John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt...That's my name too

Yeah...don't ask me about the title of today's post....it was the first thing to pop into my head when I decided that the theme of day was about 'names'. Work with me here folks...it's late...I've got a ton of stuff to do before I can go to sleep...just keep moving...

So...names. Here in Japan, the names that some owners give to their places of business are generally a source of great humor for me.

For example....

we have a karaoke place named "Voice Shower",

a bar on the second floor of a building is called "The Basement",

a bar in the basement of another building is "Over the River",

I go shopping almost everyday at the "Mama Center",

another karaoke place is "Enjoy Time"...

I could sit here and type and type and type..because there are just that many that make me smile, but, I won't...I'm pretty sure you get the idea.

Anyhoots....a few weeks ago, I noticed a very small, quaint restaurant on a road that I drive on quite often. As with most places here, it just sort of appeared one day.

Then, a student was telling me about this really great Italian restaurant that just opened up and that I "should go because it's delicious".

Come to find out, he was talking about the little place that I had seen.

I asked him about the name of the place because, as I am speeding driving past, it's hard to see the sign on the front and I thought I knew what it said but.....I wasn't sure.

He said the name.

I asked him to repeat what he had said.

He repeated the name.

"Goo-ray-pu Natsu"

And I was all, "????????????".

Did he mean "Grape Nuts" like this??

Well, yes, but no.....it's more like "grape nuts" like these little lovelies...

...which tasted like Baklava disguised as cookies. Yumminess in yo mouth, luvs!!

Taking the advice of my student, I stopped in one day to make a reservation for a couple of my students and myself for Saturday (to celebrate the end of another year!!). The place is cute and comfortable and the owner and his wife (Hi, Natsuki!!) are really friendly. She was in New York for about a year and the cookies are her own original recipe...similar to something she ate while she was in the States!!

While I was talking to them about the name of their place, I asked if they knew what most Americans would think of when they heard "grape nuts"....okay, so yeah, Euell Gibbons comes to mind, too...but he would have been really hard to explain and I was running short on time, so I just tried to explain breakfast cereal...fiber...not very good...crunchy concepts to them.

Here..."breakfast cereal" is pretty much "Frosted Flakes"....hard, crunchy things that aren't actually grapes OR nuts were very difficult to understand.

We went yesterday for lunch...which was delicious!! The prices were very reasonable and I will definitely go back again. I will also tell my students about this place...they like to try new places!

I made a point of taking with me a small bag of Grape Nuts (oh yes, I do have some...I actually like 'em!!)....just so they could see for themselves what I was talking about. We all tasted the cereal and came to the conclusion, very quickly, that we preferred the cookies...hands down!

a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAd_55bwxBT6AuB_UkGT5icphwj1k9BcM16o_UZUvMTtplZl8hWAon-FdSUcz0nV0ahbg8tjOGNkkh3rxM22FVg07g3Es7065xe1kgLGlu56dJZlH0L_Y-pcfbj1zzQWV1AL4D/s1600-h/grapenuts+007.jpg">

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And since we are on a "name" thing....the K-man Yahood me the other day...he must have been really bored to do that...but we found out something kind of interesting.

Are you ready for this???

I'm not the only Debbie Kuroiwa.

Now....I can understand other people being named Debbie. In 1962, the names Deborah, Debra and Debbie were #'s 9, 15 and 32 in the Most Popular Names list.

As for the name Kuroiwa, though not the Smith or Jones of Japan, there are quite a few "black rocks" (kuro=black, iwa=rock) running around the country.

But....to have another Debbie Kuroiwa?!?!?! Well...that's just a little weird, don't you think?? Aaaannnddddd...she is 47 AAAANNNDDDDd she lives in Hawaii.

I wonder if she is a teacher, too....THAT would be freaky!!

Have a great Sunday....may many things make you smile today!!!