At 3 pm tabi-tabi staff and guests piled into the van ready to experience a little culture. First stop was Oyaki Mura in Ogawa. Oyaki is a veggie filled bun popular in Nagano prefecture, and mura means village. According to the oyaki maker (man in blue), in the old days people who lived in the mountains made these everyday. Due to a shortage of flat land, rice paddies were limited, therefore rice in short supply. The mountain people of Nagano grew wheat for flour, that could be made into dough and shaped and stuffed into oyaki. On this day we got to do the shaping and stuffing ourselves. We all made 2 varieties of oyaki. First, the standard nozawana which is a green leafy vegetable that tastes a little like spinach but is actually from the turnip family. Then, the unohana variety, which is a dry roasted tofu pulp mixed with veggies. We shaped and stuffed, and the the obasan (auntie) helped us close up our little pockets of veggies before the ojisan (uncle) cooked them up for us on the irori (open fire). After we had our fill of handmade (and very tasty!) oyaki, we climbed back into the van and headed off to Nagano city for the Tomyo Festival..... (see part two for the rest of our little adventure).

山=mountain and 菜= vegetable together you have "mountain vegetables" or "sansai" in Japanese. Spring in Nagano means there are mountain vegetables everywhere and wild vegies are not only fun to pick but these forest treats are also very healthy. I picked "chanmerro" from the tabi-tabi grounds then washed these flower-like delicacies, covered them in flour and batter, and deep-fried them into "sansai tempura".

What you need:

canola oil for frying

sansai like fiddleheads and chanmerro

1 cup of flour

1/3 cup of water

1/4 tsp of salt

1 egg

Prepare the tempura batter by mixing the water, flour, and egg. All the ingredients should be chilled, and keep some ice-cubes in the batter when you are cooking to keep the batter cold.

Heat oil in a deep pot. You can test the oil by dropping in a bit of the batter. The batter should bubble and stay on top.

Cover the sansai in flour before dipping them in the tempura batter (water, flour, and egg). Gently drop the sansai in the oil and cook until it starts to brown (2-3 minutes). Take the sansai out and let drain on a paper towel. Salt generously and serve. 

After surfing pow on my new Yuki-ita, we were itching to see some waves so off to the ocean we went:

It felt great to stretch our eyes out to the horizon:

When in Japan, especially when you are near the ocean, do as the Japanese do, and feast on some seafood!Nihon-kai (The Japanese sea) is said to bear some of the best delicacies,because of its frigid temperatures fish are fattier, and therefore even tastier. This is a great fish market along the west coast of Japan:

With so much choice we had a lot of trouble choosing:

Eventually we went with this HUGE buri (yellowtail) for only 1500 yen:

and the friendly fish butcher cleaned it up for us at no charge:

 when we got home Yasu made Buri Shabu Shabu:

Itadakimasu!

Woke up at 5 and 8 of us were on the road by 6.

We drove for 2 hours through the Japanese countryside:

 and snowy mountain roads:

then found powder paradise:

Needless to say, we were pretty excited:

We showed our appreciation and worshipped the Goddess of snow by spreading her offerings around ... until we couldn't take anymore and partook in the ritual of bathing in thermal waters granted to us by mother earth.

We were then blessed with more offerings from the sea as we filled up on sushi:

Gochisosamadeshita!

Lodge tabi-tabi staff, Yosuke from Tokyo, has been eager to teach some Japanese cooking to our international guests. Tony (a returning guest from Australia) is a big fan of okonomiyaki and had fun learning how to make this simple Japanese dish at home.

What you need:

• 4 to 5 tablespoons of stock (fish stock or veggie stock)
• 60g / 2 oz all purpose flour, sifted
• 3 ‘large’ (60g each) eggs
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of Japanese (pink) ginger
• About 300g / 10 1/2 oz. (about 2 packed cups) shredded cabbage
• 3 tablespoons of chopped green onion
• 1 tablespoon of dried shrimp (optional)
• Oil for cooking

The topping:

       bonito flakes, okonomiyaki sauce, and mayonnaise

Making okonomiyaki is easy! Just put all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Next, pour the batter into a heated and oiled frypan. Cook for 3 minutes than flip. Cook for another 3 minutes and flip again and cook for  a final 3 minutes. Toss the Okonomiyaki onto a plate and top with okonomiyaki sauce, bonito flakes (katsuoboshi), and mayonnaise (preferable the Japanese kind).  Cut into bite sized pieces and enjoy!

Before eating, Japanese people say, "itadakimasu!".