For lunch today we went to a small place just out of town. It costs just ¥400 (£3) for their ramen, which is surprising in itself, but the most surprising thing is that they give a bigger portion to men (男盛), and a smaller portion to women. That could never happen in England, as they would get in trouble for sexism.
今日は友人と松本に行って一風堂でラーメンを食べようと決めたんですけど、結局電車に乗らず長野のよし家でラーメンを食べたんだ。固めの麺も選べて、スープもしょっぱくて美味しかった。
Feels good to have an office separate from where we're living. It's very comfortable, and has windows on two sides so it gets a lot of sun. Plus there's quite a nice view. I'll be spending most of my day in here, when I'm not in Starbucks.
Today I was taken to an old curry restaurant called Yamagoya (山小屋), down a small side alley off the main road in Nagano city centre. It was excellent. Their lunchtime set menu consists of three choices of curry with rice, and all come with soup, salad, and afterwards ice cream and coffee.
I chose the most expensive curry with bacon, potato and chicken katsu, for ¥895 (£7). I thought it was really superb, not really like the "normal" Japanese curry, but with more of a rich taste closer to a non-spicy curry you might get in the UK. If anything I'd have liked it a little more spicy, which you're able to order for ¥105. Next time I might pay an extra ¥105 for the larger portion (中盛り), although they also do a much larger (大盛り) portion for ¥210. All in all, a great find for my curry needs!
Bought a new pencil today, for my kanji studies. One of the weaknesses of ordinary mechanical pencils, is that the point of the lead flattens on one side as you write, so you have to turn the pencil all the time yourself. This results in lines of uneven thickness.
This pencil is relatively new, and is special in that it constantly turns the lead as you write, meaning you always get a sharp point, and thus lines of even thickness. It's available in both 0.5mm and 0.3mm thicknesses, and I went for the thinner one, as it enables me to write smaller kanji. So far, it seems to work very well, and I'm not disappointed at having spent the best part of ¥500 (£4) on it.
For my first ramen in Japan this time, we stopped at Ippudo in Suwa on the drive through to Nagano.
I do like this vegetable drink, supposedly giving a whole day's portion of vegetables in one hit. Tastes a bit like canned tomato soup!
It holds "casual"(!) frozen foods like chips and fried chicken, and as you press the button it must defrost it and pop it out. Everything costs ¥350 or about £2.75. This machine was at a service area on the motorway, but I wonder if I'll see them popping up in other places. Might have to try something next time...
日本ではこの雰囲気は絶対に味わえないような気がする。
As an outing today, we drove to Seaford, stopping in Alfriston for lunch and a look around. We were recommended by a friend to eat at Badgers Tea House, a small place originally built as a bakery 500 years ago.
They brought our tea out in silver pots, one looking like an old lantern of the genie-popping type. We went for the chunky tomato soup with bread and a huge hunk of cheddar, and a sausage panini with spicy tomato relish. We finished off with a piece of the wonderfully-soft and delicious coffee cake. Highly recommended. I would love to return for a cream tea at some point.
My first success with AutoStitch on iPhone, using 26 photos.
