I enjoyed making lunch and dinner today for Betty. It's her day off and she deserves it. She works so hard. I appreciate her.

For lunch we had Danish "open-face" sandwiches. Each small sandwich was one quarter of a slice of toasted rye bread, with mayonnaise, fresh ground pepper, and special toppings. These included "spicy tuna" (Hawaiian "pupu" or appetizer; Japanese sashimi), Italian prosciutto, or Roma tomato slice. Then, from our garden either a leaf of Manoa lettuce, basil, mint or shiso. It was very classy.

For dinner we had spagetti. Betty made the spagetti (thank you - I have trouble making it perfectly al dante), and I made the sauce. We used a bit of sausage, onion, and fresh garden basil and tomato. I'm American, so I added a dash of ketchup (!) but also a dash of anise extract and another of truffle infused olive oil. Ymmmm! We shared a taste of wine.

I like cooking, but Betty is a much better cook, and makes outstanding Japanese food. My favorites are kappa maki, sunomono, osuimono, oshitashi, gyoza. Sorry, Betty, I don't like natto yet. Maybe someday in the future? I don't think so.

Love,
Dan