!
Keisuke really knew what he was doing. In all the years when I would have said I had made most things, I had never filleted a fish! Now I have – well about a third of a fish. Daniel skillfully did one side and I did part of the other side. With the razor sharp knife we were using and my arthritic fingers, I could see myself losing a finger. I lost my nerve and handed back to Keisuke to make the final cut.
The class was supposed to be three hours but it stretched into way more. Afterwards Keisuke drove what seemed like forever to take us to a station nearer to Sapporo which would be better for us than the one we had arrived at. Knowing he would have to drive all the way back, we felt bad but he made light of it. He even insisted on parking and coming in with us to be sure we caught the train. As luck would have it we should have just missed it, but there was a ten minute delay and so we caught it by the skin of our teeth.
None the less, I didn’t get back to the apartment until 11:30. The day had flown by and was a truly terrific experience.
AloJapan.com