Restaurant Reviews

I haven't written a restaurant review in a while.
The reason is I haven't been out for a long time.
Actually, except for one or two Saturdays a month with the Mrs., I haven't been out at all this year.


Last Saturday night the wife and I tore up the town!
First we went to a place I like, "Sawamura," in Honmachi(or maybe it is Higobashi, either way it is close to the classroom), for some drinks and appetizers.  Basically, it was our "Happy Hour."
Last year I went to Sawamura a few times. The owner, Mr. Sawamura, is a friend of a friend.  I like it, the food and atmosphere are good, the prices are reasonable.  In addition, it is convenient for me because it is on my way home.  Every time I walk by, it is crowded.  This is the sign of a good restaurant!!
For more on Sawamura, check out this site if you are interested.


http://r.tabelog.com/osaka/A2701/A270102/27014633/




After taking care of the check at Sawamura, we walked to "Dojima-Seiniku-ten."  It is located in Kita-shinchi, and about a 15 minute walk.  You could call "Dojima-Seiniku-Ten"a meat shop, or an izakaya, or an outside food stall, or ??? To be honest, I don't really know what to call it.  It is not exactly any one of these, instead, the eatery has a little bit of each.  The atmosphere is like an outside food shop. Hot ans sweaty in the summer, and perhaps cold in the winter.  (I don't know for sure because I haven't been there in the winter yet.) There is a counter with about six seats, and there are two or three more seats literally in the middle of the kitchen.  Just as we arrived, two seats at the counter, the best seats in the house in my opinion, opened up, so we sat there.  We ordered some beers, a bottle of Bordeaux wine for 3500yen, and the following, but not necessarily in the following order.  Two orders of ham cutlet(one order was to go), two orders of fried chicken (again, one was for the next day's dinner!), grilled beef, special grilled beef, mixed "hormones"(various innards or organs), and maybe one more dish, but I can't remember.  All of the food was delicious!! In addition, the service(two twenty-something year old semi good-looking guys) was decent, and the price was good, about 8000yen for everything.  FYI, each dish is about 500yen.  I only noticed one dish, the "super super special beef" which was over 1000yen. I think it was 1200yen.  The only demerits are the vegetable menu is extremely limited and also a little pricey (for example, 500yen for a few slices of tomato).  But I don't need vegetables when I eat out, so I didn't care.  (FYI, I eat A LOT of vegetables in my house, not-cooked celery, carrots, cucumber, and tomato practically every night.)  One interesting point I learned about DST after I went there, Mr. K told me, is :"This is funny. Listen to this.  White rice is 500yen.  But beef over white rice is also 500yen.  Go figure!"


Below is a link to "tabelog" for some other comments about this restaurant.
http://r.tabelog.com/osaka/A2701/A270101/27044588/

Typhoon #4

Last Tuesday, Typhoon #4 was in the headlines and was reported to be heading directly for the Kansai Area.  It is highly unusual for typhoons to hit right smack in the middle of Osaka, but nonetheless, everyone made a big fuss about it, and as I wrote last week, many companies closed early, or at the very least "recommended" the employees to go home if they didn't have any urgent work to do.  Some companies also send only women home, which is very gentlemen-like, but I thought was funny.  Anyway, Ms S sent me an email in the latter part of the week.  

Here it is:

Ms. S:  Was that really a typhoon?!  Nothing happened in Osaka.
Glenn:  I know. It was a joke.
Ms. S:  I regret cancelling the class because of the typhoon. I should have gone...
Glenn:  Nah, that's not necessarily correct.  As the proverb goes, "Better safe than sorry!!"
Ms. S:  You're right!  Safety is the number one priority! I can always go to a class another time.

Real English 25-minute

Did you know that the word "minute" has a few different meanings.  In addition, "minute" is used in a bunch of expressions.  See if you understand all of the below.


1.  Do you have a minute?


2.  I'll be with you in a minute.


3.  I'm expecting an important fax at any minute.


4.  The minute I got home, the phone rang?


5.  The secretary took the minutes of the meeting.


6.  Even though only a minute amount of a banned substance was found in the ball player's urine sample, he was suspended 50 games anyway.


7.  Superman arrived to save the day not a minute too soon.


8.  I am really sorry for the last-minute notice, but something came up and I have to cancel our meeting this afternoon.


9.  I don't believe that for a minute.


10.  His pulse was 110 beats per minute.

Typhoon and Shoes

Yesterday, Typhoon # 4 hit Japan.  Even in Kansai (Western Japan) many companies, including the company where my wife works, ordered all of the employees to go home early.  In my wife's case, 3pm.  Did your company issue a order to leave the company and go home, or something like this:  "Due to Typhoon #4, all employees must leave the company by 3pm."
There are some reason why companies do this. One reason is for the safety of all of the employees. Another reason is, if the trains stop because of the strong winds or rain from the typhoon, then all employees are stuck in the company and can't go home. This is a problem!!


Anyway, to change the subject, I read an interesting headline the other day on yahoo.com.
The headline goes like this:  "You can judge 90 percent of people’s personalities by their shoes." 
Do you agree? I do.


What kind of personalities do you think are connected to what kind of shoes?
What kind of shoes do you wear?
What kind of shoes do you like? not like?

"Real English 24-par for the course"

A friend of mine, who lives in the countryside in the northern part of Hyogo Prefecture, called me the other day.  Here's the dialogue:

Friend:  Hey man, what's happening?

Glenn:  Not much, everything is status quo.  How about you, what's up?

Friend:  Actually, I wanted to invite you to my house next weekend.

Glenn:  Sounds good. What's the occasion?

Friend:  I am gonna have a "Firefly Party!"  Recently, there are fireflies everywhere at night!  It is really a spectacular phenomenon.  

Glenn:  Are you serious?   There aren't any lightening bugs where I live.

Friend: That's cause you live in the suburbs. As you know, I live in the deep country!  It is par for the course for here.

Glenn:  Gotcha. Then see you next weekend. Looking forward to it!

"Par for the course" means "a regular occurrence" or "something that happens often."

The above expression has nothing to do with golf!!

But since I mentioned golf, I thought I should say "Congrats!" to Mr. F because he hit a hole in one the other day.  What are the chances of that?  I don't know the actual statistics, but I do know that doesn't happen every day... (=pure luck!!)

Have you ever hit a hole in one?

"Real English 23-on the fence"

As you know, I usually don't like to talk about politics.  However, since this week's Real English is related to a politician, I will make an exception.


Tokyo Governor Ishihara always has an opinion on something.  He never sits on the fence on an issue.


"What do you think of Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's plan to buy the disputed Senkaku Islands?"
from The Japan Times Online
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120424vf.html

Here are some other more casual examples of how to use "on the fence":


1-At a restaurant:
"I can't decide what to order as my entree. I am on the fence...the steak or the fish?  Can you help me out?  Which do you recommend?"


2-At a voting booth
"I am sitting on the fence on who to vote for in the next election, Mr. X or Ms. Y.  They both have pros and cons..."


And the expression  "opposite sides of the fence" means "to have opposite opinions."


3-Current political news in Japan:
"Prime Minister Noda and Ichiro Ozawa, who leads the DPJ's largest faction with 120 members, are on opposite sides of the fence concerning the consumption tax hike. "

June 

I can't believe it is already June. Almost half of the year is already over...

As the proverb goes, "Time flies."  

And, did you know that there are two versions to this expression? 

One is, "Time flies when you are having fun."  

The other is, "Time flies when you are busy."  

Which one applies to you?  The first one? The second one? Both? Neither?

In June, the rainy season will begin.  And after that, the dreaded humidity will arrive...

Let's enjoy the last dry days before that humidity comes!!!

(Below are some photos from Ms. e's trip to Nagano Prefecture. Thank you!)