An afternoon as a Melon Farmer :))

Rouxin, Lily and Monkey standing proud in our cute lil boots. I looked like a minion among these tall ladies!!!

The sunny afternoon did not deter any of us from participating in this. Special request by Miss Monkey - Melons Harvesting. Captain Chris had to remind me that it's all because of one tiny Cherry, all 11 other peeps gotta follow suit and do this activity.

-_-"
Okie lor...thank you very much for arranging this and thank you to the gang for obliging to my touristy request.

Nope...he isn't proposing to Sharon with a pair of gummy boots. But this pic sure looked like it was. Hahahaha.

When we arrived, all we could see were vast agricultural land backed by the beautiful Mount Yotei. This is a non-touristy farm, in actual fact they do not accept tourists/local tourists. Even more so, all 12 of us don't speak a word of Japanese except Papa Bear and Chef Takashi.

Plus they are letting us IN to work inside their controlled and restricted farm. Hence location is top-secret. This farm claimed to have the sweetest melons in Hokkaido....and much sweeter than the famous and expensive Yubari Melon from the city of Yubari.

The beautiful Madame with hazel brown eyes spoke perfect english and all of us gasped in surprise!!!! She was the Cross-Country Skier champion of Japan in the Winter Olympics. Such an honor to meet a world champion in person. I guess this was the 2nd time I am meeting an Olympic gold medalist *aside to Ben Ainslie in the sailing event*. She has now retired, got married, have lovely kids and this amazing farm to manage.

Madame Beautiful Hazel eyes then continued to explain the difference between their melons vs the famous Yubari Melons. It's supposed to be sweeter with its intense flavour.

Captain Chris: "Quick ask!!! What's their secret!!! and is it really sweeter than Yubari?"
So just like planting grapes to make wines, it's all in the terroir. The soil, the land, the climate all played very important roles. Because Hokkaido is also the major rice producer in Japan, there's a lot of husks around. Not wanting to waste them, it's all used as fertilizer here. It's used as compost, bcoz rice husks are organic, and decayed over time. Its properties allowed proper drainage for the plants.

After the short briefing, the slaves aka us moved into the farms. There's like miles and miles of these....Sweet Melons, u wait for momma ok? I am coming for ya!!!

Papa Bear: "HOYA!!! we are all ready to work now!!!"
He's so tall, as tall as the green house!!!

now we can all imagine Dr. Epicurean being a vigneron in his boots. He would be happier if this was a vineyard and not a melon farm!!!! kakaka.

Oh hello hello babies~~~~~
Ain't u lookin pretty?
and today u gonna be mine

Happiest day for Miss Monkey. I was so eppy and did not pay attention....almost snipped off the farmer's tiny fingers. Opssss!!!!! Sumimasen!!!

Farmer: "Wakarimasu ka?"
*do u understand?*

errrrr actually no...she's been explaining and teaching Monkey on the harvesting techniques. Errrr wakarimasen!!! I was still terrified from the finger snipping saga~~~

Here here here and here
yes u can't just simply snip it off anyway u want...it has to be precisely where how and at which length.

I guess in the end the farmer beh-tahan and did it herself....with Monkey holding the melon instead.
-_- I failed lar....but one thing for sure, I'm definitely a champion when it comes to MAKAN!!!

and all the leaves all gone!!!!

Ta-DA!!!!!!
see it has to have that length of stems with "2 hands" on it.

Sharon and Lily oso done with their harvesting. Aiks there's still leaves on ur melon!!!


Lorraine lookin really hawt here. But it's really very very HOT in terms of temperature!!! and she got photo-bombed by Lily at the back.


my housemate Mr. JS thinked he's playing "bowling"
Monkey: "oiiii this is not superbowl la."

the melon looked so tiny in his hands....we were brought to this sector of the farm to do harvesting bcoz the melons were smaller and less damaging. As for the grand cru sectors, it had to be reserved for serious harvesting....and not for gaijin like us.

Monkey: "U are following Momma home!!!!"

I forgotten what we were discussing about, but Papa Bear and Chef Takashi were busy translating them to english for us.

Yaaaayyy now we have something for lunch....hahahahaha
before we could sink our teeth into these melons...we drove back to their collection center about 2 minutes away.

and BEHOLD my dear readers.....I went bonkers like a monkey being presented with a truckload of bananas!!!

WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

These were the larger size Melons, ready to be cleaned and packed for exports. Yeah the superior ones could sell for hundreds of dollars each. Back in 2013, a pair of yubari melons were auctioned at 1.6 million yen!!! That's 48k in Malaysian ringgit.

Again point to note, only cantaloupes melons from the city of Yubari can be named such. Just like champagnes, only those that are produced in the region of Champagne can be called as such. Else it's just a sparkling wines/prosecco etc

Each melon weighs about 2kg *total weight 8kh* and a few boxes were ordered for us to take home. :)))))))

So so so happy that you, you, you and YOU are coming home with me!!! My greatest purchase in Hokkaido :))))))))

and now....ladies and gentlemen...it's nom nom nom time!!!
so so sweet~~~~~ and juicy!!!!

A Refractometer calibrated to measure the sugar content in the melon by measuring the refractive index of the melon juice. This is similar to the device used by vignerons to measure the sugar content of the grapes to help them pin point the most optimal timing to harvest the grapes.

Sharon gasped: "It's 16.5!!!!"
yea that's a very high sugar content. Yubari's minimum standard is 13.

This was a great experience. Thank you to Captain Chris for making this arrangement. All of us went home with such contentment and smacking our lips from the yumm-ness of these melons. Not forgetting out boxes of loots...hahahahaha.

However at the end of the trip, the sweetest melons we had was still from Yubari. It was crazy drunkenly sweet I almost lost my breathe. Will blog about that another time. Have a great week ahead there folks. It's gonna be a busy one for Monkey before we r heading off to another destination for MAKANS!!!!

Artisanal Soba Masterchef @ Rakuichi, Hokkaido

Early morning, everyone checked outta the hotel....dashed into the designated vehicles...running out fr the lobby carrying bottles of wines and glasses. I would say bottles were an understatement, it was boxes of wines!!! alcoholics we were~~~~ tsk tsk tsk.

Captain Chris was like Go go go, Let's ROLL!!!!
No I wasn't kidding. It was my first Amazing Race!!! and we were rushing to Niseko about 100km away from Sapporo. Bcoz we must arrive on time before 11am for an even more amazing Soba noodles!!!

Mark our calm driver in Car 3 saw Monkey's loots....fresh cherries, vine ripened local tomatoes, pastries, cakes, grapes gummies, drinks etc. Yeah these supplies are for our drive so indeed it is a blessing to be in the same car with Monkey. Muahahahaha. Likewise we had a great time in Car 3 with Mark and Rouxin.


Captain Chris was the leader in Car 1, Chef Takashi and the gang was really pressured in the middle as the driver for Car 2.

Captain Chris over the radio: "We will over take the bus, let me sweep the road for you....."
and so he overtook on the other lane and declared: "Clear...clear....clear...all clear and all clear all the way."
the 2 white toyotas were chasing after Car 1 coz Captain Chris was just too fast....
Captain Chris: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are late by 13 minutes so we need to make up for it."

Look!!! that's car 2 ahead...can't even see car 1 anymore. So fast....the moment we could catch up with Car 1 it was bcoz Captain Chris announced there's a speed trap -_-" before we could spot it, he's gone like a Road Runner and the 2 cars at the back were eating his dust....BEEP BEEP~~~~

Despite the chasing game, we were enjoying the countryside with vast farm land...cultivating toumorokoshi *corn*, the famous Hokkaido potatoes and asparagus thicker than my thumb!!

No one has to announce that we are almost there....the majestic Mount Yotei stood tall minus all the snow. Niseko is the most famous Ski Resort in Japan. Every winter, all the ski resorts here are power packed with ppl from all over. The quality of its Powderie Snow is one of the best in the world.

When we arrived at the Soba place, Captain Chris was SO SO SO EPPY!!!!!! Because we were on the dot and caught up with all the time lost much earlier.

He was like "Bahahahahaha we have arrived!!!! time to eat!!!!"
but we weren't too sure if we have arrived, coz the place looked so out of nowhere.

Such an understated entrance. Would you even think there was a restaurant on the other side!? So we just parked our cars outside the bushes near to this wooden bridge.

The tiny signage confirmed it's indeed the right place. Yes just leave it to the Captain, he'll make sure we are fed-well all the time.

This restaurant is indeed in the middle of nowhere. In the snow covered cold winter months you probably have brown bears scratching at your door in the middle of the night!! Hahahahaha

Imagine this:
Brown Bear *scratch scratch wooden door* "Knock knock
Raku-ichi opens door...Brown Bear asking for some Soba. I won't be surprise if bears came asking for soba coz it's so yummy!!

From outside u could spot the beautiful wood grain artistically featured on the exterior of this restaurant. A small horizontal window gave a quick glimpse of the pots and pans hanging by. It looked more like a home than a restaurant.

The rustic buildings also tell another side of the story of a hard life and not as romantic as "gaijin" (like us) fantasize about. I am sure those are to shovel heavy snow hahahaha. Not really, I don't really know. The only experience I have with shovels was at the beach, when I was a tiny tot 5 year old holding my even tinier shovel scooping sand and throwing them at beach goers who were sun bathing.

Told ya I was notti since young. Soon these ppl who were sun-bathing were doing sand-bathing instead. But they couldn't whack nor scold me coz I will pout and gave them the I-m-gonna-cry-look-coz-u-r-MEAN-BIG-bully!!!! In less than 10 seconds that worked and I was let go without any penalties, Monkey turned and giggled hard b4 targeting the next sun-bather.

The main entrance to the restaurant looked like we were about to enter a SAUNA instead!!! hahahaha. Yeah the door has to be thick and insulated to keep the building warm during winter months I suppose.

It sure looked more like a home and to no surprise, the couple who runs this restaurant was a very good looking husband and wife team. Soon we removed our shoes, just like any japanese house.

and changed into these house slipper, hung with bamboo sticks. Everything was made from nature even the hanging room divider that looked like jut ropes.

As usual, we were a noisy 12 people crowd, still relishing from the excitement of the drive. The moment we saw MasterChef Tatsuru bz kneading on his granite bowl.....everyone went quiet. Then the only noise pollution that came out were the clicking of camera shutters.

Raku-ichi isn't big....just a long counter for 12 seaters.
Captain Chris: "We were so lucky to arrive on the dot!!! can u imagine if one couple came and all of us r screwed!!! we will be divided into 2 groups already."

I love the feeling of having the entire restaurant to ourselves at all time. That's bcoz most good restaurants here only have between 9-12 seats!!!

Would u just see the perfection and thinness of the dough? From the big slab of soba dough inside the granite bowl, he knead with such rhythm and care. Very slowly over time he rolled it over and over until it's super thin and in this perfect rectangle shape!!!

 The hands of an artisanal MasterChef!!!! It looked so tenacious!!!

Nope there's no machine nor ruler to measure the exact size and length but it's perfectly hand-cut!!!!

 Such seriousness and intense concentration and pride beaming from this man!

OMG it's so beautiful~~~~~
Making soba is a true art itself. The amount of water, flour and kneading process. It can't be over-knead. The texture and thickness matter too!!

There are 4 menus in the restaurant. all handwritten individually on washi paper and barbarians like us thought it was copied and printed cos it was identical! Even the spaces between the characters (on different sheets) were identical!!

Madame Midori Rai, Tony and MasterChef Tatsuru

YES.....Tony was here!! May not necessarily be a good sign!! bcoz then it would be power packed with tourists alike... hahaha...True enuff this place does not accept reservation for lunch, only for dinner. That explains why we had to sped and chase after time to be here before it opens at 11.00am on the dot.

A bowl of freshly cut japanese leeks and a dollop of grated wasabi.

Sweet Leeks tempura....just eaten with salt and no sauce. Such beautiful tempura, u don't wanna spoil it with a dipping sauce right?


Basically there's only 4 choices of menu here....
Plain Cold Soba
Cold Soba with Duck Soup
Soba inside Duck Soup
and I can't remember the 4th one coz everyone just went for those three.

My beautiful cold soba, cooked to perfection with the al-denteness. Blanched in ice cold water then let it dry on its own bamboo mat.

Its duck soup was so gloriously yummy. With thinly sliced duck which was better than the usual french duck...

So pick up some soba and dip them into the warm protein soup of duck and finely sliced japanese leeks. HEAVEN~~~~

Soon silence crept in followed by LOUD slurping sound. I couldn't help but joined in the orchestra.
slurp slurp slurp~~~

Once u have engulfed all the yummy beautiful cold Soba and its delicious duck, add some warm water, which was used in blanching the soba noodle, into your remaining bowl of umami duck soup. and What else? slurp it down straight from the bowl. Anyway no spoons were provided here.

 a sneak peek into the humble kitchen that whipped up our yummylicious lunch

 Alas the Masterchef let go a smile and he is not that serious after all :))) He's very good looking!!!

Chef Tatsuru, Sharon, Lily and beautiful Madame Midori in her kimono.

such a delectable meal and it was just Soba. JS quickly add in that it wasn't just any soba but an artisanal one. This I have to agree. As we speak Chef Tatsuru and his beautiful wife Midori are in Copenhagen. Nope, not for vacation but they were invited but the World no. 1 Restaurant - NOMA to be a guest chef for a week. Such an honor.

Instead it was our honor to be able to enjoy the handmade hand-cut buckwheat soba. Just as Tony said it, the best one in our lives. :))))))))


yes Monkey will definitely return. "I'll be back!!!" for more~~~~
YUMSSSSS~~~~~~~~~
*smack lips*