February 25, 2024

Sunday - Rainy and cold

I decided to sleep in today. Yes, if you were reading along, you’d know that I slept in yesterday and the day before too!  However, F came back to the room a little after 11:30 and suggested going out for lunch. He had a great suggestion, but I know they get very busy, so I suggested calling to see if we can get in. He called and they were too busy. Oh dear. 

I countered by suggesting my favourite place, Bistrot des Pointes in Mikawa. He called and they were open and would be happy to see us. Yay! (F and the chef were in the same school for a while, so they know each other a tad.) 

We drove out to Mikawa after I got dressed and got to the restaurant on time. We went in and got our table. Today F and I had almost the same thing. We had the lunch course and it came with kabocha soup (so yum!) and for our main dish we both had deer…Shika in Japanese. I thought I’d like to try it since I have had venison before in Canada. Honestly, I didn’t love it. It was well cooked, very tender, but I didn’t get much taste to it. I thought it might be gamey, but it wasn’t to me. I had my main with bread, F had his with rice. We plumped for dessert too. I had chocolate cake with tea, F had apple tart with coffee. We really enjoyed that part of the meal too!

The waitress/wife of the chef brought our bill to the table but I looked at it and thought something was odd. I’d promised F that I wouldn’t have the most expensive meal today, but the bill for the two of us was ¥8800. Huh?  We realized that we’d got the wrong bill, since the one we got was for 4 people and we were only 2. F called the waitress over and she changed the bills for us. The other table laughed about it, so that was good. 

We paid and left. It was a nice meal, even though I didn’t love the meat. 

I asked if we could go over to the Mall area and go to Don Qihote today since we were in the neighbourhood. F said it was an okay idea, so off we went. We found a parking space and toured the building. They’ve moved everything around again so it was hard to find things. F picked up some instant ramen/noodle things from the door area, and carried them through the store. We didn’t buy too much. We picked up some low cost drinks, F got himself some saké. I found a pasta sauce too. Yay us. 

We came back to Tsuruoka and F took us to a second hand shop. I was looking for a new pan, but I didn’t find one. I did find a handbag that I was mildly interested in. It had maps on the outside and one was of South Africa, one was of North America, and one was of Scandinavia, all places that I have lived. It wasn’t a fancy purse, and the long strap was missing so I decided that for the money it wasn’t exactly worth it for me. 

We zoomed over to Musashi. He wanted to get something for his fish tank again. Eye roll! I decided to look for pans there too. They had some, but I didn’t like them as much as the one that broke. 

We went back to the house where we unpacked the things we bought. F played with his fish, I went upstairs with some of our stuff.

We went out again to get the groceries. We just went to Mina and I went in and bought stuff. I’m going to make chicken wings for dinner tomorrow night. I hope it goes well.

We came back to the house and I put away the groceries. I had got K a bento so F gave it to her I think. I went upstairs, retrieved the kerosene tank and filled it up. I went upstairs and turned on the heater. It was darn cold in our room. 

We left for dinner a bit after 7 pm. Since we had a little bit expensive lunch, I suggested a cheaper dinner. We went to the newest gyudon shop. I just wanted some kara-age. I ordered some with a salad for me and one for F. I also ordered some fries. I was surprised to see that they had some. 

We ate and had an okay time. F didn’t really need his salad as he had some with his meal! F didn’t seem to want to leave afterwards, so we sat there for a while. I used my phone, he used his.

Finally, we left. F zoomed off ahead to the car and as I left the store, I almost bumped into someone. It was the chef from today’s restaurant! Then, I saw his wife, our waitress from today. F heard me talking to someone and came back to see what was going on.  We chatted for a second and then went our separate ways. F told me the chef said he was too tired to cook tonight, so they went to the gyudon place!

On the way back to the house, F remembered something he wanted to buy, so we popped into the grocery store near his house. We got a few things and then came back to the house.

Upstairs, we tried to warm up the room and then I decided to watch some TV. I watched a couple of things off the Fire Stick. I watched an episode of Fringe with a mystery virus, then the second episode of Slow Horses. It was good. 

F has gone to bed and I should get to bed soon too. It was a good day, on a day that is normally really sad for me. This was the anniversary of my mother’s death. It’s a sobering one for me this year too. I’m now older than my mother was when she died. I always think of her as the smartest, most knowledgeable person I ever knew…and now I’m older. 

Anyway, I’m off to bed. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….