6 posts tagged “coffee”
Sunday started off cool and grey. The rain from yesterday seemed to be holding off.... nice I will go for a ride... head into town... grab a coffee... see if anybody can meet up...
So off I head... passing through the German Beer Garden the smell of freshly roasted cinnamon almonds overwhelmed me, I stopped and bought a medium size packet. The warm nuts in the pack and the smell quickly tempted me to open them up... what is the point of fresh roasted nuts.. if you don't eat them fresh?
As I arrived at Starbucks I ate the last almond. My body was now overloaded on evil sugar... I could feel sugar coursing through me... ooops.. too much... so I choose a long black coffee... no more sugar today if I could help it...
After the coffee I thought I would head up and see what movies are on. Nothing at a convenient time. And then I remembered I needed a new bathroom mat, the chemicals I used to try and clean the last one were a little harsh, the mat dissolved in areas...
So I headed into Loft (a Japanese dept. store), grabbed a bathroom mat... and then all those other things that I "needed" came to me. A tidy-all for the cutlery draw, a scrubbing brush to help clean the bathroom, vacuum packs to help save some space in my cupboard.
Then the not so essential items - a rack to lie across the sink, a new knife...
I walked out of loft ¥10,000 ($100) poorer - thankfully I have job now.
All from going and getting a coffee...
And yes I know bagels don't originate from Australia... but they are readily available and a bagel and cream cheese for brekkie and a hot coffee is a great way to start the day.
At least for the next 2 weeks I am going to have a great start to my day.. I purchased a stack of bagels... now I just need to work out how to navigate their web store.
Another coffee run! And it's cold outside. It looks like I called it right - November is almost done and Sapporo is pretty much a snow free zone. Sure we have had some snowfalls but it has pretty quickly melted or washed away. We may not have snow but we do have black ice. Tonights walk was a little slippy and you could see small patches everywhere. Tomorrow could be the last sunny day - the week forecast looks cold, cloudy and a bit ofsnow to come stay warm!
So I headed into town to grab a coffee and lunch by myself... checked out the Apple Store and the new iPod shuffle. (which is one awesome piece of kit). Then headed across town to Yodabashi Camera and checked out electronic dictionaries to help with my study. The only problem is that they are not cheap and aimed for people learning the other way... ie from Japanese to English. Only one maker has English menus (and that is Canon) but after using it you know that it is designed to be operated by a Japanese speaker. So I will have to make do without for the time been.
I also checked out external hard drives... these things are so cheap for the volume they contain.. 1 TB costs around $800 (aussie)... and they are just going to get cheaper... hopefully the 500GB in my computer will last some time before its full... (it already has 200gb gone...) (jesh my first computer had 20mb hard drive that I never filled...)
Anyway after tempting myself beyond my budget with electronics I headed back to the Odori to catch the White Illumination Display. Unfortunately I only had my miserable little mobile camera with me, and no tripod. Tomorrow I will head back and see if I can get some better photos with a real camera and tripod. But for now just hit my flickr page to view some more photos.
There is no doubt winter is here... the sun comes up after 6.30 sets around 4.30 and its cold. But it just makes hot coffee taste better...
Smooth jazz plays filling the small restaurant with late night New Orleans ambiance.
Haroya is a small Japanese traditional style meal restaurant. With big rich dark wooden seats and tables, a rather large counter, it has a very old world style about it... but without old world discomfort.
The ambiance may be New Orleans but the place most certainly is not. The four waitresses busy themselves serving the handful of customers home made like meals. Which are delicious. They are presented immaculately with each part of the meal having its own plate or bowl.
Tonight I order the Mackeral Set (it sounds better in Japanese - さば定食 saba teisyoku). I will have to be honest and admit to not knowing everything that I'm eating. Rice and the mackerel, some tofu, miso soup and a small assortment of some vegetables that I'm not fully familiar with, there is also a small bowl of seaweed.
I make small conversation with the waitress behind the counter, whose name if I recall is Mami. My Japanese is limited so we are stuck to discussing where I'm from the weather in Australia and the oncoming winter in Sapporo. (As I write this the various weather websites I visit report tempratures ranging from -2° to 4°, what ever it is... one thing is for sure... it is cold outside).
As the meal is finished a steaming hot glass of tea is served but the guy sitting next to me orders some coffee, the smell of freshly ground coffee overwhelms me and I order a cup too. It is at this time I feel as though I should retreat to the back of the restaurant with some friends, some cigerettes (which is weird because I don't smoke), a bottle of port and more coffee and engage with each other in some philosopical conversation on the meaning of whatever...
But for now, I will have to settle for
Oh that is depressing... it is not until I turn it into English I realise how limited my Japanese is... and then I think about what I said... and how grammatically broken it is..."It's cold outside"
"yes it is, last week it was hot in Sydney, my friend said it was 40° at his home"
"really... that is hot!
"yes it is!"
Time to do some homework.
Well it wasn't even that late... the email went out to 6 people at 9.28, coffee run time.
Back came the replies... well only 2 of them... "I have to work tomorrow" and "bed time!"
It's 9.30 everybody is over 20 years of age, independent and single!! What the hell is going on.
I know it's a Sunday Evening but still. This kind of thing makes me think I belong in NYC, San Francisco or London. Or anywhere in Spain. My god talk about party poopers and people lacking spontaneity.
Oh well I went by myself and had a lovely coffee and a late night snack, the ride into town was quick, the air cool and clean... autumn is here and I'm loving it.
Now I just have to get people out for a latish night cup-o-jo!!
I think I'm going to have to watch Seinfeld... at least he gets his mates out for coffee.
Chos.. where are ya mate??/
