Fukushima Restaurants (part 3)

It's time for Fukushima restaurant number three:

四季菜食

Kauri's Kitchen

四季菜食 - the kanji at the top stand for "Four Seasons Vegetables and Food"

Who doesn't enjoy a nice buffet lunch on their day off?  Haidee and I discovered Kauri's Kitchen (カウリキッチン) one Monday afternoon when we were at the Daiyu Eight Max (a mall here in Fukushima City).  It's become our favorite go-to spot for Monday lunches ever since. 

In Japan, a buffet is known as a viking (バイキング - baikingu).  I always thought this was referring to the Norsemen who (presumably) had ferocious appetites!  Apparently, though, that the word originated from the restaurant "Imperial Viking" in the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, which was the first restaurant in Japan to serve buffet-style meals.

The way it works at Kauri's Kitchen is that you pay for the amount of time that you're in the restaurant:  60 minutes, 90 minutes, or unlimited.  They also charge different amounts for men and women; they assume (probably correctly) that men will eat more than women.  I certainly makes sense, but I don't think something like that would fly in the USA. . .

They have an awesome salad bar and a large selection of food.  There's even three kinds of ice cream and a variety of other desserts.  I really should just let the pictures tell the story. . .

Good variety of pastas and salads (I like the spicy wasabi leaf salad with sesame dressing)

The Main Line:  Curry-flavored lotus root (れんかん）, sweet potatoes, omelet, roasted chicken, fish, and more!

Main Line #2:  You can see some soba noodles in the front, next to the pickled vegies, as well as some tempura on top

3 kinds of ice cream today:  vanilla, green tea, and strawberry

Also included for dessert:  fruit, homemade yogurt, vanilla pudding, and biscuit cookies

In the winter we could cook soup in a nabe pot right on our table.

Yummy!

A plate of Japanese vegetables . . .

Here's a nice link to a page that highlights all the Japanese vegetables.

The cool thing about the square plates is that it looks so artistic!

Dessert Time!  ice cream, jelly, sweet red bean with mochi rice

And finally, the most satisfying part of an all-you-can-eat buffet:  the leftover dishes that you don't have to wash!

Hiking on Adatara Mountain

Yesterday Haidee and I woke up to a very balmy Fukushima summer morning.  By 8:00am the temperature was pushing 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) and steadily rising.  Last year, we employed the "frozen vegetables on the head" technique to stay cool (see blog post here), but by 9:30am we knew more drastic measures were necessary for survival.  So we decided to head for the hills . . . literally.  We threw some food and clothing in a bag, jumped in the car, and embarked on our first ever trip to Adatara Mountain 安達太良山.

As we climbed up out of the mountain basin that houses Fukushima City, the temperatures gradually cooled off to a much more comfortable 26 degrees.  In less than one hour we arrived at Adatara Kogen Ski Resort. . . . who knew that we lived so close to a great skiing location.  Apparently this place is hopping in the winter, but there were quite a few people there yesterday as well, enjoying the cooler temperatures and nice hiking trails.

Mount Adatara - located just 30 km southwest of Fukushima City

Haidee had done a little research online before we arrived.   The blog she found said it would be about a 2 - 2½ hour hike one way (traveling about 6.5 km and ascending 760 meters).  We also had the choice to take the ski gondola 3/4 of the way up the mountain, but we thought we could handle the 6.5 km hike.  So, we set out for the summit on foot at about 11:30am.  The first half of our hike was on a trail winding through the forest, with beautiful scenery and a nice cool breeze!  We came out of the forest to an awesome view of blue sky and green-covered mountain tops (sorry, these pics don't do it justice):

Mount Adatara is an active volcano that located on a mountain range with a few other famous Fukushima mountains, including Mount Azuma (which we've already hiked) and Mount Bandai (which we plan to hike later this summer).  As we neared the top we could see plenty of volcanic rocks.

Haidee, standing behind some volcanic rocks just below the summit.

All told (with a few snack breaks), it took us 3 hours and 15 minutes to reach the top.  It was a little more intense than we had anticipated, but the scenery was incredible!  We rested a bit while we enjoyed the misty view and the strong, cool breeze.  

It was too misty to see the other famous mountain peaks (like Mt. Bandai), but we enjoyed the view nevertheless!

Looking east from the summit:  you can see Nihonmatsu City in the background (if my camera was better)

At this point it was about 3:00pm and we were pretty tired.  We were definitely looking forward to taking the gondola back down.  However, in order to get to the top gondola station we needed to hike another hour down a different trail.  We made it at 4:00pm, exactly 20 minutes before the last gondola departed.  Talk about cutting it close!  (Let's not think about the 4 hours of additional hiking we would've had to make had we missed the gondola. . .)

Enjoying another great view of Nihonmatsu City while we rode the gondola back down to the base of Adatara Mountain.

Now then, having mentioned that this is an active volcano, it only makes sense that there are natural hot spring baths nearby.  And, as I've learned here in Japan, no hike is complete without a hot springs bath!  We stopped by Dake Onsen （岳温泉） on our way home and enjoyed an outdoor bath at a hotel called the "Healthy Pal" (literally "he-ru-shii-pa-ru").  It was heavenly!

We arrived back home at 7:00pm, and the inside of our apartment was 34 degrees (94 degrees Fahrenheit!!  Thank goodness for air conditioning!  And praise God for His beautiful creation here in Fukushima!