I decided to go back to Mount Maruyama ( 円山, "round mountain") and really climb it this time. I walked up to the top following the "statue" trail, which starts behind the small shrine at the foot of the hill.
Here is they way I walked it, starting at the Mount Maruyama subway station
I had read that it was 50m high, and even though I love trekking it was still a small adjustment to learn (when reaching the top...) that it was actually 225 m high. Anyway, it was a great trip among Buddist statues wearing bibs (yes I know they have religious meaning) and lots of green foliage. The mountain is a protected wildlife area and you could feel that as the citylife soundscape receded among the trees and the old trees with great roots took over. This is what I love about going trekking, the feeling that studio Ghibli probably has conveyed the best in their Princess Mononoke when the main character Ashitaka follows the princess into the forest the first time and its spirits and gods appears.
I met a lot of fit seniors (no young Japanese here, they were probably all working, eh?) so I got to practice my Ohayou Gozaimasu (good morning), and then roughly at 10:30 I got Konnichi Wa (hello), so that was good to know.
Reaching the top you had a really great view of Sapporo. Japanese cities doesn't seem to have such an evident city cory, they rather spreads out and mixes skyscrapers and low-rise apartments or even houses. My guides home was a good example, a block of ordinary houses just a 5 min walk from the economic skyscraper center south of Sapporo station.
In the evening, I got asked to show how to make meatballs. As it is quite common in Sweden to actually buy the meatballs, some mashed potato powder, and a prepared gravy sauce, I actually hasn't done meatballs more than maybe 3-4 times in my life, so this was great fun.
The recipe was roughly like this (enough for four normal western portions):
A) Peel 1 kilo of potatoes and divide them into small bits and cook them in lots of water.
While that happens:
B) Mix 1 dl of bread crumbs with 2 dl of milk. The fatter the milk (or even cream) the tastier. Let it stand for 10 minutes so the bread crumbs swells up.
C) Add 1 kilo of minced meat. Originally you are supposed to use beef, but I often use pork, and yesterday they had bought some chicken, so the only thing I noticed from that is that possibly the chicken meat was a little "wet" meaning softer meatballs but it worked out nicely.
Also add salt (up to 2 tablespoons) and pepper, and 2 eggs. Again, if the meatballs becomes to soft, one egg may be enough, but we went with two.
D) Mix it all well for a minute or two. Prepare a large plate or cutting board by wetting it so the meat balls dont stick to it. Roll as many meat balls as you can! They shouldn't be bigger than 3-4 centimeters in diameter or it will be hard to fry them properly.
E) Fry the meatballs in butter. The butter may not be necessary but at least don't use any "strange" tasting oil ^_^. Don't waste any gravy, rather filter and save it in a small cup between cleaning the frying pan. Afterwards save any gravy left in a cup, and clean the frying pan. As an alternative you can filter the finished sauce, that is actually how I think it is often done...
F) Melt butter (how much?, well I took like maybe 200 g) and add flour (without burning the butter) until you have a thick viscous/semi-paste. It sounds complicated but what I basically do is throwing some butter down in the pan and adding flour till I think it is getting so thick that it would almost stick if you turned the frying pan upside-down.
G) After that, add the thick milk, or even preferably, cream. Again, I would say we used roughly 3 dl but you add as much as you want depending on what kind of sauce consistency you want. Cream is of course better here. Then add, according to taste, some soy sauce (which also give the sauce its characteristic brown color) and salt and pepper. Instead of soy sauce, often some veal or meat stock is used and sometimes cranberry/lingonberry jam is added.
H) Mash the potatoes. Add a couple of tablespoons of butter and, depending on the potatoes, add cream/milk until the mashed potatoes is soft and even. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve with lingonberry jam (the original) or the very similar cranberry jam. (The important thing is to not take on those purely sweet jams.) Sometimes people also add pickled cucumber. Enjoy!
I was very satisfied with the results and it seemed my Japanese friends also did, so it was a great time and as IKEA hasn't reached Hokkaido maybe one could see it as a little bit of preparing the road. ^_
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