February 11, 2015

Wednesday - Rainy and a little snowy

A good day!

Sorry about my absence last night.  It wasn’t really planned.  Since today was a holiday, my husband asked me if I’d like to go on a mini-trip and I said yes.  There you go. 

This morning we drove into Sakata and had lunch.  That wasn’t quite as easy as it sounds because we had to find a place that was open.  We had bought a magazine with many local restaurants in it and the first two that we went to were both closed today.  Oh no!  The third restaurant was really hard to find.  They had their name up on the window, but the letters were about 3cm high.  Pretty hard to read from a moving vehicle.  Anyway, we found a place and went there.  F had dry curry, which came with (get this!) rice, couscous AND mashed potato.  I mean…3 starches?  The mind boggles!  He liked it, but doesn’t really like couscous.  I had Singapore chicken rice.  It was steamed chicken with some kind of really mild sauce and a cup of long onion soup.  I liked mine, but really thought it would have a bit of zing!  We also had some of their special drinks there.  F had some kind of sake leavings drink and I had a houji-cha latte.  Mine was fab.  

While we were at the restaurant, I texted a friend to see if she’d like to meet up for a drink at the new Starbucks in the city.  She would, but it would a couple of hours.  That wasn’t too bad.  F and I decided to go to the Aeon Mall in Sakata to do a little window shopping.  We bought some DVDs for cheap in a hardware store.  I went to the wool department and didn’t buy anything.  I also priced out new printer/scanners.  It’s annoying that I can buy a new printer/scanner for cheaper than a scanner by itself.  

We went to Starbucks and were able to get a table in the far corner.  It was quite a good one.  F went to get our drinks and a few minutes later my friend and her son came in.  He was allowed to come and sit beside me and we amused each other for a few minutes.  We all spent an hour together, but it was time to get on our way after that.

We started to drive home.  F was going to stop at the big mall, but we decided not to go because we were both feeling like we might have colds.  Our noses started running this morning and it’s quite annoying!  Back in Tsuruoka, we picked up some kerosene and then came home.  

I put on the heater, turned the water back on and waited for the apartment to warm up.  It took a long time.  F and I checked email and unpacked some of our stuff so that we could relax.  Soon, he went over to his mother’s house to check on her and walk the dog.  

When he came back, we talked about going to dinner.  I suggested using the new magazine again, and I found a place that looked interesting.  We drove off there and found a very new cafe.  It’s very nice inside.  The only downside for me is that they only have 3 dishes on their menu. They have chicken curry and rice, pasta with meat sauce and ginger pork.  We had the chicken curry, which was nice and had a bit of a kick to it.  It came with soup and salad, dessert and then for 200 yen extra coffee or tea.  We had tea and it was lovely.  We’ll probably go back for the tea/coffee aspect, and to see if they change up their menu.  The outside of the place doesn’t have any lights, so if I was going to give them advice, I’d say put some lights up!  I thought they were closed when we arrived!

We bought some groceries at the store.  On one of the next two nights I’m going to make toad in the hole, so I’m looking forward to that!  I also bought brussel sprouts and snow peas.  I’ll be a cooking fool.  

We watched a bit of TV tonight, I darned some of the ends in from my granny square blanket and then did the garbage up for F to take out tomorrow morning.  

It was a lovely day.  It was so nice not to fight with F, and to try some new restaurants! 


That’s it for me.  Until tomorrow….

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