2018-09-29, Catch up time!

So, as I said, I haven't been taking as many pictures as I used to but now and then I find something special (often it's food).  Not enough for separate posts but all together they might be interesting.

We found a Bangladesh/Indian restaurant and a few of the teachers (one of whom is from Bangladesh) went for lunch.  It was quite good.  Similar to Indian but some different spices are used and it's usually (but not this time because of a couple of us...) spicy.

My friend Hiroko and I also discovered a coffee shop, near my apartment, that serves really good waffles with ice cream! 

There was a small, local festival a couple of weeks ago.   A little entertainment, many, many food trucks, children's games and at the end of the night a short fireworks show.

Those blue boxes below, in front of the tent, are the different trash cans.  One for burnables, one for PET bottles, one for non-burnables, etc.

The guy in the red outfit is Anpan (anko bread) man.  Probably the most popular character here with young children.  He has many friends, all named after and shaped like different breads.  Very strange but they've all been around for quite a while.  They have movies, tv shows, a song, etc.

I made it 6 months without going into the Baskin Robbins across from the subway station.  Then I went twice in two weeks!

This is a typical street/festival food, although you can usually also buy it in supermarkets and people make it at home, usually in a party setting.  It's called takoyaki and it's balls of dough with a little piece of octopus (tako) in the middle.  It's dressed with ginger, sauce and mayo, bonito flakes and a special kind of seaweed.  It's really good but you have to be careful when eating it hot out of the pan because the inside is usually molten hot even when the outside is fairly cool.

A couple of weeks ago I went with Hiroko and her mom to a town called Seto which is known for pottery.  There were some really nice old homes along the walking route and interestingly decorated walls.

A HUGE spider web.

Lunch time.  We couldn't really figure out why there were so many people at this roadway rest area.  After we had lunch we knew.  It was so good!  Chewy udon and very crisp and light tempura with a side of sashimi.  Yummy!!!!

We had initially gone to Seto to have lunch at this coffee shop but it turned out they don't serve lunch anymore.  It was in a beautiful old building and would be a very nice place to spend a relaxing hour.  But we were hungry so we went to the rest area above.

Last weekend I went into Nagoya by myself one day - haven't gone anywhere on my own in a while.  It's nice to just wander... and I found this little shrine tucked between a coffee shop, a parking area, and an ugly building.

Then I went to my favorite place in Nagoya - Garden Flaire - where they were holding an outdoor band concert.  They also had some Halloween decorations up.

Fall is officially here and fall foods (mostly sweets) are out in force.  The local Starbucks had already run out of this Sweet Potato frappe and latte.  Sweet potatoes, kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) and chestnuts are the most popular fall flavors here.

We went on a school field trip to a farm last week.  They had all kinds of animals and a petting zoo.  They also had Halloween decorations up and even had the sheep wearing Halloween gear and this horse dressed up like a zebra!!!  As we walked by we didn't see the head or tail and the 3 of us said at that same time 'A zebra??!!'  

This is a mara.  It's from Argentina and is the largest animal in the rodent family.  I'd never heard of it before.

Yesterday Chia and I went into Nagoya to a handmade craft fair which is held on the 28th of each month (so normally we can't go but we were off this Friday).  It was very nice and I even picked up a couple of little bowls.  On the way home we stopped at a garden I wanted to show Chia and I'd read about this British themed cupcake shop so of course.... Chia's a great person to travel with as she's always ready to eat!  The difference between us is that she doesn't gain weight!  There were some great flavored cupcakes to choose from and they were all topped with different flavored buttercream - my favorite!

It was a beautiful day, still warm but mostly comfortably so.  It has been cooler lately, especially at night.  We were happy to spend the day outside because the weekend forecast is for rain all day Saturday (today) and another typhoon (hurricane) tomorrow.  Which is why I'm sitting at home writing this instead of getting out of the house!  It's only 12:30 - what am I going to do now?