Dinner with a Friend

I have dinner with friends quite frequently (especially when Chris is gone), but last night's meal was extra special.  I met my Japanese student and friend, Yasuko, for dinner.  Now, as Americans living in a foreign country, we all know which places have English menus and which places don't and we really only frequent the places with menus we can read (or places we know what to order if we get the same thing every time).  However, last night, she took me to a brand new restaurant.  We went to "Goose."  Here's what the menu looked like,

Where do you even start?  She was so great and read the entire menu to me.  We finally decided to share a pizza, salad, crackers and dip, and a potato dish.  Everything was delicious and I had such a fun time! This is what we ate:

Mushroom and bacon pizza... yum!!

My friend, Yasuko, with the potatoes au gratin... it was our favorite of the night!

Avocados with wasabi mayonnaise and crackers

After an amazing time at dinner, she took me to a great hole-in-the-wall place for dessert.  The atmosphere was incredible and all the desserts looked delicious! Yasuko said she has been coming to this place since high school, and the best item on the menu is the coffee jelly... so, of course that is what I got.  The Japanese love their jellies... they put jellies in their sodas and everything!  I was nervous, but I dug right in!  The jellies were of course coffee flavored, but the ice cream made it sweet and creamy. I was in heaven and I will definitely be going back!

Coffee Jelly for dessert

I had such a fun evening!  I can't wait to take Chris to these fun new places Yasuko introduced me to!  She said will we definitely do it again... I'm already looking forward to the next new place she will take me. 

Getting to know Yasuko and my four Japanese students has been such an amazing experience... a definite blessing!!