Friday night after work I joined a couple of current and ex-students for some eating and drinking in Sannomiya. We started at a Chinese restaurant that we had tried to go to before but was too popular. For whatever reason it was less popular this time – but we had made a reservation to be certain. The staff were Chinese, and the food was really good. Much spicier than the Japanized Chinese food that we often get. Shu, one of my ex-students, likes culinary adventures, so he ordered some fried silkworms for us to enjoy (full of protein and delicious), and we also shared a giant nabe that had two sides – one with spicy broth and one with soy milk broth. The spicy was my favorite, and dipping in thinly sliced raw lamb meat was perfect.
We also went to enjoy cucumbers at a nearby restaurant. This time another student suggested that the cucumbers were excellent there, and by the time we sat down and starting eating cucumbers I could see why he liked them. They were served ice cold and slightly glazed with sesame oil, salt and garlic. Yum. He even bought a few to take home to his wife, he liked them so much.
We barely caught the train back in time – there was a moment where it might have turned into an all-nighter – but we pulled back from the brink and I got home a little after midnight.
Saturday Kuniko and I did a little shopping and running around during the day, and we stopped by a bakery that one of her friends started up. The place was called Atelier maman in Higashi Kakogawa, and it was quite nice. She is doing mainly internet orders, but she served us coffee and chiffon cake while Kuniko chatted with her and caught up on old times.
In the evening our neighbor Mr. Fukumi came over to have dinner with us. Since his wife is in Spain with a friend we offered to keep him company, and he took us up on the offer. We had an impromptu BBQ party – I cooked up sausages, corn, yellow and red peppers and spare ribs, and we combined that with Kuniko’s garlic fried rice and a salad to make a huge feast. He probably thinks we eat like that every day, but we sent some leftovers home with him, so it worked out OK.
As usual we ate and drank too much, and had a good time listening to music and joking about the neighborhood and about work. At one point he got an email from his wife in Spain, so he sent her a picture of his meal and got a good response.
As for Sunday we spent the day lounging. Kuniko got me a Playstation 3 for my birthday, and it arrived a little early, so I hooked it up and played “Red Dead Redemption” for most of the day. We only went out once to buy some ingredients for yet another feast – this time the theme was Thai food.
I made vegetarian green Thai curry with mushrooms, peppers and eggplant, and Kuniko made Thai fried rice and also a chicken and pepper fry that turned out very well. Again, too much food, but we saved the leftovers for Monday night.
Now I’m off to work – just a regular week for me but this month is my last with my current students. Starting in October I’ll have a new batch of students to work with – I’m looking forward to meeting some new people!
