A long time ago getting older used to be fun. I’d get some nice presents, eat some cake, and take another step closer to being an adult. But, as most kids discover later, being an adult is not quite what they had expected.
Birthdays these days are a different affair. Although I’ve long since stepped into adulthood (and middle age, for that matter) I still manage to enjoy the presents and cake.
This year I got a beautiful new necktie from my wife, and a box of American goodies from my parents. So the presents were covered and I was very thankful to receive such nice gifts.
Since I’m not much of a cake fan anymore, we instead decided to head into Osaka and have the next best thing: all-you-can-eat dim sum. The Swisshotel in the Namba area has a remarkably large menu of dim sum (around 80 different kinds) and you can order as many as you can possibly eat within 90 minutes for a surprisingly reasonable price (for Japan). It was the perfect gift for the dim sum lover that I am, and Kuniko and I ate our fill despite a gyoza marathon the night before. We even walked afterwards to Korea Town in Tsuruhashi to pick up three varieties of freshly made kimchi (nappa cabbage, lotus root, and celery), and some chapche and kinpa. Good eating!
We were also able to spend some time with friends. On Sunday we met Yoshi and Mamiko near Osaka Castle to enjoy another craft beer event. We set up shop under a pedestrian overpass to avoid the summer-like weather, and proceeded to drink lots of different beers over the next few hours. We caught up on our summer trips, exchanged souvenirs, and talked about food and booze, which seem to be our go-to topics.
After the craft beer festival we proceeded to Nishinomiya, and the Nishinomiya Ebisu shrine new sake ceremony. This was a big event held mainly for locals. Although Mamiko had attended several times before, it was our first time, and we settled right in drinking sake and more beer on top of all that we had imbibed before.
I really enjoyed the event even though I usually try to avoid heavy sake drinking. It seems like beer and wine have a very small effect on me but sake goes down way too quickly. The food was quite good – very local Japanese foods like oden, edamame (three big bags full), tamagoyaki, and fried chicken.
With all that eating and drinking it was nice to rest up on Monday and enjoy the public holiday recovering in our living room. We watched movies, played our new favorite relaxation game (Stardew Valley) and got ready to depart this gastronomic dreamland and go back to work the next day.
So as birthday weekends go it couldn’t be beat, and it sort of softened the blow of turning 46 years old. There’s a lot of delicious food and drink out there, and this past weekend I think we put a respectable dent in it.