The place I have rented doesn't have a microwave oven. It became abundantly clear just how much I have come to depend upon a zapper in the course of day-to-day activity. For instance, I've bought bento but not finished it all in one sitting. So, into the fridge it goes, right? But then when I want to finish it it's cold. So, I had tried a couple of things:
There is a small toaster-oven in the kitchen so I transfered the left-over bento to a dish and warmed it in the toaster oven. Not so good because the rice gets very dry and hard. Okay, that didn't work. So next I tried steaming it. I put some water in a large covered kettle and got that boiling. I placed a plate upside down in the bottom of the kettle and put the bento box on top of the plate so that it wouldn't be directly in the water. Covered it and let it simmer and steam. It came out great - the rice was hot and moist and the food was thoroughly heated BUT... but the coating on things like chicken or fish was a soggy mess. Tasted okay but who wants soggy, spongey, breaded coating on their food?
I decided to get a microwave next time I was up to Kadena BX. Toshie suggested that instead of paying for a brand new one why not get one at a second-hand store. Smart friend I have there! So, off we went to pick out a nuker.
After that we got some lunch at a place where she used to work. A family-operated ramen shop, the Ramenkoubou Hikari, in Uruma. Good stuff - no fast-food franchise ramen here!
Since it had rained most of the day I didn't have any "sight-seeing" plans and made the most of the rest of the day taking my long walk. I brought along the pocket wi-fi hoping to be entertained while I walk but the darned thing kept stopping/buffering along the way. Here's that walk in the dark. If long dark walks bore you then just skip this video. I make walking videos to play on the big screen in front of my treadmill so that I can still take interesting walks when it's January in Montana and 12 degrees with a chilling wind outside!
