We had a pretty nice weekend to kick off Golden Week. Friday night was a quiet night at home eating Thai food – but Saturday I met Kuniko in Kobe after she got off work and we attended a mandolin guitar concert put on by her students.
After the concert we headed over to a small bar that specializes in homemade sausages, called Bratwurst. I really liked some of their sausages, some of them were a little boring, however. And I don’t really understand why Japanese sausages have to be so damn small. I’m sure there is a very good reason for it, but I have yet to find the answer. And furthermore, despite being a sausage restaurant/bar, they only had two beers on tap – boring old Suntory. What a great opportunity to sell a variety of beers and keep people drinking.
Despite all the criticisms, we enjoyed eating there – the atmosphere was very nice and most of the sausages were great. I guess I reserve my deepest criticism for the restaurant that gets so close, and then punts on the details.
After snacking on sausages and beer we went to a restaurant that Kuniko recommended, a vegetable-centric place called 農家 (Nouka). They have a partnership with an agriculture co-op and sold fresh vegetables out in front of the restaurant. We had a couple of small plates of vegetarian dishes – steamed vegetables served with walnut oil and Okinawan salt, a deep-fried assortment of veggies to go with our beer, and a vegetarian pizza stacked high with gobo and lotus root. It really hit the spot, and we went home satisfied.
Yesterday we got up early and drove to Costco. Talk about crowded – I couldn’t believe how many people were waiting in line to get in. This is a big holiday week, so I guess it makes sense. We got in and got out in record time, however. Some products we were able to get – a huge bag of organic tortilla chips, a cheese plate of various flavors of Sonoma Jack cheese, pita bread for Yoshi and family. Some products were unavailable this time – flank steak for carne asada, Malbec from Argentina, and cheese bagels were nowhere to be found. You win some, you lose some, and we certainly didn’t go home empty-handed.
After a relaxing evening last night Kuniko went off to work this morning, and she’ll be stuck at work until late tonight. I’ll be doing some odd jobs at home but mainly relaxing and catching up on my reading. It’s time to enjoy the holidays.
