Snapshots of Okinawa: An Ode to Friendship & Japanese Curry

There are many things I miss about living in Japan. The people. The culture. The pedicures. The singing toilets. American Village. How much better McDonald's tasted there.

But above all, I miss Coco's Curry.

I have been craving Coco's for months now. Good food has never been just food for me. It's always a memory of good times, too. So along with the curry, I was missing the experience. A friend joining me for lunch at Coco's, our kids in tow. We both loved spicy food and decided we had to try all 10 spice levels, so we went up a level with each visit. I think we decided level 7 was the perfect amount of spicy without sacrificing flavor.

So I've been missing Japanese curry, which really means I've been missing the friendships from that time in my life. The really cool thing about social media is that I can still keep in touch with those friends. I still love them all dearly. I still have a general idea of what's going on in everyone's lives. I'm grateful for that. But it's different when you can get together to take your kids to the roller slide on a random Wednesday.

When you can commiserate over leaky military housing in the middle of a typhoon (those puppy pads really came in handy when water was pouring in through the walls).

When you have someone else around who can truly appreciate the colorful graffiti all around the island.

And the random Leo DiCaprio signs that we think had something to do with the environment, but never really figured that part out.

Sending love notes to friends who lived across the street while painting before it was time to move out.

It was such a special place, and I was blessed to experience it with such special people.

So yes, I miss the curry deeply.

Since there's no Coco's nearby (I believe there is actually one in LA, but that's a little further than I can travel at the moment), "we got Coco's at home."

Breaded chicken patty over rice, smothered in Golden Curry Japanese Curry Sauce (the spicy one, obvi). 

Much like life over the years, it wasn't the same, but it was close enough.