I love yakiniku. It’s the hidden underside of the otherwise relatively healthy Japanese diet. Literally “grilled meat”, yakiniku is served on a plate raw in bite-sized pieces, and then cooked by the customer on a gas grill that is usually built right into the table. You order meat by type – for example “beef rib meat”, or “chicken thigh meat”. They also usually have lots of Korean food at yakiniku places, so it’s a double bonus. Once the meat is grilled the way you like, you dunk it in a sauce and eat it. The sauce can be modified – they have spicy Korean sauces and extra garlic if you want to add it. It really brings out the inner carnivore. The only drink that goes well with yakiniku is cold beer, and lots of it.
Kuniko and I love yakiniku, but it isn’t the most healthy dish as there is sometimes a lot of fat on some cuts of meat, and inevitably all that meat and sauce and garlic leaves pretty stinky breath for the rest of the day (and possibly into the next!). Luckily Kuniko had a rare two days off, so last night we went and ate big at a local yakiniku place we wanted to try. It was run by a family and it was a pretty nice place. What it lacked in atmosphere it made up for in friendliness, and we had a pretty good time.
After dinner we walked around Vivre and Saty shopping and killing time before seeing “Cloverfield” in the theater. Before the movie I found a good price on a new suit (my next two-week gig is a business English class so I need to look the part) so that will be ready later this week. The movie was one of the rare ones that Kuniko and I felt completely opposite about – I liked it quite a lot and Kuniko didn’t like it at all.
Today Kuniko and I slept in and did a little bit of shopping at the drug store, and I’ve been studying all afternoon while Kuniko has been studying and baking. A nice slow day, and perfectly timed with the rainy weather.
