Kurahachi / 蔵八

After soaking in a bath at Demachi Onsen and before going out to dinner, we still had a couple of hours to kill. So we went and played ping-pong!

出町温泉のお風呂に入った後と夕飯食べる前にまだ時間があったので、私たちはなんとピンポンで時間をつぶしました。

Kurahachi / 蔵八

We live in Aomori so of course we had to have some scallops!

青森に住んでるからもちろん帆立を食べないっと！

Some side dishes and a quail's egg.

うずらの卵といろんなサイドディッシュ。

Hairy crab / 毛蟹

Working on the crabs.

毛蟹が美味しいけど食べ辛い。

The dish on the right is hoya, known as a sea squirt in English. Definitely an acquired taste.

右側にある食べ物は青森名物のホヤ。ちょっと不思議な味。

Assortment of skewers / 焼鳥の盛り合わせ

Cold tofu / 冷奴

Gratin / グラタン

Seasoned kelp (if memory serves me) / 確かわかめか昆布

Dessert / デザート

A different dessert / 別のデザート

Our friends are here in Aomori for Golden Week, so we will be hanging out with them for the next few days. Tomorrow, we plan on going to a local museum and will have a cherry blossom viewing party at Gappo Park.

友達はゴールデンウィークの間青森にいるので、しばらく彼らと一緒過ごす。明日の予定は青森の郷土館に行って、そのあとは合邦公園で花見をする。

Tonic / トニック

A couple of days before New Year's Eve, our friends Yukio and Reiko were coming to Aomori. We would be picking them up from Shin-Aomori station around 8:30pm. We were planning on having dinner with them but both Yukio and Reiko ate dinner before leaving Tokyo and had snacks on the shinkansen as well so they were not that hungry when they came into town. So, we decided to head straight over to a rockabilly bar that's run and owned by one of Yukio's friends. A place called Tonic.

大晦日の二日前に東京から友人の幸男と玲子が青森にやってきた。幸男は妻の幼馴染で彼の実家も青森です。私たちは夜８時半新青森駅に迎えに行く約束して、一緒に夕飯食べる予定だった。でも幸男と玲子は東京出発前から食べて、新幹線の中に駅弁も食べて青森に着いたら全然腹減ってなかった。予定を変更し、幸男の友達が経営してるロカビリーのバー「トニック」。

It was snowing as usual on the 29th as my wife and I were out shopping.

今日も雪が降ってた。

The bar is located on the 2nd floor of a building less than a block away from where my mother-in-law's sister works.

バーがあるビルの２階にある。義理の母の妹がこのすぐ近くにある店に働いてる。

Having drinks with our usual travel partners.

青森で旅仲間と乾杯。

Yukio / 幸男

Reiko / 玲子

The Bar / バー

We are planning on spending the day with them on the 2nd as we will be heading towards Misawa.

年明けの二日４人で三沢に行く予定。

Great to see our friends from Chiba.

千葉から来た友達と会うのは嬉しい。