lunch...

I took Chaz to one of our favourite little cafés in Okayama for his birthday lunch. There are just so many things that make this place the gem that it is…they grow all of their own veggies, bake all of their baked-goods fresh, use serious amounts of delicious gouda cheese on everything, make killer sandwiches (which is a really big deal in Japan, because they just don’t see to be that into sandwiches there…it’s like they don’t even care and/or try. Except for this place. They both care and try, and I loved them all the more for it)…just everything about the place rules. And while the food was truly too good for words (and cheap too, for Japan!), I think my favourite part of the experience had to have been that dogs lived there. Yes, that’s right, in violation of probably a million and one health codes, there was always a dog wandering around this little café (one was little and oh-so-sweet, the other was quite possibly the biggest dog I have ever seen). No, it didn’t bother me that when I pet them their hair flew around onto all of the food (you can see in one picture that they just leave loaves of bread sitting out unwrapped…good luck finding one of those that comes dog-hair free!)…it was like being at home (back in the days of Diamond, anyway…oh Diamond, I still miss you, boy!). And I kind of liked that they one dog was so big he would just sit at the edge of your table and look you in the eyes while you ate…it entertained me that, if he really wanted to, he could just come over and eat right off my plate. Oh café whatever-your-name-was, how I miss ye.