If you are what you eat, then just call me “Tuna”. Holy crap, we busted out two more tunas on Friday and our friend, Bernie came over to clean and fillet the fishes for us. I gave her one of the tunas because she has always been so giving to our family and I wanted to show our appreciation. She said a whole tuna was too much for her and her family so she took half of the tuna instead.

I vacuum-packed the filets that we weren’t going to eat right away with my nifty FoodSaver vacuum sealer and the rest were used for sashimi and for frying. Since I’m deathly afraid of splattering oil I called another friend, Chito, to come over and fry the pieces for me. But before she came over, she had to do a quick run to the store. While there, she phoned and asked if I wanted to drink, I said sure, so she brought us stuff to make our drinks. Then she went home to drop off her grocery. When she came over, she told me that our other friends, Kim and her husband Chris (the Expert Pest, Pest Expert, the Pest Control Expert) was coming over because their daughters were little instigators and told Kim that Chito stood her up for the night because Chito was coming over to my house. I told her that it was cool for them to come because there was plenty to eat and I know that Chris misses me even if he’s in denial. Plus, we needed ice for our drinks and since they were on the way, we needed THEM to bring it to us. ~L~ I’m joking (in case they read this).

Anyway, earlier in the day my mom called just to talk and she asked if I ate the opihi she sent. I told her that I didn’t eat it yet, in fact, I had forgotten all about it because I hadn’t planned on eating Hawaiian food since my kids left. So, I thawed out some opihi, cooked two bags of poi, sliced the slab of tuna for sashimi, cut up chunks of Ahi for poke while Chito was frying up the tuna. By the time Kim and Chris arrived, everything was ready to grind.

I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. If I closed my eyes, I’d think I was back home in Grandma’s kitchen. Certain foods do that to me, you know, take me back home to Grandma’s kitchen. So we ate and drank and had a nice time just talking story with each other. What’s better than eating Hawaiian food? Eating it with friends who share the same appreciation for it.

And guess what me and Kamalani had for breakfast? Fish and poi - - - ONO.