Friday Saturday Sunday, oh my!

First official weekend in Japan!  And boy was it seriously full of amazing things.  First, on Friday I decided it was time for me to cook dinner (to be honest, the mother can't really cook anything super tasty) so in true american fashion I made burgers for the fam.  And let me tell you: mushrooms, onions, garlic, soy sauce mixed into a quarter pound of beef for each of us = magic.  I had to improvise a bun out of the texas toast they had but they still were impressed.

Then, of course, what other game do we start playing than Taiko Master.  It's like they knew I was coming or something...

On Saturday, my friends and I decided to head to the shopping district of Osaka called Umeda.  The huge building you see below entertained all of us for about 5 hours of the day.

Inside, we discovered the Sweets Museum (I trip I am saving for another day) and the food floor, something like a football field of delicious restaurants.  After a little searching we decided that we would split up because everybody but Sebastian and I were too cheap to pay 20$ for the most amazing chinese all-you-can-eat Dim Sum of their lives.

When night hit everybody but Sara (a late arriver) and I headed home and while they went back for a quite dinner we hit "Hep 5" a building known for its trendy teen fashions and the massive ferris wheel on top of it.

Of course they had a hip wedding store inside and just to give you a taste:

The next day I woke up early, went for a jog next to the river, then hopped on my bike to go meet some friends for a takoyaki party.  On the way, the street I normally take to school, quite and cold, had suddenly become a farmers market full of handmade crafts and homegrown food.  I was tempted to stop and shop a little but restrained myself until I rode by this:

MOCHI MAKING.  Mochi is gluttonous rice pounded into sticky dough and filled with sweet red bean paste.  When I broke out my camera the commotion started (the maker was more than slightly embarrassed) and after much persuading, they finally convinced my to give it a try.

That was definitely the best thins I did all weekend.  The street festival happens every second sunday of each month I have already made plans to go back with massive groups of people.  After that adventure I headed off to the takoyaki party.  Takoyaki is delicious fried batter balls with bits of octopus in them.  Although I have tasted (and loved!) them before I never have tried to make them myself.  But while we were waited for the pans to heat, the Japanese students convinced my to try natto, wierd nasty-smelling beans. I have been avoiding.

The texture was not appealing, the smell was revolting and what do you know;
How anybody eats the stuff I don't know.  Obviously somebody's bean crop went bad back in the day because of pollutants and mutant farmers but before they threw the beans into the dark abyss they should have, they sold them as health food and people loved it.  The takoyaki definitely made up for it though.  MMMMMMM.

The weekend was so full of food, fun and friends I wanted just one more day to actually rest and do homework, but honestly...who wants to do that?  Coming soon (like the next 4 months):  Japanese Valentines Day, Hiroshima, Osaka Castle, etc.

~A SPECIAL NOTE~

Happy Birthday Grandma Little!

I wish I could have been there for the party that looked so great!

None of the ladies here even compare to you.  You are the most accomplished woman I know.

I hope your birthday was nothing short of fantastic!