Chie's Family Back to Japan

Posted on 2007/07/03 12:47:06 (July 2007).

[Sunday 1st July]
Chie's family flew back to Japan today. Their flight wasn't until the early evening, so they had the morning and early afternoon free to get in some last minute sightseeing, and we basically just left them to it.

We all met up again at our flat around 3ish, and then they got all their things together and we headed over to Paddington to catch the Heathrow Express. We decided to say our goodbyes at Paddington in the end, rather than going all the way to the airport and back again. Despite the inevitable stress of entertaining guests, I was actually quite sorry to see them go - "a week with the in-laws" would strike fear into the heart of some men, but I'm rather lucky in that Chie's family are actually really nice people, who are very pleasant to spend time with. So it is a shame they had to go back, but I suppose it's also good to be able to have a bit of a rest now.

On the way back to the flat we stopped off in Soho to visit Rice Wine Shop on Brewer Street, which seems to have now become our shop of choice for Japanese goods. It is a bit cheaper than some of the other Japanese shops nearby, and perhaps because of this it has the impression of more of a shop for Japanese people living in the UK, rather than non-Japanese people interested in Japanese food.

Chie's Mum had brought us some Japanese curry powder from Japan, allowing us to have Japanese curry for the first time in probably six months or more (the stuff we can get in Japanese shops in the UK always has some animal fat in it). I'd got rather hooked on this whilst living in Tokyo, it is really hearty and satisfying, and at the end of a busy week, this, and a can of Sapporo, was just perfect.

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