I’m getting better at cooking, I think. Or at least in presentation. As I am at home most of the day during my August vacation, and Sachi has to work most days, I am cooking most of the dinners. My repertoire is still limited, but I’m getting more of a feel for things. Tonight’s dinner, shown in the image below: stir-fry chicken with onions and green peppers, with garlic, onion, and pimenton spices, served on a bed of lettuce, shaved onions and carrots, with sliced spring onions (“negi”) on top. The side dish is fried potatoes: dice the potatoes and boil for 6-10 minutes, then fry in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil and apply spices to taste. With beer and toasted bread rolls, delicious. And a relatively simple meal.

As we sat down to eat, we were treated to constant lightning flashes. Though a thunderstorm seemed to rage nearby, we heard little thunder; instead, there were repeated flashes every five or ten seconds, many bright, but none with an accompanying boom. Reminiscent of my mother commenting that when they heard thunderstorms when she was a kid, they said “God’s bowling tonight,” Sachi tonight commented, “God is taking a lot of pictures now.”