Out to Dinner

The other night Jim got home "early" (7 p.m.) so we decided to go out to dinner (he had emailed before he left work).  One night this week he got home after the girls were asleep and we were needing some "get out of the house and be a family" time.  So, we decided set out to eat somewhere we had not eaten before, somewhere that was close by (because how cool is it that we can just WALK to restaurants???) and somewhere that had availability - you will find here that a lot of the local restaurants are full by 7 p.m. because they don't have the seating capacity that we may be used to.  You will also find that these little places have wonderful charm, a quaintness that is inviting and unique AND more compelling than a chain restaurant...

Anyway, our waitress did speak some English (which helped because this restaurant did not have many pictures in their menu - which is uncommon here).  Jim loves to just point to something on the menu and order it.  I, however prefer to know what I'm eating before it arrives on the table. (wink)  So, we settled upon asking our waitress, "What's Good?"  And these are the items we ordered.  Unfortunately, I do not know what any of the are called.  Maybe I'll ask Miyuki to help me with that...but, until then pictures and my descriptions will serve us nicely.

This was kinda like a pizza - in the sense that it was round and flat and had cheese baked on top of it.  Inside was a creamy white sauce that I'd say was the consistency of cream cheese or something.  It also had "leaves" in it which Sarah would not eat until it was picked out.  I think it was spinach, but she is funny about "leaves" these days - which she defines as anything green and flat.  Jim and I liked this appetizer dish.






This is what we ordered for the girls.  Jim said that he has this quite frequently in the lunches the company he is working at orders for them.  He thinks it's maybe a sweet potato dipped in batter and fried.  I'm not sure, but it was something fried that was mushy inside.  The girls didn't eat it.  But, kudos to Grace because she tried it.  That's big for her.  It was okay, but I probably wouldn't order it as a main dish.





This was our main course.  I was excited when I saw it because it reminded me a little of the dish we ordered on our Anniversary.  We cooked it at the table (which is always fun).  But, it ended up being more like a soup.  Grace ate the carrots off the top before it was done....more kudos for her!

It also had beef in it, which you can't see because it was under the cabbage.  There was also a mild soy sauce in the pan in which everything cooked.  In all, this was okay too.  I think we would have liked it better had it been served with rice - and it probably could have been if we had ordered some (or known what we were doing).  But, it was good.

For this meal, we also got some fried noodles but the girls ate them all before I could take a picture!

And finally, for our entertainment - Sarah took the hand towels they give you before the meal to preform a magic trick - where she asked where her glass was and then pulled them off and said "Here it is!"