Vinegar and Milk

AM

The AMs of this week have been characterised by cool crisp mornings. Not quite cold enough to be interesting, but cold enough to make it extremely difficult to get out of bed. My Sunday morning was destroyed by a hangover caused by a misadventure in the PM hours of Saturday. At 11:45am, I opted for a Family Mart cure in which I included the greasiest food items I could procure. The crumbed chicken on rice set, had a hangover-fighting layer of skin wedged in between the flesh and the oiled crumbs. The FamiChiki [ファミチキ] (right), was from the thigh of the bird, heavily crumbed and deep deep fried - one bite sent a torrent of oils down my hand. With a bottle of Pocari Sweat, the cure worked to a degree - I didn't die. In my delerium though, I bought a strange drink, for the sole reason that it was strange. The words Vinegar and Milk (right) shouted at me from the fridge and for some reason, I bought it and for some other reason, it would haunt me later in the PM hours.




PM

By 7:00pm, I was sufficiently recovered to think about heading next door for a meal of fajitas. The  fajitas were just what I needed to seal my health. In fact, they continued the chickeny theme of the day by including some very well seasoned breast meat. Soon, the meal turned into a game of UNO, and the card game became a college-esque drinking game - the draw four was a nightmare. Because I was still convelescing from my Takoyaki Party* -induced illness, I chose not to drink. To be polite, though, and to give me a reason to play cards to win, I fetched my bottle of Vinegar and Milk to sit in as my poison. Although it had been sitting on my desk for seven hours, it wasn't curdled. It's flavour immediately took me back to time when I've 'licked the spoon' only to find the mixture was for some sour lemon tart - horrifying. For about two hours I grimaced through the drink, and despite all my hopes, it actually got worse with every sip. When I had finally finished I chose a 16 vegetable drink for my next project. It wasn't much better.

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* The takoyaki party was held at my Nakamozu School in the PM of Saturday. The main damage was done by tequila and whiskey  - the reason I drank these is still unknown. I still shudder.

Saying No to Thorpedo and Yes to Outro '6

AM

Least: At about 11:05am, I finally had breakfast. Having had nothing substantial since lunch yesterday, I could've eaten a horse. Instead I opted for an onigiri internally rife with salty cured red salmon. It was delicious, yet somehow only served to remind me of the breakfast the could've been. Bacon, eggs, tomato and coffee in a cafe is essentially unavailable in any edible form here. At the Beekman Sports Palace down the road, it is possible to buy mile-thick bread smeared with jam (only just sweeter than the bread) but it could only barely be called a breakfast. It might just be more interesting to launch a search party for the best cafe breakfast in Osaka.

Most: By 9:30am, I was once again barrelling towards Wakayama. The only point of interest I could extract from the journey was the sighting of the Thorpedo softdrink at Hineno station. Because of its association with Yakult, I declined the voice telling me to buy it - yoghurty soft drinks are pretty far from refreshing. According to the website, there are several versions of the drink - I wonder why it has never taken off in Australia. In addition, the Thorpedo is perhaps the only Australian sportsman to make a blip on the Japanese fame-dar. Interesting - sort of.

PM

Least: Between exactly 12:15pm and 12:55pm, I battled through an English lesson with a student who was both out of depth and was infested with a dreadful cold. Every ten seconds or so he would either sneeze of sniff up mucous into his blocked nose. I swear I could feel the swarms of flu virus's impaling my every cell. The next few days will be telling. If I'm sick next Saturday, I might just blow my nose on the guy's shirtsleeve.

Most: At about 9:15pm, Rosie and I walked in the gates of the Freestyle Outro '6 festival down near the docks in Osaka. The primary reason for attending was to see Palm and Edge of Spirit but we gather far more than this. The performances were crushing and we spoke to some guys from Palm, and a wild Japanese woman from California. As a cultural spectacle it was amazing. A sea of non-typical Japanese metal, hardcore and hip hop fans were drinking hard and enjoying the music, graffiti and skateboarding Far from the norms of Japan's staid appearances, most people had serious tatts and were larking about in a very relaxed manner. It was so refreshing to see a non-temple/manga/salary man side of Japan. One of the best nights here so far.