Last Friday after work Kuniko and I met in Nishi Akashi to visit a Spanish restaurant that our neighbors had recommended. It was small, crowded and lively, and we sat between two big tables full of shouting drunken people, which made conversation a little difficult. I’m all for shouting drunken people – I have plenty of experience being a shouting drunken person – but in this small place it was a little too much.
Despite the rowdy atmosphere the food was better than average, and the paella (although a little too greasy) had excellent flavor. We also had avocado salad, and a duck confit that was quite good. They also had a strange wine system – 3000 yen for a 750 mL bottle of wine, but a carafe of the same stuff (500 mL) was only 1500 yen.
Saturday Kuniko was working and I spent the day at home cleaning and doing laundry. We had a little party of our own in the evening, eating leftover Mexican food and hitting the cocktails, and even making a drunken trip to Uniqlo. It made it a little tough to get up on time Sunday morning to prepare for our guests.
I had invited one of the people that works at OTC over for lunch with his family. I have worked with this guy for a couple of years now, and I figured it was finally time to have him over for some BBQ. I met him and his family at 11 am at the local station, and it was hot. He had brought his wife and two kids, and they were all very friendly, and not shy at all.
The kids were great entertainment as we ate lunch and sat around the table. They were completely honest about the food (which I thought was refreshing) and everyone laughed when the little girl said that Kuniko’s homemade bread was not delicious. But she still tried to eat it, which was cute. We played around for most of the afternoon, giving our living room a workout. The kids were pretty active, and our sofa became a jungle gym. The bar counter was also popular – the kids would climb up onto a bar stool and ask for a drink, and then I would serve then OJ or milk in little shot glasses. I’m not sure their parents were so thrilled with that, but the kids enjoyed it.
Finally we called it a day and walked them back to the station. The kids seemed to have enjoyed themselves, and the little girl was holding Kuniko’s hand all the way back, crying because she had to go home without Kuniko. Her brother was a little more proactive, trying to setup a time for us to visit this summer. The only person that wasn’t so friendly was my coworker, who looked a little tired throughout the visit, and didn’t seem to be too into lunch. Mysterious…
This week should be pretty lively. Kuniko will be on an overnight trip with students from Tuesday to Thursday, so I won’t see her until Thursday night. Tuesday I’ll go out to the tachinomi with an inspector and a student. Thursday I’ll meet Yoshi in Tarumi for drinks after work, and Friday Kuniko and I will head east to visit a burger and taco shack that we drove past by chance a few weeks ago. Then, the following week I have completely off from work – nine days in a row. Can’t wait…
