The Peanut Butter Score...Amongst Other Things

A few nights ago I met a friend at a local snack for a few drinks after work.  At some point in the evening we got onto the topic of peanut butter.  I think she said she had heard of peanut butter jam sandwiches from an American TV drama she had watched.  She was a bit curious and wanted to find out what they tasted like.  On the TV show she had seen them make PBJ sandwiches using blueberry jam.  So she slapped together peanut cream and blueberry jam on bread and took a bite.  It wasn't to her liking at all.  Much too sweet.  I laughed and said that made perfect sense as peanut cream (a sweetened peanut tasting spread) tastes nothing like peanut butter.  I rattled off the places in town where I buy peanut butter.  She asked "Isn't it expensive?" but I pointed out that a medium size jar of the stuff, which probably is a small jar back in Canada, could be purchased for less than ¥500.

The places where I go to get peanut butter in Yonezawa are the Gyomu Supermarket and Yamaya.  The stuff they sell at the former is imported from India.  At Yamaya they sell Skippy brand peanut butter.  There was a while of about 6 months where they weren't selling it but they've started carrying it now.  Actually, the choice has improved a bit there as they now sell both the creamy and crunchy variety.  Yamaya isn't a supermarket though.  It's a liquour store.  They sell imported foodstuffs also.  I once surprised a student (her family runs a liquour store) when I told her that liquour stores in Vancouver don't sell snacks, soft drinks, and other related foodstuffs.

This past weekend (my weekend is actually Sunday and Monday) I ended up taking a couple of short trips out of town to eat at places I don't usually go to.  On Sunday I drove up to Akayu to have ramen at the main shop of the locally popular ramen shop chain Ryu Shanghai.  Someone asked me how long it would've taken me to get there.  Since I hadn't gone there directly my answer was 30 minutes if. 1) I hadn't turned off to check out Inamori Kofun, an ancient burial mound, and 2) I hadn't gotten lost.  I don't know the layout of the streets in Akayu and I wasn't stopped long enough at traffic lights to be able to get a good bearing on my iPhone map application.  In the end I pulled over into a convenience store parking lot to check my map.  I had if fact driven past the intersection which lead up to my destination.

On Sunday night, before going to bed, I got it into my head to check out the Denny's restaurant in Fukushima city.  I don't know why but I suppose it was one of those "Why not do something different?" moments in life.  I checked the train schedules, the location of the restaurant, set my alarm, and went to bed.  The next morning I caught the 8:08am train to Fukushima.  I had taken longer to get dressed and ready to go so I had one of those frustrating spells of indecisiveness where I couldn't decide whether to drive to the station or walk.  I compounded the frustration on account of taking my car keys with me.  I started off, turned back, checked the time, and finally headed off to the station briskly on foot.  I made it to the station with ample time to spare.

I've never before taken a local train on that stretch of rail between Yonezawa and Fukushima.  So it was a nice change of pace.  I tried to catch sight of the station which is closed through the winter but failed to do so.  There's still that much snow there.  Breakfast at Denny's was uneventful.  Their menu is not the same as what is offered back home in Canada and the US.  No Grand Slam Breakfast to be seen there.  The rest of the visit to Fukushima was uneventful.  I did a bit of shopping, rode the Fukushima Municipal Transit line train, wandered about a bit, and did a bit more shopping for White Day goodies (White Day is the Japanese reciprocal Valentine's Day - men folk are supposed to give chocolates to the ladies who gave them chocolates on Valentine's Day).  The second round of shopping found me at the Fukushima Jupiter store.  Jupiter is a chain of stores which specializes in coffee and imported foodstuffs.  Their stores are not as snazzy looking as those of their competitor Kaldi(sic) but I like Jupiter's selection better.  In the battle of peanut butter selection they win out for they carry Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter.  That variety is the type where the peanut oil has separated from the peanut mash (I suppose that's what one would call it) and you have to mix the two back together before eating it. 

-*-

Post script:  I didn't get a chance to take a look around at the Inamori Kofun as it's closed during the winter.  I'll go back up there after the spring thaw is over.