i am a food blog

When Mike and I started dating (the second time around), we went snowboarding, a lot. We were in our early twenties and I had just started hanging out with Mike again after a couple of years of us randomly seeing each other around town, but not really chatting. When we reconnected, Mike was an avid snowboarder. He even went so far as to get a part time job on a local mountain so that he could get an employee discount AND go snowboarding on breaks. He was pretty hardcore and I kind of sort of fell in love with the fact that he was so passionate about something. At least with him being passionate about snowboarding, meant that getting him gifts was easy. I could just go online and take a look at sites like Board It to get ideas on what to get him. Since he likes to go snowboarding on breaks, it would have been nice for him to have something that could help him with traveling, for example, something like this private jet card program that I found online. Obviously, him being easy to get gifts for wasn’t the only think I feel in love with. It was just something he liked.

I, on the other hand, unlike every other 20 year old in Vancouver, had never been snowboarding in my life. I don’t know if it was that hurling down a snowy mountain, strapped on to a long waxed board sounded fun, or the fact that there is a lot of cute snowboarding gear that you can shop for, but when Mike asked me if I wanted to learn how to board, from him, I jumped at the chance. In truth, I just wanted to spend more time with Mike and was thrilled that he wanted to teach me how to board.

He took me up the mountain at night, when the lifts were closed, to see if I could even stand on a board (not as intuitive as you might think). We were in that in between stage, where we both kind of knew the other was interested, but neither of us had said it out loud or made a move. It was a night full of possibility: the orange lift chair lights cast a glow, there was unexpected magic sprinkling of snow and, of course, there was that little bit of pleasant tension between teacher and student, intensified by the fact that I really wanted to be a good learner. That night started a love affair for me, and not just for Mike, but for snowboarding too.

Countless dates on the mountain, with me falling down incessantly and Mike carving effortlessly means that we have a soft spot in our hearts for mountains. Especially mountains we can snowboard on. There’s a lot of good boarding on the West Coast, but there’s something alluring about snowboarding on a continent that isn’t the one you call home. And so, during out three month trip to Japan, we carved out just a wee bit of time to hit up some Japanese slopes.

Going to Japan was a bit of a culture change as well. We knew this was going to be the case, but things like how to use Japanese toilets had us confused at certain points. They certainly have a way with technology, but it just meant that there were things out there which we were certain about.

When we decided, kind of on a whim, that we were going to try and snowboard while in Japan, we had no idea where to go. Mike has always wanted to hit up Japanese snow, but in more of a bucket list, dreamy, no details sort of way. So we went into our snowboarding adventure with zero expectations. There are countless places to snowboard in Japan, some of them even only just an hour and change on the shinkansen from Tokyo.

But we didn’t want to snowboard anywhere. We we already planning on going to the Sapporo snow festival on Japan’s most Northern island, Hokkaido, so snowboarding in Hokkaido seemed like fate. A quick google search showed us that Niseko was the place to be.

Mount Niseko-Annupuri is next door neighbors to the dormant volcano, Mount Yotei, or Yotei-san, as I like to call him. Yotei is supposed to look a little bit like a sheep’s hoof and he might not be as famous as Fuji-san, but he is sure as heck just as gorgeous, especially when you’re looking at him right after you get off a Niseko lift, poised to make your way down the mountain. I love the sheer symmetrical conicalness of Yotei, as well as his distinctive snow cap. He’s a beautiful backdrop for a day (or five) of boarding.

Having decided to hit up Niseko, we then had to decide on a place to stay. I took a backseat on this one, since I had already picked out where we stayed at Mt. Fuji. Mike found an awesome flat by the name of Loft Niseko.

The flat was absolutely beautiful, with floor to ceiling windows and a commanding, unobstructed view of Yotei. There was a deep blue velvet couch, perfect for curling up on, while watching the sun peek over the peak. We planned for one day of boarding on Niseko, and one full day of staying in enjoying Loft because it came with a full kitchen and I was excited to get my hands on Hokkaido produce and cook!

Hokkaido is known for seafood, of course, but they’re also Japan’s top producer for wheat, soybeans, potatoes, sugar beets, onions, corn, milk, and beef. Japan has a concept of kyodo ryori, or local/regional specialties and I’m obsessed with the concept. Basically, wherever we go in Japan, I ask Mike, “are they known for it?” because different places are known for different things. Tokyo’s famous for monjayaki, Osaka for takoyaki, Hiroshima for okonomiyaki, Kobe for beef, and on and on and on. The Japanese put huge emphasis on both local and specializing in one thing, so it’s not uncommon to find an entire town filled with restaurants for just one dish. I love it because of the focus – you end up getting the best of the best when everyone is focusing on one thing.

Speaking of best of the best, our experience on Mount Niseko was definitely up there! We rented all of our gear, including outerwear, because we brought absolutely nothing with us. The rental was seamless – we went to Rhythm the day before we were going to head up and got ourselves outfitted. I picked a board that matched my hair, of course. Just kidding! I got to try out a 2017 Burton Custom, which is a board I’ve had my eyes on so renting was doubly fortuitous.

The next day, after a breakfast of eggs, toast, and coffee, we headed up bright and early, in hopes of getting some of those elusive first tracks. It was a bluebird of a day, the sun in the sky sparkling off the snow. It didn’t snow the night before, but there was plenty of untouched powder in between the trees.

To be honest, I like riding both lightly groomed runs (if there’s a fluffy base) AND fresh powder. As a not-so-great boarder, groomed runs means easy riding – it’s a little more grippy. Riding powder, on the other hand, is a little more…unpredictable. Which means that Mike and I did a bunch of tree runs which ended up in me gently “bumping” into trees. Eventually I got tired of my tree encounters and begged Mike to do a wide open run. Of course I ended up wiping out big time on a huge patch of ice. Usually we avoid the beginner runs because of ice – ironically, those runs end up being icier (and more dangerous because of unpredictable learners) because so many people are riding them.

After that, I was all for the trails less traveled. For our last run of the day, we went down, through the trees through some glorious, pristine powder. And, because it was more of a back country kind of thing, I got stuck on some of the flat parts, due to lack of speed. But, on the bright side, we got some awesome photos and did a little bit of snow hiking :)

All in all, Niseko was just the kind of winter getaway you dream about: a gorgeous house with a roaring fire, a massively snowy mountain with tones of powder, Hokkaido potatoes, and lots of laughs with my favorite snowboarding instructor. And bonus, Mike and I ended up cooking! We’ll be posting more about that soon.

snow and potatoes,
xoxo steph

Growing up in the pacific northwest meant that there were three mountains less than half an hour away and Whistler within a two hour drive. I’ve been lucky enough to have spent so much of my life on mountains that snowboarding is second nature to me. Once I even managed to use my ability to teach snowboarding as a pretext to hook up with a girl (yes, that girl is Steph).

In the last few years we haven’t gotten on the mountains much, and I’ve been missing it. So, I convinced Steph that Niseko was famous for its powder (it is) and that we should stop by on our way to the snow festival. I’m glad I did, because honestly, the snow festival is not worth its hype.

Being more my trip than hers, I did all the groundwork for us. Usually we just kind of jump into towns and figure it out from there, but this time, I did some research beforehand, and it turned out to be a great idea.

Niseko is a tiny resort town that doesn’t have its own train station, so we almost went to the wrong place. There is a station named Niseko and it’s not too far off from Niseko the town (officially called Hirafu), but it’s a tiny place where you are unlikely to find a taxi (or anything). Kutchan Station is where you want to get off the train. Coming back to Tokyo on that line, we saw even smaller stations that were nothing more than a storage container.

Partially because I wanted to get Steph a cool place as a thanks for indulging my weird Japan ski trip ideas, and partially because it was very last minute and most of the town was sold out, we ended up with an awesome, amazing beyond words, ultra incredible flat with its own private elevator.

Now that I know the joy of private elevators, I’m not sure how we can ever stay in peasant places again. I’m only half kidding. The flat was a major, mega, massive splurge, but in the end I was super happy we had it, because of what has come to be known between us as The Knee Incident.

On the mountain, I try to keep us in the trees or blacks, because the other runs are full of crazy people. Steph doesn’t know it, but because of all the tree runs I’ve dragged her through, she’s basically an expert level boarder who is just scared of going too fast. That’s her in the bottom right corner of the lead image, by the way. She has great form, look at that board aiming the right way down the mountain.

Understandably however, tree runs are a lot of effort for long-unused snowboarding muscles. In the end, she got lazy and paid for it. Going up the gondola, Steph marvelled at these wide deserted runs and imagined how soft and luxurious they must be. So, around the middle of the day when she was getting tired of hitting trees, she asked if we could take it easy and go on one of those wide runs. I agreed and we headed on over to the greens and blues. I stayed in the trees and hills on the side while keeping an eye on her, and next thing I heard, thunk.

She had caught her edge on a patch of ice and her entire body weight came smashing down onto one knee. We limped our way to the next lodge so she could look at it, and I suggested she take a break. I left her with some beer and chicken nuggets and went off to find my little slice of heaven.

It turned out to be pretty easy to find, just on the back side of the mountain. It was one of the greatest runs I’ve ever been on; pristine powder between widely spaced paper birch, just steep enough to keep you going but slow enough to enjoy that magical floating sensation. It was so good I came back to get Steph so she wouldn’t miss out, as I had a feeling we weren’t coming back up the mountain the next day.

I was right, her knee swelled up to the size of an $80 Japanese melon and we never made it up the second day. She texted her mom about it and her mom, like all mothers do, suggested a weird home remedy involving eggs. I was highly skeptical of it, and I don’t think it did much, but in the end we got to experience living it up in Niseko. That night we ordered pizza with fries on top and had it with some limited edition instant noodles we brought up from Tokyo. It was glorious. The pizza was so good we ordered it again the next night.

Driving in from the train station, our concierge told us that the Niseko region was famous for its potatoes, and she wasn’t kidding. We stepped into a random eatery and ordered fries, and I think Steph and I separately had potato epiphanies. The potatoes were so good that the day after snowboarding, I went out on my own to go shopping so I could make my injured wife some get-better-soon soup curry, and felt compelled to buy two different kinds of potatoes. I would have bought three if there were three. We still talk about those fries two months later.

It’s spring now, but after writing this, I think I’ll be booking another stay for us this winter right now, as the town seemed to fill up pretty fast, and this was one of our best trips in recent memory.