The Golden Turkey

We left our country home to go to the big city. I even took a bath for the occasion and wore clean clothes. Whoo-hoo. It took an hour to find parking so we knew we were in a civilized place.

My daughter had gone to Nagano & Tokyo for a school trip and was expected to bring back "omiyage" souvenirs for her relatives, but she forgot one. Unless we wanted to start a battle between the relatives, it was in our best interest to find something from Tokyo to replace the forgotten gift. Luckily, the main department store in town carries souvenir gifts from every major city and prefecture, for forgetful people. We found a suitable gift and decided to mill around the store.

They had turkey on sale under the big green and red blinking sign "Marry Xmas" (sic). Whatever - they try. Turkey legs, raw or smoked, only $26 for one! Two legs for $50. They didn't even have whole turkeys - I think that might be worth the turkey's weight in gold. Guess what - we are not having turkey this year. I've been here long enough to know the stresses of trying to do a foreign holiday here, but I usually have my own income and can justify splurging on $50 turkey parts, $8 butter, $8 pint of real cream and expensive bits of cheese. A "Christmas apple" was selling for $15, just one apple that had a sticker placed on it when it was yellow so the red apple is left with a yellow design on the skin. Cute and a bargain next to the $120 melon.

We came home and had tofu and rice. I guess that will have to do.