Things to Bring ― 2024/12/01
Notes for my next stay.
- Nori, dried and unroasted
Unroasted nori is rare here. It is not available in supermarkets.
- Trainers
There are shops that sell good-looking shoes, but shop assistants to help me choose the right pair are not readily available.
- Laundry bags
Definitely need to get some from IKEA back in Fukuoka.
- Whisk for cream
Until I find a cake shop that meet my taste, I'd rather whisk fresh cream myself and enjoy it with store-bought sponge cake and fresh fruit.
- Soy sauce and miso
To be honest, soy sauces here taste like salty water to my taste, which is used to heavily sweetened and flavoured condiments. We will probably need 3 liters of soy sauce and 2 kilos of barley-based miso to fully enjoy the great Hokkaido food.
My Favorites(1) ― 2024/12/02
Having been in Sapporo for a few months, I began to find my favorite spots in my life. For example...
Bakery: #1 Boston Bake, #2 Coop Bakery, #3 Panetteria Yoshida
1 offers a range of well-thought-out range of breads and buns, and its many branches are all accessible to me. But its products seem so conservative and safe, and sometimes boring. 2 is also reliable. I particularly like its cheese bread. But our nearest Coop doesn't have its own bakery section. Too bad! 3 is an independent bakery located in Minami Hiragishi. I like its rye breads.
Boston Bake: ボストンベイク | 札幌の安くて美味しい手作りパン
Coop bakery: コープさっぽろ ベーカリー併設店舗一覧 | コープさっぽろ
Panetteria Yoshida:パネテリーヤ吉田 本店 - 南平岸/パン | 食べログ
Bookshop: Coach And Four, obviously
Cafe/ confectionary: N/A. Although there are many local cake shops and cafes, none of them lived up to my peculiar expectations. I can't point out specifically, but something seems to miss. Further research is needed.
As for Japanese-style sweets, I love Fukuya in Minamihiragishi and Sazae. Sazae operates its branches in Fukuoka, too, but I think there is something different in its Anko (adzuki paste in the buns). And its store is everywhere, in almost every larger supermarket and department store. I didn't know Sazae offered bento and onigiri as well as sweets.
My Favorites (2) ― 2024/12/02
(Continued from the previous post)
Supermarket/Grocery Store: Coop Sapporo, Hokkai Ichiba (northern ocean market) and Toko Store. Each has its strengths and drawbacks. Coop has the widest range of products and a good farmers' market section, but you have to be prepared for the sulky and rude staff (or "comrades"?) and a sense of chaos that pervades the store. Actually, the chaotic floor arrangement reminds me of Don Quijote's. The difference is that DQ's chaos is designed, in other words artificial, whereas Coop's doesn't seem to be intentional.
At Hokkai Ichiba, meanwhile, the staff are much more attentive and professional than at Coop. It offers a range of fresh fish at relatively affordable prices. I look forward to getting its packaged sushi on special occasions.
Toko store is the most expensive of the three, and its product range is quite limited at my nearest store, but I haven't bought anything wrong or bad at any of its stores. Everything is relatively well organized and the quality of the products is relatively good.
Department store: Marui Imai. I appreciate its attitude of not relying on Uniqlo or other mall brands. I don't like department stores that try to attract tight-fisted shoppers by introducing cheaper brands. In my opinion, department stores should be a place where you are supposed to splash out on unnecessary goods in exchange for immersing yourself in out-of-everyday atomosphere. If you are a thrifty person, you wouldn't go to department stores in the first place, would you? And no Uni or Muji means that the store is less like a duty-free shop full of tourists. In this respect, I see the department's pride and conviction in prioritising its local clients. (Though it does house a small Nitori, I should say in a low voice).
Celebrate Recovery ― 2024/12/05
To celebrate my recovery from last week's bruise, I decided to treat myself with pancakes at Rokkatei Cafe.
Ta-da!
The most delicious and most expensive (800 yen, I think it was 700 yen until very recently...) pancakes I have ever had. With my weakened digestive system, I tend to only eat half of everything when I snack out. But these pancakes were so light and fluffy and tasted so wonderful that I found myself wolfing them all down almost at once. No regret to get fatter.
The coffee was covered by the store loyalty points I had accumulated (which are relatively easy to save), but splashing out 800 yen for a snack at a neighborhood cafe feels very guilty (if this cafe was in the city center or at an airport, it wouldn't be the case) .
Meanwhile this very shop offers four different sweets for the same 800 yen. As an everyday treat, I would go for it.
But the problem is that this offer is only available one day a month and only by reservation. You also have to place your order within a certain week of the previous month and physically pick it up at the store. What a seller-centered and complicated system! But still attractive, I have to admit. The girls who served me told me that the February version featuring chocolate was her favorite.
WInter Protection ― 2024/12/05
From November, shrubs were covered against snow. The locals call this work is called ”冬囲い(winter cover)”.
Most of the shorter trees planted in front of buildings are covered with blue netting and other materials or have their branches tied tightly.
Or they are supported so that the snow doesn't come into direct contact with them.
Sometimes they look like bags of rubbish. I'm sorry to say...
Fully covered version. This view reminded me of the film The Elephant Man.
I wonder why they planted trees in the first place if the plants need to be covered for a quite a long period of time, probably until April when the snow completely disappears. I don't think this tradition is good for either the plants to be covered or for the owners of the plants who have to bear a certain financial burden every single winter to cover their trees.
However, covering water taps in parks makes perfect sense to me.
Lesson Learnt ― 2024/12/06
It's been almost 10 days since I slipped on an icy road and injured my hip, so today I thought it would be all right to walk a bit. But I was wrong. After about 5000 steps my hip started to move awkwardly and by the time I got to my destination, my local Coop, I started to feel a pain in my thigh. I did my shopping in a hurry, did it wrong and barely made it home on the bus. To make matters worse, the long-waited bus was packed with people in down jackets so I could hardly hold anything to support myself. When I got home, I was almost in tears.
I didn't know a bruise could be so painful until now.
And I have learnt one thing from this experience:
Action films are all very very fictional, if not outright lies!
Why can they fight so well immediately after rolling down a steep cliff or getting punched or kicked so badly? Whereas my hips screamed in pain when I attempted to run across a crossroad.
Is this the same thing that happened in a TV series I watched, but gave up because it was incredibly opportunistic, in which a Japanese teenager 100 years ago translated a thick novel overnight with a single dictionary?
While watching Star Trek and reading some sci-fi novels during my voluntary sick leave, I remembered the feeling of "No way! It's just impossible!" for the first time since then.
Christmas 2024 ― 2024/12/06
Christmas celebration is much more down to earth here. This is the only Christmas lighting I have found so far. Although there should be more in the city centre .....
Seriously Winter ― 2024/12/07
It has been and is expected to be snowing for months.
I feel I came to realize what winter means for the first time.
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