July 26, 2020

Sunday - Cloudy and rainy 

I slept in this morning. F barely slept however and when I woke up around 9 this morning told me that he’d take his mother out to the onsen. I fell back asleep. I did wake up around 11, got up, dressed and waited for my hubby to come back.

After he came back, he suggested lunch. Since K was coming too, it meant that we had to be careful where to go. She mostly eats Japanese food and it also has to be a place where she doesn’t have to walk a lot to get to. F picked Arpeggio again. I like it so I didn’t mind. It does have a longish walk for her though from the parking area.

We went to the restaurant, were seated and ordered, no big deal. When the people at the next table got their food, I realized that the woman sitting next to me used to be one of my students from L’Eikaiwa days.  I waved, didn’t say anything really. She was with her family, I was with mine. 

We actually ended up leaving before her, which was a surprise.

We came back to the house where F and I took naps or tried to! He was watching too much YouTube to sleep. Around 5 he asked me if I’d like to go to Don Quihote in Mikawa. I said sure. We went out and got K a bento and some of the weekly shop too then delivered it back to the house. 

We were on the road to Mikawa and F suggested having dinner out too. I reeled off the names of places in Mikawa and F wasn’t too happy. I mentioned that we could go somewhere in Sakata since it wasn’t that much further. He liked the idea and even liked the restaurant I suggested. 

Unfortunately, when we arrived, the restaurant was closed! Oh no.  I think they were just open for lunch today.  We asked Siri for suggestions. F wanted to go to a fish place and have tuna but I pointed out that we had that last night! He wasn’t happy with me, but it was true. Then I found a place on my phone that sounded okay and asked him about it. He’d been there about 20 years ago!  We drove over to it and went in.

In the twenty years since F was last there, it had changed from a Japanese place to a western-style restaurant. Although it had tatami, it also had tables and chairs. And Koi. There was a huge goldfish pond in the middle of the restaurant. It was amazing really! It wasn’t cheap, but the prices for what we got were quite reasonable. We had the lowest priced course and had two appetizers, soup, and then the main dish. I had filet steak, F had fish and a big shrimp. That came with a very nice bun. We got dessert too, chocolate cake and some jelly and fruit. There was also a cup of coffee to round out the meal. 

It was a BIG Koi pond!

Happily for me, table and chairs!

We left the restaurant in a huge downpour and got soaked running to the car. We were in the closest to the door space, so that lets you know how bad it was!

We drove to Mikawa and went to Don Quixote finally. We had a good snoop round, didn’t buy too much until we got to the grocery department. I picked up a few things, but not a lot really. We did get drinks for the drive back.

In Tsuruoka, we went to MaxValu to pick up a few more groceries. It was annoying as the store was being cleaned so parts of the store were blocked off, and the food was hidden. There just wasn’t a lot on offer tonight. I did manage to get some salad for dinner, and an entree for tomorrow night, but F was being a bit annoying. I figured out that he was very tired, so I tried not to let it get me too much.

We came back to the house, unpacked and tried to fit things in the fridge. I’m going to have to do a lot of cooking tomorrow. 

That’s about it. F is trying to sleep, but not managing too well I think. The rain is really coming down outside…must be the rainy season!  

Tomorrow I have to start my column or I’m in danger of not getting it done. Come back later and see what happens here. Until tomorrow….