I'm getting paid for this

It's finally here!!! OBON WEEK aka paid vacation. I need it, you need it, we all need it.

I went to Osaka for a few days with my main girls P ziz and Korean shadow fox. When people ask me, "How was Osaka?" I tell them that Osaka was delicious. I feel like all I need was eat, but I had some of the best food of my life. Takoyaki and okonomiyaki were not among them, sorry (but not really). I think the yaki's were hyped up too much. Maybe those just aren't my thing. Anyway, I feel pretty awkward about it because that's the second thing people ask when they hear I went to Osaka.

Nara Park! Mmm deer cookies.

The top 3 favorite things I ingested while in Osaka:
1. Every and all foods from Restaurant Doudou, this tiny 7 seat restaurant (actually in Nara :x) that was run by a woman who prized fresh oval ingredients and simple Japanese home cooking. It was the epitome of all that I love in food and in life. Pris and I ordered salmon, crispy chicken and shiso wontons, sesame eggplant, and I got a sake sampler. The sake sampler consisted of 3 sake's, 2 local ones from Nara and one from Osaka. I'm still a little fuzzy on the whole sake/shochu names. Pris and I were in heaven, the food was exactly what we were craving after a sweaty day of feeding deer and talking to old Japanese ladies on the train. (Sidenote: Sake has a mean after burn kind of like vodka. From what I understand, sake is basically Japanese for alcohol and shochu is a type of alcohol. Sounds easy right? Well it isn't because half the time the drinks are called sake and the other half they have special shochu-based names, but anway, I'm finally acquiring a taste for sake/shochu whatever it is.)

Steph and I in Nara

2. Pancakes from this cozy cafe called Very Fancy. I mean it was pretty fancy, but the name is still strange. I got roasted banana pancakes with ice cream and caramel sauce. They roasted a banana and put it alongside these life-changingly fluffy pancakes which were topped with fresh whipped cream and caramel sauce. And for whatever reason it came with ice cream lol. Coffee and pancakes yes.

3. Kurumon Ichiba Market is called Osaka's kitchen (by trip advisor lol) and it was a criscrossy matrix of food stalls, fish stands, mochi shops, and random stores. Pris and I walked in and saw the live octopus, shrimp, and abalone in styrofoam crates with water bottles full of ice inside. Some stands had recently deceased organisms and others were alive. There were live blowfish and eel!! We ended up eating at this udon restaurant owned by a sweet old man who hand makes the noodles and seemingly cooks, serves, cashiers all by himself. We had some amazing udon, the first udon I've had in Japan surprisingly. Then we got to decorate a 8x8 card with markers lol he has an impressive collection of these cards from people all over the world!

Baby octopuses on a stick. Delicious.

I guess my top eats were like 70% taste 30% atmosphere and mood at that specific moment haha. All in all, I feel so gross after 3 days of eating, but it was delicious.

More festival fish. 

Ziz and me passed on on the bus from Kyoto to Nara

Steph and I had the most horrendous day traveling back to Tokyo. We were literally struggle bussin it all day long on the Willer Express. Tired, smelly, and crusty we missed our connecting bus and had to speak some aggressive English to get what we deserved. After 20 minutes of arguing with the Willer Express "crew" we somehow managed to get on the bus to Shinjuku and save ourselves from the unknown. If we got stranded in Nagoya we would have been SOL because we had no idea where we were, no transportation, no place to stay, and no Japanese. We narrowly escaped disaster typhoon. We're somehow still in good spirits after 12 hours of transit and countless combini meals.

Steph and me on the luxury bus from Nagoya to Tokyo.
 Pillows, blankets, reclining seats, and strange seat hoods.