Friday after school I came home and beat Kuniko back. For some reason I felt like celebrating the end of my first week at school, so I sent a message to Kuniko to see if she was up for a glass of wine from the little Italian restaurant across the street. She said yes, so we were all set and ready to go. Then, the night took a turn for the worse.
When Kuniko got home we found that we had misunderstood each other – Kuniko had thought that I was going to go across the street to the restaurant, buy a bottle of wine, and then bring it back to drink at home. She was OK to head over to the restaurant, however. When we got there the tiny place already had four people sitting at the bar working on their dinner. There was only one guy working at the restaurant, and he spent the whole time trying to catch up in the kitchen so it took a long time to order. They didn’t sell wine by the glass (what kind of place is this?) so we settled on a half bottle (which just meant he filled a carafe from the bottle… why not just go by the glass in that case?). The wine was pretty good – a Chianti Classico.
So the root of the problem is this – I had imagined coming home, taking Kuniko over to the restaurant across the street and sipping some wine and leisurely chatting about our week. Maybe order a small pizza and a salad, and enjoy a slow paced evening out, right across the street from our house. When we were in France and Italy the cafe culture was really nice – I guess I wanted to get a taste of it again.
But, here I was at the bar – Kuniko had her head propped up in her hands trying to stay awake, the wine list has boiled down to one choice because I know better than to spend $60 for a bottle of Chianti, and we can’t order any food because the guy is stuck back in the kitchen.
I know what you are saying… Wow Bryan, your life sucks.
Yes, I know, I know. I’m writing this just to illustrate what can happen when you imagine an ideal situation and then expect it to happen, just because that’s what you want. I’ve got to learn to be a little more ready for bumps in the road. We are in Japan, after all, and the waiter doesn’t really have any idea what I wanted to get out of my dining experience.
Eventually we ordered a pizza and the cheese plate, and it was pretty good. The cheese plate was too expensive for what we got, so we decided to head over to Jusco after dinner and do some cheese shopping – cut out the middle man!
One advantage of living near this supermarket is that the customers are mainy really old fashioned traditional Japanese. It is a chain, so they get the same products all the other Jusco supermarkets get, but the people that shop there aren’t interested in California Pinot Noir or brie or Camembert or salsa. All of these things arrive at the store from the main distribution plant, and they sit there until Kuniko or I buy them. So, we swooped in there and scored some tasty food and brought it back home. We opened up a bottle of wine and had a much better experience lounging around our living room.
Sometimes I do get the urge to go out and enjoy great service and good wine, but I guess I’ve yet to find the right place. For now, it’s right at home.
