Back to Bunny Island

April 29th was the first holiday in a string of public holidays that make up Golden Week in Japan. We decided to take advantage of the good weather and make a return trip to Ōkunoshima to feed the bunnies, picnic, and play at the beach. 

The Oshimas came along with us to the island. It was their first time to visit, which is interesting considering it is only a little over an hour away from Fukuyama. 

There seemed to be fewer rabbits this year compared with last year, but the weather was warm and gorgeous and the kids had much more fun at the beach than chasing rabbits. We love having fun and interesting getaways like this at our doorstep! 

Wild Boar Lard

About two years ago we were fortunate enough to find a source of wild boar meat. They are a big nuisance in Japan, causing all kinds of damage to crops and properties and occasionally attacking people. Populations of wild boar can be very high in rural areas, so the government encourages farmers to trap and kill boars to reduce their numbers.

Our friend's step-father lives in the countryside near Fukuyama and often traps boars on his property. He usually eats them too, but can only eat so much and apparently there isn't enough demand to get rid of all the meat. Those are the moments when it is good to know a Canadian family!

A boar trap

We were overjoyed to have access to healthy game meat and gladly agreed to take any and all boar that he was willing to send our way. We have gotten some dropped off here and there over the past two years and enjoyed every bite. This week our friend came by and gave us 6 kilos of meat. I was surprised at how fatty this boar had been, especially since it is winter, and I was able to trim quite a bit of fat from the meat.   

I trimmed so much off that I started to feel a little bit weird at the prospect of just throwing it out. Most of my life has been spent under the belief that animal based fats are to be completely avoided. However, there is continuously growing evidence that saturated animal fats are not actually the heart killers they were made out to be all these years.

I have never tried rendering fat before but I pushed my mental stigma aside and decided to try making some wild boar lard.

First I trimmed the fat from the meat which left me with about 1 kilo of fat.

I cut it into smallish (~1cm size) pieces. I put the pieces into my nabe pot with 175 ml of water.

I popped the nabe with no lid into my oven at 150 Celsius and baked for about 4 hours. I stirred the fat chunks every 10 minutes or so in the first hour of baking so that nothing would burn. As soon as the fat started melting down I wasn't too worried about anything sticking or browning too quickly.

sizzlin away

After 4 hours, the water had completely cooked out and tiny pieces of meat and fat crackles were all that was left.

I used a sieve with a paper towel inside, a funnel, a glass jar, and ladle to transfer and strain the fat. A cheese cloth would have worked much better for fine straining but I didn't have one so paper towel worked fine in a pinch. Once I strained the liquid fat through the paper towel and sieve into the jar, I put all of the crackles in a paper towel and gave them a good squeeze to get all the extra fat out. Another bonus is that my extremely dry hands now look pretty nice!

In the end I had only about 1/2 cup of crackles and crispy meat left. Rosie tried these out and thought they were delicious so maybe I will save them to mix into their morning omelette or something.

 

I was able to sieve nearly a jar of honey coloured liquid.

After a few hours the fat cooled and I was left with a jar of clean, ivory coloured lard. I wasn't sure if there would be a trace of gaminess to it but there is only a slightly bacony smell and basically no taste. I think I should be able to safely use it in any kind of pastry without changing the flavour. Success!  

First recipe to try it out on? Boar stew with boar lard dumplings. I can't wait!

Hatsumōde

On one of the first days in the new year people in Japan traditionally go to a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple to pray, buy good luck charms for the next year, and burn the good luck charms they bought the year before. This visit is called hatsumōde. Two popular places in Fukuyama for hatsumōde are the Fukuyama Hachiman Shrine and Kusadoinari Shrine. So many people visit these shrines in the first few days of the new year that the parking is crazy and there are long lines to buy fortunes and charms.

Fukuyama Hachiman Shrine

Kusadoinari Shrine

Since we don't go to the shrine to pray or buy fortunes we don't bother fighting the crowds and instead walk over to our little neighbourhood shrine on the nearby hill. It is about a five minute walk and the kids love adventuring over the semi-neglected, bamboo covered hilltop. 

On our way up the hillside

Dustin, the caveman that he is, was instantly drawn to this bonfire burning off to the side of the shrine. The men there were burning all of the old woven grass ropes that decorated the shrine since last New Year's Day.

The boys helped the men with their fire for half an hour or so and then we headed back down the hill.

On the way down the trees open up and you can see most of downtown Fukuyama laid out in front of you. The night before had been unusually cold so there was a fine dusting of snow on everyone's roofs.

Later in that day, our neighbour brought by a branch of nanten covered in red berries. This small bush grows just about everywhere in Japan and is often used in New Year's decorations. Here is Bosco and the nanten wishing you all a very happy Year of the Sheep!

Another Year Older

The changing of the year is always a super busy time around our house. Christmas, Dustin's birthday, New Year's, and Theo's birthday all fall back to back and make for a joyful and hectic time.

On December 30th, Dustin turned 35. In recent years he has become a little bit more balanced and accepting of his age and this year I didn't hear even a hint of, "I'm getting soooo old! What have I even done with my life?!?" It was a nice change.

Opening his birthday present from the kids and I: a board/card game called "Dixit".

We went out for supper at our favourite ramen shop, Ippudo Ramen.

Divine

Rosie just knows how to add a little flair to any picture.

After one of the kid's birthdays last year, Dustin jokingly bugged me that I always make fun decorated character cakes for the kids but never for his birthday. I think his exact words were, "How come I never get a Star Wars cake?" So this year I made him a cake of Admiral Ackbar, his favourite Star Wars character. There was some blatant geekery at our house and I was a total enabler.  

"It's a traaaap!" 

Theo and Ojiisan's birthday last year.

Three days later Theo turned seven. I was amazed at how little he looks in photos from his birthday last year and how fast the year has gone by. 

2014 was a big year for Theo, especially starting elementary school. It's been a lot of learning for both him and us but we've come a long way. I'm really excited to see how 2015 shapes up! 

Theo on his first day of elementary school in April

I always feel vaguely guilty about how low key Theo's birthdays are. Because it is so close so many other special days we are all a little burnt out on January 2nd, so the day usually ends up being spent at home, playing with toys, eating a special meal, and having some cake. This year was no exception.

The boys and I made some pizza dough in the morning and "decorated" our own pizzas for lunch.

I spent the afternoon decorating a cake and being reminded again how annoying it is to work in an insanely tiny kitchen with makeshift cake decorating tools. None the less, I think my monster cake turned out pretty fun and Theo was more than pleased. 

Happy birthday to two of my wonderful boys. I am so proud of all the ways you have grown over the past year. I love you both more that words can say!