Tripping Far Side

It's quite too bad, Anna and I couldn't make it out to the Halloween Party last night.

So we had lunch with my neighbor Chris and his girlfriend Mariko. Chris is on his third-year as an ALT and hails from England. A real likeable guy--he calls me names like "old chap", "fellow", and "joey boy".

Never thought I would meet so many people from other countries in Japan. :) I really appreciate his sense of strong sarcastic humor--but I'm still learning to adjust to it since I'm pretty gullible when it comes to friends.

Anyway, Mariko took us to a recently opened ramen restaurant. Ok, let me just say that ramen in Japan IS NOT that crappy shit that you guys think it is back home. I'm a food lover, so I'd be offended if you thought ramen is like Top Ramen or Cup Noodles.

The picture is Anna's bowl--lined with roast pork. But you can enjoy ramen in so many ways. With a side of dumplings, kimchi, fried rice, extra garlic, extra spice, or even vinegar (Chris brings his own bottle).

This restaurant serves ramen in a tonkotsu soup, made from pork bone so it's healthy in calcium and rich in flavor. Other kinds like miso or shoyu are awesome too.

If you're visiting me, we're definitely eating ramen.