Early Valentine's Dinner

James is going to be away on Valentine's Day, so we decided to celebrate early. We went out to dinner at a nice local restaurant called Aburi-An. It's a Yakiniku place with a grill in the center of the the table. It's basically the Japanese version of Korean BBQ in that you order the meat, veggies and side dishes you want and can cook them however you'd like to. I like it better though because the Japanese side dishes are hot and marinated in soy sauce rather than cold and pickled. There are several restaurants like this in Misawa, but I love this one because the atmosphere inside the restaurant is remarkably nice and up-scale. (The Japanese are normally not big on aesthetics so it's unique to find a place where you won't feel out of place if you want to get a little dressed up.)

The food was fantastic. We started out with a plate of spring rolls (pictured below). They were not what we expected, but it was better in many ways. They were flavorful AND healthy with a beautiful presentation. After that we ordered some pieces of marinated sirloin steak and chicken to grill, as well as some asparagus, rice, and edamame (salted soy beans). Edamame is my favorite Japanese snack and I can't pass them up whenever they're on the menu.

At the end, we splurged on dessert. All we ordered was a chocolate sundae, but what they brought us was this vision of sugary goodness. It was more than enough for us to share, and the little heart-shaped wafer made it extra festive! What a fun date night!