Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Wednesday December 17, 3:21 p.m.

Well, had that dinner at Gen Nakamura. Not a person's name but the name of a restaurant in Ebisu. It's actually a reconverted apartment, and by the looks of the interior, it must've been a pretty large apartment. It did look like a true restaurant inside. The Carolinan made the call on this one and she picked well; the fare was a bit more different from the usual run-of-the-mill izakaya. The main dish was a hot pot for which the broth was 100% collagen...a woman's best friend in Japan. It looked rather groady since it looked like pale yellow blocks of wobbly stuff and it didn't have much of a taste but when it melted during the cooking and we put in the chunks of chicken and veggies, it made for a satisfying meal.

Some of the old folks from the ol' school were there: SR, The Jazz Singer, and of course, California Girl with her hubby and buddies. The Jazz Singer just got engaged last week so she was fairly glowing...even without the collagen. Both she and SR were asking about my services once again, but not sure if I can even fit them into the schedule.

And it looks like Ol' Sam has been getting the old gang together for dinner on Friday night. Looks like City Hall will be the meeting place.
Tuesday December 16, 6:11 p.m.

It's been a busy last few days. I've had to prep stuff for Speedy since he'll be spelling me for the next couple of lessons for Swank...and prepping for Swank is always a bit of an epic. Finally got the shopping out of the way. Bought two more books for the parentals and got stuff for The Anime King and his court. Binged at the Akiba kaiten sushi place at the top of Yodobashi Camera and sacrificed over 3,000 yen; worth every little silver yen.

Officially, I'm on holiday but I'm here at Speedys, having taken the past several hours to write up the stuff on Swank. Ray and The Trekkie are having a mock debate on the significance of Santa Claus. The Trekkie was gobsmacked when she found out that Kris' abode is in my country. I naturally pointed out the fact that his clothes are indeed red-and-white.

On Sunday, I did take Tully and The Coffeemaker for brunch at Fujimamas. It was one of the rainiest and coldest days that I'd experienced all year as I explored Kiddyland for a few minutes while waiting for the two. The third floor is now devoted to Snoopy and the Peanuts gang. As for Fujimamas, there was no sign of that snooty waitress who had the temerity to snort at my single status when I'd arrived at the place for Xmas dinner some years back. I once again had The Plate, the dish of just about every breakfast item available. It used to be served on big long platter but now apparently too many customers probably complained about the syrup getting into all of the savory stuff like the sausages so now the hotcakes come on a separate dish. Tully and The Coffeemaker enjoyed the fare there. I even got a present in the form of a Swiss Army Knife from them.

Later in the evening, after some running around for Xmas, I met up with Movie Buddy and The Satyr plus their significant others, The Sylph and Miss Ivory, and Skippy in front of Picadilly in Shinjuku. Unfortunately, Skippy had to skip out to a prior engagement so it was a very brief round of greetings between her and me. The rest of us ended up having dinner at Foo Foo for the usual pai ko tan tan men. Even with the walk up from Omotesando to Shinjuku, I hadn't completely walked off all those calories from the brunch, so it was a bit of a slog to get through the huge bowl of ramen at Foo Foo. Still, I had enough room in the ol' belly for dessert at a place in Lumine.

Yesterday was my last official day of work for the year. It was a full slate of The Class Act, SIL, The Full-Timer and Medicine Man. Even The Businesswoman managed to squeeze in an hour in a rare Monday appearance. The Full-Timer had just come back from France after her first trip there. She definitely had a good time. Her theme was also food-based; she showed me a rash of the dishes she and her colleagues had noshed on there. She was also pleasantly surprised that the French in Paris were not at all rude and snooty.

In about 20 or so minutes, I'll be heading out to Ebisu to meet up with California Girl and her hubby, SR and The Carolinan for a reunion of sorts at some apartment-converted restaurant near the station. Can't really stay too long since I'm gonna be pretty busy.