My husband has been on a cooking kick. He made pancakes for lunch yesterday, and then stir-fried vegetables (野菜炒め) and fried dumplings (餃子）for dinner last night. Both were very good!
Tonight he made okonomiyaki
It was his first time, but they were delicious! Since I didn't have to cook dinner, I spent the evening outside cutting back my monster lantana. This lantana is a great challenge for me to control. I filled five 45L trashbags with cut branches and leaves!
I like lantana. The flowers are so cute and festive (a party atmosphere). The colors are vivid, and contrast nicely with the green of the leaves. Plus, we have lantana in Texas too, so lantana reminds me of home.
My lantana is pink. It's so pretty! When I bought it at the garden center it was tiny (very small). I planted it in the flowerbed (花壇）in front of the driveway (車庫）. Would it grow? It looked so small and weak...
A few years later, and it is a MONSTER. I cut it back and cut it back, but it is VERY, VERY STRONG and VIGOROUS! The branches go out in every direction. The roots are thick and deep, and spread out over a wide area. It has completely taken over the flower bed! There is no room for anything else to grow.
Every year, I think that I should trim it earlier before it gets out of hand (becomes too difficult to control). But I see butterflies and hummingbird moths (ハチドリ蛾--ホウジャク) flitting (飛び交う？) from flower to flower, sipping nectar (密). And it's such a lovely scene, I feel too sorry for the butterflies and hummingbird moths to cut back the lantana.
Do you have hummingbird moths in your garden? I have never seen a real hummingbird (ハチドリ）in Japan. In Texas, hummingbirds are very common. My father makes red colored syrup for them and puts the syrup in containers that hang from the trees. We can see hummingbirds sipping the red syrup very often.
The first time I saw a hummingbird moth flitting among my lantana flowers, I thought it was a tiny hummingbird. A tiny, tiny, cute little hummingbird! I was so charmed, and I took this video. Later I learned that it's actually a moth (蛾). What a surprise! It looks and flits just like a real hummingbird!
Do you have lantana in your garden? Do you find it difficult to control? Maybe you are more diligent (真面目) about trimming it than I am?
There's no word in English for okonomiyaki. You have to explain it.
"It's a savory (not sweet) pancake containing pork or seafood and vegetables."
"Sip" means to drink a little at a time--kind of like ちびちび飲む.