Tampopo

And an Unexpected Goodbye

I had been on a roll watching a movie a day until Saturday. We took a trip to the emergency vet with our cat Aengus and sadly, he didn’t return home with us. Turns out he had leukemia and it was pretty advanced so we made the difficult decision to say goodbye. I miss that sweet boy who often hung out with me while I watched movies. On Sunday, I wanted to watch something to cheer myself up. I thought about rewatching something ridiculous that I knew would make me laugh, and invited Dr. C to join me, but everyone was exhausted- emotionally and physically. So when I headed upstairs and noticed Dr. C had slipped into a nap, I crept into the TV room and looked for something silly.

Aengus, a sweet, handsome good boy. May 14 2024- June 21, 2025

I settled on something I have been meaning to watch forever in the hopes it would cheer me up, and it did.

Tampopo is the tale of a couple truck drivers who, after stopping for a bite to eat then getting into a brawl, decide to help a single mom transform her so-so ramen shop into a 5 star spot with a line out the door. To do this, however, Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and Gun (Ken Watanabe) pull together a wacky team of experts to help Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) become an expert on all things ramen. But there are also short vignettes that may seem random and silly, but in fact, they just add to the importance of the care that goes into making good food. Writer and director Jūzō Itami blends satire, romance, slapstick, action, and food to get one of the greatest films I have ever seen. That egg scene though. IYKYK as the kids say.

Are they still kids?

I just looked it up and IYKYK has been used on social media since 2009. So, those kids now probably have kids. Oy.

Writing is a good way to get feelings out, and I appreciate y’all taking the time to read my random ramblings about losing a kitty, watching weird and wonderful movies, and all of the other things I talk about in here.