Tasty goodbyes

Last night we walked through the steady rain to a local Japanese restaurant. We've received more than 15 inches since Thursday afternoon. The rain had been relentless. My brown gum boots and green-with-white polkadots umbrella are getting quite a workout.

The "green" dish is a Capsicum and Beef
Stirfry. To the right is the signature dish
of the restaurant: Gyoza (a Chinese-dumpling
we first discovered in those hazy early days
of church life in Japan, only weeks after we
first arrived in Japan in 2000).

It occurred to me a little while ago, as I tried to plan meals for the coming weeks, that Japanese food was one thing we missed while in Australia. Oh yes, we're looking forward to BBQs, Aussie sausages, Weetbix, Mars Bars, lamb, pies and all sorts of food that isn't easy to get here. But eventually we'll feel "homesick" for food that's easily available in Japan. 

So I asked the boys what food experiences they'd like to have before we left (keeping in mind that we don't eat a lot of Japanese food at home, I generally leave that to the experts). A number of ideas came up, some of them viable. Therefore I modified my evening meal plan yet again. It's got so much white-out on it now that I'm beginning to wonder how much more the paper will take. Feeding a family, while simultaneously emptying the larder takes skill and though I've done it before and somewhat enjoy the challenge, I'm not finding it easy.

Last night we enjoyed a pretty cheap, but tasty meal. It was good. The boys were pretty jumpy because they were going to a board game evening afterwards. But still it was good. We're saying our farewells, and I have to say this was a tasty one.