In May, it's the season for wild vegetables in Hokkaido. Bamboo shoots, udo (mountain asparagus), taranome (angelica shoots), and fuki (butterbur). I used to go out to pick udo before, but lately I find it too much trouble. Even if I bring back a lot, I can only give some to others and can't eat it every day. But in spring, I still want to eat wild vegetables at least once. Maybe my body craves the bitterness. Udo - 380 yen. I like udo sprouts tempura the most. The stem part of udo is made into "kinpira" with the skin. I'm not a fan of vinegar miso, so I freeze the kinpira. While I was there, I also got "ankimo (monkfish liver) with ponzu" from the fish section. One for 300 yen. The owner of the fish store said they have it quite often. However, it's only made with good quality liver for the "with ponzu" dish. This one has plenty of liver and tastes delicious. For this price, it's definitely worth more than a typical izakaya appetizer.

During a visit to a garden lunch in September 2020, I came across a shop selling "miyoga" for only 98 yen. I thought it was a great deal, so I bought it and immediately added it to my homemade pickling bed. When I looked up reviews, I found that the renowned food critic from Otaru, Mairebi, had already given a thorough review. He highly recommended the "shime saba" (vinegared mackerel), so I decided to revisit the shop. The shime saba was priced at 398 yen. Most store-bought shime saba in Hokkaido tends to be overly vinegared and sour, but when I asked if it was homemade at the fish counter, they confirmed that it was made in-house. While it may not compare to shime saba from a sushi restaurant, it was definitely a good balance compared to store-bought options. I also noticed a dish called "tako menchi" in the deli section that caught my eye. It turns out that this shop originally started as a vegetable store and also sells fruits and juices at the Nagasaki-ya Otaru store. Whether it's vegetables, fresh fish, or deli items, this shop is a convenient place for various food items.

I have been using this place occasionally for a while. Originally it was a fruit shop, but they started focusing on fresh fish when they started operating in this location. The head of the fresh fish department, Mr. Nagaura, has a good eye for fish and goes to the Sapporo market every morning to buy good quality products. Especially popular are the peeled hair crab and marinated mackerel. The hair crab is a bit of a hassle to peel, so it's very convenient and usually costs less than ¥1000, depending on the size. The taste is not watery and it's delicious, even though it's a bit of a pity because it takes effort to peel them. The marinated mackerel is homemade and has a rich and fatty taste that melts in your mouth. I sometimes end up buying a lot and freezing it. Even the sashimi platter includes red meat tuna and sometimes medium fatty tuna for only ¥500 per pack if you go in the evening. They also sell my favorite Karafuto "Urokoboshi" salmon roe and homemade salted fish roe with a taste that I love. I don't really want to share this shop with others, but my favorite sushi chef in the Hidaka area also likes it and uses their products. They also regularly send products to restaurants in mainland Japan, and they seem to offer shipping to other regions as well. For the past few years, we have been using this place for our New Year's sashimi platter at home (laughs). Oh, and the minced cutlet at the deli "Takuyo" right inside the store has a perfect balance of bread crumbs and meat flavor, it's delicious!

At the Daimaru Nagoya, there was a big Hokkaido exhibition. It was crowded with people, especially since I visited on a Sunday. After waiting in line for almost an hour at a certain shop, I finally found the corn I had been looking for at another shop that was relatively empty. I had to buy it! It was 399 yen for one, but if you bought 3, it was 1,080 yen. It's not exactly cheap at 360 yen per ear, but I was so hungry for corn that the price didn't matter. The taste was okay, not as great as I expected, but still pretty delicious. Bon appétit!

Since I started eating sashimi here, I have been eating sashimi less at izakayas and other places. They always serve fresh and delicious sashimi. Although it's not shown in this photo, they have seasonal items as well. It was delicious. Thank you for the meal! Taken with Xperia 1 V.

Here is a favorite shop of my mother. She hasn't been frying at home much lately, so she buys from here instead. She says the frying technique here is better than at the supermarket. I agree, it's delicious! I sometimes peek inside when passing by and check it out if it's busy. It's a bit awkward to enter when no one is around. This time, we had "Aji Fry" and "Ebi Fry." My father ate the Ebi Fry before I could take a photo. The Ebi Fry had a thin coating and looked deliciously big! It was really tasty, and he was very happy! Isn't Aji Fry rare in Otaru? It's been about a year since I last had it. In Hokkaido, it's mostly Hoke Fry, right? In Tokyo, they usually fry it with the belly open, but here they fry it with three fillets. I'm not a fan of frozen Aji Fry, but this one was surprisingly good. I dipped it in soy sauce, sauce, and mustard. It paired well with Seicomart's G7 red wine! It was better than I expected, but the fish was a bit thin for my liking. Personally, I still prefer Hoke Fry. I think I like Aji better raw, like in sushi or namero. I'll definitely visit this shop again. Next time, I want to try the Ebi Fry!

I stopped by a Hokkaido food fair at a certain department store in Nagoya. It's a store I visit every time since I first went, a repeat store. It's my mother's favorite, a bean shop, and the beans here are a must-buy. Azuki beans, soybeans, white beans, black beans, and other varieties, all for about 10,000 yen, so quite a heavy load. They put them in an eco bag for me, but it was so heavy I wondered if it was okay. But it's our family's supply of beans for a year, so I guess it can't be helped. I'll be back next year.

At the end of the year, I bought some delicious homemade "shime-saba" (pickled mackerel) at the fresh fish corner of this place. I used to dislike commercially available Hokkaido shime-saba, which is heavily pickled in vinegar and sour. But after trying shime-saba at a sushi restaurant, I realized how delicious it could be. I've made my own shime-sanma (pickled saury) before, as I love oily fish, but I've never tried making shime-saba due to uncertainty about freshness. The sushi chef at my favorite restaurant assured me that it's easy to make even with frozen mackerel. Anyway, the shime-saba here is cheap and delicious. When I visited this time, I found "ankou no tomo-ae" (monkfish liver with miso) and "shio-koji" (salted squid guts). The owner recommended the ankou no tomo-ae, saying it's delicious because it's packed with liver, so I bought it. The "ika no shiokara" (salted squid guts) for 398 yen (separately) is outstanding, with just squid, liver, and salt perfectly balanced. It's as delicious as what you would get at a sushi restaurant. It's a fishmonger's product, but it includes not only squid legs but also flesh, with a rich liver and umami taste. It's definitely the best salted squid I've ever had compared to commercially available ones. The "ankou no tomo-ae" for 398 yen (separately) was also a great find. In Otaru, "Kanei" had delicious "tomo-ae," but this one also has plenty of liver. It's made by mixing monkfish meat and liver with miso and green onions, perfect for pairing with sake. This one is also exceptional. I have beer, wine, and shochu at home, but no sake. I hurried to buy some.

This is a grocery store in Otaru. I bought some small black beans called "Kurosenkishi" for the 11th Otaru Local Products and Tourism Exhibition at Fujisaki Department Store. They said it's delicious when cooked with rice, so I bought 500g. You add about a tablespoon of black beans to one cup of rice when cooking. The finished dish is more black-purple in color rather than red, since it's black beans not red beans. It's rich in anthocyanins (lol).