I just turned 25, y'all! And man, I gotta say, the jump from 24 to 25 is a waaaaay bigger slap in the face than 23 to 24, or really any other birthday before. Look, I know I'm still pretty young, but 25 just sounds so much older, right? Oof. Anyway, it was a pretty unique birthday to celebrate it while living out of the country, and I had an awesome night thanks to some wonderful friends. One thing I'd been missing like whoa since I arrived here in June was Thai food. Chicago was full of Thai and Asian fusion restaurants, including a delicious place right across the street from my last Chicago apartment that I ordered about once a week. While Thai food isn't nearly as easy to find in Osaka, I did track down one place with Pad Thai on the menu downtown in the Umeda area called Monsoon. After dinner we headed back toward home to have drinks at a local bar.
Waiting for the train with my new backpack! Thanks, Team Kawaii! (My wonderful cast)
Joshu squeezing himself between some locals on the train
The kitchen was in plain sight of the dining area in the restaurant, which was pretty neat. There were just three cooks working their butts off to feed everyone.
The menu looked great, but when a few of my friends ordered a "cilantro salad" and received a tiny bowl full of cilantro, with nothing else, not even dressing, we were a bit concerned.
Chicken satay was delicious and came with a few vegetables too, though the portion was a little disappointing, as this plate was two orders. Yeah, each order had just one skewer of chicken. Hmph.
Monsoon really redeemed themselves though with the seafood Pad Thai. Oishiiiii.
When we ordered dessert, we let them know it was my birthday (watashi no tanjyobi desu) and they brought this out!
The next morning was Sunday, and I didn't work until the afternoon, so I was able to go to Kuma Kafe's Sunday breaky!
Kuma Kafe is a local spot run by an Aussie and former USJ stuntman Paul. It's a cafe and bar open for lunch/dinner six days a week, but breakfast is only on Sundays.
It's a really popular place to eat and hang out for USJ employees. Once or twice a month they'll also have a live music event.
In my first few weeks here he stayed open late for just a handful of us to have drinks and do some karaoke.
Unlimited OJ, apple juice, coffee, and milk
Start off with a little granola
And then the main course! Love Kuma breakfasts. They also have great sandwiches and pizzas.
My momma was awesome enough to ship over a big box for my birthday! One of the things in it was my tennis racket that I didn't have room to pack. There are a couple other guys who play too, so I'm hoping to play asap!
She got me some socks and a couple bowties, which I'm going to rock once I figure out how to tie them...
Lots of plays to read and some cereal from home as a treat! The cereal options in Japan are quite limited, and anyone who knows me in the US knows how big of a problem that is for me.
Also some napkins with a map of Chicago on them! While I'm loving Japan, I certainly do miss my sweet home Chicago
All these awesome gifts came in a box that was wrapped and put in a bigger box with more wrapping and packing peanuts
Speaking of missing stuff from home, I recently went to check out an international foods store in the Shinsaibashi area
The store was in this huge underground shopping area
Found it!
Grape jam! In Japan they have all the usual flavors you'd find in the states, except instead of grape, blueberry jam is really popular here. I like blueberry, and strawberry and raspberry and all that, but there's something about that combo grape jelly and peanut butter...
Cheddarrrrrrrrr mmmm gimme dat! Been missin' you gurl
Mexican food is also hard to come by here in Japan, as you might expect.
But Jupiter has got me covered! Taco night, anyone?
I didn't get this. I don't know what it is. It was in the drink section by all the juices and sodas, but it's corn? Corn juice? I don't get it. What the eff.
Ra i su Ku ri su pi i (Rice Krispies! Don't need them for now though, I'm covered on the cereal front, thanks to my mom!)
There are some foods they didn't have that I'm still missing. The biggest thing for me is probably hummus. There's a Turkish buffet in the local mall that sometimes has what they call hummus, but it's kinda chunky and not really doing it for me. I've also been missing Mexican food (I can sort of get some at this store, but what I actually miss is Chipotle, which they definitely don't have here). And Chicago-style pizza, ugggggh, I'm gonna dive face-first into one of those as soon as I'm back, y'all, mark my words. Honestly though, that's all I can think of, so all in all I think I'm doing okay. Don't get me wrong, it's really, really hard, but with all of your support, I'M GONNA MAKE IT, YOU GUYS.
Let's be real though, the foods I miss are nothing compared to the family and friends! I got to skype with a whole bunch of family all at once this morning, as they were together to celebrate the birthday of another family member too, and man was it nice to see all those lovely faces! And anyone knows the best part of having a birthday post-2007 is seeing all the Facebook wall posts you get all day. It was super special to know that, even if just for a few seconds, all these loved ones are thinking about me from the other side of the world. I wish everyone I knew back home could also be in Japan with me, but instead I'll just have to do a better job of keeping in touch online. If you wanna skype or google hangout or something, please let me know friends! If you're reading this, I probably miss you and want to know what you've been up to! Thanks for reading and thanks for all the birthday wishes errbody. Go eat some hummus for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment