Early June in Japan

Steak Restaurant Soma

June was a shortened work month, but I was on call a lot in a (very small) attempt of softening the blow of having the call pool get cut by 1/3.  SMS and I still got to do a lot around Yokosuka.  We went to Restaurant Soma, which was recommended by one of my Japanese colleagues.  It's an incredible steakhouse.  It features different regions on a nightly basis and although we really wanted to try Hayama beef, we ended up going on a Kobe night.  No matter, it was delicious!  We ordered one fillet and one tenderloin with an accompanying set, which included a small appetizer, salad, rice, miso soup and sorbet dessert.  It was all terrific but the steak was absolutely incredible.  The tenderloin was very tender and the fillet was completely butter-like and melt in your mouth.  I highly recommend the place and SMS and I were very glad we went.

My awesome necklace!

That weekend, SMS headed down to Osaka for a 2 day, 1 night trip to see his business school friend Yusuke.  He had a great time and went to a delicious yakitori restaurant.  He also brought back the most beautiful necklace for me, which had been given to him by Yusuke's Mom.  She has been making these necklaces for years.  They are incredibly intricate and beautiful.  I felt very lucky!

My beautiful anniversary flowers

When we were initially planning our move, SMS and I had talked about him going back early to get some much needed San Diego time.  Instead, we decided to do it after our anniversary.  Yes!  It's been two years!  Time flies except maybe for some cold/windy/gale-like days in Yokosuka.  Those always seem a little long!  SMS and I were so happy to be together and I felt very luck with some beautiful flowers brought to me during my work day!

Fried Shrimp salad (foreground) and Kimchi pancake (Background)

That night, we wanted to go to Hananoya, a fancy French restaurant in Yokosuka owned by a chef who used to work at Daniel, a chi chi restaurant in Manhattan.  However, Monday is not the day to pursue fine dining since Hananoya was closed as were two other French restaurants in Yokosuka.  We ended up at a nice izakaya Bonzai, which was pretty delicious and a nice way to celebrate our anniversary out.

The next night was SMS' last night in Japan.  We went to a BBQ party in Hayama and saw the most beautiful sunset we'd seen in Japan.  Not only are the colors gorgeous, but Mt. Fuji is in the background.  It's on our favorite beach Morito with the temple off to the left with a torii gate in the ocean (not visible above).

The next day, SMS was off to San Diego and although I was sad to see him go, it was a pretty daunting list of "To-do's" that lay ahead of me for the next 10 days!