After going over familiar terrain yesterday, it was time to
visit somewhere new. This time round it was Kashiwa in Chiba prefecture.
Kashiwa city has a bustling shopping district, in fact, the
train station is built in to a large shopping mall. This did present us with a
challenge when we were trying to navigate the area. There was a North exit and
a South exit to the station, it did take a few surveys of the areas surrounding
the exit to determine the area Kyle was familiar with.
Once we had familiarized ourselves with the area we started
a little exploration. We came across an interesting looking shrine. Upon
further investigation (namely when I was looking at expanding my omomori
collection) we found an “out to lunch” sign. This we took to be a sign from the
kami that we, ourselves, should get lunch. This might also have had something
to do with my stomach producing the kind of rumbles that register on earthquake
monitoring equipment.
Kyle had clearly recovered from the year that I subjected
him to the “ramen diet” as his suggestion was ramen. In this instance it was a
type of ramen that I had not previously tried: cold ramen. This is a summer
dish, sometimes visiting Japan in one of its hottest months has its advantages.
The say it’s served can vary. Sometimes it’s served as a typical ramen (all in
one bowl), in this restaurant it was served in two bowls. The soup base was in
one bowl while the noodles and toppings were in the second. Dipping the
rice/toppings in the soup was an interesting change and overall was something
I’d certainly have again. After trying it I could understand the popularity of
cold ramen and the way it made for a refreshing dish in summer.
As to be expected, there was a fairly large amount of window
shopping (partially due to the large amount of shopping I had previously done
in Akihabara). There were a wide variety of shops, so it’s safe to say that we
were both kept on our feet for quite a while. Because Kyle was not feeling 100%
I was particularly appreciative of the effort he was going to.
As luck would have it, we stumbled across the “chibi” dark
magician girl figure I saw last summer but didn’t buy. I looked all over at new
year but to no avail. Recognising that I would probably not have this
opportunity again I leaped at the chance to buy it. Somehow, I think my
suitcases will be a little crowded!
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| No more figures - I'll have no room in my suitcase! |
After plenty of browsing and walking the equivalent of a
marathon, it was time to head back to Misato. Upon our return to Misato, Kyle
offered to buy me dinner at Burger King as we wouldn’t be able to go out to a
restaurant for dinner that evening. This seemed like an unusually generous
gesture so I was a little suspicious. My suspicions were confirmed when Kyle
returned from the counter, with a particularly evil grin on his face! He had
ordered me aka samauri burgers. For those who are not familiar with these,
here’s a link:
These burgers feature a sauce based on Chinese chilli bean
paste and the red buns are marinaded in chilli. I iwas warned by Kyle that
these were pretty powerful, in fact, he could only manage a few bites last time
he tried one and it played hell with his… digestive system. He had presented me
with 2, the chicken version and the beef version - This was his revenge!
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| Caution - not for 猫舌 |
Being a brave Yorkshireman who lives for curry, I had no
choice but to rise to the occasion.
With trepidation, I took my first bite. So far so good, but
I’d eaten enough curries to know that this could be a trap. I’d had plenty of
curries that seemed mild at first but took a few seconds for the heat to
register – I call this the “afterburner”. A few more bites and I’d managed to
eat half the beef burger. Other than some heat from the sauce and from the bun,
it all seemed okay. In fact, it was rather nice. Kyle could only look on with
horror as I finished the beef burger and moved on to the chicken burger. Kyle’s
revenge had turned in to his humiliation, it seems he’s lost his ability to
handle chilli. From now on, he will be known as 猫舌 (cat
tongue) – for the inability to handle hot/spicy food.
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| Here goes nothing! |
My victory sure was a good way to round off the day. Until
next time!
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