24/02/2011

Today, the time difference was worse for me than yesterday.  I woke up several more times in the middle of the night and had a harder time falling back to sleep.  It didn’t help that I had a symphony of snoring around me.  Both Naoto & his mother are heavy snorers, and with these close quarters, it is hard to ignore the music of the night! 

We got up late and had a breakfast of buckwheat noodles in broth, agaragar with mustard and Niigata strawberries.  I’ve given up using chopsticks and have moved to a fork, otherwise, it would be impossible for me to finish. 

My mother-in-law had a doctor’s appointment today and insisted that we didn’t join her.  So we took our time getting ready, then met her at Misdo for a snack.  This time, we shared a hot dog donut & a green tea donut.  After our donuts, we went to Mitsukoshi, a large department store, to buy some handkerchiefs (for gifts & for me).  In Japan, the customer service is so good.  Sales people are patient, glad to explain anything you don’t understand and will wrap even the tiniest gift for you.  Mitsukoshi also has different food vendors.  So, alongside Tiffany’s & Louis Vuitton, there are butchers, bread shops & sweets.  We bought some Parisian breads—one with bacon & cheese inside, one giant cracker & one dough covered hot dog—and a few meat skewers for dinner tonight.  We also bought a lot of produce here.  We went home and had our bread snacks and relaxed a little bit.  

In the afternoon, my mother-in-law sent us back out to Mitsukoshi to buy a few more ingredients.  We took this opportunity to re-visit Mister Donut for a quick cup of coffee.  Days in Japan: 2, Visits to Mister Donut: 3  ;) 

For dinner, my mother-in-law made us a soup of noodles, shitake mushrooms, silkened tofu and cabbage.  We feasted on meats & potstickers from the markets we'd visited and I had the most amazing salad tonight, too :)

PS-I've updated the comment section so anyone can comment now :)