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| I had a hearty breakfast to kick off the workweek. A half bowl of brown rice, two croquettes, and a hot bowl of creamy corn soup later, I was ready to face the day!
Just like last Monday, I attended the English salon at Libra. After putting the finishing touches on translating a tourist map from Japanese to English, the six of us at the English Salon decided to substantiate the claim on the map that a copy of the detailed drawing of 東海道, a national treasure, is on display somewhere in Libra.
After about 20 minutes of searching and asking around, we finally found the copy hidden in the reference section on the first floor. It felt like we really found something cool. We Ooohed and Ahhhed for about 10 minutes as we beheld its magnificence.
For lunch, Itoi Sensei and I went to eat 釜揚げうどん at 丸亀製麺. Talk about inexpensive, low-caloric, and delicious! The entire lunch for two was under 900円. I know I will be going back to this place, which reminds me alot of はなまるうどん that あやこ and I had dined at in 鹿児島.
After studying more with Itoi Sensei in the afternoon, I made some 八町味噌豚カツ rice for dinner. I would like to find more ways to incorporate 味噌 into my diet.
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| When I went with Naoko to 美濃路 earlier this month, she saw the あみやき亭 next door and commented that the two chains are owned by the same company. I didn't know that. Since 美濃路 is a good value, I wondered whether the neighboring あみやき亭 would be the same. Today, by pure coincidence, 三姐 took me to a あみやき亭 near her house, and I got to experience the chain first-hand.
The menu is dizzyingly complex, but 姊夫 is a あみやき亭 fan, so he knew exactly what he was doing. He ordered for all of us, and the food started coming! I am glad this あみやき亭 is ala carte style so dining there at dinnertime does not require paying a premium.
Bring on the premium カルビ!
And we also treated ourselves to some super premium カルビ! The main difference is that the super premium has a more beautiful marbling of the fat.
And this is not meat at all. It is kimchi, with an 温玉 (half-cooked hot spring egg) on top. I am not a raw egg nor egg yoke fan, but this was not bad.
In the spirit of balanced nutrition, we ordered some 長芋.
Okay let's put the veggies to the side and get in-touch with our inner carnivore!
And wash the sizzling meat down with a cold, refreshing lager.
Oh man there is also a dessert bar.
After the feast, 三姐 dropped me off at 八事駅, but instead of taking the subway back to 金山, I decided to walk off some of what I had just eaten by going to 金山 on foot. The trek was 7 kilometers long and took me 1.5 hours. While I walked, I listened to a CD set by Tim Staples entitled The Mystery of Suffering, which I really enjoyed. Kind of ironic to be listening to that while taking an evening stroll after a delicious dinner on a comfortable evening.
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| I studied at the Okazaki library today from 2pm until 7pm. Minna no Nihongo may be easy, but I am still finding there being ALOT of things to learn from it. And that's been all the material that I have needed. I can easily spend another 50 hours reviewing the material as well as self-studying the things that were skipped by the Yamasa classes. It is a rich textbook indeed.
Deserving a pat on the back, I went to 美濃路 for some inexpensive Japanese grilled goodness. This time no beverages except water was ordered, and thus the amount per person was 1500円. When I went with Naoko last week, the cost was 2600円 per person because we ordered beers. Wow, what a positive difference drinking water makes. After dining here a couple more time, I will have 美濃路's menu figured out and have an ultimate ordering strategy. ^_^
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| Today, Itoi Sensei and I met each other again at Denny's for some studying. And once again, we ran into Matsui San there. Therefore, it was like a repeat of Monday. Compared to most other Fridays, this was a very quiet one for me. Quiet is good for me right now because I need to balance all the valuable interaction with Japanese friends with enough self-studying.
Despite not having either work or school right now, I am incredibly busy everyday. It goes to show that I have many things to do even without work or school taking up 8 hours of every weekday. I am still able to fill all 16 waking hours of everyday with meaningful activities. Alot of that is spent doing language and cultural learning from daily life. Alot of that is spent nourishing relationships that I care about. For better or worse, this very unique period in my life will be over soon. I can say that I have without question been making the most of it.
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| I went to 日本晴れ today with 堀田先生 and ゆいちゃん. This is a very declicious restaurant, but its name does not lend well to being blogged about in English. The way to say the name of the restaurant is "Knee Hone Bah Lay" but in the romanized spelling it is written as "Nihon Bare." I don't know about you, but anything with "Bare" in it sounds suspeciously unwholesome. But wholesome this store was!
Here is the menu. Seems like the pictures on the left side are the recommended items. The three of us each ordered a different bowl on the left. For my first visit to any place, I usually like to eat something from the recommended list.
Before the ramen arrived, we dined on some complimentary appetizers. These spicy bean sprouts were really tasty!
The pickled ginger was also very tasty, though I didn't eat it standalone.
Here was my bowl of ramen!
ゆいちゃん had this.
And 堀田先生 had this.
I don't know how theirs tasted, but mine was absolutely delicious. It was perhaps the best bowl of ramen that I have ever had, and I've had alot of good ones!
After polishing our bowls, we were in the mood for dessert, so we strolled over to Zarame. I scanned the menu for something interesting and this "rare cheese" caught my eye. Unfortunately, true to the name, they were out of the rare cheese. So I ordered a chocolate cookie for 170円. That sounds really expensive, but after tasting the cookie, I can understand why it is so expensive. It was really soft and delicious!
堀田先生 and ゆいちゃん ordered different types of coffee, which were served with pretty designs on top.
I want to know how to make that!
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