We made it into our new apartment!  I’ll provide the full tour later, but I can give you a few tidbits now:

• We have an automatic flush toilet.  I thought those were just for restaurants and airports, but apparently not.
• I’m really glad we decided against a queen sized bed (it wouldn’t have fit).
• “Blank slate” is an understatement.
• Red bean paste waffles and a shop dedicated to kaleidoscopes are just steps from the front door.

But one of the most exciting things about my day was lunch.  I picked up a quick bento box lunch at the nearby grocery store while I waited for our mattress to be delivered, and it was the most delicious thing!  Maybe it’s just that everything tastes better when you are eating off the floor, but I thought it was worth sharing.  Here is a sneak peek of the apartment with my picnic lunch:

That is right, I also picked all of the other important things — toilet paper, rice crackers and iced coffee.  But back to my bento…

It may not look like much in its little foam container, but it had a surprise in store.  The grocery store had probably 12 different options, and I chose this one because of what I thought was a panko-fried shrimp hiding there in the top right corner.  You can’t go wrong with fried shrimp (except when you can, ahem).  But after I bit into it, I discovered it was actually Japan’s version of the crab cake!

Eastern Shore, eat your heart out.  It also had a little crab claw sticking out, like a dainty little crab cake handle.

Of course I did what any self-respecting girl in my situation should do, I cracked that little claw open and sucked all the delicious crab meat right on out.  My mother-in-law and her Maryland roots would be proud.

Because I know some of you are wondering, I’ve taken my best guess at what else was in my lunch:

And (almost) everything was tasty, particularly the sweet potato and pickle combo.  Who would of thought?!  I have to admit, I skipped the mystery cube and carrot — sorry Japan, not even you can get me to like carrots.

With that, I must unpack (again – this is the 3rd time in 3 months, for those of you who are counting).  Saké Puppets will be offline for a few days until Internet service is up in our new apartment, so in the meantime, send us your comments!  We love to hear from you!