2012-01-31

Au bon pan in Bibai City, Sorachi !

by Kazu
 "Dosanko Plaza" in the building of Sapporo JR(Japan Railway) Station is selling the delicious breads made in Bibai City, Sorachi sub-prefectural area, Hokkaido.  Dosanko means "born in Hokkaido ". The taste of the breads made by "Bakery Sugiura" in Bibai City live up to the reputation because the breads are delivered from Bibai City everyday. The staff of the bakery shows esprit de corps and hospitality eveytime I visit its small shop in Bibai City.
  The bakery is near the apartment run by the municipality but for visitors from other area it is a little bit difficult to find its small building. A small flag with charactors of "すぎうら" is at the corner of the nearest intersection in the residential area of Bibai City. 

In the heavy snow, it may be impossible to find this house of breads. That is why the bakery should deliver the breads to Sapporo JR Station.
This year, their new shop will be opened at the roadside of Route 12 in Bibai City.
In the bakery, muffins, rusks, chiffon cake always attract my wife.
Whole wheat bread is my favorite.
 Melon pan is incrediblly popular particularly to females and kids in Japan.


Chocolate chiffon  cake, tea taste chiffon cake and strawberry marble chiffon cake is the original menu in this bakery.
 Every customer is handed the bread with heartfelt smile of the staff.
The Cashier is directly connected to the baking area.
This smile is the symbol of this bakery that gives the customer confidence and power to fight. This lady hid her eyebrow before taking this photo because she had not draw her eyebrow with her eyebrow pencil yet today.

This lady is so kind that every customer comes to this bakery everyday in Bibai City.

2012-01-30

Beautifu Day in Bibai, Sorachi!

by Kazu
After the days of heavy snow, the sunshine has come back and Mt.Pinneshiri shows its beautiful skyline.  Driving on the route 12 in Hokkaido, its fertility can be seen on the rice and veggie field as well as orchards and vineyards in summer and autumn. Even in winter, various kinds of scene can be seen from the route 12 between Sapporo and Asahikawa.
Mt. Pinneshiri is not so high but it is on the northside of fertile land along the Ishikari river and brings bumper crops almost every year.
 Heading to Asahikawa from Sapporo, in Bibai City Area you can find this sign on your lefthand side.
"Zangi" is the name of fried chicken in Hokkaido and almost all males in Japan love the taste and calory so much. The chickens are soaked in the special sauce made of soy sauce and spices before being fried.   
 It is the first time for me to have this type of fried chicken. Something is different fom other restaurant.
The fried chicken lunch is 880 Japanese yen.

 Can you find the differnce ?
 It is stuffed with chopped chicken and something.
Beef tongue steak and Chinese fried chicken with thicken sauce with flour are also attractive.
Fried chicken set with rice ball is 600 Japanese yen.
The restaurant does not separate smoking area and non-smoking.
If you do not like smoke, please avoid lunch time because a lot of truckers are smoking at the time.
I am not sure "the difference ". If you find "the point" please post your comment.

After binge drinking in Iwamizawa!

by Kazu
The Japanese Chinese dumpling bar is in the down town of Iwamizawa City. The name is "GYOZA-YA". It is the counter bar that provides mainly dumpling "chao-zu" and drink.
A charming lady is handling all by herself in the hole-in-the-wall.    
 The counter bar is in the hidden place in the downtown. It may be difficult to find this sign even in near place. If you would like to visit, please post your comments.
Usually, I prefer crispy fried chao-zu but this dumpling is warm up your heart. The soup is thicken with flour and flavoured with Chinese black vinegar and soy sauce.  
I really appreciate this kind of information on the crispy and tasteful GYOZA. Thanks, Mr. Sato in Bibai City. Very famous GYOZA chain "MIYOSHINO" is fine but in Iwamizawa this dumpling bar should be checked up. When I visited with my wife , the bar ran out of Japanese "Kakuni"
boiled pork flavoured with sugar, soy sauce and spices in its special recipe that contains ample collagen.
The bar is so small that it should not be swamped by a herd of people;)
Have a great generous week! 

2012-01-27

Hokkaido Food Cluster Festival will be held in Sapporo!

by Kazu
Hokkaido Food Cluster Festival will be held in Sapporo Grand Hotel on February 14(Tue.)!
Preparing for the event, each sub-prefectural office of Hokkaido Government has begun to select the food to exhibit in the festival.
In Sorachi sub-prefectural area, 13 kinds of food are on the short list to beselect.
Lefthand side is biscuit (cracker in the U.S.A?) made of rice powder with sesame. I prefer more salty taste but for ordinary people it is so nice, I think.  
 Righthand side is the biscuit made from whole rice(brown rice, unpolished rice) with sesame in TENKEI Farm, Naganuma Town..
Lefthand side is the biscuit made from polishe rice whti sesame.  For the people who have an alergy against wheat, it is safe and healthy enough.
Righthand side is the doughnuts in tetra-package made from rice powder without  any additives and being fried. Of course, it is safe and healthy enough for the people who have an alergy against wheat and atopic dermatitis. It is 290 Japanese yen per package. More competitive price is required.
This sauce is made from the bowel of chickens raised in Mikasa City, Sorachi subprefectural area, Hokkaido. It is called "KEISHO" (鶏醤) and its taste is like soy sauce with fish or kelp soup. As an additive , it can be used in a variety of way.
 I described on this food before as a menu in the restaurant JURAKU, Bibai City. Yes, it is flavoured with garlic and tomato but it still smells of intestine. It needs more improvement, I think
 These are bottles of spicy femmented soy-beans paste The right bottle contains minced leek and the left includes special spicy paste made of  Miso paste and chlle. I enjoyed it with veggie sticks and want to put it on the rice cakes grilled in the oven like "GOHEIMOCHI" in Nagano prefecture drinking beer or Japanese sake.
                                                           
 These are the jam and jello of Aronia (Chokeberry in English) and good for our eyes.Excellent marketing should be arranged for the product. The taste is a little bit weak
 These are the bread made from YOMOGI herb that is popular in Japan and used for moxibustion and black soy beans (left), and pumpkin and sweet potato(right). Each of them is 150 Japanese yen and called marble bread.
 The pumpkin and sweet potato marble is like chiffon cake and tastes sweet appropriately.
 Hokkaido Government is in good cooperation with Seiko Mart Convenience Store Company head quarterd in Sapporo and AEON Group, so it should be sold in their market, I think. But marchandising would be tough for the company Mon Paris Ltd. in Iwamizawa City,Sorachi sub-prefectural area.
   Sorachi sub-prefectural office of Hokkaido Government and private entity will give them a good suggestion for their success.
 YOMOGI and black soy beans marble has more sophisticated taste. Beans are a little bit salty like the rice cake with black beans which is very popular for Japanese people. I prefer this to the pumpkin and sweet potato marble.
Do you think 150 Japanese yen per 1 piece is too expensive ?
 The rice cakes well-flavoured with salmon chips and kelp chips may be the best in the short list for this selection.  The price has not been decided yet.
If anybody could give me good suggestion on the price, I really appreciate it enough.
Lefthand side is the rice cake flavoured with kelp chips. Without any additional flavouring, it can satisfy you all.  Yoshida Foods in Sunagawa City developed this rice cake.
 This is the rice cake flavoured with salmon chips.I would like to have it with Japanese sake or Chabris with friends.
The manufacturer developed this rice cake originally for fire pot. But I grill it with miso (fermrnted soy beans paste) like the way my grand mother loved.
Vichyssoise is one of  my favorite soup in the world. The left is made from potato produced in Numata Town, Sorachi sub-prefectural area, Hokkaido. The center is made from pumpkin and the right is made from corn. Those are in the process of improvement. The company is run by the town and private entities.
Newman's Own and Campbell Soup should be  the competition of this products in my mind.
 Rice crackers are popular all over Japan. To increase the consumption of rice and rice powder, rice bread and rice crackers are on again. Daikokuya Company in Moseushi Town is struggling to promote its products made from rice , but a dollar cracker(per 1 piece) can be reasonable for folks?
 Sweet potato cheeze can be a big hit but I think it needs pie crust to eat with . I love rare cheeze cake so much that I think the paste should be in pie roll or tart.
So far the price has not been decided and more research and test are required. What is the best way to sell the product?
 This hamburger is mainly made of tofu, soy beans curd and a little bit beef and pork fat. For the people on diet, it is the best to take without being annoyed by hunger. Demi-glace sauce  is so nice to have with it that you may  forget that you have to regulate the amount of intake.  
It is basically hand-made by one chef in Sunflower Park Hotel, Hokuryu Town but for the larger scale sale, they have to employ more staff or purchase the manufacturing machine.
Below is Aronia (Chokeberry in English) jelly mentioned above. I can not realize the charateristic taste.
   The road to success is not flat.






















2012-01-26

Local contents in Shintotsukawa Town .

by Kazu
In Kujirakan at the roadside of Route 275 in Sintotsukawa Town, a souvenir shop is run by the consortium of the municipality and private sector.
The Japanese sake  brewery KINTEKI is in the town, so the bottles of Japanese sake are sold in this building , too.
 The fermented rice was extracted the alcohol and some of the rest is used for almost-non-alcohol sweet sake for mainly kids and females. Ohter portion is fried and sold as a snack.
A pottery is in the the town and produce good cup and pitcer to drink Japanese sake hot or cold.
 KINTEKI is brewing up comparatively dry taste
sake. It hits good balance with particularly seafood.
Those are fried rice cake flavoured with Teriyaki-sauce, sea scallop with butter and soy sauce, crab meat with mayonnaise. I prefer beer to Japanese sake but those snack are the good friends of sake brewed by KINTEKI.
 In Sorachi sub-prefectural area, Yubari Melon is the top brand but in Shintotsukawa the farmers produce melon as well as its high-quality rice.
These are melon jello and cakes.


 In direct translation, the name of buckwheat cracker is "stand by me" or "beside me".
Japanese Chinese noodle soup package of miso(fermented soy-beans paste) and salt flavour produced in this town are also sold in Kujira-kan.
 I am not sure how should I eat this buckwheat grain flakes. With milk ?

Have you tried, Mr.Baasch ?
I can not understand enough why Japanese people are so crazy for buckwheat flour and buckwheat noodle soup. Many of them love to make the noodle and noodle soup from the scratch.
 Dried buckwheat noodle is better for me to enjoy its taste quickly and easily.

As I mentioned before, the afounders of Shintotsukawa Town came from Totsukawa Village in Nara prefecture that were hit by heavy rain and flood last year and many years ago. After the landslide in the village many years ago, many of the people left the village, came to Hokkaido and founded Shin-Totsukawa Town in Sorachi sub-prefectural area. So the people in Shintotsukawa Town call the village "Mother Village" and dispatched the clerks of the town to the village in order to help the people of Mother Village recover from the flood last year for weeks. They also donated for the same gene.