Lunch with Long-Time Friend and...

Today I met up with one of my long-time friends for lunch.
There are a few cute coffee houses (more to restaurant) in the city where she lives. Isn't this nice? It is not in the middle of nowhere but there was a spot like this in the middle of small city.

We ordered their lunch specials - fresh pasta and deep fried beef (beef cutlet) rice bowl. They used Mizu-Na (Japanese green) on top of duck sauce which cut the richness of the sauce.

Rice bowl which used Miso based sauce along with Onsen-Tamago (half boiled egg) which added another dimension to the dish - crunchy and light beef cutlets with a bit sweet sauce were a perfect marriage on top of the rice.

We changed the place to have after lunch coffee, and I had ginger flavored milk tea, which had ice cream in the cup when it served which was of course melted away when I powered the tea. The scone they served with tasted more like short bread than typical scone you can have in the U.S.

After saying bye to my friend, I went to my sister's place. My brother in-law is eel chef (YES, there are specialized eel chefs in Japan who cook predominantly eel (Kaba-Yaki) along with traditional Japanese dishes). This time, he was not cooking that but some small half dried fish (Tsuku-Dani) with San-Syo (Japanese traditional seasoning).
Meeting long-time friend and my family members was something I look forward to when I come back home.