Preparation for winter, pickled meat

In November, I was busy preparing the store for winter.

Before we knew it, it was already December...winter has truly arrived, and today, December 2nd, was the first snowfall.

Although a thin layer of snow accumulated and quickly melted, it was a sparkling, beautiful and mesmerizing morning.

For this reason, snow protection for offices and stores was completed by the end of November, so that they would be ready for snowfall at any time. In this way, boards were used to prevent the snow from approaching the buildings.

It's dark inside the building, but that can't be helped. It's hard every year, but living in a heavy snow area means this kind of work comes along. Rather, we focus on how to build the snow fence as quickly and beautifully (=sturdily). We've been living here for 11 years. My husband has gotten used to it, so I'm grateful that he can work with peace of mind.

And speaking of preparing for winter, there are pickles. My neighbor gave me a lot of Chinese cabbage, which I used to pickle meat.

Chinese cabbage is chopped into small pieces and pickled in salt. Later, garlic and the raw meat of your choice are added to the pickle, creating a "meat pickle" that is unheard of in other areas.

Once soaked, grill it and eat it. It has a delicious flavor because it is fermented with lactic acid bacteria, and goes well with rice and alcohol. Everyone loves marinated meat. It's a winter treat.

Other than these, we also make pickles of herring and dried squid with radish and koji, as well as pickles of Itoshiro turnip, a species native to Itoshiro, and eat these with rice during the winter.

Nowadays, we can go shopping by car even in winter, but in the past, the only way to go out in winter was on foot, so I hear that people would stock up on lots of preserved foods like this and eat them a little at a time to get through the winter.

Those were really tough times, but now we have conveniences and can get anything we want, but I want to cherish and pass on the pickling culture that has been passed down in Itoshiro, so I make pickles every year.

It's not just to spread the word, but above all because it's delicious! They say that cold is a good seasoning, but it's the cold in Itoshiro that makes it possible to make delicious pickles, so I can't stop.

I plan to enjoy this winter with some delicious and healthy pickles.