Browse Tag

yakitori

Bon Voyage Kuniko

May 21, 2010
/

Last night after work Kuniko and I happened to meet at the station coming home, thanks to some fortuitous timing. In these very rare cases (and because it was our last meal together for a while, and the fridge was empty) we usually end up at the local yakitori. We had a small dinner there eating the usual suspects – tsukune, negimi, kimo, shisomaki, and toridon. We recently discovered uzuratamago tsukune, which consists of two hardboiled quail eggs wrapped in ground chicken and grilled – excellent with spicy Chinese mustard.

After the yakitori we came home and Kuniko put the finishing touches on her packing, and then we had a farewell cocktail before watching some TV and heading to bed.

This morning she left the house rolling her suitcase behind her, and she’ll have to teach some classes today before gathering her flock and heading to the airport. This time they will fly first to Tokyo and change planes before heading to Vancouver.

As for me, I’m off to work soon. It will be a busy day at work as some of my students have double classes, which means there are a lot of things I need to do to keep them talking for 90 minutes.

After work I’m meeting Yoshi for a beer or two in Tarumi. He has a new izakaya that he wants to recommend to me, so we’ll meet and then go check it out.

Back to Denya, Quiet Futami

Apr 03, 2010
/

Friday I had a day off, so I spent the day exercising, walking around doing errands, and eventually topped it off with a trip back to Futami to check in over at Denya. It has been a long time since I had seen the master, and things were much the same at Denya.

I did notice when I got off at Higashi Futami station (a station I used to walk to every day when I first arrived in Japan) that the surrounding shops were pretty empty. The liquor store run by the family of a drinking buddy was shut down, and various stores that had been open months ago were abandoned. Things are not well in Futuami, and it was with some trepidation that I approached Denya. Luckily it was open, but I was the only customer.

I caught up with the master, and had a nice meal while watching the Hanshin Tigers game. As I ate some more customers straggled in, and the master suddenly got busy, so that was good news for him. I said farewell after eating my fill, and then walked north across the newer part of Futami to get to Tsuchiyama station, and things were a little better than the older part of town. Still, there is a little different vibe in Futami these days, and I am sure glad we didn’t decide to build a house in my old neighborhood. Okubo continues to grow, especially around the station, and I think we are lucky to be where we are.

Let the Blending Begin

Mar 26, 2010
/

I had to take the day off from blogging yesterday to watch the latest episode of Lost, but now I’m back and what do you know? It is Friday.

Kuniko has today and the next three days off, and four days off in a row for Kuniko is like suddenly getting three weeks off. That is to say, pretty much unheard of.

To celebrate we went out to yakitori last night. Actually, we ended up at yakitori because we both had to work a little later than normal, and we ended up coming back at about the same time with an empty fridge at home. So, we met up and ate grilled chicken. It has been a really long time since I’ve had yakitori, and the master there was happy to see me. I tried to drop in a couple of weeks ago, but at that time the place was full. In fact, we were lucky to get a couple of seats last night – he is really doing well for himself. He complained to me that there is no chance for him to take a vacation in the future – public holidays are his busiest times, but I guess that is the breaks when you choose a job like that.

After a big dinner and plenty of beer we walked home, and just caught the delivery of “The Blender”. I paid for it, took it inside and unpacked it, and it looks like it’ll do the job. Already tossed out the old blender, and I’m looking forward to trying out the new one. This summer we should be able to make smoothies, but tonight we’ll make frozen margaritas.

So, this should be a long day of classes while I think of the icy refreshment waiting at home for me. I’m out of here soon to go teach some classes, but Kuniko will be holding down the fort and enjoying some down time. I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more…