I was planning to go to a cafeteria, but it was closed. I walked a bit and found an information center. They gave me a simple map of food and drink places in the area. I hadn't thought about what to do if my original plan didn't work out. They mentioned Chinese restaurants, regular restaurants, and even hot spring restaurants that are only open at night. My husband sometimes comes around here, so I wanted to try a place he hasn't been to. How about trying the Chinese restaurant? That's when I saw this place. It said they have freshly baked bread on Saturdays. Today is Saturday, and I haven't bought any bread yet. I hadn't seen any bakeries around here. This must be the place for bread. There aren't many types of bread, but having freshly baked bread in an area where it's not common is nice. Maybe having it only on Saturdays is better than having it every day. The croissant I got wasn't crispy even after reheating, but the walnut bread did get a bit crispy again.

In July 2013, I visited a confectionery shop in Kitahiyama, Setana, in southern Hokkaido. After taking a bath nearby, I stopped by looking for something sweet. I tried the local specialty called "karinba" for 44 yen each. Karinba is an Ainu word, I believe it refers to mountain cherry or cherry bark. Although this shop is not in this area, I think there are ruins in Eniwa. The snack was a cookie with almond slices on top, made without butter. The ingredients include flour, sugar, shortening, eggs, corn syrup, almonds, salt, baking powder, and mirin. It tasted homemade with a mild sweetness. I also tried their "dorayaki" for 126 yen, which had a moist texture with mildly sweet red bean paste inside, also homemade. I was happy to find the red bean paste I was looking for. The service was decent. Thank you for the meal. They also bake bread every Saturday.

While on a business trip in Hokkaido, I stopped by a store called "Meigashi Karinba" in Kitahiyama Onsen for a meal. I tried their signature item, Karinba, which is a cookie-like baked confectionery with a box of 10 pieces priced at around 680 yen. When I opened it at home, I found a leaflet inside explaining that "Karinba" means "place with lots of cherry blossoms" in Ainu language, referring to a place called Kariba Mountain. The packaging looked quite stylish. The confection turned out to be more like a sablé, with a small sablé topped with 3-4 slices of almond. It was crispy and fragrant, although my family thought it was a bit burnt. Upon closer inspection, we noticed variations in color among the confections, with some being slightly burnt. I tried the darkest one later, and it did have a burnt smell. This slightly affected our overall impression. The packaging mentioned that the store specializes in both Japanese and Western confectionery, so I look forward to trying their Japanese sweets next time.