WTF?!?! I’m reading the ingredients list on my lunch dessert tiramisu and the word “silicone” comes as a bit of a shock. I’ve seen food-grade silicone spray lube for use on industrial food preparation machinery, but this is the first time I’ve seen it listed as an ingredient! According to the internet, the common uses for silicone in food products is as an anti-foaming agent, but I’m not sure how it’s being used in this instance. This probably wouldn’t prevent me from buying this product again, but the use of margarine over butter would.
Archive for the 'Travel' Category
Page 15 of 32
With plate lunch and burger prices in Hawai’i rising to the $10 USD mark, let’s see what I got for lunch today from the Seicomart convenience store in Japan. Seicomart is one of the few chains that have actual service kitchens in the back of the store, so they produce hot meals instead of only having cold lunches that the register staff can microwave for you. It took me the entire time it took me to eat my entrée to figure out what the heck it was being called because of the katakana on the label. Let’s see… that’s a “he” with a handakuten mark, followed by a little “tsu” and a “ha” with a handakuten mark and a long sound mark… “Pepper-burg don.” It was essentially a deconstructed loco moco. The flavor was really good. There was even a nice little piece of broccoli and a ragout of onions and carrot as a concession to nutritional balance. For 450-yen, equivalent to around $5.75 USD, it was a good value, considering it was between “mini” and full-sized plate lunch in size, but priced less than a mini. Continue reading ‘Cheap Lunch’
My lower back and ass hurt from sitting in worn-out JAL seats all the way across the Pacific yesterday. At least the plane wasn’t stinky like the last time I was on JAL. Can’t wait for Hawaiian to get approval for the direct CTS route. Narita either had the A/C turned off, or had the heaters turned on, because it was hotter than Honolulu International if you can imagine that. Broke a sweat there where I didn’t back home. Some JDM girl in front of me in the domestic check in line cracked a silent fart of death just as I bent down to check the TSA lock on my bag. I actually got a gag reflex and had to drink water to get the gullet peristalsis moving back in the “down” direction.
(0)It sounds like everything will be OK, but I really shouldn’t think or say that, since that will doom everything to failure. The inbound flight is on (delayed) schedule and should be on the ground soon. The Delta and Thai Airlines flights that were delayed in leaving here last night are loading up to leave, so the wind conditions are apparently OK for takeoff. It’s still too early, so I haven’t seen any inbound landings on the runway yet. From the TV news, it looks like the typhoon center is up near Miyagi and Sendai now, and heading out to sea – Hokkaido might miss most of the brunt.
Two – actually three if I count dinner – beers later, I’ve got a pretty rocking headache. Being homeless in the airport terminal doesn’t help I guess… Pocari Sweat to the rescue!
(0)The wind and rain peaked out between midnight and 01:00. There was some dude downstairs out by the highway in the whipping rain with an umbrella during the worst of it. I’m not sure if he was a curiosity seeker, was actually headed somewhere, or was just an idiot. The rain has stopped, and the sidewalks outside and the window glass are now dry. The wind however is still ripping, so the inbound flight is not going to have an easy time. I was thinking I’d head through immigration and go to the gate, but if I do that and the plane gets diverted, I’ll be up the creek. At least if I stay on this side, they can get me a hotel if push comes to shove. Once I “leave Japan” and pass through immigration, it’s all over.
So I didn’t score a hotel room for the night, but I got the next best thing – 2,000-yen in meal coupons. It sucked a little that they were only good for a few places, and they were given to me after 21:00, when a lot of the places that actually remain open after 21:00 are moving to a more limited menu. I went by the pre-immigration 24-hour restaurant and got a beer, some assorted sausages, and a tsukudani nigiri. About the time my food arrived, they switched to the limited menu, so I couldn’t get dessert. No problem: I ordered another beer!
There’s a security guard here that has been by a couple of times since I’ve been sitting here. He has gone to the window to look to see that nothing has been placed between a partition wall and the glass and opened the recycling bins. Not exactly sure what he’s actually been trained to look for, but there’s a bottle half full of fluid a couple of rows of seats behind me that has been there since three that he still hasn’t noticed. I feel really safe. This is totally “three-ring binder” security – he was given explicit instructions of specifically what to look for and where, and anything outside that scope, although potentially a threat, gets ignored. He’s totally following “the rules” and not actually “doing the job” and providing security.
(0)The Hawaiian Airlines site says the inbound flight that turns around and takes me home has been delayed by almost 7-hours. In a way that’s good, since it puts the plane on the ground here in Haneda at 05: something tomorrow rather than at midnight when the typhoon will be arriving, reducing the chances that my return flight will get completely cancelled. The suck part for me is that means I will be sitting here another seven hours on top of the nine I will already otherwise be sitting here. I sort-of doubt that Hawaiian will spring for a hotel, so I will have a homeless night in the airport!
They just closed the observation deck due to rain (duh) and high winds. Next they will start waving off incoming aircraft. If the inbound Hawaiian flight makes it to the gate, I might have a chance of getting back as planned.