a birth in the neighborhood...

So, going waaay back ("a death in the neighborhood..." post), I mentioned that gyu-kaku (牛角) went under and we were waiting to see what would fill the void. I predicted a "super gyu-kaku" which doesn't actually exist, except in the form of An An (安安)! I actually predicted that! Ask anyone who was there on the last day of the gyu-kaku experience, i.e. mornin, and i actually said that it would be coming in! ka-pow! So being the An An lover that I am (see the early days of this blog when I lived in Omori (大森) still or after a Baystars home game), I was there for opening night, and have been there twice since with plans (as I write this on my cell phone at work) to visit tonight, for my 3rd straight 4th of July! It's a tradition you could say ;) What sets An An apart in the yakiniku (焼き肉) kingdom is it's ridiculous (shout out to meltin faces and mornin!) low prices! 290 yen for a beer or a plate of meat, or a number of other delicious menu items. My favorite thing to do is get the "mountain of sliced cabbage (山盛りスライスキャベツ)" with ceasar dressing, and top it off with some juicy meat to make some delicious bite sized grilled beef salad! do it!

DS style baby!

So hunbun and I met on saturday and once again went to our favorite resturant called "AnAn." It's a Yakiniku joint, and this is what the basic set-up looks like. You get your own little grill and then you order meat, and other such food type things. Best part is that they have really cheap beer, about the 3rd of the price of alot of places! Anyway, we usually order a couple plates of meat, and then get a big bowl of sliced cabbage, the "yamamori" size, which means, "mountain of," with some cesar dressing, and make our own little bite sized grilled beef salad type things. D-licious! If you come visit me, we are going there, just ask dude? and tigger, they can attest to it.
Anyway, at dinner I also recieved my b-day present, and for those who don't know, I was born in October, it's July, my present was late.... but it was good, it was a navy blue nintendo DS, and it's pretty cool I'd have to say. Thanks hunbun!







Here's a piture of her walking away from me...









And also I'd like to introduce you to one of my best friends in the whole wide world, his name is "Kirin Ichiban Shibori," and he's great! We've had some good times together and he rocks! Costs a pretty penny, this can runs about 270 yen, or roughly $2.50. Too much, I know, but all beer is expensive here. They do sell some stuff called "happoshu" which is kinda fake beer, but not like the non-alcholic stuff back home, it'll actually get you drunk, just tastes crappy, and is brewed different so they don't have the same tax on it, and so it's cheaper. They also have a 3rd category beer, which, I'm not exactly sure what it is, but pretty sure it's crap, and even cheaper than the happoshu stuff. Anyway, nothing like the real thing baby!