Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Road trip to Minmaya and Tsuruta / 三厩と鶴田へのドライブ

Oh my gosh - one of my followers (my brother-in-law) told me I haven't updated my blog in over a month. No explaination of going on vacation, no words of saying "I'm back!" and damn, he's right. So before I start talking about my recent trip home (my first time in four years), let me share with you some current adventures I've had.

うわ~。あるフォロワーがなぜ一ヶ月以上も更新してないのをつっこまれた。そのフォロワーは俺の義理の弟ですけど、彼が言ってることは言えてる。確かに、アメリカに行くことも一言も言ってなかったし、アメリカから戻ったこともなんの宣言もなかった。そこで最近の冒険から書きますよ。

Early in June, my wife was watching television and the program was talking about the opening of sea urchin season. As my wife loves sea urchin, she suggested going to this small restaurant in Minmaya that serves a fresh sea urchin bowl when in season. I am not a big fan of the delicacy but the shop also serves a hon-maguro bowl set as well. So we went the following day only to find that the newspiece my wife watched was for an area in the Shimokita Peninsula. The sea urchin season in Minmaya wouldn't start for another two weeks. She had to give up on her sea urchin bowl and settled for the seafood bowl and promised her sister that we would go after we come back from vacation. My wife would loved to have gone at the start of the season but we already had plans to spend ten days in my hometown of Seattle at the end of June. So her sea urchin bowl craving would have to wait.

六月の上旬、自分の妻がテレビを見てたら、うにの季節が解禁されたを知り、享年三厩に行ったレストランをもう一度行くことを提案して、次の日に出かけました。自分はうには嫌いではないが、好物ほどのものではない。ま、行く店のメニューに本まぐろ丼があるから良い。ところが、行った日、三厩でまだうにが解禁されてなかった。妻が見たのは下北半島の話だった。ちょっと落ち込んだ妻が仕方なく、店の海鮮丼を注文。彼女の妹もうにが好きで、二人が約束してた。私たちがアメリカから帰ってから、その店に行く。妻は本当解禁日に行きたかったんだろうが、私たちは6月下旬にアメリカに行くのを前から予約していた。自分にとって4年ぶりの里帰り。妻のうに丼はもうしばらくお預け。


The day before, my wife and I went on another excursion. We decided to drive to Fukaura on the coast of the Sea of Japan. One of the more popular tourist sites in the area is the Aoike (Blue Lagoon) but as we have been there many times we decided to drive to the border between Aomori and Akita Prefectures. Actually, we went to a Roadside Station in Akita Prefecture called Hachimori where my wife picked up a souvenir for my sister-in-law, some namahage cookies.

前の日、妻と二人でドライヴに出かけた。天気も悪くなかったため、深浦を目指した。観光名所の青池は何回も行ったため、今日は青森と秋田の県境まで行って見るかの話になった。結局私たちは秋田県に入り、道の駅「はちもり」まで行ってきました。そこで、妻が妹のために買ってあげたお土産がこのなまはげクッキーでした。



We were going to leave at 10am and hopefully get to the restaurant a little before opening but as my brother-in-law had to work until 5am (he's a taxi driver), he needed a little more rest. We didn't leave until 11am. There was already a crowd there and we didn't know how long we would have to wait or stand in line. Fortunately, because I had gotten out of the car and told the proprietress, there were four of us, she said she would call us when a table is ready. I wandered around to the back of the shop where you can see the ocean. There was a man ahead of us but as I had spoken to the shop's woman first, she had told him there was a group of four before him (that would be us!!). We didn't have a very long wait and was soon shown to our table. However, she said to us that they wouldn't be able to serve the fresh sea urchin bowl set but the seafood bowl would be available and is topped with a healthy portion. I already knew there seafood bowl would be filled mostly with hon-maguro and no other fish so I wasn't complaining. When I had the dish last year, it was also served with sizable portion of sea urchin as well so my wife could satifsy her craving too. I can believe how large the portion was. The set included soup, pickled vegetables, and a couple of other dishes I couldn't name. The total price for one set was 2.000yen.

朝10時に出かける予定で店が開店する前を心がけた。でも義理の弟が前日仕事のため、帰りが朝4時か5時。(彼はタクシーの運転手)。青森から出たのは朝11時。店についたら、もう混んでた。どのくらいの待ちになるか、ちょっと不安だったが、店のママに4人でお願えしますと伝えた。本当は私たちより、もう一人の男性がいましたが、店の人に先声をかけたのが俺だった。だから店の人が彼に、その前に4人が先と言った。ラッキー!30分以内で店に入れた。座るまえに、店のママが生うに丼は提供出来ませんが、海鮮丼にたっぷり入ってますと言ってくれた。僕は元々海鮮丼を注文する予定だから、全然気にしなかった。妻は本まぐろはあんまり好きじゃないけど、うにたっぷり乗せてるから結構満足したと思う。結構の量でびっくり。セットに付いてるのはスープとお新香とほかの魚系と不思議の食感のものだった。海鮮丼セットの値段は税込で2000円。


Did I mention that this was a very small restaurant. It's called Ryoushi no Mise [Sasaki]. Ryoushi is the Japanese word for fisherman and mise is the word for store or shop. The shop's name is [Sasaki].

凄い小さな店です。店名は漁師の店「ささ木」。


Lunch is served.

昼食の時間です。


Yes, this is the seafood bowl. You can't see the rice buried under the hon-maguro, and take a look at the amount of sea urchin they top it with.

はい、これが店の海鮮丼。飯がまったく見当たらない。本マグロのデカさとこの量のうにがこの店のウリです。


My wife and I are also collecting stamps from the different roadside stations we go to. So after lunch, we went to the roadside station in Imabetsu and had a pumpkin soft serve.

僕と妻は東北道の駅のスタムぷラリーもやってるため、ランチ食べ終わったら、今別にある道の駅に行って、スタムプを貰って、せっかくなので、そこでカボチャアイスを食べた。


My brother-in-law decided to take a scenic road on our way back home and drove along the Kome Mai Road. On either side of this road are just miles and miles of rice paddies.

義理の弟は帰りに別の道を走り、コメ米ロードに行った。道から米の田んぼは永遠に続くくらいあるよ。


If you look closely, you can see a lone farmer working in his rice field.

写真を良くみたら、農家の一人が田んぼに働いるのが見えます。


After telling my brother-in-law, we were collecting stamps from the various roadside stations, he took us to another one we hadn't been to yet. We went to the Tsuruta Roadside Station [Aruja].

義理の弟に東北道の駅のスタンプラリーをやってると言ったら、また私たちが行ったことない道の駅に連れてくれた。鶴田の道の駅「あるじゃ」に行きました。


If you take a close look at the building, it is built in the shape of a crane. Tsuru is the Japanese word for crane.

建物の造りも見ると、鶴の形がしてます。やっぱり鶴田の鶴ですね。








My wife spotted the ramen shop [Banryu] and said, "Oh, I could go for some ramen". I thought, you're kidding right? I'm still full from lunch. But my wife was a little persistent and even though she suggested I have some gyoza or just drink a beer, neither of which I wanted to do, I ended up ordering a bowl of ramen too. I told my wife, there is now way I'm going to be able to eat dinner tonight. This will be my dinner! And so I ordered their umakara negi ramen. Umakara is a blend word of umai (delicious) and karai (spicy). Yep, my wife, brother-in-law and me ordered the delicious spicy green onion ramen.

妻が私たちが最近ハマってるラーメン屋の「番龍」を発見。そして恐ろしいことを言い出した。”あたし、ラーメン食べたい。”ええ???僕はまだランチで満腹なんですが。妻がラーメン食べなくて良いから、餃子がビールでも飲めばとおすすめしましたが、餃子やビールの気分でもない!でも旨辛ネギラーメンの誘惑に負けた。はい、結局自分もラーメンを注文して食べましたよ!あ~、苦しい!でも美味しい!妻にこれ食べたから夕飯はいらないよ、これは俺の夕飯だ!

This is just so good. I couldn't sit there and eat gyoza or have a beer while I watch my wife and brother eat a bowl of this ramen. I had to have a bowl too!

妻と義理の弟がこれを自分の目の前に食べられたら、やっぱり自分も食べたくなると分かって、満腹でもやっぱり入るんだな!


And look! Hydrangeas are in bloom now!

あっ、見て見て。今は紫陽花の季節だ!











And so ended our day's adventure.

そして今日の旅の幕が閉じた。

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