Our Japanese meal on my birthday

Some weeks ago Helena asked me if I would like to go to a Japanese restaurant in Cheltenham as a birthday treat. She’d been there with her friend Dave some months ago and thought I’d like the food. I jumped at the chance so Helena booked a lunchtime table. Soon after we heard that Helena’s sister T. (aka blipper TMLHereAndThere) might be visiting us from her home in New Zealand, so it seemed a perfect birthday treat for me.

T. flew into Heathrow on Friday and came straight down to us in Stroud for three days. She would be returning to London briefly before flying up to Scotland for a couple of weeks to visit their mother, and two other sisters, in the north of Argyll.

The meal was fabulous although none of knew much about what Japanese food to order. I had the final say and chose some tempura prawns, some silken fried tofu and this mixed plate of sushi and sashimi amongst other delights.

It was rather dark in the restaurant, a situation which was not helped when halfway through the meal the house lights dimmed significantly. But it all adds to the atmosphere.  I took this quick snap with my nifty Fifty, which I brought out of deep storage recently and I’m enjoying playing with. Tanya has blipped a shot showing Helena and I about to eat the plate.

On the way home we stopped at Prinknash Abbey where Helena wanted to show us the Monastery Walled Garden. It was delightful. Tanya's blip also shows several shots from there.