"Life is either a great adventure or nothing.": Silver Diner, eat your heart out!

Those of you privileged to work with me in Bethesda know how dearly I cherish breakfast at Silver Diner after a stretch of night shifts. There is nothing quite like a big hearty breakfast after slaving away the night. Well since my arrival here in Okinawa I have been hard pressed to find any place that substitutes for the Silver Diner, or any breakfast place come to think of it. You see...I've noticed that the Japanese are not quite the breakfast eaters that we Americans are. When I get off shift at 7am there is scarcely a place to be found that serves food, let alone a nice big plate of greasy eggs and bacon with a warm Waffle House hello. That is until now... My friend Danielle and I were starving, it was early and I had just gotten of a night shift and I suggested we try again to find another option for breakfast (at this point we had only found 1, The Rose Garden, which is good but I needed more options). She had done her research and found this place that looked promising. We even googled it for the hours and directions. However, upon arriving to said destination we found the doors locked and the lights dim. Apparently Japanese restaurants fail to adhere to any set schedule with any rhyme or reason (how they stay in business is beyond me). Anyway we walked away disappointed, dreams of yummy pancakes dashed once again. We proceeded to The Rose Garden, stuffed ourselves full and I vowed that we would return try again another day.

Last night being one of those nights that deserves a breakfast reward at the end of the long shift (I had just had a change-of-shift-near-baby-in-the-toilet-delivery); I suggested to my co-worker that we get breakfast. Now I had been falsely been mislead to believe that Chili’s on Kadena Air Force Base had breakfast starting at 7am. Although I had no overwhelming desire to eat at Chili’s, I was desperate to find decent breakfast food and the sign I saw the other day at the gym (nice place for a breakfast add!) lead me to believe that I could count on Chili’s to fulfill that dream. Alas it was not to be so. We got there. The doors were closed. The lights were dim. Blasted!!! This can’t be happening again!?!? Then I remembered Café Caracella…would it be open? Dare we try? Please don’t ever ask Catie how we finally got there but we did (I blame my low blood sugar and the excitement of the evening on my getting lost) and OH how we were rewarded!

Now I consider myself pretty good at throwing crap together from my fridge to create something considered edible but the breakfast sandwich I had this morning puts my fried egg combo to shame. Please witness The Okinawan Breakfast Sandwich. The tasty goodness that is 2 fried eggs, 2 fat pieces of fried SPAM, melted cheese with lettuce, onions, mayonnaise and barbeque sauce heaped in between 2 pancakes with a side of pringles. I have no idea who thought of this creation but I am nominating them for the Nobel Peace Prize. Genius, pure genius! And that was just my breakfast. The amazing pancake creations in the menu look divine and all pancakes come with the option of adding scrambled eggs and ice cream. Seriously where else can you enjoy such delicious breakfast…oh yeah and with an amazing ocean view? Something tells me breakfast at the Silver Diner will never be the same again.