daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
This evening I made a pot of Shin Ramyun with my go-to upgrades. 🍜 With about two minutes left on the timer, I drop an egg into the pot. After I turn off the flame, I add a little sesame oil and lay a slice of American cheese on top. That’s my baseline. Tonight though, we had shrimp tempura from Costco, so I threw two pieces on top of everything. It was so good. I need to make sure we always have that stuff in the freezer. 🍤
Had to grab another box of Shin Ramyun on my Costco run tonight. It’s just so good! 🍜
There is nothing better than second-day curry. 🍛 The flavors always deepen overnight, and today’s bowl did not disappoint.
Two eggs tucked underneath made it even better. 🥚
There’s a great song by Blur called Coffee and TV, but tonight I had my own version: Curry and TV. 🍛 The hardest part of the evening was picking what to watch from my “Continue Watching” queue. I ended up going with Gimbap and Onigiri followed by Tokyo Love Story. Good times! 📺
Oh, and that bottom photo? That’s the scene of the crime. I’m pretty sure Anko was licking the ladle and knocked it right onto the floor! 🐱
Time to leave Osaka and head home to Tatsuno. But not before one more good meal. 🍗
River Café specializes in chicken nanban, so of course I had to get the classic set. It was delicious and filling, exactly what you want before a two-hour train ride. Definitely worth a visit, just come early because the line can get long.
After lunch we squeezed in a bit more shopping, including a stop at my favorite store: Muji. I love their clothes because they are simple, good quality, and actually fit me well. This location at Grand Front Osaka had a really cool section with sample home rooms, kind of like IKEA but make it Japanese minimalist. I spotted a pair of shoes that caught my eye and took a photo for future reference.
Then it was time to grab our luggage from the station locker and make the trip back to Tatsuno. Once we got home and dropped everything off, we headed to a neighborhood yakitori spot for dinner and drinks. 🍢 A long day, but a really good one.
We spent a full day in Osaka recently, and it did not disappoint. 🙏
Our first stop was Shitennoji to pay our respects to Mariko’s late grandparents and father. It’s a massive temple complex, and we happened to visit on a flea market day, so the grounds were super crowded. Rows of old dishes, trinkets, and who-knows-what stretched across the courtyard. Mariko and Bay came away with some new dishware. I browsed through boxes of old watches but didn’t find any treasures. It was mostly junk.
From there we wandered over to the Kuromon area for lunch and a little exploring. I did score a new stamp for my collection book, which was one of the highlights of my day. 🗺️
We wrapped things up with more shopping in Namba before meeting Mariko’s mom for yakiniku dinner. The food was great, and by the end of it we were thoroughly full and thoroughly happy. A good Osaka day by any measure!
Today we traveled from our home in Tatsuno to Kobe using the Kishin Line to Himeji, then switching to the JR Kobe Line to Sannomiya. It took about an hour and 20 minutes and cost ¥1,340 (about $8.40 USD) 🚃. Tomorrow I have a health check-up in Kobe, and after that we’ll be heading to Osaka to meet up with Mariko’s mom.
Walking around Sannomiya Station was a lot of fun. There were so many people compared to Tatsuno, and so many places to shop! 🛍️ I bought a jacket and scarf at Uniqlo, and Bay picked up a new pair of glasses 👓. I also spotted some really cool Seiko watches, but they were way out of my price range! 😅
After shopping, we met up with Mariko and headed to Trattoria Bamboo (トラットリアバンブー) for yakitori 🍢. We ordered the classic negima (green onion and chicken), tsukune (chicken meatball), and kawa (chicken skin), plus tori sashimi — raw chicken. It sounds unusual, but it was actually delicious! Other standout dishes included tofu, risotto, foie gras, and karaage. Everything was incredible 😋.
Since my health check was scheduled for first thing the next morning, I wasn’t supposed to eat anything after 8 pm or drink any alcohol 🙅, so we wrapped up dinner and headed back to the hotel for an early night. What a fun day! 🌟
