Hokkaido's slow thaw

2013年5月7日 (火)

Does anybody out there like to cook? I sure do. I don’t eat much meat and rarely cook with it at home, but when I do, I like to eat deer. That’s right – cute little Bambi…or rather, his parents. Ezo shika are plentiful in Hokkaido, and their meat (venison when cooked) is low in fat, flavorful and, best of all, organic. I buy it frozen from the Hug Mart in Tanuki Koji 5. It usually takes half a day to completely thaw before I can cook with it.

Hokkaido is much like this frozen deer. It’s so cold all winter, it takes much longer than southern Japan to warm up. It’s May, but there are still patches of unmelted snow on the mountains and even on north-facing streets in my neighborhood. So before we can dig into a hot Hokkaido summer (or even a warm spring…) there’s still a bit of thawing that has to happen.

It’s ok…we live in Hokkaido…we’re tough.

Happy almost spring!