my day

I was so lucky to have an amazing day today. Well, the mooch went to day care for half a day and my darling took the morning off work so we could go to buy me a coffee maker, hooray!! We planned to go to one of the most bizarre/interesting places in Tokyo called Kappabashi . It is so interesting you could really spend a lot longer than we did. Everything you could ever imagine you need to operate a food establishment is found here, and it is not that expensive, unless you want to buy a deep fryer etc...We found a nice little coffee maker, so I have had a couple of tries...we also found some Illy coffee beans. At this point I am good at making cappuccino froth. But it is very nice to have a coffee smell in the house and now I can save so much on take away coffee and no more disposable cups!! After the coffee machine purchase, we headed to a very sweet handmade/handmade looking ceramics shop (of which there are many). Of course I needed a nice coffee cup didnt I? I didnt find the perfect one but I got a nice one. We were on the same side of town as my darlings work so we parked nearby and he took me to a lunch spot that he visited the day before and was so impressed he had to return today. It was so cool and definantly only the kind of place you can go to if you have someone show you what to do and some language skills. It is so busy they dont have time, or space, to fuss with a foreigner...anyways, a very, very small dark place with all the tables set with trays and full cups of barley tea. It was 5 to 12pm, so we got a seat and didnt have to line up, by 12pm it was full with 10 people in a line. My loved one was right when he said it is faster than McDonalds and 1 million times better. The speciality is fish, with rice and pickles. Very simple variations are available but it is a verbal menu and most people know what they want. I had the fish with miso flavour. It was so good, fish was fresh and flavour was beautiful. In less than 10-15 mins we were served, eaten and out. They even had all the change in piles as most meals are the same price ($8.80). It was such an awesome Japan experience. I drove home in Tokyo traffic quite enjoying it now. At home, I used to get such anxiety at merging or making a mistake as you get blasted or road raged, but here people let you in, move around parked taxis (which are everywhere) and just go about the job of driving without getting all mad. I was aiming to get home by 1pm to take Long Long to the vet to get his rabies shot, and I made it.

I was supposed to take him to the out door annual vaccination place but I was worried if he had a reaction I knew no vet to take him to. As it turns out there is vet about 10 steps away which is also a dog hotel...and he didnt get a reaction and got his nails cut for free!! Im so happy, I think he is too as he was very waggy tailed tonight!

So, the mooch had a good day with his buddies. I did manage to avoid another supermarket meltdown, which would have shattered a great day. He gave me two seconds warning and started the shrieking and yelling BEFORE I got in the door. Thank goodness. I turned around and walked home. It didnt matter that I needed to get stuff for dinner, I was able to avoid a hugely embarrassing and stressful situation. So, we had ramen noodles for dinner as there is a great shop, also 10 steps away!