Lunch in Kyoto

In the morning I finished one of the reviews that I set aside to write in this period before my books come. I will reread it a couple more times before sending it off to the editor. For lunch Ken and I went up to Kyoto to see a former student of his who recently had a new baby.

We then proceeded to eat a leisurely lunch followed by an extravagant chocolate cake that Ken had brought with him. The food was quite good and there were again some specialty dishes, including tofu that had been frozen and then reheated. This gives the tofu a soggy texture that allows it to hold liquid. It was served in a thin sauce that dripped out of it every time I picked it up with my chopsticks.


In the evening, I went down to a bookstore in Hommachi (本町) that has a good selection of books for people studying Japanese as second language. The bookstore is called Bonjin-sha (凡人社), which caused a chuckle when it was being discussed, because although bonjin means "common people" it apparently has the connotation of "mediocre people." I picked up a kanji workbook and a systematic grammar that had been suggested to me.