Please pass the vegetables.

Sampling the delicious Japanese food has been fun and all, but there has been a decided lack of fresh vegetables, fruit, and whole grains on our plates recently. This needs to be fixed! Though our hotel room is small, we do have a mini frig and a hot pot, so we decided to stock up and  "eat in" more often.

I love foreign grocery stores - shopping in them is like another form of sightseeing and cultural exploration. Yesterday on my walk I discovered a grocery store just a couple blocks from the hotel, so off we went to load up on broccolli, lettuce, carrots, cereal (I thought it was wheat flakes but it ended up being rice:-), milk, coffee, apples and oranges, etc.  The store was 100% utilitarian, with rack shelving and fluorescent lighting. It reminded me of a very small version of the bulk food stores at home. Most food was in large packages (no English labeling at all) and there were very few convenience foods, such as the ramen bowls that are found in most places. They had a nice produce section, small dairy, and a small liquor aisle. Lots of frozen food cases, but we didn't shop there. The prices were comparable to what we would find at home, and the final bill was about $60.

Then we picked up bowls and utensils (spoons are cheap, but butter knives get a premium for some reason) in the kitchen supply stores that line the street just south of our hotel.

Back at the room, a feast! I pretended the rice flakes were wheat flakes, topped them with strawberries...oops looks we got whole milk. Steve made a huge ham and cheese sandwich. Can't wait to have broccoli for dinner!