Lots of things to catch up on this weekend, starting with a small party I had with some ex-students in Sannomiya. We started at a yakiniku place near Tokyu Hands in Sannomiya. The place had a strange atmosphere, with bright fluorescent lights and kind of a warehouse feel, but the food was pretty good, and they did have an all-you-can-drink menu. We were with Mr. Minamimoto, who can eat and drink quite a bit. Each time he finished a drink he was nice enough to order one for everybody else, which resulted in a pretty quick pace.
By the time we left the restaurant we were all feeling pretty good, and next we went to Bar Mar for some wine and tapas. Kuniko ended up getting free from her work party, so she dropped by to see the train wreck in progress. The highlight (or lowlight, I guess) would be when I took Mr. Minamimoto over to a table with three older ladies to introduce him as an available bachelor. In my broken (and drunken) Japanese I could barely get his name out let alone introduce him properly. Mr. Minamimoto was whispering in my ear, “Abort, abort!” and in the end I think I managed to embarrass everyone but myself.
Saturday Kuniko and I spent the day in Sannomiya doing Christmas shopping. She had to attend a lecture, so I spent the three hours killing time in town, and then we went out for some currywurst at a restaurant that Kuniko had found a while back. Not bad currywurst, although the curry was a little sweet for our taste.
Finally yesterday we drove all the way to Kinosaki, in the north of Hyogo to have a crab lunch and soak in the hot springs. Kinosaki is all about crabs – every store had some kind of crab merchandise, and plenty of hot spring resorts to enjoy as well. We walked around the small town in a slight drizzle, and then went to the resort where they served our feast in a private room.
The food was great – we started with our own crab, then we had crab sashimi, grilled crab, crab nabe, crab chawanmushi, crab tempura, and some crab zousui to wrap things up. Delicious – and a very friendly staff made it a really enjoyable experience. Afterwards we were able to use the private bath filled with flowers and enjoy a hot soak while it rained outside. A very nice experience.
While my holiday season parties are now complete Kuniko has two more this week, so she’ll be home late tonight and Wednesday. And I’ve got just a few more Christmas presents to get and then we’ll be done with shopping – that’s a good feeling.
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