Another restaurant down.

Have to admit this one is a little out of Hirafu though, over Niseko/Higashiyama way.

This time, it was the Saison club courtesy of work.
I had been to this place before but only to the cafe (earlier entry) where they do really nice cakes.
This time was a dinner set with the work crew for a free dinner.
We were treated to an ishikari nabe (hotpot), shabu shabu and sukiyaki - all three are traditional Japanese foods.

Nabe - is a winter staple and is basically a hotpot of vegetables, meats and seafood. Basically you throw anything you want into a broth. At the end, you can add rice or noodles to soak up the last of the broth.

Shabu Shabu - this is a dish which I don’t normally like to eat. The concept is a little weird to me but nonetheless it was tasty. Basically you grab some raw meat at the end of your chopsticks and you swish it around in boiling water for a few seconds. The high temperature of the water cooks the meat within seconds. You then dip the cooked meat into a sauce of your choice such as a sesame tare, or a ponzu (citrus soy-like sauce). As you swish the meat around, you have to say ’shabu shabu’ otherwise it won’t taste as good.
For some reason, I think this kind of food cooking technique is kinda unhygienic. Everyone swishing raw bits of meat into boiling water. And then after you’ve done that - you throw in a whole bunch of vegies to boil up. Tasty but weird. It’s not something I want to eat a lot of.

Sukiyaki - is a dish which I have never actually eaten before, and my favourite of the evening. Basically it’s like a stir fried meat in a really nice tare/marinade sauce, and then you add vegies, which you dip in raw egg. Tastes awesome, way better than what it sounds. At the end, you add noodles.

yum yum. Another restaurant off the list.

Nice, cosy venue too. A great party room with karaoke facilities and they offer a free pick-up service.

A ridiculous amount of eating (and drinking) has been going and I haven’t had time to catch up on all the blogging.

I’ve also learnt a new word to accompany all this eating.
常連客　= regular customer/patron/frequenter of a place.
It has become my local study cafe. They do great teas in pots with hot water refills, and a hot breakfast to order.

I have become quite the Sekka じょうれんきゃく.

Last month they put on a Sunday roast and what a feast it was.
For Y2000, there was an assortment of breads with dukkar and olive oil, fresh Hokkaido salad produce, chick peas, potatoes, peas, roasted vegie sides, and of course, a roast pork.

All that savoury goodness, was topped off with a homemade caramel, orange, brittle ice-cream.

Last Friday night, we went into K-town for dinner and drinks with the usual work crew.
It was back to Nami chan’s again. My first time there was just a couple of weeks ago, but the food was so good, we went back again.
Traditional izakaya, but absolutely everything on the menu is great. We ordered kara age, ramen salad, roast beef, yakitori, sashimi, nasi goreng, and hokke. Hokke is a real popular Hokkaido fish which has become a weekly staple now.

This place also has the most hilarious English menu translation ever. Check out these gems!!!!

I’ve been eating way too much lately - izakayas, dinner parties, and the like.

Monday night had a dinner party with work mates, personally cooked by a professional, young local Chef, Montoya, which by the way is a really cool Japanese name.
He served up a pasta dish with clams and capers, garden salad, chicken salad, pork and potatoes. All washed down with a few glasses of red and white.

Good times, good times.

みね
mountain peak

峰

A couple of weekends ago, I hiked Mount Youtei - the local majestic mountain which towers over the local surrounds. It’s nickname is Ezo Fuji.
It is 1898 metres high, and it took 8 hours return to hike to the summit and back.

We set off hiking at 7am and got back at 3pm, for a well-deserved onsen afterwards.

It was probably the second hardest mountain I’ve hiked after Mount Fuji. Third on the list was Mount Bandai.

We took the steepest of the trail choices and paid for it for the next 5 days. My legs were still sore 5 days afterwards. I don’t think I was in this much pain after climbing Fuji.

It was a nice day for a hike but was incredibly windy at the peak. As soon as we reached the summit, we took the obligatory photo and headed straight back down.

Enjoy the pics.

Here are some photos that I took last month of sunflowers.