I wasn't aware of it, but September 27th was
exactlynominally and officially 10 years
from when our shop opened.
So, I've already been doing this for 10 years.
Various customers gave us all sorts of things
directly or as gifts to mark the occasion
（that's how I found out it was the 10th anniversary）, so today I'll write about that.
Bicycle shops are an industry that receives
gifts and bribes surprisingly often,
but constantly writing "we received this kind of thing" here
feels a bit like we're soliciting gifts, so
I usually avoid posting about it.
I appreciate the sentiment, but that alone is enough.
Also, though I don't think anyone's expecting it,
I should clarify something important:
Bribes do not shorten
the lead time on backorders.
These are from different customers, but
we received a Park Tool (パークツール) shop sign and
an umbrella stand. Thank you very much.
By coincidence, both customers happen to have
backorders with us right now, so
I've decided to impose a penalty of doubling their delivery times.
I just said lead times don't shrink,
but they can certainly extend.
The umbrella stand is a custom order with engraving.
It says "Dark Bicycle Workshop" or something,
but don't worry about it.
The ferrule that holds the umbrella tip is a diatomaceous earth plate.
From the customer who gave us the shop sign,
we received Kobe castella cake from a place called Kōfukudō (幸福堂).
Though it might not be related to the 10th anniversary,
earlier this month from the umbrella stand customer,
we received oil sardines from Marlow (マーロウ) in Hayama,
famous for their beaker pudding
of all things.
I'd been curious about this for a while, but
the Marlow logo illustration is definitely
Philip Marlowe from Raymond Chandler's novels—
in other words, equivalent to
Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes or
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.
...Though obviously they have permission.
I have only one way to use oil sardines.
"Mix it into oil-based pasta sauce and
mash it vaguely with a spatula." That's it.
↑This is just aglio e olio so far
Adding king oyster mushroom is my personal preference.
I always keep king oyster mushrooms and maitake in the fridge,
but since neither has an expiration date on the packaging,
I keep an oil-based marker on the fridge handle
and write the purchase date on them each time before storing them.
Adding a bit of basil pesto is also my preference.
I always keep it on hand.
I've added anchovies and oil sardines.
I crush the anchovies thoroughly,
but I only mash about a third of the oil sardines,
leaving the rest mostly intact.
I used fusilli for the pasta.
The Alchenerolo (アルチェネロ) tri-color fusilli on the left of the image.
The De Cecco fusilli on the right is labeled "Fusicili" on the package.
And the oil sardines I used for this
aren't the ones I just mentioned
but my usual stock of King Oscar.
Eventually I'll use those the same way.
From yet another customer,
we received a candy assortment from Sanmangoku (三万石), famous for their "Mamadore" crackers.
This customer brings us pears or apples several times a year.
I thought there were no photos left, but
I found one of the pears.
This is a rice cracker we received from a customer
from my previous job, someone I've known for 20 years
（originally from Kansai, living in Kanto for work）
who visited from Yokohama.
I gave them extra Nomu Labo stickers as a souvenir.
From yet another customer
we received sweets called Senjū Senbei (千寿せんべい).
I took the shot avoiding the name on the gift wrap,
so here's the contents straight away.
It's personalized with our name.
The product is called "Design Senjū Senbei,"
but it's actually more like a wafer sandwich with shortening—
more of a Western-style confection.
The person who gave this to us is in a sense a competitor
and we receive considerable help from them regularly.
Since the first generation is a Gundam fan
as a return gift, not that we had to,
I sent them two Gundam Converge figures
（standard color and a green one）.
The second standard color figure has
slightly more careful paintwork than the first.
Unrelated to the 10th anniversary, but today another customer
happened to bring us homemade meat sauce pasta.
This customer occasionally brings us things like mixed rice with vegetables.
We saved on dinner tonight.
Also today, though I forgot to take a picture, another customer
brought us cream puffs as well.
Sweets that go bad quickly (←meaning short shelf life, though this might be dialect）
were distributed to other customers in the shop.
The Iron Cross article before this one
was article number 6399,
and the Black Onyx article before that was 6398,
but this article was originally article 1597,
left as a draft since December 18, 2014,
expanded today (September 29, 2022), and posted now.
What follows are accumulated photos of gifts I'd received.
I was planning to scrap them, but I'll post them.
I'll add captions where possible.
I was taking photos of gifts around 2016.
Customers often give us sweets, gifts, and bribes,
so please, going forward, stop doing so completely. Your sentiment alone is enough.
I always tell people who give me things directly not to worry about it.
I used to photograph things every time I received them,
and when I organized my digital camera files,
I found many things I'd been meaning to write about someday,
so I'll introduce them here.
Since I sometimes forgot to photograph gifts
and my camera's memory card once got corrupted and broke,
readers of this article might find
"That gift I gave you—it's missing!"
If so, I apologize in advance.
↑This is text I wrote in 2014.
We received wine.
Though it says it's for the 2nd anniversary,
we also received cookies when the shop first opened (→here).
This customer is from a previous shop where I worked, but
they're from quite far away and have never visited our current location.
I tried calling to thank them, but the phone number on the label
was either wrong or didn't connect.
We received white Black Thunder candy.
Don't be pedantic and say "Shouldn't it be White Thunder?"
Quite a while after the white Black Thunder,
from the same person we received a candy assortment.
Though there's no photo, we also received wine when the shop first opened.
This person is actually my watch mentor.
I can't write details, but a customer who works at O-Tsuka Pharmaceutical
gave us Soy Kara and Soyjoy.
We received them on different occasions.
Since this is partly promotional,
I distributed them to customers as well.
This is from an Osaka customer (nominally），
a guy who rarely brings sushi uninvited (without my asking).
The octopus and tuna roll shapes are different, so these are from different days.
By the way, (→here） is from the same person.
The Unagi Inu bag and its contents are unrelated.
I'm not sure if I should write about this,
but the customer is in the transport business. They had a truck accident
and the cargo that was damaged was Kitakata ramen.
Since the company would be reimbursing a truckload of it
and the depot staff couldn't eat it all themselves,
they asked if we wanted some.
Since it's fresh noodles, the shelf life was short and pretty tight,
so I had Kitakata ramen for a while.
This Nutella (ヌテッラ) is a chocolate spread for bread
and a calorie bomb, though it was also the favorite of Marco Pantani.
exactly
from when our shop opened.
So, I've already been doing this for 10 years.
Various customers gave us all sorts of things
directly or as gifts to mark the occasion
（that's how I found out it was the 10th anniversary）, so today I'll write about that.
Bicycle shops are an industry that receives
gifts and bribes surprisingly often,
but constantly writing "we received this kind of thing" here
feels a bit like we're soliciting gifts, so
I usually avoid posting about it.
I appreciate the sentiment, but that alone is enough.
Also, though I don't think anyone's expecting it,
I should clarify something important:
Bribes do not shorten
the lead time on backorders.
These are from different customers, but
we received a Park Tool (パークツール) shop sign and
an umbrella stand. Thank you very much.
By coincidence, both customers happen to have
backorders with us right now, so
I've decided to impose a penalty of doubling their delivery times.
I just said lead times don't shrink,
but they can certainly extend.
The umbrella stand is a custom order with engraving.
It says "Dark Bicycle Workshop" or something,
but don't worry about it.
The ferrule that holds the umbrella tip is a diatomaceous earth plate.
From the customer who gave us the shop sign,
we received Kobe castella cake from a place called Kōfukudō (幸福堂).
Though it might not be related to the 10th anniversary,
earlier this month from the umbrella stand customer,
we received oil sardines from Marlow (マーロウ) in Hayama,
famous for their beaker pudding
of all things.
I'd been curious about this for a while, but
the Marlow logo illustration is definitely
Philip Marlowe from Raymond Chandler's novels—
in other words, equivalent to
Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes or
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.
...Though obviously they have permission.
I have only one way to use oil sardines.
"Mix it into oil-based pasta sauce and
mash it vaguely with a spatula." That's it.
↑This is just aglio e olio so far
Adding king oyster mushroom is my personal preference.
I always keep king oyster mushrooms and maitake in the fridge,
but since neither has an expiration date on the packaging,
I keep an oil-based marker on the fridge handle
and write the purchase date on them each time before storing them.
Adding a bit of basil pesto is also my preference.
I always keep it on hand.
I've added anchovies and oil sardines.
I crush the anchovies thoroughly,
but I only mash about a third of the oil sardines,
leaving the rest mostly intact.
I used fusilli for the pasta.
The Alchenerolo (アルチェネロ) tri-color fusilli on the left of the image.
The De Cecco fusilli on the right is labeled "Fusicili" on the package.
And the oil sardines I used for this
aren't the ones I just mentioned
but my usual stock of King Oscar.
Eventually I'll use those the same way.
From yet another customer,
we received a candy assortment from Sanmangoku (三万石), famous for their "Mamadore" crackers.
This customer brings us pears or apples several times a year.
I thought there were no photos left, but
I found one of the pears.
This is a rice cracker we received from a customer
from my previous job, someone I've known for 20 years
（originally from Kansai, living in Kanto for work）
who visited from Yokohama.
From yet another customer
we received sweets called Senjū Senbei (千寿せんべい).
I took the shot avoiding the name on the gift wrap,
so here's the contents straight away.
It's personalized with our name.
The product is called "Design Senjū Senbei,"
but it's actually more like a wafer sandwich with shortening—
more of a Western-style confection.
The person who gave this to us is in a sense a competitor
and we receive considerable help from them regularly.
Since the first generation is a Gundam fan
as a return gift, not that we had to,
I sent them two Gundam Converge figures
（standard color and a green one）.
The second standard color figure has
slightly more careful paintwork than the first.
Unrelated to the 10th anniversary, but today another customer
happened to bring us homemade meat sauce pasta.
This customer occasionally brings us things like mixed rice with vegetables.
We saved on dinner tonight.
Also today, though I forgot to take a picture, another customer
brought us cream puffs as well.
Sweets that go bad quickly (←meaning short shelf life, though this might be dialect）
were distributed to other customers in the shop.
The Iron Cross article before this one
was article number 6399,
and the Black Onyx article before that was 6398,
but this article was originally article 1597,
left as a draft since December 18, 2014,
expanded today (September 29, 2022), and posted now.
What follows are accumulated photos of gifts I'd received.
I was planning to scrap them, but I'll post them.
I'll add captions where possible.
I was taking photos of gifts around 2016.
Customers often give us sweets, gifts, and bribes,
so please, going forward, stop doing so completely. Your sentiment alone is enough.
I always tell people who give me things directly not to worry about it.
I used to photograph things every time I received them,
and when I organized my digital camera files,
I found many things I'd been meaning to write about someday,
so I'll introduce them here.
Since I sometimes forgot to photograph gifts
and my camera's memory card once got corrupted and broke,
readers of this article might find
"That gift I gave you—it's missing!"
If so, I apologize in advance.
↑This is text I wrote in 2014.
We received wine.
Though it says it's for the 2nd anniversary,
we also received cookies when the shop first opened (→here).
This customer is from a previous shop where I worked, but
they're from quite far away and have never visited our current location.
I tried calling to thank them, but the phone number on the label
was either wrong or didn't connect.
We received white Black Thunder candy.
Don't be pedantic and say "Shouldn't it be White Thunder?"
Quite a while after the white Black Thunder,
from the same person we received a candy assortment.
Though there's no photo, we also received wine when the shop first opened.
This person is actually my watch mentor.
I can't write details, but a customer who works at O-Tsuka Pharmaceutical
gave us Soy Kara and Soyjoy.
We received them on different occasions.
Since this is partly promotional,
I distributed them to customers as well.
This is from an Osaka customer (nominally），
a guy who rarely brings sushi uninvited (without my asking).
The octopus and tuna roll shapes are different, so these are from different days.
By the way, (→here） is from the same person.
The Unagi Inu bag and its contents are unrelated.
I'm not sure if I should write about this,
but the customer is in the transport business. They had a truck accident
and the cargo that was damaged was Kitakata ramen.
Since the company would be reimbursing a truckload of it
and the depot staff couldn't eat it all themselves,
they asked if we wanted some.
Since it's fresh noodles, the shelf life was short and pretty tight,
so I had Kitakata ramen for a while.
This Nutella (ヌテッラ) is a chocolate spread for bread
and a calorie bomb, though it was also the favorite of Marco Pantani.
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