What are the best places for Sunday brunch?

Below are the upcoming events in Kochi.

Event Name	Location	Start Date	End Date
Mango Fest	Marine Drive	03/05/2024	19/05/2024
Ocha Vol2 - Hiphop Music Festival	Bolgatty Palace	19/05/2024	19/05/2024
Cricket Game	Vennala	19/05/2024	19/05/2024
Urban Sketchers Kochi - 91st Meet	Ambattukavu Bhagavathi Kshethram	19/05/2024	19/05/2024
Raevolution Vol 1	Crowne Plaza	09/06/2024	09/06/2024

Thanks to everyone who contributed. To add other events, refer to Events in Kochi
Recurring Events

Event	Date	Location
Kochi Silent Reads	Sunday 4- 6 PM	Panampilly Nagar Park
Kochi Book & Reading Club	Saturday 4:30 - 6:30 PM	Panampilly Nagar Park
Weekly dog meetup	Sunday 8 - 10 AM	Rajendra Maidan Park
Weekly dog meetup	Sunday 5 - 7 PM	Rajendra Maidan Park

Local business promotions

Business	Featured	Date	Additional details
Lila Curated Experiences - Fort Kochi	The Epic Sunday Brunch Buffet	Every Sunday

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Howdy! 👋 I'm Bella, a down-home sophisticated Southern girl. 🍑 My heart's as warm as a summer day and my smile that could light up the night. 🌟 Growing up surrounded by the charm of fireflies, grits, sweet tea, and front porch swings, I've a love for life's simple pleasures and heartfelt connections. That's where you come in! I'm looking for someone special to share all this with. I want to be your sunshine, always ready to brighten up your life. 🌞
You know, life's always a treasure trove of adventures, isn't it? My never-ending curiosity seems to fuel my passion for most everything. I'd so enjoy a good Sunday brunch with you, or a slow dance in the kitchen. Hopefully you're not afraid of spontaneous road trips, when the mood strikes. It'd be so fun to blast some tunes and sing along together! 🎶 In a partner, I value passion, intelligence, kindness, humor, honesty/openness, maturity, and authenticity. I'm craving conversations and moments of laughter as well as…other things. If you're a kind-hearted fella, grab your cowboy boots and let's hit the road together. 😊 We'll be off to the races in no time flat.
A Little More About Me:

• I love game nights with friends, every Wednesday. 🎲 We're playing Baldur's Gate 3 at the moment. (What an epic game!)
  
• I have an insane number of hobbies that I enjoy. To name a few, fitness, 💪🏻learning anything new, 🧠 girlie things like hair, makeup and fashion, crochet, 🧶 and anything outdoors gardening included. The list goes on and on!
  
• A no brainer here, photography. 📷 I love running around capturing the world's beauty everywhere I go. It'd be so much more fun if I could share them all with you!
  
• One of my favorite things is recharging in the forest near me. 🌲🥾 I love the long scenic drive out there. Bonus points for staying late to grill out at a picnic station. I'll bring the charcoal, santa gave me plenty last year! 😏
  
• Everything is better with music -- currently playing Rhye. 🎶🎙
  

I'm eager to meet you and explore the world and ourselves together. If you resonate with this and seek a journey filled with love, laughter, and growth, I can't wait to hear from you! :)
Bella <3🌹
[I am an 18+ Adult offering/requesting SFW companionship to other 18+ adults only.]

I'll be in Olympia in 3 weeks for a wedding and need Sunday brunch recommendations. My parents live in Oly but only know Anthony's Hearthfire Grill.

Hey so I know they do private parties and have the window open on saturdays but I just wanted to know the timeframe for which the window is open? Also do they still do Sunday brunch or plan to bring it back if not?

Chicago Summer™️ is coming in hot (get it? hot?) and this does mean my social life is about to pick up and involve a few more dinners and such (plus my birthday in a couple of months!), so I wanted to get a feel for what I could eat and drink, and I'm happy to say that it's more or less the same as before, but definitely more mindful and less alcohol-driven.
My disclaimer is: this is not a calories experiment but rather confirming what is safe for my stomach. I will be on Zep, or some variation of a GLP1, for the rest of my life so I need to learn its limits! Especially since I had been having GERD recently that I'm managing with omeprazole. My goal is not to eat garbage or party hard -- it's to be able to live a balanced life where I can appreciate good food without having to count calories like pennies.
I also come from a different cultural background, so eventually, I would like to be able to go back to eating the food I know and love regularly. It's no less nutritious than American health foods -- it's just a different balance of macros... richer and more acidic with lots of tomatoes, eggplant, olives, and so on.
So as a trial, I went out on my own last night to test out what a typical dinner looks like. If things went bad immediately, I could go home without needing to worry a friend, or make a big embarrassing mess. Plus I've been long overdue for some self-date time.
Shot Stats:
I'm on compound and take 4mg. Last Sunday was my 7th shot, 8th will be this Monday. I'm down 14lbs from my highest weight, 11 of them from Zep.
I take my shots on Sunday or Monday specifically so that I feel comfortable by Friday/Saturday if I need to go out. I generally eat a lot less the first 5 days, then closer to 1500 the last 2 days of the week, giving me about a 1300 calories/wk average. I'm sedentary at this time so my TDEE is around 2400 and my [lab tested] BMR is around 2000. At about a 1.8lbs/wk loss, I'm in a reliable deficit.
However, the longer I remain on a dose, the easier it is to eat more consistently. I would NOT go out if my dose had gone up this week or last because that can be really disruptive to my stomach. I do not rock the boat.
My summer social schedule involves about 3 food related outings per month in the summer, a little more around my birthday, and is usually dinner and drinks but sometimes brunch, and rarely lunch. This doesn't include various coffees and non-food events. (In the winter I go out like once every 3 months lol INCREDIBLE savings)
Before dinner:
I drank ample water with electrolytes, and ate normally but on the lower fat end of the spectrum. I didn't want to go in hungry or with low blood sugar (something that I've been prone to after I started Zep if I go too long without food). Doing that will definitely make me vomit. In the end I'd rather go over calories than make myself sick by "saving" calories for a meal.
I also know I lean towards fattier food in general and especially when I go out so I want to keep that in check since fats can sometimes give me the runs on Zep.
What I ate:

• Tuna crudo appetizer (5 pieces) with sundried tomatoes 🐟
• Branzino with eggplant caponata 🐠
• Maple butterscotch budino 🍧

What I drank:

• 1 herbaceous gin cocktail 🍹
• 2 glasses of orange wine 🍷
• 1oz of amaro 🥃
• Lots of water 💧

Results:
I haven't had much, if any, alcohol since early Feb, before I started Zep, so my tolerance seems to have gone way down. I was tipsy by the end of my first glass of wine. I was a hard, hard drinker for the last 5 years and my normal go-out drink numbers are close to 8 drinks and beyond, and I drank regularly at home too. So this was interesting. I was definitely straight up sleepy by the time I was ready to go home.
I had no real inclination to go harder on the drinks, which is good!
Food felt fine. No nausea, no vomiting, no discomfort. I definitely could tell I was full by the end of the branzino, and did not finish my budino, so splitting dessert would be a must for me. If I were eating anything heavier than fish (eg pasta, steak, lamb, etc), I would have possibly declined dessert and just stuck to an amaro or coffee/tea.
But I am very partial to fish and lamb when going out because it's often selections and recipes I don't make at home! Especially in the summer.
I did eat very slowly. I arrived around 5:30 and left around 8:00. This is a little slower than how I would eat and drink with a friend, which is usually a 1.5-2hr experience.
For the last 3 years every time I drink, I needed pepcid, but this time I did not feel any burning or discomfort. Neat! ✅
The total that I could put together for ALL of yesterday is around 2400 calories, which is my TDEE, so I broke even for the day.
The Day After (today):
No hangover! No runs! I definitely did not sleep as well as I could have because alcohol disrupts sleep, but I also don't feel sick or uncomfortable, besides a little gas. But I'm also a gassy person and it's my period week so it the food or me as a person? Who knows. 🤣
I'm a little dehydrated -- sticky, dry mouth. The plan for today is lots of water and simple foods just in case. I am a little hungrier this morning than I would normally be (alcohol trashes blood sugar).
My weight is up nearly 3lbs, which I expected. As I said, I'm dehydrated and had more food than usual, so more water retained. This should go down in a couple of days.
Reflection:
Happy with this experiment, and glad I followed my instincts on what's "safe" to consume right now vs what is risky. As time goes on I will naturally experiment further and reintroduce more foods.
I think the real concern is sticking to my 3-drink limit (4 if you count the amaro I guess) when I'm around my more enabling friends. But I think they would respect it if I said I'm cutting back on alcohol, since it's historically been a problem for me. I think this is a fine limit for any dates as well, which is something I'd been concerned about.
This has also made me realize that I just prefer healthy foods in moderate quantities and always have. Even when going out, the challenge was more the alcohol than the food. Not keeping alcohol at home is a good decision for me, and hopefully my general disinterest in it continues.
And that's it!
Stay smart, don't force yourself to eat or drink anything, and be mindful of your glucose. Don't go ham on weeks where your dose goes up. Be careful with fatty and acidic foods. If you're already feeling unwell, don't go out. Drink lots of water.

hard pillow to swallow
like the words in your throat
i choke
my lens it shatters
a battered wife
sliced like deli ham
dressed up
for sunday brunch.

https://chng.it/cqJZCrV59S
I’m reaching out to you all today with a plea that resonates from the depths of our freshly Grown Alchemist-tormented souls. Our beloved Kiehl’s products—once the highlight of our post-workout wind-down—have been unceremoniously swapped out for something that… let’s just say, doesn’t quite hit the spot.
We all know that feeling: you’re dripping with the hard-earned sweat of a good workout, and all you want is that perfect shower experience to cap it off. But alas, we’ve been met with a new formula that feels like washing with a watered-down fruit salad that’s been left out at a brunch buffet.
I’m putting together a petition to bring back our trusted Kiehl’s products and would love your support. This isn’t just about shampoo—it’s about reclaiming a piece of our post-workout joy. Let’s unite and make our voices heard!
Sign the petition here:
https://chng.it/cqJZCrV59S

I want to go out for a nice little Sunday brunch but I don’t want to have to break my bank for it. Open to suggestions for the outside of Athens areas as well.

Wanted to share my top 5 recommendation list. Having lived here for about 30 years, here are the best spots to visit, whether you're traveling or a local. I've included a range of options from cheap eats to fine dining.

1. Chef Tally's - I've binge eaten at least 50+ jamaican restaurants, and while this isn't your typical traditional jamaican spot, this is hands down one of my favorite places in south Florida. I dream about the chicken here. It's always a candidate for my "what should I eat this weekend" thoughts.
2. Mila Sunday Brunch - $95 for all you can eat cinco jota jamon iberico, black caviar, and a ton of other creatively prepared dishes. I've had a few of the other brunchs in south florida, like edge, novikov, etc. but this one gets the thumbs up because they actually have more unique spreads and appetizers. Pro tip, they have a cheese wheel pasta and mojito station outside. Did I mention the price includes unlimited champagne and rose?
3. Palacio de los Jugos - this is a staple of south florida cuisine. I might get some flack for having this on my list, but amongst all the cuban and latin spots I've been to across Hialeah and Miami, I always find myself back here grabbing a meal for like $7 and juice for $3!
4. Stubborn Seed - I haven't gone since they've gotten their Michelin Star, but I used to frequent this place. What sets the tasting menu at stubborn seed apart in my opinion is the almagamation of dish pacing, food sourcing/creativity, and lineup of ingredients. I don't think there's a singular dish that really sets this restaurant apart from the rest of the modern fine dining options, but more so a extremely well presented and curated dining experience.
5. Anita Gelato. This spot recently opened in Aventura coming from NYC. It's not a super traditional italian/argentiniam gelato, but the flavor combinations are the best I've ever had. And it's not too sweet. My favorite ice cream/froyo/gelato spot amongst the hundreds I've been to in SoFlo.

Honorable mention goes to Kaeru Sushi for bringing great quality japanese food for an affordable price.* A little extra. South Florida has EXCELLENT latin american food(peruvian, argentinian, columbian, etc.), mediterranean, israeli/jewish delis, italian, caribbean, and much more. I highly recommend checking out any of the above cuisines. DM me if you'd like any specific recommendations.
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Hello, this is a trip report of my recent road trip during golden week 2024 (April 27 - May 2, 2024). I am living in Nagoya, Japan and last year got an electric car which I can charge for free, so I thought it might be fun to take a longer road trip this year, and challenged myself to drive to and around Kyushu and back. Golden week is one of the main travel seasons, so I planned the timeframe by checking the traffic jam forecast, trying to avoid the peaks. This paid out and like a miracle, I didn't experience one single traffic jam during my time. Kyushu and Shikoku are beautiful places, so I'd like to share my experience.

6 Day Itinerary (April 27, 2024 - May 2, 2024)

Day 1 (Saturday): Nagoya, Awajishima, Naruto Whirlpools, Matsuyama
The first day started by getting up at 4:30 in the morning. Since it was the first day of the Golden Week, there was a major traffic jam forecasted for the highway from Nagoya to Osaka starting from 6am in the morning. With that in mind, I decided to start driving at 5:00 and it workout out just fine without any delay until I arrived in Kobe. Once there, I charged my car even though it still had 50% battery, but wanted to be on the safe side, because there are no dealers I can charge for free on Awajishima. While charging, I took a stroll through Rokko Island and the beach there. After like 40min I was done and continued to my first goal, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge connecting Kobe and Awajishima, the second largest suspension bridge in the world. Once I crossed it, I took a break at the nearby service area, enjoying some coffee and the view of the bridge, the sea, and Kobe in the background. Until there it took me about 2.5 hours.
After that, I continued my road trip for another hour and drove through Awajishima, until I reached the southern end of the island and crossed the Onaruto Bridge, connecting Awajishima with Shikoku, after eating lunch (Japanese Curry) at the service area right before the bridge. There I reached my second destination of the day, the Onaruto Bridge and the Naruto Whirlpools. After enjoying the view of the bridge, I got to the pathway underneath it. You need tickets for it, and I bought them online in advance, so I checked in with my smartphone. Once inside, you can walk along a about 300 meters long pathway underneath the bridge until you reach the main observation room. From there, you can look down onto the whirlpools. On the website you can check the times for the whirlpools which is critical. There are strong timezones and weak ones, so I advice to check beforehand. Luckily I was able to get there for the peak time, able to witness especially strong currents.
When I was done there, I made my way to the final goal of the day, Matsuyama. This I only planned in because after thinking about it carefully, driving all the way to Kagoshima in one day would take 12 hours by car, and that would be just too stressful and I would not be able to do sightseeing on the way. After around 8 hours of driving in total, I arrived in Matsuyama at around 19:00 in the evening. Once there, the main purpose was to rest at the hotel, so all I did was having a look at the beautiful illuminated Matsuyama Castle before calling it a day and resting at the hotel, APA Hotel Matsuyama-Jou Mae, which I cannot recommend because it was rather old and dirty, but for one simple night it was enough. But driving in Shikoku was a dream. The scenery is beautiful, the highway is big and has 2-3 lanes, and there are only few cars, so you can drive fast without any worries.
Day 2 (Sunday): Matsuyama, Ferry, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima
Day 2 was the most exhausting one, because this was mainly driving without much sightseeing. In the morning, I continued my road trip, starting from Matsuyama and heading towards Misaki Port which took me about two hours. The way there was beautiful, because you drive along cliffs with the sea right next to you, giving you beautiful views of the scenery around. When I arrived, I had around 30 minutes before the ferry would take me to Oita, so I took the time to look around and enjoy some coffee at the cafe nearby. Once the ferry arrived I parked my car inside and enjoyed the trip with the ship which takes you to Saganoseki Port in Oita. After arrival I drove to the nearby dealer to charge my car before taking the probably worst part of the trip, the "highway" from Oita to Miyazaki.
Why was this the worst part? Because even though it is declared as "highway", it is far from that. On the map, it looked like it was close to the sea, but it was not. Also, it says "highway", but if you are expecting several lanes, you are mistaking. It was only one lane per direction, and a rather narrow one as well. On top of that, since there are many, many mountains, most of the time you are driving through badly illuminated tunnels. Because my car is one of the larger kinds, it was rather stressful. What made it even worse, there are no service areas until Miyazaki, so I did not have anything to drink, eat, or a toilet for about 3 hours.
After I finally was out of that hell, I charged my car one more time at the dealer in Miyazaki, before heading to the final goal of the day: Kagoshima. Since my Japanese girlfriend did not want to join from day one, she took the plane on this day, so she would arrive in the evening. And like a miracle, we arrived at Kagoshima airport at exactly the same time. With that, we headed to a dinner with her friends from there, before then going to her parent's house, where we would stay 2 nights.
Day 3 (Monday): Moai Statues, Udo Jingu in Miyazaki Prefecture
If you like sceneries/nature, then you will love Miyazaki. It has mountains, the sea, beaches, and anything else you need. On this day we first had lunch and bought some souvenirs at the Michi no Eki in Miyakonojo. Afterwards we went to the Udo Jingu, which is a temple inside a cliff. From there you can enjoy beautiful scenery of the mountains, the sea, and the temple itself. There are also rocks with a rope on top of it in the sea. You can throw stones at them, and if you manage to land inside the round rope, it is said that you will have fortune. After the temple we went to the nearby Moai statues, which are beautiful to look at on top of the mountain with the sea in the background. Apparently those are the only officially approved Moai statues aside from the original ones. In the evening, we had Yakiniku at the parent's house.
Day 4 (Tuesday): Kumamoto, Nagasaki
At 7am in the morning, we said good-bye to her parents and went on to Kumamoto, where I charged the car real quick and had a little shopping trip in the nearby mall. After that we went on straight to Nagasaki, which took us overall about 2 hours. At the hotel, they had a charging spot, so I was able to charge the car until the next morning, and we used the hotel bus to then go to Nagasaki station. After we arrived, we did some sightseeing at the nearby Chinatown and then head over to Dejima for some historical education, although I am personally are not too much into museums etc. After that we went to the beautiful Ouratenshudo church. On the way back to the hotel, we bought some Nagasaki castella. Our hotel was on the top of Isa Mountain, so we did not need to go to the observation deck, it was our hotel. The hotel also had an infinity pool, so we went inside the pool and relaxed while enjoying the view of the beautiful Nagasaki port.
Day 5 (Wednesday): Kita-Kyushu, Fukuoka Ferry to Osaka
The checkout of the hotel was at 12:00, which is late for Japanese hotels. Since it was a beautiful place, we decided to enjoy every single minute before finally checking out and then driving on north to Kita-Kyushu. On the way there, we stopped at a service area where they sold Sasebo Burger, which are apparently famous because of the U.S. military base nearby. It was the first time I have seen an American burger, and even though it was tasteful, I felt my man boobs and hips growing with each bite I took. Afterwards we went to Kita-Kyushu and strolled around Majiko Port, which has a lot of older European style buildings. It also has an observation tower which you can go up for only 300 Yen! We went up, had a look at the port, the sea, and the nearby bridge connecting Kitakyushu (Kyushu) with Shimonoseki (Honshu). At the nearby plaza you can do some shopping and there is some kind of museum inside the old customs building as well, which was more interesting than expected. Once it was time to board, we went to the port where our ferry would start, the "Ferry Fukuoka" from the Meimon Taiyo Ferry. This ferry connects Kitakyushu and Osaka. There are 2 rides a day, one at 17:00 and one at 19:50. We took the later one so that we arrive in Osaka at like 8:30 in the morning.
The Ferry Fukuoka is a new ship, so everything was still new, good-looking and generally beautiful. We went on board at like 19:00. There are charging terminals for EV cars which you can use for free if you register in advance, which I did. Thanks to that, my car was fully charged when we arrived in Osaka. There is also a restaurant you can use, and you can go eat dinner right after you boarded. The ticket for dinner and breakfast together costs 2,400 Yen, and it is a buffet like restaurant, where you pick what you want. There are also different rooms. If you really want to save money, you don't need to pick a room, but then you have to spend the 12 hours in the public rooms. There are several public rooms for watching TV, a lounge, a game center with crane games etc., a convenience store, and the open deck. Since you don't go on such a ship every day, we took the most expensive suite, which there are only two, for about 40,000 Yen. But oh boy was it worth it, this was as large as a hotel room, had a big TV, two beds, a couch with a small table, and a desk as well as your own bathroom with showebath and toilet. After eating dinner, we took a stroll around the ship, but then relaxed in our room and slept till the next morning.
Day 6 (Thursday): Arriving in Osaka and driving back to Nagoya
The last day of the trip began at 7:00 when the ship crew made an announcement that we would soon drive through the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, the same bridge I crossed with my car on day 1. So I quickly went out of the bed and headed towards the deck, where I was taking pictures and videos as we drove through underneath the bridge. After that we head breakfast at the restaurant before then getting ready to get off the ship. Once we arrived in Osaka, we simply drove the last part about 2 hours from Osaka back to Nagoya, as my crippling depression was slowly kicking in, realizing that the boring everyday's life was about to start again, even though I still had days off till May 6. After arriving in Nagoya, we went shopping in Sake, before arriving at home again.
Tips
If you are travelling by car during Golden Week, check the forecast for traffic jams. Also don't start the trip on the first day and return on the last day, since that is what everybody else is doing. On the first day, you can still avoid traffic jam by starting early in the morning. For the returning day, I usually prefer to be back a few days before the official last day, because that is usually the one with the worst traffic jams.
EV cars: The Japanese highway has a lot of charging spots, so even if you are driving an electrical car, you do not have to worry too much. I personally was a bit of an exception, because I had the free charging plan from my company, so most of the time instead of using the highway charging spots, I went to the nearby dealer to charge for free.
One thing I regret is that day 2 was mostly only driving. So if I was about to plan another long road trip, I think I would insert another stay in-between so that I have more time for sightseeing and resting.
Accommodations
Matsuyama: APA Hotel Matsuyamajo-Nishi - 1 night for about 10,000 Yen
Kagoshima: 2 nights at hotel mama and papa for free ;D
Nagasaki: 1 night at Garden Terrace Nagasaki - 1 night for about 40,000 Yen
Ferry Fukuoka: 1 night inside suite A for about 40,000 yen
Last thoughts
Overall, Kyushu is a god-damn beautiful place, and I have by far not seen everything about it yet. Therefore, I am definitely planning on coming back, be it by car, train, or plain. But since Kyushu is rather countryside, in the end I was glad that we had a car, especially in Miyazaki. If you are visiting with public transport, it probably makes sense to get a rental car nearby. I hope this report could increase the interest for Kyushu for anybody reading it, cheers!

Hi ! This is one more post of a series whose aim is to share the Monogatari short stories that hadn't been translated into English yet. Except that one already was. Whatever.
Short stories masterpost here, updated regularly to show our progress with the translations.
 
 
Today is a re-translation of Hitagi Buffet (by Tigoris), the very first short story, published in the Bakemonogatari Anime Complete Guidebook all the way back in 2010. As usual, it's written from Araragi's point of view.
The version we had was a very old translation lifted from Baka-Tsuki, I don't even know who the translator was. But in any case, from what I could tell it seemed pretty dodgy, so I enlisted Tigoris to make sure we had a better one for the short stories book, and sure enough, a lot of sentences seem to have changed so it looks like this was a good idea. I will be doing the same for the three stories translated by Kavitha (Hitagi Throwing, Hitagi Figure, Shinobu Figure), as I also suspect they might be subpar, although not as much as this one.
 
 
Senjougahara and I saw each other every day at school, so it was only rarely that we went to the trouble of meeting up on Sundays. But on that Sunday, at noon, more specifically, I had promised to meet her.
 
The reason for this was a ticket for a cake buffet that she had received from her father, which was only valid on this Sunday, and so she had suddenly proposed that we meet up and put it to use. The location was a sweets café, which, in order to maintain its dignified “out of reach for commoners” air, did not engage in such barbarous acts as having all-you-can-eat buffets. However, as a special event to celebrate the anniversary of their store opening, they were having a cake buffet just for one day.
 
Now, I had worried that this buffet might have donuts somewhere in the lineup, in which case there was the possibility that Shinobu would come creeping out of my shadow to snatch them up, but she’d never appeared in front of Senjougahara before, and she didn’t seem to care for anything outside of Mister Donut (she doesn’t really eat human food in the first place), so I felt that it should be safe enough to attend.
 
Speaking of worries, though, it was hard to ignore the café decorations that made it difficult for any young man to enter the building, but I would simply have to endure that.
 
If the decorations were a form of harassment from Senjougahara, then it was a very minor form of harassment compared to other things she had done. The store had a wide variety of cakes, all of which were more delicious than any I’d tasted before, so I quickly got over my qualms about the store’s appearance.
 
Mm. Truly delicious.
 
It was amazing what could be tolerated if it was paired with delicious food. Humans truly are creatures who are controlled by their hunger.
 
Well, I supposed that was also true of vampires.
 
“Senjougahara. Have you gotten fat?”
 
And then…
 
In a short lull in my eating, I suddenly voiced aloud the thought that drifted into my mind.
 
I haven’t watched any comedy shows in a while, but what happened next was like a scene taken straight from one of them. Just as comedians love to throw pies in each other's faces for an easy laugh, I suddenly found a shortcake flying straight for my face.
 
It wasn’t clear if they had made them just for the day to facilitate customers eating a lot or if they always used that design, but the shortcake that was traveling through the air towards my head was not the typical size of a shortcake but instead a miniaturized version. And, fortunately for me, that small size allowed me to avoid getting my face or clothes dirty by catching the confection cleanly in my mouth.
 
Now that’s a very direct way of eating.
 
“Hm? Did you say something, Araragi-kun?”
 
Senjougahara’s pupils were dilated.
 
She was terrifyingly expressionless.
 
“Girls do not get fat.”
 
“Huh…? Is that so?”
 
“That’s right. We simply increase.”
 
She took her fork in hand and, as if to spite me, began to quickly eat the cakes that were arranged on the table, starting from the edge and working her way inward.
 
“Do not think of it as getting fat; think of it as growing.”
 
“…”
 
That was quite a stretched interpretation.
 
“If I keep eating like this, eventually there will be two of me.”
 
“That sounds altogether terrifying.”
 
That was a terrifying way to think of it, but the thought of a second Senjougahara was also terrifying.
 
“And you’re too thin to start with, so gaining even a little bit of weight shows really easily.”
 
“Don’t say that my weight shows.”
 
She held her fork like a weapon.
 
Pointed toward me, her boyfriend.
 
... But, not too long ago, Senjougahara would have thrown her fork at me from the start instead of lobbing a cake at me, so viewed through that lens, she had become a much gentler person.
 
I wouldn’t say that she’d become softer, not with our current conversation topic.
 
“You really have no delicacy at all to bring up a girl’s weight in conversation, Araragi-kun.”
 
“Mm.”
 
She wasn’t wrong there.
 
I suppose that I simply wanted to poke at her a bit after watching her eat cake after cake without stopping to look at me or even her cup of tea. She was being so shameless and expressionless that I couldn’t help but want to make her react in some way.
 
In short, it made me want to tease her.
 
“Although I must admit that I have gained a bit of weight recently.”
 
“Oh, so you really have.”
 
I thought that maybe I had been imagining it.
 
Maybe I was fairly perceptive after all.
 
“Yes. To be more specific, I’ve gained about five kilos.”
 
“Isn’t that a lot?!”
 
Five kilos!
 
That’s how much her entire body weighed during the whole crab incident!
 
In that sense, she really had grown enough to have a second Senjougahara.
 
“It’s fine, isn’t it? 3D movies are all the rage nowadays.”
 
“I don’t know about that. I don’t think that means people want to see stomachs protruding over belts.”
 
"Oh, shut up. Or I’ll make your guts pop out.”
 
Flying visceral fat.
 
I don’t want to see that in 3D.
 
Hmm.
 
She didn’t look to have gained that much weight… Or, rather, she didn’t look to have grown that much.
 
“Maybe you should go back to running track? You’re not maintaining your figure.”
 
“Mm.”
 
Senjougahara hated to talk about the past, especially middle school, but she must have agreed with me to some degree because she didn’t argue and instead looked thoughtful.
 
“Well, if I were to make some excuse…”
 
She began to speak while still eating cake.
 
“It wasn’t until recently that I was able to eat my fill of the things that I like. I’d gone so long without even considering that possibility that now it makes me happy.”
 
“Hm?”
 
“You know, because of the crab, I didn’t have any body weight. So, much like I had to be careful with the weight of my clothing, I also had to limit how much I ate.”
 
Because if she ate too much, it would be too heavy.
 
That’s what Senjougahara was telling me.
 
“Aah…”
 
I nodded.
 
It made sense.
 
That was the reason she was so thin from the start.
 
Senjougahara was tall for being a girl (she was taller than myself), so even if she did gain five kilos, in reality, she might still be underweight for a girl of her height.
 
“Being able to eat until my stomach is full of things that I like, it’s nice. I can really feel that I like it.”
 
Senjougahara said, repeating herself.
 
“When I can feel that I like something, it feels like I’m being saved by it. I’m a person who has made all kinds of mistakes, but if I can at least recognize that something wonderful is wonderful, then I feel like I can forgive myself.”
 
“Forgive yourself—”
 
Being saved by it.
 
That… I could understand as well.
 
Or perhaps, more than understanding, I could sympathize.
 
Or maybe it’s the other way around.
 
Maybe only people like myself and Senjougahara could be saved and forgiven by finding something to love.
 
“People like to speak negatively when they talk about people who are ‘in love with being in love’, whether it applies to people, hobbies, or whatever… but I want to know what’s wrong with that?”
 
Only someone who has never hated themselves would say such a thing—that is what she was saying.
 
“You might be right there. … But I don’t think that excuses you for overindulging in cake. Moderation in all things.”
 
“You’re right.”
 
She didn’t stop eating.
 
The Senjougahara family wasn’t exactly wealthy, so she was possibly simply wanting to eat as much as she could while she had this fleeting chance.
 
I’d already said something indelicate before, but in my opinion, girls who were a bit plump were cute, so I thought she could stand to gain another two kilos.
 
“Maybe I should go jogging with Kanbaru.”
 
“I wouldn’t if I were you. Her diet techniques are not something for any normal person to try.”
 
“By the way, you’ve been eating quite a lot of cake yourself, Araragi-kun. Just to let you know, Araragi-kun, I will not hesitate for a second to break up with you if your BMI goes above 20.”
 
“Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
 
A BMI of 20? That’s stricter than a person with metabolic syndrome.
 
“Well, I don’t think either of us has to worry about that.”
 
“Oh? You’re certainly confident. Why is that?”
 
“Well, I only just realized it recently, but I guess you could call it a perk of my vampire physiology. Vampires are always in their peak physical form, so even if I gain some weight, my body will naturally go right back to being its ideal weight. Basically, I can’t get fat.”
 
Clang.
 
Senjougahara dropped her fork.
 
I’d never seen such a shocked expression on her face before.
 
Her position as an expressionless character was collapsing.
 
“W—Well, it’s just a side effect. It’s not like I can lose weight as well as Kanbaru. I’m sure I could get fat to some degree. So it doesn’t change that I’m jealous of her—Senjougahara-san?”
 
“How enviable…”
 
She was staring at me so intently.
 
“I cannot acknowledge such an unfair ability… How dare you look down on my weight gain while you’ve got a physiology like that…”
 
“W—Wait, I didn’t say anything negative about you?”
 
“Alright, fine then. Just watch. Unlike you, Araragi-kun, who relies on help from an aberration, I will show you what a true human is capable of. I will lose every gram of weight that I’ve gained. I, Senjougahara Hitagi, declare the commencement of my rapid weight loss plan.”
 
“R—Rapid weight loss plan…”
 
So it wasn’t just a diet? It seemed a bit overly dramatic.
 
“Yes. As soon as I’m done eating here, I’ll put my plan into action!”
 
And with that, she began to eat the cakes with her bare hands (as she had dropped her fork). She ate with incredible vigor, even eating the cakes that I had selected for myself.
 
While I was a bit concerned about her determination to eat every single cake that she could get her hands on, I felt no desire to rain on her parade any further as I watched the expressionless Senjougahara stuff herself with happiness just as she stuffed herself with a variety of spongy and sweet cakes.
 
If Senjougahara was happy, then that made me happy without even needing to eat the cake myself.
 
I thought today was the best day.
 
… By the way, as a bit of an epilogue, I will announce that Senjougahara really did join Kanbaru in her training, and she did indeed lose weight in a comically short period of time.
 
Her determination was definitely not something to scoff at.
 
 
Once again, thank you spr-o-ckt for contributing to this commission.
Nothing much to say about the story itself, funny tidbit about vampire constitution.
See you next time for another story !

I’m staying at Borgata tomorrow night and planned on going to the Sunday brunch buffet, however, the reviews I’m reading are pretty bad…. Is the brunch buffet worth it? Or is there a better restaurant to eat at inside Borgata?

I know gym is one place to meet but I just dont feel comfortable having a chat while i train. Plus I am a bit introvert which doesnt help lol.
Where and how do people meet others who have similar lifestyle ? Having similar interest makes things so easy. Have dated regular girls but that didnt work well haha. I just cant simply do a brunch on Sunday afternoon cause its not on my meal plan. It sounds very vain but this is the lifestyle i have got.