Sapporo Snow Festival 2011

(Visited in February, 2011)

Sapporo Snow Festival (さっぽろ雪まつり) is one of Japan’s famous winter events, started in 1950. When I was a child, every year I went to Odori Park with my family and enjoyed watching beautiful, huge snow sculptures. On the way back to our home, we had dinner at Sapporo Grand Hotel. It was my family’s tradition that we have dinner at a hotel and get used to western style of table manners.

It was a first time for 15 years to see the snow festival! My friend came back from Yokohama, and we decided to enjoy our memorable festival together. It was a first time for 20 years for her.

Our first impression was, unfortunately, that most of sculptures were small. It is regret to say that quantity of snow is decreasing each year, therefore, it becomes difficult to make huge-scale sculptures. This year, a sculpture of “Sazae-san” was the biggest at Odori Park. There are other locations for the festival, but there is no others which was bigger than Sazae-san.

Food stalls were available, much more than before. I admit that food is important and popular element in Hokkaido trip. However, I saw food booths in each section. Don’t you think it is a bit too much? One section was only for the food, but it was good idea to have a food area with enough tables and chairs.

International sculptures were interesting. City of Sapporo invited sculpting teams from overseas, such as Portland (USA), which is a sister city of Sapporo, Hawaii (USA), Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, and Korea. During the festival, those teams make a small sculpture and visitors vote which one they think is the best.

Besides international sculptures, there was a small area where visitors can enjoy international food from Russia, Malaysia, India, Greece, and so on. My friend and I had a plan to have lunch soon, but I couldn’t resist. We tried Tandori Chicken from India, and Souviaki, Greek BBQ chicken.

Tandori Chicken

I love spicy food! This tandori chicken was good for making our body warm. I asked the Indian worker to put a lot of spicy sauce, but it was not enough. I ate much spicier tandori chicken at Yokohama… I missed it.

Chicken Souviaki

This chicken souviaki was very delicious. Basically it was BBQ chicken, but Yogurt sauce was really matched.

Snow Festival in 2012 will be held from 2/6 to 2/12. I should be in Sapporo during this time, so I would like to visit there again and enjoy the night view this time.

If you have a chance to visit Sapporo during this season, you should definitely check out Snow Festival!!!

Sapporo Snow Festival

http://www.snowfes.com/english/

Sapporo Autumn Fest 2009: Part 3

Let’s move to 7-chome site. This site was for sake and Japanese-style small dishes, good with drinks. Beef and seafood BBQ smelled really good!

Curved Organic Sausage (巻き巻きソーセージ)

The picture was taken after we cut it in pieces, but it was really long. I have tried Chinese, German, Italian and American sausage before, but I like Japanese sausage the most. The reason is simple, I just got used to the taste. The outside of the sausage was crispy, and it was juicy inside. I can tell that it was very fresh.

Baked Scallops (ホタテ焼き) (300 yen)

Hot and delicious! Salty enough with the ocean taste, and melted butter gave an accent. This must be great with a glass of beer.

My uncle tried some Japanese sake. The fresh spring water in Hokkaido makes great Sake (酒) and Shochu (焼酎).

Beef Steak Don (ステーキ丼) (800 yen)

At second visit, I tried Beef Steak Don, my friend recommended me to try it out. It was surprisingly reasonable price; 800 yen! I wish I could’ve gone back and try this again. I still remember the delicious taste. The steak was thick, tender and juicy, and no need to put any sauce. It was already in perfect taste. Rice was too tender, but I was satisfied with their thick steak.



8-chome site eventually became my favorite. This site was the huge, lively food market, barbequing fresh seafood and meats from all area of Hokkaido. It is a place for seafood and local dishes lovers. At my first visit, I couldn’t eat anything because I was too full, but I tried some at my second visit.

Crab Miso Soup (毛がに汁) from Esashi (枝幸町)

There was a long line in front of this booth. No wonder, they gave us free crab miso soup. Yes, it was FREE! They prepared 100 cups of soup for free. Broth was perfect, and we enjoyed it.

Takoyaki with cheese and yam (チーズと山芋のたこ焼き) from Ozora (大空町)

This item was interesting. Takoyaki (たこ焼き) is a popular food in Osaka, Japan. In addition to a piece of octopus, this owner also put creamy cheese and grated yam together. Just a simple idea made the takoyaki tender and rich flavored.

See you next year!

I wish the weather could be warmer, but we had a great time together. Many visitors seemed to enjoy this event. It made me happy to see my home town become crowded and active. We need more lively events to provoke our economy! Next year would be from September 17, 2010. Mark it on your calendar, and visit the city of Sapporo during this wonderful event!

Sapporo Autumn Fest 2009
http://www.sapporo-autumnfest.jp/

Sapporo Autumn Fest 2009: Part 2

After eating at 5-chome site, my family and I moved to 6-chome site. Soon we regretted that we should’ve waited until we checked all the food before we ate. At this moment, I was already full, but this 6-chome site has more delicious dishes. We couldn’t resist. We bought some dishes again! 6-chome site provided many international tapas and a wine/beer bar. I saw some Indian and Spanish restaurants, and some European beer and wine. My uncle tried German beer and he loved it.

“Miso Motsu" (味噌モツ煮込み) with Sapporo Beer

If you like Japanese or Korean BBQ, you know we eat guts. This was stewed guts with miso. Guts became very tender and no needed to chew. Taste perfect with the beer. Sapporo Ichiban!

“Vegetable Samosa” (500 yen)

It was a first time to eat samosa, a popular Indian snack. Unfortunately, it was already cooked and was cold. Yet, it was still tasty and I was surprised that this little thing made me full very quickly. Mashed potatoes were mixed with curry powder and some spices.

“Crème Brûlée”

It was tasty, but was too sweet for me. I only ate half.

Soba Making

We saw some Japanese noodle restaurants as well as other international food booths. There was a booth that you could actually experience how to make Soba, Japanese noodle. It was cool! Japanese noodle has long traditional history. When you experience it, you will understand the reason why Japanese appreciates the tradition.

to be continued...

Sapporo Autumn Fest 2009: Part 1

Sapporo Autumn Fest is a wonderful event that people can enjoy the richness of food production around Hokkaido, share the travel information, and celebrate the autumn harvest from all over Hokkaido. This wonderful event just started last year, but it already became one of popular events in Sapporo. There are some well-known events in Sapporo; Yosakoi Soran Festival (in June), Pacific Music Festival (PMF: in July) and Sapporo Snow Festival (in Feb.). I hope this Autumn Fest would be a big event in the fall season.

Sapporo TV Tower and and visitors

There are two things that I liked about this event. First of all, the event was held from 9/18 to 10/4; yes it’s almost two weeks! During this period, the restaurants had been changed frequently to serve different dishes, so visitors had never got bored. I only visited twice. I wish I could’ve visited more… Second thing is the location. The event was held in the Odori Park (大通公園), the symbolic sightseeing spot in Sapporo. The five sites along the Odori Park bring us to the food and cultural world of Hokkaido. This event showcases not only the delicious food but also wonderful culture and people involved in this event.




My family and I went there on Monday, Sept 21. The weather was cloudy, and it was pretty cold. We started walking from 4-chome site. This site provided some pottery and craft works. I should have taken a walk slowly, but we were so hungry and rushed to 5-chome site.




5-chome site was a huge food court. There were about ten restaurants providing Ramen noodles and local dishes. Since this event is for Hokkaido, the basic rule for the restaurants was to use all ingredients from Hokkaido. We chose two ramen noodles and two local dishes.

“Asahikawa Shoyu Ramen” from Asahikawa

Asahikawa Ramen (旭川ラーメン) is famous for soy sauce taste. This Asahikawa Shoyu Ramen (旭川醤油ラーメン) was 700 yen. The noodle was made of Hokkaido wheat, and Chashu (チャーシュー), roasted pork, was delicious! The pork was also grown in Hokkaido. It was simple, but the broth was well cooked carefully.

“Hokki Clam Miso Ramen” from Tomakomai

Hokki Clam Miso Ramen (苫小牧ホッキ貝味噌ラーメン) (700 yen) was an interesting noodle I even had. This noodle soup was pretty strong taste of Miso (fermented soybean paste) and seafood. I usually do not like seafood ramen, but this one was pretty tasty. I thought the taste of Hokki clam would be too strong, but miso taste kept the good balance between. I liked other ingredients: sprouts and seaweeds.

“Shrimp & Octopus Dumpling” from Haboro

Shrimp & Octopus Dumpling (羽幌えびタコ焼き餃子) (600 yen) was the most popular item of that day. There was a long line in front of the booth. I waited for 45 minutes only for this dumpling. You might think it is not smart. Yet, this was delicious! It was worth to wait! They used the small Sakura Ebi (桜えび: sakura shrimp) yet it had rich flavor, and Tako (たこ: octopus) was amazingly delicious! Of course, all ingredients were made of Hokkaido. You dip it into the sauce or eat it simply with shrimp flavored salt.

“Omelet Curry” from Furano

Unfortunately, Frano Omelet Curry (富良野オムカレー) (700 yen) was already eaten by other family members while I was waiting for dumpling and I couldn’t taste it… (ToT)

to be continued...