"rosey"and foodie saturday & sunday

Saturday was gorgeous. Too bad Satoshi had German class.

Before his class though, we went to Utsubo Park to have lunch and enjoy the roses.

They weren't all in full bloom, but there were enough to ooh and aah at.
After lunch and a few pictures, Satoshi went off to his class and I walked back to Umeda.

On the way, I stopped at a bakery (Boulangerie Takagi, post later!) and I also stopped at Odona, a rather new shopping building.

In Odona, I had iced coffee and an eclair at Joel...the iced coffee was 600 yen (about US$6)...eep!

The eclair, while it made for some yummy photos, was kind of on the hard side, maybe overbaked?...meh.

After Satoshi's class we intended to try an Italian restaurant, but since his class ends at 17:00, we were too early for their dinner service.

We ended up at Outback steakhouse around the corner...with too huge American portions.

It was the first time for both of us to try this place in Japan.

Satoshi inhaled their 300 gram steak, garlic mash, steamed veggies and a huge side salad and I kind of whacked their 400 gram ribs (took 3 pieces home plus the fries and coleslaw). It was nice to get my "western bbq" fix and to eat with my fingers for a change!
Sunday turned out to be almost as beautiful as Saturday but with some haze.

We headed to Nagai Botanical Garden. This garden has many athletic facilities around it included a soccer stadium which I've worked at (pre-blog).

We bought some take-out from the department store and ate lunch at the garden.

My lunch--two musubi (ume & konbu), a potato and a few pieces of pork. Satoshi's lunch--a box of gyoza & ten-musu (musubi with shrimp tempura in it).

After lunch, we walked around the perimeter of the garden taking in the roses, poppies, azaleas & peonies.
At about two, we headed to Shinsaibashi for an afternoon snack.

We intended to try Krispy Kreme, which opened over the Golden Week, but the line was crazy long. (I actually have never tried Krispy Kreme, though they are in Hawaii, they are on the island of Maui.)

So, instead we had cake and coffee at Wittamer in Daimaru.

I had their chocolate roll, Satoshi chose a dessert made with coffee gelatin.

(While we were there, there was a slight problem with some foreigners which I helped translate for the workers of Wittamer.)

Outside of Daimaru, we took in some of the sights of an Osaka block party of sorts (Midosuji Open Festa).

Overall, it was a great weekend. We took in lots of nature while eating a lot of good foods. Hope you had a great weekend as well.

Joel
4-3-4 Kitahama (Odona 1F)
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6152.8780

Outback Steakhouse
2-1-24 Umeda, Shinsakurabashi Bldg 1F
Kita, Osaka
Phone: 06.6457.7121
Weekdays: 17:00-24:00
Weekends/Holidays: 12:00-24:00

Wittamer
1-7-1 Shinsaibashisuji, Daimaru B2
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6253.9770