The Early Lunch and Late Dinner

AM


Least: At about 10:20am, I found myself still bleary and in the Life supermarket bike parking area. For some reason, maybe micro-geographical, it is the hottest place in Osaka. As soon as I rolled around the corner into the sea of shopping bicycles, it was as if I'd stepped into a hot, boring oven. Downstairs in the supermarket, the competition for aisle-space was hot too - with the hoonish old ducks stopping at nothing to get their wares. There seemed to a run on horrifically filled crustless sandwiches.

Most:  At 11:40am, I began cooking okonomiyaki for an early lunch. Thankfully, the packet of flours, seaweeds, and prawn-bubbles made the job pretty easy - I just had to add chopped cabbage, eggs and flour. For the flavour layer, I added mushrooms for Rosie and leanish pork on mine (above). The real trick to to be able to flip them over without destroying thier structural integrity. Okonomiyaki is always in danger of being bland, so it is crucial to had plenty of worcester sauce on standby if another squirt is required. Bonito flakes are a must - mayonnaise is optional. Being a work-day it was a little disappointing not to be chugging down a beer with our meal - maybe tomorrow.

PM

Least: Approaching 11:00pm, I sat at Nakamozu atation and watched an Out Of Service train arrive, empty and depart. In the excruciating time between that disappointment and my train, no less than three trains passed me by. It felt like Melbourne, but with the trains clearly labelled, my rage was kept to a minimum. The most uninteresting of trials become far less enraging when their outcome is entirely predictable.

Most: Just after 8:45pm, I walk out of my pink workplace and down a flight of stairs to a vast barn of an izakaya. Despite the occasional whiff of oil and smoke, I had never contemplated that such a complex had existed less than a metre beneath my feet. The feeding trough catered for all tastes, ranging from repellent pizzas and bakes, to silky sashimi and three kinds of grilled offal. I settled for the grilled vital organs and semi-dried squid. The beer was great too. My new awareness though, will make working upstairs drag on that little while longer.