Breakfast & food observations

I've been eating a salad with breakfast for the past few mornings! ...not what I would usually have, but I'm not always getting greens during the rest of the day.  Apparently, potato salad is big here (go figure!) and they sometimes have it on the breakfast salad bar.  They either have that or some shredded cabbage with a good mayonnaise-type dressing.  They also have corn kernels on the salad bar, which I tried today, and it was good!

They have a tray of grilled mackerel pieces, and have to re-fill it every few minutes!  I haven't gotten the nerve to try it, since I'm afraid it will be too fishy-tasting for me.  Other popular items are tofu, some kind of noodles, miso soup, rice porridge (watery rice) LOTS of regular Japanese rice, and some other things that are a mystery to me. My main breakfast staple is their plain yogurt with granola, and it's wonderful!  I get mandarin pieces when they have them.

I've been watching chopstick usage.  It's amazing what they can pick up with them!  I watched someone pick up the corn out of their salad.  And, salad would be lot easier to eat with chopsticks.  It would be a lot easier to pick up a piece of lettuce or tomato with them than a fork.  Their rice is very sticky, so they pick it up in lumps.  If something is too big for a bite, they pick it up with chopsticks and bite off pieces.  Or, if it's soft, they can cut off pieces by squeezing it between them.  I tried using them yesterday when we are out, but I would go really hungry if I had to use them!

Another thing I have noticed is the sparse use of napkins.  The ones I have seen are very small and thin.  No one puts one on their lap as I was taught...and if they tried it with these, they wouldn't stay in place or do much good!

But, they have wonderful hand wipes everywhere!  They are each packaged separately and are the size of a washcloth and very soft.  I don't know what the wetting agent is.  It doesn't smell like alcohol, so may be water.

This morning's breakfast