Osaka, 9 April: An izakaya dinner with Mariko & Noriko. Too busy chatting to document the food... many sakura-dai (cherry bream) dishes again, inc. this one grilled on a plough, with seasonal vegetables, at the table.
Noriko ordered a cocktail (shochu-based?) with cassis and fresh grapefruit juice, which you squeeze yourself...	...and mix yourself too. Voila!
	Also on the menu was a fizzy apple drink that comes in a beer bottle and looks like beer when poured too, called gubittostein - a great example of Japanese-German brand name ("gubitto" = swig, ie. kids can do the same as the grown-ups - like this royal bear's demonstrating.)
Gifu, 10 April: Last dinner at home. Hitomi gave UsaKousa strawberries "because it's your dad's birthday." (Some Girls always have it good!) Here the birthday boy is looking grumpy that he has to pose for the camera, rather than tuck straight into the sashimi...
	My friend Sachie sent me 2 uni specialities from North Japan a few days ago - unfortunately I was too excited to take any photo of the fresh uni (in a milk bottle filled with sea water) before consuming it. This one, in an abalone shell, was lightly pre-baked, so we heated it up for dinner. It looked like a little portion, but oh boy, it was about 1" deep, pure uni, so delicious, and sent me straight to heaven - on its own, with a dash of soy sauce, or with wasabi... mmmmmmmmmmmm.
12 April: BA flight to London. Lots of champagne as usual. The prawns came with lots of fresh yuzu juice, which was nice & refreshing.	Later - Virgin Trains PR stand at Paddington Station, distributing these packages to promote their environemental friendliness.
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