One more anecdote before I turn my computer off for a day…

My father sent me two cans of Gold Star chili, Cincinnati-style chili, to enjoy while I’ve been in Japan.  I’m not a huge chili fan, but since it was a taste of home, I was glad to have it.  My friend and I enjoyed one can during an all-nighter we had.  The other can, I decided to gift to my friends at the local restaurant, Quixote.  I’ve been having lunch there on Fridays every week since the second month I’ve been here (that makes 11 months of Friday lunches).  The food isn’t excellent or anything, but the company is great, and they are dear, dear, dear friends of mine.  Saying goodbye today was extremely hard and the only time that I could not control my tears.

I had given them the can last week, as I was purging all my goods and “gifting” as many things as I could to various people.  I asked them today, my last meal with them, if they had tried it.  They said it was delicious!  Yatta!  But then, I noticed that the lunch they placed in front of me had an interesting characteristic in the sauce.  Mistui, the cook, made me a plain omelette, and had put his typical squirt of ketchup on it.  However, the ketchup looked a little darker than usual, and I saw that there were little chucks of meat in it.  He had mixed the chili with the ketchup and made a sauce!  It was very interesting with the egg.  I grinned and said that it tasted yummy, and he made a point to tell me that he used some of my chili!  Haha.  Not quite Cincinnati-style, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do!