Yesterday I came back to work after a full 10 days off, and I’m getting back into my regular work routine. Part of that routine is spending more time reading on my lunch break and during my commute – so expect more thoughts on the books I am reading here soon.
During the long holiday we’d normally be traveling, but because of the pandemic we’re stuck (again) at home. It has been brutally hot, so it is hard to get up the energy to go outside. Instead of walking to the supermarket we’ve changed over to driving, at least until the heat subsides in September.
We did manage to brave the heat one day to go into Kobe for a wedding anniversary lunch. We ate at Calimero, a place that serves Italian food from the Lazio region of Italy. Kuniko had heard about the restaurant from some foodie acquaintances from the old days, and so we went to check it out. It felt a little strange to be eating out, but they did a good job of keeping everyone separated and disinfected, so I wasn’t too worried.
As for the food, I thought it was a little overpriced for what we were served. There was hardly any lamb meat on the bones of the cacciatore – but the sauce was excellent, with lots of olives, capers and raisins. I ordered a cheese frittata with summer truffles, and the chef came out to slice the truffle onto the frittata, making a big deal out of putting a ton of the truffle slices on there as if he was doling out a culinary treasure, but the truffle itself was almost tasteless, probably a Chinese import that requires a pretty wide mental leap to be labeled a summer truffle.
We focused on veggie dishes that were a little better although nothing that we couldn’t make at home. I find that the more we cook at home the more strict we are about the restaurants we visit. However, the atmosphere of the restaurant, and the occasion of our wedding anniversary were enough to make for a memorable day.
We ate some good food at home during the holiday – Chinese dry noodles with lamb and cumin, caponata, pesto fried eggs, grilled carne asada burritos, spicy Szechuan noodles with egg and ground pork, rosemary and garlic marinated grilled chicken, barbecued shrimp and vegetables, homemade harissa, and probably a few more dishes that I’m forgetting now. There are lots of nice vegetables in the market and we’ve enjoyed shopping each day and picking out what to eat from what we find at the market.
This week Kuniko got her first vaccination shot for COVID, and on Friday I’ll get my second. If the rest of the world is ready for us, we are certainly ready to get out there and do some traveling soon!
