I want my ramune!

We made our monthly pilgrimage to Super Cao Nguyen market in the city yesterday to purchase a 20-lb. bag of rice and a crate of ramen for Big Omi's lunches. If only we had brought our nifty new soft-sided cooler, we could have picked up some frozen mackeral (the yummiest fish out there, in my book) and brought it home for dinner. We'll have to plan better next time. Little Omi got a bamboo rice paddle and a small strainer for her little nook in the kitchen. I picked out some "gourmet" Pocky to indulge in this week.

We always make sure to buy a couple bottles of ramune (pronounced rah-moo-nay), which I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of trying it yet. It's basically a 7-Up type of fizzy sweet lemony soda, but the best part is the bottle it comes in. The mouth of the bottle is sealed with a small glass marble, which you pop into the bottle using a little plastic thingamajig that comes with the bottle. Then, the glass marble acts like the metal ball in a gerbil's water bottle—that is, it drops into the mouth of the bottle as you tilt it towards your mouth so the liquid doesn't come out very fast. When you get near the end and you're really tipping the bottle up, you have to go in and move the marble out of the way with your tongue to get the last few drops. When you're all done, the marble rolling around inside the neck of the bottle makes a wonderful sound. Big Omi remembers being a little kid in Japan and throwing fits to get ramune from street vendors. Little Omi worked hard at getting a sip all the way home from the market.