I first learned of melon pan from anime.  My friend was watching something called Yakitate Japan, which is actually a show entirely about making bread.  The show, incidentally, that is directly responsible for my learning how to bake bread.  Watching episode after episode of people orgasming over delicious bread finally prompted me to investigate the process and resulted in orgastastic orange bow-knots.  It also aggravated my brother who wanted me to spend my time making actual food instead of tasty bread treats.

One episode centered on the making of melon pan, which is fluffy soft bread encased in crunchy melon flavored cookie crust.  When I saw a stall selling melon pan at a festival I went to in the first weeks of my move to Japan, I shrieked and dragged my friends over and demanded they each buy one.  The fresh warm delicious bun lived up to the hype presented by Yakitate Japan.  I’ve never found melon pan since then that rivaled it.  Even the melon pan at bakeries doesn’t begin to compare, and the packaged stuff at the convenience store isn’t even the same substance.

There is, however, one amazing concoction that indulges my desire for it. I discovered it one day when looking for jelly for my morning toast.  It goes onto your bread pre-toasting and it turns into the melon cookie crust while toasting.  It’s a far cry from deliciousness I ate at the festival, but it pleases me non-the-less.

This is Part IV of a multi-part series chronicling my motorcycle adventure from Tokyo to Sapporo and back again.  Please note that this part is out of sequence and doesn’t talk about any riding whatsoever.  However, it is still part of my adventure and deserves to be part of this.

Background:  In 2007, I had finally gotten my Japanese driver’s license and a motorcycle.  I had been an avid motorcycle rider in Canada before I came to Japan, so after 2 years of no riding, I finally bought a motorcycle and decided to go on a big adventure.  I went from Tokyo to Sapporo by motorcycle and ferry.  It was an adventure to say the least.

Leg 4 (Furano)

The beautiful lavender

Furano is a very nice little town, located just over 2 hours from Sapporo.  This is by express train.  I was mentally exhausted from riding for the past few days, and I was not looking forward to the ride home either, so I took this time to just relax and not do any riding at all.  I purchased a round trip ticket to Furano.  Furano is known for only three things.  One of these three is a famous Japanese drama.  The theme song is played throughout Furano during the summer months.  They even have a museum dedicated to the show.  Other than that, winter is very popular.  Furano is very popular for skiing and other various winter sports.  While the town itself isn’t as big or popular as Biei, it is still a nice place to visit.  Note that Biei is next to Furano, but more popular as there are many ski hills and onsens.

This is a smaller field showing you all the beautiful colours

The main reason I wanted to go to Furano was for the lavender fields.  There are many pictures on the internet showing the vast purple fields.  Many Japanese people dream of visiting these fields, but relatively few ever go.  From June until August, if you are in Hokkaido or Sapporo, you should try your best to get to Furano.  They build their own special station just for the lavender fields.  There is only one place to really see lavender, Farm Tomita.  It’s a relatively short 7 minute walk from the summer station.  Considering it takes that long, if not longer to get parking, it’s much easier to walk from the station.  The walk itself is very nice as you are walking along many farm roads as well.

A rogue poppy in a field of lavender.

The farm itself is very straightforward.  Wear good walking shoes that can get a little dirty, and prepare for some steep hills.  It’s very busy in the summer, but if you take your time and enjoy things, you’ll be fine.  While the farm’s main flower is lavender, they have various other plants to make things beautiful.  The lavender industry in Hokkaido is not viable economically, so they tend to focus on the tourist trade.  This makes things much better as seeing nothing but lavender could be boring.  Farm Tomita is very much a tourist destination, so they have various flowers to make things more picturesque.  They also have various goods for sale.

A majestic tree in the middle of the field.

Food is one of the most important and popular things to buy when you travel.  Furano is no exception.  One of the few things you should try is lavender soft serve ice cream.  While it doesn’t sound very good, it mainly tastes of vanilla with a lavender smell.  It’s very good, and I highly recommend it.  You can also buy melon pan.  It’s a popular food in Japan.  Melon pan is a soft bun with a sugar topping.  The last food item you should try is the pudding.  Hokkaido has a lot of dairy farms.  They are the major producers of milk and other dairy products for Japan.  The pudding was nice and helped pass the time on the train ride back to Sapporo.  They do sell honey dew melons, but they are a little expensive.  If you have the money, it’s a nice treat, but I doubt it’s so special.  The last thing to buy in Furano is lavender goods.  They sell everything from soap and perfume to dried lavender.  The smell of the lavender fields and the shops are very relaxing.  I wanted to buy some potpori but I didn’t have any space to bring it back with me.  If I ever go back, I might buy more things.  Having a little lavender in your home is great if you have any stress.

My train to Furano station.

Aside from skiing and the lavender fields, there are a few other things to see and do in Furano.  They have a cheese factory and a winery.  While many people may not feel that Furano is worth the trip from Sapporo, I still highly recommend it.  Sapporo in the summertime is not that special.  While going to the town of Otaru (1 hour from Sapporo) is more popular and easier, it probably won’t provide the lasting memories that Furano will offer.  Make sure you go when it’s sunny and check Sapporo station for the latest updates on how things look.  They tend to put pictures from the day or week before so you have a good idea one what condition the fields are in.

このblogは英語のblog。もし私の英語は難しい、日本語のquestionは大丈夫。

マンツーマン英会話が1時間2000円! 格安 英会話レッスンはIHCWAYで決まり!

Took a bus home from Ipoh today. While playing with my PSP on board, I had

MELON PAN!!!

P.S. my left ear hear better than my right ear now. There’s a science behind that but I’m too lazy to explain it, yeah.

I finally got off my rear and posted the melon bread recipe I adapted from Cookpad. Check it out, if you want. And if you’re American and don’t know what to do with grams, I have a little overview of that, too.

I really wasn’t in a huge rush to post it, and I apologize for that. Mostly, I wasn’t that inspired because it wasn’t really that GOOD. It was a little bit bland, although still all right, and went bad almost the very next day. Which is fine—the recipe makes a very small number of loaves anyway—but I hadn’t really prepared to finish them off the day I made them.

Anyway, I’m all set to try a couple of other sweets off of Cookpad, like this lovely Cocoa Roll Cake!

Man, what sort of person goes after a Japanese recipe site for the sweets? I’m weird.

I haven’t been all that chipper lately, so I haven’t been doing anything productive.  No writing, no translating.  Nothing productive or awesome at all.   I’ve been playing an awful lot of games instead, but that’s hardly worth reporting.

I’ve wanted to cook lately, though. I am an avid, avid baker, and the only thing that keeps me from making stuff all the time is the fact that I can never finish a whole batch of what I make before it goes bad, and everyone at work is horrified by the amount of chocolate I gladly consume (and therefore won’t help me with finishing off batches of cookies.)  I lead a hard life, clearly.

Anyway, I have a friend in Germany who has recently been exchanging recipes with me.  I share some of my American junk, she shares her awesome German stuff.  It’s awesome and fun.  And because the rest of the world measures stuff in grams and CCs, so I finally was forced to buy a kitchen scale.

The point of this ramble is this:  The German recipes inspired me to get a scale, the scale encouraged me to dig out my old cheap Japanese desserts cookbook, and that shoddy book inspired me to go to the Japanese recipe site, CookPad.com, to find better recipes.  There I found this awesome melon pan recipe.

Now, like most people who went to Japan, I am horribly addicted to melon bread.  The fact that I have gone a year without it brings misery and emptiness to my soul.  All other forms of Japanese food can go to hell, but melon bread holds a sticky, sugary place in my heart.

Consequentially, here is the plan:  When my scale arrives in 5 business days, I shall make melon pan.  And if it turns out well and awesome, I shall post a translation of this recipe for all.

So we’ll see how it turns out~!

Intervalo gastronômico!

Lig Lig

Meu biscoito da sorte dizia: “Melhor ser muito cético do que muito crédulo”. Perfeito!

No dia que fui a liberdade, passei na única padaria do Brasil que tem o mesmo estilo das padarias que vi no Japão.
Pelo menos, única que conheço.

Comprei alguns pães típicos que aparecem em animes… será que você descobre de que animes são?
Não vale falar Yakitate Japan.

Melon-pan

Já descobriu de onde é esse?
Dica: É um melon-pan.

Resposta: Shakugan no Shana

Choco Cornet

E este?
Dica: É um choco-cornet

Resposta: Lucky Star

Kare-pan

Esse aqui achei que tinha visto em algum anime… não sei se Azumanga Daioh ou Fruits Basket. Mas como não tenho certeza, vou dizer: É um Kare-pan (ou Curry pan).
Basicamente é o mesmo Kare do Kare-Rice só que dentro de um pão.
Pra quem ainda não sabe do que eu tô falando… aí vai um trecho dos fillers de Naruto (Curry of life):

Choux Cream

Este último não é particularmente de nenhum anime… acho eu. Mas é uma delícia.
Chama-se choux cream, e é especialidade da padaria.
Os brasileiros podem imaginar como um pão de queijo bem leve e doce com recheio de creme.

Tem mais algumas coisas aqui, mas vou deixar pra outro post, pode ser? Já deve ter dado fome suficiente… o/

Gastronomic intermission!

Lig Lig

Chinese peanut chicken, Chop Suey rice and Spring Rolls on a mixed combination, 1 serving.
I think I payed about 13 USDs.

My Fortune Cookie read: “Better being too skeptic than believing too much”. Perfect!

On the day I went to Liberdade district, I visited the only japanese-style bakery in Brazil that I know of.

Bought some typical bread types that we see in animes… can you find out from which they are?
You can’t say Yakitate Japan.

Melon-pan

Where’s this one from?
Tip: It’s a melon-pan.

Answer: Shakugan no Shana

Choco Cornet

This one?
Tip: It’s a choco-cornet

Answer: Lucky Star

Kare-pan

I thought I saw this one in some anime… maybe Azumanga Daioh or Fruits Basket.
But since I’m not shure, I’ll tell: It’s a Kare-pan (or Curry pan).
Basically, it’s the same Kare from Kare-rice… only inside a piece of bread.
For those who still don’t know what I’m talking about… here’s a Naruto filler (Curry of life):

Choux Cream

This last one isn’t from any particular anime, I think. But it’s delicious.
It’s the bakery specialty.
Dunno how to explain… it’s like brazillian bread known as “pão de queijo” (cheese bread), only lighter, sweeter and filled with cream.

I have some other food pics here, but I’ll post it later… you’re probably hungry enough by now.
o/