Home > Ikebukuro > A Night on the Balcony

A Night on the Balcony

July 7th, 2007

After spending the day unpacking and cleaning (we’re 80-90% there by now), Sachi and I went shopping, and picked up, among other things, a few nice comfortable stools for the balcony. In light of this, we decided to try a little outdoor barbecue. That is to say, we trotted out the gas-canister-driven burner and set up on a small table on the balcony.

Or, at least, that was the original idea.

I had just returned from a trip to Seiyu supermarket (which we have since learned is also open 24 hours–cool!) with the meat and some beer, when I went outside to set up the gas burner. And it wouldn’t work. I tried again and again, inserting and re-inserting the gas canister… and it still wouldn’t work. Convinced that it had somehow broken during the move, I went back to Seiyu and bought a new gas burner.

When we got it home, it had the exact same problem. Wouldn’t light up. Figuring this was too much for a coincidence, we opened up the instructions for the new unit–and then I flashed on the problem: the canister must be turned just so, with a notch in the canister lining up with a groove in the burner unit, for it to fire up. Sure enough, the old burner still worked fine. At least we can get our money back on the new one… but I feel like a royal idiot nonetheless.

So we set up the table and chairs outside and got ready to barbecue some yakiniku.

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But the wind was too strong, and kept the hot plate from getting at all hot. So we turned the table in toward the building, sheltering it from the outside as best we could.

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Even that wasn’t enough–so Sachi and I spent the better part of the evening covetously protecting the flame, lest the wind steal too much of the heat. Sure, it was stupid–we could have just gone inside and done things twice as fast–but being stupid was most of the fun. We were having a blast, just surrounding the burner and plate like fools, enjoying every scrap of cooked food that finally got done after three or four times longer on the plate than it should have taken, while holding out or coats like we were imitating Batman or something.

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Say what you want about us, it was great fun.

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  1. ykw
    July 8th, 2007 at 03:34 | #1

    Some tin foil might help control the heat on the stove.

    Looks like you two are living in great luxury !

  2. Paul
    July 8th, 2007 at 05:02 | #2

    Good heavens, Luis, a little glimpse into your personal life! :)

    Thanks for sharing. After having been way-too-single for several years, and having lived with a really neato gal for 5 years before that, I can tell you that it’s “being stupid” moments exactly like you describe that I kind of miss. Enjoy them and your new pad!

    Suggestion: Some kind of little tinfoil wind shield around the edges of your burner unit would probably go a long way. You might poke around on REI’s web site under campstoves for suggestions/ideas on how to make it, see what they have.

  3. Andy
    July 8th, 2007 at 08:57 | #3

    Is that really you? I think I saw you in Sunshine 60 last week. Just kidding. Is it windy up there on balcony?

  4. Andy
    July 8th, 2007 at 09:05 | #4

    Sorry, I meant is it “usually” that windy?

  5. Luis
    July 8th, 2007 at 09:43 | #5

    …All we needed was a little tinfoil? Great, now I find that out. Well… still, being stupid was fun…

  6. matthew
    July 8th, 2007 at 10:57 | #6

    Great stuff Luis, I am really happy for you. Best wishes to both of you.

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