So I did just the basics to make it look nice and comfortable. I had a $60k budget and went just under. The bathroom for example cost less than $1k because I didn’t tile it just cleaned it up and put a cheap bath in and changed some taps. In a few years when I can save more money I will properly fix everything up but you do with what you have. I used as much free stuff as I could including old ladders to hang lighting.
I have a kerosene heater as a stop gap. The old house doesn’t have 3 phase and I have cafe refrigerators so I can’t load it too much.
Wouldn’t be surprised as it’s not set up for that. Not you can run dishwasher and washer at the same time. At least the stove will help the cafe feel more comfortable and you’ll settle in to the nuances of that. This is just a great thread thanks for posting.
We are only doing about 6 dishes at the moment. Basically slider burgers and old fashioned cuts of beef with veggies and rice. This will change in the near future but it’s something everyone can eat so played it safe to start.
We can at least live precariously through others that came before us. Although the reality might not be what we imagine. I reckon it would have been tough like it was in our countries back then. My grandfather took coal out of a mine with a pickaxe and had 7 kids. No way I could do that and I’m not exactly soft.
Just did a food stall yesterday at the local autumn festival. The original festival was cancelled due to the big typhoon that really hit this area hard. It left 2000 in shelters and still there are around 300 who can’t go back to their homes. A few business owners donated food and cooked for them initially as the shelter food could get boring after a while. Some made pizzas from their food trucks or Japanese comfort foods and I made some trays of hot apple crumble. Local apple farmers gave me some crates of apples. I bought heaps of butter, flour and sugar and cooked the crumbles. Those in the shelters appreciated what everyone did. Apparently the turnout was ok for yesterday’s festival considering the recent circumstances and i decided to make a vegetable soup with beans and fresh grated Parmesan and olive oil on top. I also made fresh bread to go with the soup. I sold out and the soup went well in the cold weather. So I had a “foreign soup stall” as the only foreigner there and was invited to be a stall holder for the next festival in spring. So I’m happy about that as it’s good advertisement for my cafe and a chance to practice Japanese and make a little money too! There was a flea market there as well and arts and crafts and activities for everyone and performances. Apple peeling contests is a local thing too where you have to create the longest peel when peeling it. Not as easy as it looks.
Also I had a bowl of pig intestines that were stewed in stock for 3 days and then finished in miso paste stock and local vegetables. A local specialist chef does this dish. They were tender flavorful and better than the best quality steak I’ve ever eaten or cooked myself. I could’ve eaten 10 bowls but I’m trying to lose a little weight.
I'll try any food once, but IDK about pig intestines... Then again, they eat a lot of weird stuff in Japan. Like whale..
Chitlins are popular in the southern US especially with corn. They are just sausage casings really. You eat intestines probably every week when you buy sausages so it isn’t weird even in the US. You almost certainly eat more than they do if you eat a standard American diet. Eating and hunting whale has only been considered weird since the greenies took control of a lot of the media. The Europeans only stopped killing them when crude oil was discovered and hunting them became unprofitable. I don’t see the big deal. Do you know eating “krill” is fashionable in the foodie circles now? These same people would be shocked if you ate whale in front of them. These same people don’t see their own hypocrisy. Go to any vegetarian restaurant and look at peoples attire and you will find designer leather handbags and shoes. And I will always let them know if they pizz me off with their holy than thou diet crap. But I do it nicely so they sheepishly walk away. Basically you eat what your parents provide for you no matter where you are from or you starve. Morality is made up by people who can afford it when it come to food.
I haven’t had it but I know how it became popular. Poor people won’t go hungry because something looks strange and then they get a liking for it after having to eat it a few times. Everyone on this forum is capable of eating another human being in the right circumstances or they are not human themselves. Morality is for people with a full stomach.
Donner party proved that along with other instances. But...being capable is one thing and a lot different from committing the actual act. Remember, not all in the party chose to partake.....
Europeans hunted whales to almost extinction so they could use the oil in lamps. Upscale neighborhoods even used sperm whale oil in street lamps and also in cosmetics. They wasted 99% of the animal and now their grandchildren (you and I) have been taught that the Japanese are the bad guys in this whole thing. Fact is the eskimos and Japanese hunted and ate whales sustainability and it was us who screwed it up and almost wiped them out. It’s also our media and schools who don’t teach the real facts about it. Because Europeans didn’t like the “taste” of whale meat and still don’t to this day means nothing. It’s a false sense of morality and shameful in the context of true history. The whaling moguls are long dead and so is the truth about it at least in our schools.
Some people choose to die even when they millionaires too. If you are suggesting people chose to die because they didn’t want to eat human flesh I would say they were probably suicidal due to their circumstances. Primal instincts are the strongest thing given to us.
Yes, I'm well aware of the casing on sausages. However, most are now synthetic. Even if it's real, the casings are just vessels to keep the meat together. Chitlins,nope Not going there. Whale, I won't go there because it's too messed up and somehow Japan says it's for "research". Yet the research whales go to feed people.. odd. Krill, really that's a thing? I like shrimp, but if they are too small what's the point? Then there's the good stuff. Sushi. The real sushi. Sashimi, nagiri, and rolls, raw preferably, but I like some cooked rolls. Not big on urchin, but I like eel, squid, octopus, and other things. I won't try fugu though. I value my life, and I'd rather have my life in my hands than a chef's. Some people think raw oysters are gross. I love oysters though.
