Monday, February 26, 2007

ビーーーーフ! ・ BEEEEEEEEEEF!

Much more coherent & interesting English below...

まず、皆さんのバースディメッセやコメントやメールをありがとうね。本当に、本当に最高な誕生日だった。

注意:以下は正直・・・ちょっと長いっす。書いた時に頭はグルグルしていたからちょっとバラバラな日記になっちゃいました。orz

土曜日: 天気は晴れて、ちょっとだけポカポカで、昼からMさんと一緒に出かけました。最初マックに行った。

ずーと前から「メガ・マック」を試したかったけど各店の毎日売れる限定があるからいつも「すみませんが今日はもう売り切れです」。今日もなければフレッシュネス・バーガーに行こうと決めて、一か八かやってみた。

さすが誕生日でしょう。まだありました!ラッキー!

ジューシーで、かなりボリュームあり・・・ニク~ゥッ!って感じ。食べ終わったら100%満足満腹マンでしたもん。

次、今年の誕生日プレゼントとして、Mさんは任天堂Wiiを買いあげたかったから大型箱型電気屋さんに行ってみた。無し。次の店もない。実は旭川にでこにもないっす、そんなに大人気だ。

Mさんはちょっとガッカリだったが僕は全然問題なかった・・・だって、僕にとって一日中一緒にいてくれるのは十分嬉しかった。Wiiは後でいつでも買えば良い、そしてゲームやプレゼントより一緒に過ごせる時間の方が大事です。:)

とりあえず、Wiiを買うことにギブアップして、大きいショッピング・センターに行って、大好きな輸入食品店に立ち寄った。この店に行くといつも買いすぎますが今日は誕生日だから特に買いすぎました。

なんと:

  • ベーグル (!)
  • 高級ポテトチップス (!!)
  • ハワイのコナ・コーヒー (!!!)
ワウ!

しかもそれだけじゃなくて、夜にMさんはバースディ・ディナーを作ってくれました!僕の誕生日の為にMさんはいつもステーキを料理してくれるけど今年は本当に特別でした。

はい。神戸牛でした。

焼きすぎにしたくなかったからちょっとレイヤだったが全然問題なかった。口の中で味はシュワ~っとして、ものすごく美味しかった・・・が、去年の誕生日食べた美瑛牛に比べて、そんに変わらないかもしれない。やっぱり北海道は最高だべ。;)

日曜日:完全「アメリカ人」の気分でした。お父さんからもらったスーパー・ボールを見たり、ビールを飲んだり、ポテトチップスを食べた。

外から普通の教員住宅みたいかもしれないけど中はやっぱり時々「プチアメリカ」だね。

コメントは下 ・ ホーム ・ メール

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First off, a big thanks to everyone for all the birthday messages, mails & comments. It was defo one of the better birthdays I've had in a while!

Secondly, my apologies but this is a bit of a long post. Lots o' brain farts and disconnected thoughts went into this one, so...well, you've been warned. ;)

Saturday: For the first time in a while, nice & sunny and even a tad bit warm as M & I set out during the early afternoon. First stop: Micky D's.

I'd been wanting to try the big "Mega Mac" (a Big Mac w/ 4 instead of 2 beef patties) for a while, but supposedly each store has a limit to how many they can sell each day, and everytime I've tried to buy one it's always been, "Sorry, we've sold out for the day." We figured we'd still give it a shot though, and if no Mega Macs, we'd head to Freshness Burger.

No sell outs today, baby! Yes, birthday luck was on my side and I was finally able to get my grubby little paws on giant McFat burger. Beef...salt...cheese...grease....*slobber*

Next up was a trip to our local big box electronics store. M had been bugging me forever as to what I wanted for my birthday, and I couldn't really think of anything other than a Nintendo Wii. Surprisingly enough though, she said "OK" and we were all set to get our Wii on...until we got to the store, that is.

Turns out that nobody has any Wiis. Not the big box retailers, not the malls, not Toys R Us and none on line. Nada. Gee, thanks for hyping us up with all the commercials for nothing, Nintendo.

M was pretty bummed out as she really wanted to get it for me but I certainly didn't mind that much. I mean, we can pick one up later, right? Besides, as corny & mushy as it may sound, just being able to spend a nice Saturday afternoon out together was enough to make me happy.

Giving up on trying to find Nintendo's latest hell spawn, we headed over to Asahikawa's big shopping mall and to my favorite foreign foods store. We always end up spending way to much money in this place, but seeing as a) it was my birthday and b) I think M wanted to make up for not being able to get me a Wii, we really went whole hog this time. Our shopping list included:

  • Bagels (!) ⇒ Always a favorite, and a must buy when we can find 'em
  • Terra Potato Chips (!!) ⇒ Expensive, but the best chips on Earth & worth every yen
  • Hawaiian Kona Coffee (!!!) ⇒ Oh God...so good, but you don't even wanna know how much we ended up paying for a measly 200g
After a quick coffee @ Tully's (Cause Starbucks is overrated) we were off to the grocery store to pick up supplies for my big birthday dinner. Last year M fixed me this amazing Biei beef steak that was out of this world and we were planning on having it again this year, but fate was to throw a bit of a wrench in the works. Turns out that that they only had one Biei steak, so that was a no go. What ever were we to do? Well, we just had to bite the bullet and go with the alternative...

Friggin' Kobe beef baby!

Yeah, that Kobe beef...the one where they massage the cows and feed 'em beer so that the meat ends up marbled like you wouldn't believe. Like to the point where M said that as she was putting it in the pan to cook, it started melting in her hand just from body heat.

With a piece of beef like this that you can really only afford to eat maybe once a year if you save up for it, we sure as hell didn't wanna overcook it. It turned out a bit rare, but that certainly wasn't a problem for me, as the second it went in my mouth it...just...wow, hard to describe. If you can imagine a slowly expanding cloud of the most amazing beef you've ever tasted multiplied by about 50 inside your mouth, that kinda comes close.

To be really & truly honest, it wasn't that much different from the Biei beef we had last year, and I think M was a bit disappointed, but I was sure as hell a happy boy. :)

Sunday: Day 2 of the big birthday weekend celebration and "Manly American Man" day. *grin*

Seriously, I felt more American on Sunday than I have in a long, long time. And why would that be?

  1. I towed M's car out of the ice & charged her battery since she hasn't driven it in so long (ok, admittedly nothing to do w/ being American, but certainly manly, nonetheless)
  2. I was finally able to watch the Super Bowl tape that my Dad sent me, complete with the commercials (although sadly the "beard combover" Sierra Mist spot was the only real winner this year)
  3. I had a Corona & ate my ridiculously expensive Terra Yukon Gold potato chips with real cheddar cheese & Tennessee Sunshine hot sauce.

Oh yeah...sure it may look like your normal Japanese teachers housing on the outside, but every now & then it's Little America on the inside, no doubt about it.

Wonder what next year'll bring?

5 comments:

  1. テストです。ちゃんとコメントできてるかな?

    ReplyDelete
  2. まつさん:

    できましたよ!ありがとう!

    これから色々なコメントよろしくお願いします! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. 初コメントです!!お誕生日オメデトウ♪
    ステキなお誕生日になったみたいで良かったですね~~。
    ホント優しい奥さんで幸せだね~♪

                 さお

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kobe beef shabu shabu,


    signed: you know who

    ReplyDelete
  5. さおさん:

    初コメントあんど誕生日メッセージどうもありがとう!

    なまら最高な誕生日だったよ!

    Anonymous:

    Would this be my antipodean or podean partner in 2 kilos of shabu-shabu crime? ;)

    ReplyDelete