A little while back, I tried out Shokusai Hirafu sushi up at the Alpen Hotel.
It was one of the places I didn’t get to try last season because it was a little pricey for sushi. It’s a bit of a step up from sushi train.

But they had a limited offer for two days - sushi tabehoudai for about Y1500 (for ladies, a bit more pricier for men - little do they know that I can eat as much as any guy). An offer I couldn’t go past.

So a pre-dinner swim worked up the appetite for an all you-can-eat sushi session.

sushi

Yum!

数字の語呂合わせ　are basically Japanese number puns, where the number sequence when pronounced in Japanese form an actual word. They are most effective when written. It’s kind of like sms text/numeral talk lingo.

These three are the most common examples:
4649 = よろしく
39 = Thank you (サンキュウ)
5963 = ご苦労さん

Here are a handful of my personal favourites which I found on the Super Information Highway.
084=おはよ
4510=仕事
4949=至急至急
64874 = 虫歯なし
4989 = 四苦八苦
4444＝良し良し
194＝行くよ
1122 = いい夫婦

A quick Google search and you will come across a few more.

High tea is one of my many indulgences.

The Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo is an amazing, classy hotel that serves a proper high tea. It is a luxury hotel where guests get free chaffeured rides in Rolls Royces.

An indulgent afternoon on a cold Autumn day was spent there in the Lobby lounge sipping champagne, drinking tea, and savouring sandwiches, an assortment of cakes, and scones.

Have to admit that the Wentworth Sofitel in Sydney still does the best High tea to date.

Lovely photos as usual.

A ridiculous amount of eating (and drinking) has been going and I haven’t had time to catch up on all the blogging.

I’ve also learnt a new word to accompany all this eating.
常連客　= regular customer/patron/frequenter of a place.
It has become my local study cafe. They do great teas in pots with hot water refills, and a hot breakfast to order.

I have become quite the Sekka じょうれんきゃく.

Last month they put on a Sunday roast and what a feast it was.
For Y2000, there was an assortment of breads with dukkar and olive oil, fresh Hokkaido salad produce, chick peas, potatoes, peas, roasted vegie sides, and of course, a roast pork.

All that savoury goodness, was topped off with a homemade caramel, orange, brittle ice-cream.

I came across another Yojijukugo today which I could totally relate to, unflattering as it is.
無芸大食　むげいたいしょく　　　　　　　　　
Let’s break it down:
無 = not existing (negation)
芸 = arts, skills, talents
大 = big
食 = meal/eat

Literal translation is: no talents, big eater/meals
Someone whose only talent is eating, essentially an unaccomplished person.
To have no special talent besides the ability to eat a lot. Which, mind you, is not necessarily one would ordinarily be proud of.

And so I did what I do best, and ate some more.
Another dinner with workmates/friends. The occasion was a friends housewarming.
Fresh spring rolls, and tomato and cabbage bake, and thai curry which was so delicious. Finished off nicely with homemade cheesecake and ice-cream.

今日の用事熟語

Youjijukugos are four kanji compounds to form an idiomatic expression.
Here’s one for today, after last night’s big drinking episode.

酔生夢死　　すいせいむし　

Let’s break it down:
酔　= drunk
製 = live/life
夢　= dream
死 = die

Live drunk and die dreaming. To drink your life away, idle one’s life away.

And now for today’s Word of the day:
解毒する　- げどくする　(’dissolve’ + ‘poison’) = to detox.

Yes, let’s dissolve the poison. 水をいっぱい飲むぞ。

Last Friday night, we went into K-town for dinner and drinks with the usual work crew.
It was back to Nami chan’s again. My first time there was just a couple of weeks ago, but the food was so good, we went back again.
Traditional izakaya, but absolutely everything on the menu is great. We ordered kara age, ramen salad, roast beef, yakitori, sashimi, nasi goreng, and hokke. Hokke is a real popular Hokkaido fish which has become a weekly staple now.

This place also has the most hilarious English menu translation ever. Check out these gems!!!!

I’ve been eating way too much lately - izakayas, dinner parties, and the like.

Monday night had a dinner party with work mates, personally cooked by a professional, young local Chef, Montoya, which by the way is a really cool Japanese name.
He served up a pasta dish with clams and capers, garden salad, chicken salad, pork and potatoes. All washed down with a few glasses of red and white.

Good times, good times.

Went for a long stroll on the weekend for about 5km around the countryside and stopped for lunch at Soga. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere but it was surprisingly busy.
I had a most satisfying lunch. The menu was pretty extensive and I finally settled on ishiyaki bibimba and handmade gyoza.
The food was really good. So good, that I will think be back there again.
The gyozas were really plump and very juicy on the inside.
The bibimba was great, although I don’t know how one could ruin a bibimba anyway - one of my favourite Korean foods.

The walk back was topped off with a soft serve ice cream - from the local Cheese factory store. Needless to stay it was Camembert cheese flavoured ice cream. It was actually really nice. It wasn’t too cheesy or overpowering. Dairy intake accomplished.

I was in dire need of a new laptop and have made the new Macbook Pro the laptop of choice.
It has taken me over a year to get mentally used to the idea of having a Mac, and now I have finally made the move.
So begins the lifelong journey towards navigating my way through the Mac OS.