Year 2, Day 149—You Had a Last Day

Today was the last day for someone I've worked with for nearly six years. What's amazing is that we worked in close proximity for so long but really only got to know each other during the last year or so, and by the time we got to saying goodbye I realized how much I really liked her, and how alike I thought we were. We often discussed my diet. She was a runner who only recently discovered she could eat cheese because for years she had been terribly lactose intolerant. We shared a love for Russo's (but that really goes for everyone in the office) and we made frequent trips there together. I can't really convey her sense of humor and intelligence and tolerance in this blog post, but I can say that her leaving is just another candle snuffed out in the long emotional candelabra that is Domania for me. To celebrate we went for Sushi lunch (she does not eat meat) and then returned to the office for sheet cake and favorite war stories. Most of them worth telling had the effect on the newly-minted employees of describing 'talking pictures' to today's teenagers. But ah, the memories.

Breakfast
1 cup Kashi Go Lean/heritage flakes
Blueberries
Green Tea

Lunch: New Ginza
2 pieces each Salmon, Tuna, Whitefish, Crab and Octopus
Green Salad
Miso Soup

Snack
2 oz 50% jalapeno cheese

Dinner
Chicken Breast
Peppadews
Cabbage Salad (with Almonds/Feta)

It had been a hot day and not a great night of sleep for anyone. When I came home, I set about making dinner and my niece got on the cabbage salad. She made an enormous cabbage salad that we all thought would result in leftovers. As long as she was staying with us, we did not quite perfect the amount of 'wetness' to add to any given salad. For instance, we added feta tonight but not enough for flavor; just enough to absorb all the existing liquid which made the cabbage pieces crackle with tension as they rubbed together, instead of making a 'swishing' noise as they meet each other like two pillows in a pillow fight. We heard described that my sister-in-law knows a secret of adding water to cabbage salad to make it delicious, but we could not fathom how that might actually be accomplished. In the words of Elvis Costello, we were like 'a lost dog pondering a sign post.' We finished the salad, and there were no leftovers.