HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEat!!

...today, the 10,220th day of life for me, i had an opportunity to eat something that i've never had before, that i've heard stories about, but that i never considered i would actually be eating...yes, on this, my 28th birthday, i ate a big'ole hunk of KOBE BEEF...



...do you know about KOBE BEEF??...the mythical meat that in it's living form is massaged, bathed in sake, and fed beer, all for the cause of man and his stomach (i comfirmed these rumors with the chef via my interpreter)...



...my KOBE BEEF was served with a bed of bean sprouts and garlic chips which the chef fried up in front of us, as he did with every part of the meal...i really like watching chefs work for some reason, especially japanese chefs...they are so methodical and attentive about little details and it appeals to the obsessive compulsive side of me i guess, assuming i have an obsessive compulsive side, which i think i do, but i'm not totally sure if i have one or not, sometimes i think i have one, and sometimes i don't, but i can never really tell if i'm obsessing about something or just being normal...know what i mean? i also got some garlic rice with my meal, and some miso soup, and some japanese pickles which i gave to chieko because i don't really like them that much...



...but back to the meat, the KOBE BEEF...was it all it was cracked up to be? i will say that it was amazing, it was tender as can be, it was sweet, it lacked in no way whatsoever...however, i will also say that the last time chieko and i went to this restaurant, which is a steak house here in kanazawa, i said the same thing about the meat i had then, which was just as good, and half the price...so, i think when you eat KOBE BEEF you are paying in part for the fact that it is KOBE BEEF...but people pay extra for name-brand things a lot, and it's my birthday, and chieko paid, so i'll chalk this up as a worthwhile and very delicious experience...and one that i probably, unfortunately, won't be having again in the near future...



...and so i sit now, sipping a free bottle of sparkling wine, fat and happy, and a little older, but pretty much the same as i was yesterday...i'll be sleeping well this evening...