Food!


This was our first dinner in Hokkaido. Unfortunately I was half way through my dinner when I realised I took the picture without removing the white cover from the centre bowl; it was sashimi underneath. (^_^!)


Me (left) with my colleague in Japanese yukata.



Vending machines are a common sight in Japan. These are just selling drinks, but I had seen others selling films and disposable cameras; undergarments; cigarettes etc on my previous trip to Japan. I bet anything they can stack into a vending machine the Japanese will just do it. The other is a picture of one of the wine racks at the wine refinery. They've got tonnes of wine there, but unfortunately I can't read much Japanese so I've no idea what was special about each type of wine. By the way, did I mention there was free flow wine at the factory? :D



If you think it is expensive to eat seafood in Singapore, just take a look at the prices of the crabs in Japan. Every single one cost more than S$30. I think the bottom right picture shows the tareba crab; prices starts from S$70+ onwards. (^_^!) As part of the tour package we get to eat half a hairy crab for one of our lunches, and I must say the meat tastes really sweet and fresh. The bottom left picture shows one of the stores in the wet market selling preserved meat. Kind of remind me of the wet markets in Singapore, but less stinko due to lower temperature and humidity.


Most days lunches look like this. There will be a hot pot with a bowl of rice. Hot pot usually has salmon, mushrooms, and probably a fresh scallop. In case you're wondering what are the 3 small plates in the centre, the dark colored blob on the left is marinated vegetable, the reddish blob is fish roe, and yellow-brownish blob is seasoned squid (raw). Basically, every meal there's something to be eaten raw except breakfast. :D


The right shows the picture of the boss and his wife busy cooking ramen for 10+ of us. Unfortunately I didn't get a close up shot at the boss. He was perspiring like mad. The other picture shows the shop front. Friends who know me know I don't like ramen, cos my memory of the first time I ate ramen tells me ramen tastes bad. After this store's ramen, I became a ramen convert. It was just plain old miso ramen, but every bite makes you want more. The soup is rich but does not leave you thirsty. In the end I gobbled up my ramen in record time, threw the spoon away and drink the soup straight from the bowl. :D


This was taken at the chocolate factory. You really got to give it to the Japanese when it comes to going down to the fine details. This piano was made from icing sugar, and it may look big when you click to look at the full size of this pic, but it was actually slightly smaller than palm size.

Okay, that's enough for food. Next post will be on random pictures of sights of Hokkaido. Will probably revisit flowers of Hokkaido in the next post as well.