Spring Hanami

In spring time when the pretty sakura flowers are in bloom, local people like to have picnics under sakura trees with their friends, families or colleagues. In this time, seasonal stalls will also be blossoming. This is a good time for us food bloggers to find and report what they are selling. In Sendai, one of the park that we can enjoy is the park next to Nishi Koen. I went there with my husband and two sweet daughters, found somewhere to sit and look around to find interesting food. So, here we go!

fake grilled kani sticks

 

These fake grilled kani on sticks was really tasty, so tasty that I regret not to have come here earlier like last year or the year before last year. It tastes like fish balls but more sweet, grilled with spray of soyu. That process made these kani taste very savory. They come with large sizes that you can enjoy on your own. But because they are delicious, I had to have two of these goodies. I wasn’t the only one going mad about these sticks. Other visitors kept also coming back to the stalls to have some more.

Do you remember the childrens’ movie from Walt Disney called “Mary Poppins”. Well, that was my beloved all time favorite movie that I cherish until now. There was a scene where Mary Poppins, the children and the guy from the park jumped into the chalk drawn pictures and had a horse race. They ate caramelized apples and I craved so much of those sweets. Luckily,there was a big luna park near my house and a stall next to the merry go around sold salt caramelized apples. That was long..long time ago, so when I saw this stall selling caramelized apples and other fruits my memories went back to my child hood and that was nice. I got a mini red caramelized apple. The taste was like apple thin layered with crunchy candy.

These were the most chased desert by the visitors. Frozen strawberries topped with sweetened condensed milk. My daughter loved it and wanted to eat it all by herself.

I first fell in love with dango sticks when I went to Yamadera temple in Yamagata and bought one of these sticks in the nearby stalls. For me, a good tasting dango is when it is crunchy and fresh boiled in katsu dashi and soyu. You don’t really need to fuss because ready made dango are available in the supermarket. All you have to do is memorize the brand.

I bought a stick of shio yakitori just to taste it. These yakitori can be a great companion with soda and some up to date gossips. I realized that Japanese people like chicken skin a lot. Just like Indonesian. These yakitori are like sates to us. In general they come in two taste, one is shio aji like these the other is what they claim to be kare aji but it taste like ordinary caramelized soyu.

Other pictures from the hanami picnic are the cherry blossom it self and other interesting stalls.