An unexpected pleasure

Russell and I had a bunch of errands today, including updating our phones/ re-upping our contracts and buying me contact lenses, among other things. By the end of the day, we were pretty beat. I was craving pub food, or at least a good hamburger. At first we thought about going to Hobgoblin - a British chain pub (we actually lived across the street from a Hobgoblin when we lived in Reading, UK, also. Turns out it IS the same chain!)

With the royal wedding still on the radar, though, we thought Hobgoblin might still be a bit busy. Instead, Russell decided to use his new, much faster phone to search out a new burger joint to try. We found one a bit of a hike up the hill from our place. We had passed this place once before back when we were running, but we hadn't ventured that far away from home any other time. The place was called Shin's Burger and it certainly had the correct trappings. Route 66 memorabilia, red and white checked table cloths on picnic tables, an add outside announcing a guacamole burger. This was looking good.

And the menu? Guacamole burger, bacon burger, avocado chicken burger... all very nice. To drink? Dad's root beer, cream soda, Dr. Pepper... oh. And Rogue Brewery's Dead Guy Ale. Seriously. It was 700 yen (almost $8) but how could we pass that kind of opportunity?!

Russell ordered the Dead Guy and the restaurant proudly presented it to us explaining that it was from Oregon. We happily informed him that we, too, were from Oregon.

We was very apologetic about the price. We assured him that just having it available, and walking distance from our house made it invaluable.

Hearts warmed, we headed home to watch a historical drama about the Meiji restoration.