Friday night after work Antoine and I got together in Sannomiya for dinner and drinks. We tried a new burger shop in the back alleys of Sannomiya called ジャンク (Junk) which probably should have been a warning sign. But we were craving authentic burgers, and it turned out they were not so junky. I had a double cheeseburger, and Antoine had an avocado burger. Mine was pretty good, but the meat was quite small, and the whole thing fell apart messily after the first bite. The bun tasted great, but wasn’t strong enough to hold the meat, toppings and sauce. The meat itself had great flavor, but since it was made from super tender Japanese beef it fell apart pretty quickly too. Not bad, but it was no Starchild.
We also hit a couple of other places, including D Wine and had some Havens Merlot, and a really tasty Spanish wine – 2007 Condado de Haza Crianza. Finally we stopped in at the New York for a last drink (and some pizza) before catching the train back. It was good to see Antoine and talk about what he’s got on his plate. His family life is going well, and he’s got some things developing in his professional life, so it’ll be good to see how it works out.
Saturday Kuniko was stuck at work all day, and I was holding down the home fort. It was freakishly hot so I mostly stayed inside protected by the air conditioning system. At around 6 pm Kuniko came home from work, and then a few minutes later we left to meet a new friend that I met a while back at Red Spanky. His name is Mr. Ota, and he lives here in Okubo. He met us in front of McDonald’s, and after introducing Kuniko we walked over to a local place he wanted to introduce called 穴婆 (Anaba). I had walked past the place before, but it seemed a little on the spooky side. Turns out that once you go inside it is quite nice. The couple running the tiny restaurant are really friendly and we squeezed in between two regulars at the counter seating and ordered some cold beer.
Mr. Ota is a cool guy. He works as an electrician doing freelance work in the area, and his girlfriend (who I also met at Red Spanky) lives nearby. Unfortunately she was out of town for the weekend, but I’m sure we’ll get a chance to see her in the future. We talked with Mr. Ota and the owners of the place, and had some good conversation while being fed various foods – homemade gyoza, chicken wings, 豚冷ã—ゃ㶠(cold pork strips on salad with sesame dressing), chicken hearts, and grilled mushrooms. For some reason I was thirsty for beer – I had five or six mugs of it, when I usually only have one or two. It was a good evening.
Sunday Kuniko had to take an English test in Kobe, so again I had the place to myself. I did a little shopping and chopped vegetables for dinner. I marinated the veggies in olive oil, maple syrup and wasabi. It turned out to be a little too subtle for our tastes, but it was OK. With the grilled veggies we also had 冷奴 (hiyayakko) cold tofu smothered in green onions and topped with 本ã¤ã‚† (hontsuyu – fish based salty broth). Yum.
It was a nice weekend – we drank a lot but we also managed some healthy eating as well. Next weekend we’re going over to hang out with the Fukumi’s, so more parties on the horizon. I’ve also got a plan to go out to the tachinomi tonight with Bill, one of the inspectors at work. Looking forward to it…
