Niseko Photography experts Aaron Jamieson and Yasunuki Shimanuki have joined forces with the J-Sekka crew to bring about Niseko’s first food-photography workshop. The course involves a Sekka Four-Course Lunch as inspiration and three hours of bilingual food-photography tuition so that participants are well and truly set up to take amazing photos of some pretty spectacular food. Lunch is all local – proudly sourced from organic masters Niseko Green Farm.
More details at NFP Details.
On our visit to North Farm Stock, we were introduced to a few of their new Summer products. One of their new products are pickled green asparagus spears. We took a jar back to the deli to try them … just delicious! Still with a nice, crisp bite, the spears are a vibrant green colour with a mild pickle flavor. Delicious on their own, we also made little tea sandwiches on soft white bread with Hidaka salted butter which made a perfect mid-afternoon snack.
220g jars of North Farm Stock Asparagus Pickles are available for purchase at Sekka Deli for 680yen, along with a full range of North Farm Stocks other products.
Last weekend the J-Crew hit the road … first stop was Ecorin Mura, located in Eniwa just off Route 45 quite close to Chitose.
We spotted the giant sign for Eniwa Bokyujyo from the main road and turned in. It’s like a fairytale farm village – we were first intrigued by the Highland cows perched under a little grass-roofed hut.
We then made our way into the village. Just by the parking lot you enter the Garden Centre, which is full of beautiful fresh flowers, herbs & a range of gifts. Our introduction to Ecorin Mura came from a lovely range of rose products we discovered that are made here at the Village. A whole display of the range was also in the garden centre.
They have a Jack-in-the-Beanstalk type of tomato vine out in the garden centre, grown from a single vine, the plant produces 20,000 tomatoes in just 7 months. Definitely defying natural growing techniques, but quite a sight. The tomatoes are not eaten fresh, only used in production of jam, soups & chutneys.
We then jump in the car and head over to another part of the village, the farm area. There is a giant dog run park at the entrance before you actually make your way into the farm. We get our tickets and maps and head on in. It’s like an enchanted forest, there are little tree houses everywhere that are just to cute.
Then over to the rose garden where all of the roses are grown to produce the various rose products we buy for Sekka Deli. The William Shakespeare & Constance variety are grown in this little patch of the farm.
We stop in the rose garden for soft cream with apple & dandelion jam as well as wholemeal scones with rose jam & cream cheese.
Hours could easily be passed just wandering around the grounds … there are shetland ponies, alpaca’s, lama’s, dogs and a sheepdog / sheep-shearing show. There’s a small cave to walk through, gypsy houses, a tiger garden and beautiful gardens.
We then headed over to Iwamizawa to Hakua Daishin, or North Farm Stock factory.
We had a look around the warehouse and met some of the delightful staff … We even caught a glimpse of the production room, and also the production line involved in labelling and packaging the jars of juice.
It was fantastic to see where these products were made, and even in production. North Farm Stock is one of our largest suppliers of Hokkaido produce in the deli – their range including pickles, milk jam, pasta sauce, pasta, dips, ketchup, juice & cheesecakes all made at the factory in Iwamizawa using all Hokkaido ingredients. Make sure you check out their range when you are next in the deli, and do not hesitate to ask the staff for any help or guidance with their products.
A big thank you to Kagawa-san from Ecorin Mura and to the team at North Farm stock for showing us around.
The June 18th Edition, or #847 had a Summer 2010 feature on Niseko. It’s an 8 page feature showcasing Niseko in all its glory.
You can check it out here http://metropolis.co.jp/specials/847/847_top.htm along with many of their other regular features including an upcoming one on beer or some past ones including world cup or hamburgers.
You might also spot a little Locals Tip about the Niseko Ostrich Farm by KAT (that’s me!) in the Summer Niseko feature.
We are always on the lookout for new products for the deli. We stumbled across some boxes of instant ramen noodles on a recent visit to Lake Toya.
Hokkaido products like these always grab our attention. Quick & easy meals are also great sellers in the Deli in winter. People sometimes just wanting to stay at home and have something easy to prepare after a big day on the slopes. Upon opening the box, we realize there is 5 potions of noodles with different sauces from all different areas in Hokkaido.
But the most important factor for us of course is the taste. So one afternoon for a late lunch we cooked up all of the noodles to try. The dried noodles packs are simply boiled in water for a few minutes. The noodles were then placed in a bowl with the sachet of sauce and some fresh boiling water. Quite simple really …
The flavors included Sapporo miso, Asashikawa shouyu, Hakodate shio (salt) & Ku-Shiro shouyu. Each flavor was distinct & quite delicious. All of us had a stand out – Sapporo Miso & Asahikawa Shouyu the winners, but the others close behind. The noodles were surprisingly tasty for dried noodles, still a little squeek on the tooth with a pleasant mild flavor. We topped each bowl with a Ra-Yu, or ramen oil, which we also found at Lake Toya – slices of garlic which sit in a thick chilli oil.
Keep an eye out for both of these products at Sekka Deli this coming winter, which make for a quick & delicious meal at home.
J-Sekka was please to host 2 journalists from Hong Kong in conjunction with Niseko Promotion Board. After breakfast at Sekka Deli, a tour was organized to visit Niseko Green Farm in the afternoon. Firstly, a walk around the NGF and explanation of the produce & farming procedure.
The ladies were then able to go and pick their own crisp, green, Niseko asparagus straight from the ground – which after 2 years of patiently waiting, was NGF’s first year to harvest the asparagus.
The team then returned to J-Sekka where various dishes were produced with their harvested greens. Firstly, some little cups of green asparagus soup with sour cream & parsley.
Then a prawn & asparagus salad with cucumber & creamy herb dressing.
Asparagus in a light Otaru Beer batter was next; served just as we do our Summer Frito Misto at Sekka Deli. Here the focus was solely on the sweet green asparagus with a little salsa verde & lemon on the side.
Lastly, a true classic – asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Lightly steamed asparagus to dip into a tarragon vinegar & butter emulsion sauce.
It was a pleasure to host these guests and to showcase Niseko in all it’s beauty.
J-Sekka can customize farm & produce tours to suit individual needs. Please contact us at enquiries@j-sekka.com for further details.
There’s only a few pork & crab burgers left, so if you haven’t yet had a chance to try one of these at Sekka Deli, best get in quick before we change to another new & exciting Summer Burger.
Hokkaido pork mince with Taraba crab flakes on a soft white sesame seed bun with kim chii, cabbage & mayonnaise. Accompanied by golden potato fries with Kyoto ketchup.
All this for the unbeatable price of 1,000yen – get in quick !
Minute steak you say … what exactly is that? Now don’t think mai-nute steak, think a thin cut of beef that can be cooked in a very short period of time, even in a minute. Here at J-Sekka we use the skirt steak. The skirt steak is often a forgotten cut of beef, yet it’s prized for it’s flavor. The skirt comes from either the plate or the flank, and can be quite tough. By cooking the steak very quickly, and then slicing it against the grain, we try to eliminate the toughness and enhance the flavor.
The result, a full flavored steak that we are serving with golden fries and Kyoto U-side ketchup, our home-made mustard butter and baby leaf salad.
Available at Sekka Deli for 1,200yen.
We were very excited to receive a parcel from the lovely people at Allpress Coffee. We contacted them back in Winter; we were already aware of their presence in the coffee industry today. Here at J-Sekka we are very passionate about good food as well as great coffee. This weekend we missed the opening game of the world cup to sit and watch the Allpress Barista DVD – some may call us crazy, but others will understand the passion … in this case for food and coffee!
The possibility of forming a relationship with Allpress Coffee in the future is indeed an exciting prospect for us …. Today we tried the bean and all we can say is “Oh my!” – it is evident just how much time and care is taken to produce a bag of Allpress coffee, right down to the selection of green beans that starts in Costa Rica to the fluidised hot air roasting. Our brew today was made with our La Marzocco GB/5 machine and the Allpress beans ground in our Mazzer Luigi grinder with Takehashi Bokujyo farm fresh milk. From beginning to end so much care in the coffee, you could taste the love!
Every morning we are freshly baking muffins at Sekka Deli. The muffins are made with Hidaka buttermilk, Hokkaido flour & Yama-no-hatake Niseko free-range eggs. The flavor changes daily, but may include banana & chocolate chip, brownie chunk muffins or Milk Kobo yoghurt & Niki berries.
Perfect with the morning coffee, or after an early session of cross fit – available from around 8:30am Wednesday through Sunday at Sekka Deli.
