Erina and I have been together for almost a year and since we've been taking a break from school, we thought it might a great time to have our first date, but we'll be spending it at my place.
I'm cooking an old Italian favorite: spaghetti and meatballs, but in my recipe, I make the sauce so delectable that no one can copy it.
The sauce wasn't from a can when I lived in Brooklyn, it was handmade, but I needed a little bit of help. My mom couldn't because she was having surgery soon, so I had to ask former rivals now turned-friends, Takumi Aldini and his brother Isami.
When I told them my situation with my mom in the hospital and I needed help with the cooking, they came over immediately, only an hour and a half before Erina arrived.
Takumi: Ciao il tuo nome! (Hi Y/N!)
Y/N: Takumi! Isami!
We both shook hands and I let them into the apartment.
Isami: Dov'è tua madre? (Where's your mom?)
Y/N: Lei è in ospedale in questo momento per il cancro quasi un paio di mesi. (She's in the hospital right now for cancer almost a couple months now.)
Takumi: Scusa, amico. Non lo sapevamo. Com'è lei? (Sorry, man. We didn't know. How is she?)
Y/N: Va bene e lei sta bene ora. (It's alright and she's fine now.)
Takumi: Quindi, cosa ci chiami qui? (So, what'd you call us here for?)
Y/N: Erina e io risalenti a quasi un mese e voglio cucinare il vecchio classico italiano: spaghetti e polpette. (Erina and I have been dating for almost a month now and I wanna cook up the old Italian classic: spaghetti and meatballs.)
Isami: Oh!
Y/N: E ho bisogno di aiuto con le polpette e i noodles mentre mi concentro sulla salsa. (And I need some help with the meatballs and the noodles as I focus on the sauce.)
Isami: Possiamo aiutarti con quello. Nessun problema. (We can help you with that. No problem.)
Takumi: Italiano, giusto? (You Italian, right?)
Y/N: Italiano-Americano. (Italian-American.)
Takumi: Oh, quindi hai la discendenza italiana? (Oh, so you have Italian ancestry?)
Y/N: È corretto Ad ogni modo, dovremmo andare a lavorare. Erina sta arrivando in un paio d'ore e abbiamo bisogno di cucinare. (That's correct. Anyway, we should get to work. Erina's coming in a couple hours and we need to get cooking.)
Takumi: Sembra buono Iniziamo! (Sounds good. Let's get started!)
Y/N: Prima di iniziare, voglio mettere una musica. (Before we get started, I wanna put on some music.)
Isami: Che tipo? (What kind?)
Y/N: Dato che sono italiano, sto mettendo su alcuni vecchi classici come Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, e Tony Bennett! (Since I'm Italian, I'm putting on some old classics like Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, and Tony Bennett!)
Takumi: Dolce! (Sweet!)
Isami: Bello! (Nice!)
In my family, dinner was always a big thing. We'd have some people over, but for one night only, I had to ask Takumi and his brother to come over and help me with the meal before Erina arrived. They were getting started with the noodles and the meat while I focused on the sauce. That was my main priority and I want Erina to love the sauce from scratch.
Takumi: Vuoi creare le classiche polpette? (You want to create the classic meatballs?)
Y/N: Corretta. (Correct.)
Takumi: Per le polpette, hai bisogno di carne bovina, di vitello e di maiale. Il maiale darà il sapore di polpette e hai bisogno di un po 'di grasso dalla carne. (For the meatballs, you need beef, veal, and pork. The pork is going to give the meatballs more flavor and you need a little bit of fat from the beef.)
He did the meatballs as I had the sauce being made and Isami working on the noodles. They had a ton of experience working with their father back in Tuscany, Italy, and it was a huge help.
For the sauce, here's how I made it...
(A/N: If you want to copy this recipe down, be my guest! I cook this sauce myself and since I'm living with an actual New York Italian girl, I've made sure that she loves the sauce I came up with!
Anyways, here's the recipe and I hope you try it out!)
1. In a bowl, open a can of whole peeled tomatoes and crush them into bite sized pieces.
2. Dice half a white onion.
3. Crush three cloves of garlic.
5. In a sauté pan, add two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
6. Once the heat is set to 5 hi, add the diced onion, then the crushed garlic.
7. Add a sprinkle of Italian seasoning.
8. Add a dash of red chili pepper flakes
9. Add half a small can of tomato paste.
10. Stir it all around, don't let the onion or garlic burn.
11. Add the tomatoes into the sauté pan before adding a tablespoon of sugar to give that authentic Italian flavor.
12. Stir frequently for 15 to 20 minutes until the sauce is thick enough to be ready for any type of noodle for your Italian dinner.
Takumi: Il tuo nome? Cosa devo bere per la tua cena? (Y/N? What do have to drink for your dinner?)
Y/N: Non possiamo avere alcol 'perché siamo minorenni, quindi la nostra prossima scommessa è avere un succo di uva frizzante. (We can't have alcohol 'cause we're underage, so our next bet is to have sparkling grape juice.)
Takumi: Buona scelta. (Good choice.)
Y/N: Grazie Takumi. (Thanks Takumi.)
Takumi: Come stai Italiano? (How are you Italian?)
Y/N: Mia madre e io abbiamo antenarsi italiana e il nonno di mia madre era il secondo uomo principale per il leggendario Boss Mob Paul Cicerone. (My mom and I have Italian ancestry and my mother's grandfather was the second main man for the legendary Mob Boss Paul Cicero.)
Isami: Wow! Hai una storia con la folla?! (Wow! You have a history with the Mob?!)
Y/N: È giusto Non voglio essere un gangster, voglio essere uno chef. Anche se devi essere al 100% Italiano per essere un membro pieno della mafia, non è qualcosa che voglio fare. Voglio gestire il mio ristorante e servire le persone che cucina Italiana classica con un tocco più moderno. (That's right. I didn't wanna be a gangster, I wanna be a chef. Although you have to be 100% Italian to be a full member of the Mafia, that's not something I wanna do. I wanna run my own restaurant and serve people classic Italian cooking with a more modern twist.)
Takumi: Questo è un buon obiettivo. Ti supportiamo fino in fondo. (That's a good goal. We support you all the way.)
I then have an idea. We should run our own Mafia, but for cooking. Takumi, Isami, and myself, but I'm the leader since I have a history with the Sicilian Mafia.
Y/N: Ho un'idea. (I have an idea.)
Takumi: Cos'è? (What is it?)
Y/N: Cosa succede se creiamo la nostra mafia? (What if we create our own Mafia?)
Takumi and his brother were confused and I didn't blame them.
Isami: Non puoi essere serio. (You can't be serious.)
Y/N: No, sto parlando con la nostra cucina. Siamo tutti italiani, ha senso. (No, I'm talking about with our cooking. We're all Italian, it makes sense.)
Takumi: Hai un punto, ma chi eseguirà il gruppo? (You do have a point, but who will run the group?)
Y/N: È quando entrino. Immagina questo: i fratelli Aldini e il tuo nome cognome: Totsuki-Army. (That's when I come in. Imagine this: the Aldini Brothers, and Y/N L/N: Totsuki-Army.)
Isami: Sembra bello! Facciamolo! (That sounds cool! Let's do it!)
In that moment, it was official. We made our group: Takumi Aldini, Isami Aldini, and Y/N L/N, Totsuki-Army!
Anyway, we were able to get the dinner ready at 6:59. Before they left they gave me their number saying that if I needed help with cooking, I'd give them a call. Takumi and Isami gave me a handshake and said goodbye in Italian as I did too.
~7:00 PM~
A minute after Takumi and his brother left, the doorbell rang and I opened the front door to see Erina in a cute white dress.
Y/N: You look lovely tonight, Erina.
Erina: Oh, Arigato.
Y/N: Please come in.
Erina walked in to see that my apartment was SPOTLESS. I cleaned the apartment by myself before the Aldini brothers came to help me with the classic spaghetti and meatballs, which I thought was a good idea.
Thing is, this apartment ain't sold yet. We're keeping it for now until it's the right time to sell it. In the meantime, it's for Erina and I's first date.
Erina: Nice place.
Y/N: Thanks, Erina. Would you like to come into the dining room?
Erina: Please.
I led her into the dining room with a table set up with two candles, two plates of spaghetti with three meatballs on the side. To drink, we had some sparkling grape juice to replace the wine. We were underage so alcohol was not allowed. I sat her down and before I sat, I played some music.
Erina: Who is this?
Y/N: Tony Bennett. 'Rags To Riches'.
Erina: Appropriate choice of music.
Y/N: Thank you.
Erina tasted the meatball with the sauced spaghetti noodles and after one bite, she was so impressed that she almost collapsed because of good it was. Of course I helped Erina back to her chair because I want to be a gentleman.
Erina: Traditional spaghetti and meatballs?
Y/N: Correct. An old Italian favorite.
Erina: You are improving so much!
Y/N: I know, it's crazy.
Erina: How did you cook in time?
Y/N: To tell you the truth, I had some help since my mom was in the hospital. I called the Aldini brothers to help me with the meal.
Erina: You improvised, I like it. Speaking of whom, how is your mom?
Y/N: She's fine. Right now she's living at the hospital in case the cancer tries to attack again.
Erina: Wow. I do not blame her.
Y/N: It was recommended by the doctors.
After that, we talked about Totsuki and other culture as we ate our dinner. When she asked about my heritage, Erina was curious. I had no problem talking about it, although it's violent.
Erina: What is your family heritage like?
Y/N: As you know, my mom and I are New York Italians. We both grew up poor in Brooklyn, and my mom's great-grandfather, was a mobster for the Mafia.
Erina: Nani?!
Y/N: Yeah. I was interested in my heritage and I learned that he was the second-man to a legendary mob boss by the name of Paul Cicero.
Erina: That is so cool! How do you be in the Mafia?
Y/N: To be a full member of the crew Erina, you have to be 100% Italian. You need to have your ancestry traced back to Italy, to Sicily, for you to be a made man, meaning you'll be a full member of the organization.
Erina: Wow. That is so interesting. How do you become a made man?
Y/N: It's a code of silence which is called the Oath of Omertà. Meaning you have to take extreme measures to be committed to the Family. You have to slit your hand with a ceremonial knife and pour blood onto, if you're familiar with, a picture of the Virgin Mary, set the picture on fire, and put it into a cooking pot to show your loyalty. All that means is that you're not gonna lie, you're not going to rat, and you're not gonna betray your own family for another gang.
Erina: My Gods. That is nasty!
Y/N: I know, but I can't be a member because I'm not in New York anymore and I wanna be a successful chef. Plus I may be quick to violence, but I only use it when necessary.
Erina: We have the same gang in Japan, but it is called Yakuza.
Y/N: I've heard of them. I wanted to know more about them.
Erina: I tell you if you are interested.
Y/N: You can tell me. Go for it.
Erina: Okay. Same as mafia, but you do not need to be Japanese to join Yakuza. Not a made man, but you can be full gang member, if you know Japanese language. If member screw up, he must have a portion of pinky chopped off.
Y/N: Wait, what?!
Erina: Any time you make mistake, another portion chop until you dead.
Y/N: Seems like the Mafia and the Yakuza have things in common.
Erina: What does your gang do compare to punishment?
Y/N: For a lot of the guys, Erina, murder became accepted. It was the only way for everyone to stay in line. Another term for murder is "whacked". A lot of made men were killed in a couple gang wars, but there's a rule. If you wanna kill a made man or men, you need to have a sit-down, and you gotta get an "okay" or you'll be the one who got whacked. You also need to have a reason why you wanna kill them.
Erina: That is interesting!
Y/N: Yeah. Living in the Mob can be hell, but it can be interesting.
Then, Erina got quiet. I wondered what was going on.
Erina: Can I ask question?
Y/N: Depends on the subject.
Erina: What made you fall for me, of all people? You could have picked any girl at Totsuki, but you pick me.
That was the toughest question I've ever gotten from my girlfriend. I couldn't just lie to her. I wanted to be with her because although she's cute and everything, her way of being a tsundere actually turned me on.
When I earned her respect, I felt like I was falling for her. Erina needed to know the truth, and I think once I tell her, she would understand.
Also, before tonight, I got her something and I think she will love it.
Y/N: I picked you because I was falling in love.
She was stunned, but I kept going.
Y/N: Erina, you make me feel like I can do whatever I put my mind to. I wanted to be with you because I love you.
Erina started tearing up as I was ready to pull out my gift for her.
Y/N: Erina, I love you so much. You're the one for me and I want you to understand that I will support, love, and cherish you until the day I die.
I took out a black box from my pocket, put it on the table, and opened it to this.
Erina: Y/N, where did you get this?
Y/N: I got it while I was getting some last minute ingredients for our date. It's a promise ring, for you.
Erina: Oh, Y/N.
Y/N: I promise to protect, love, and cherish your love until my heart stops beating. I promise to be loyal to you and be by your side no matter what happens to us. Erina, do you accept?
She wiped her tears and smiled the most beautiful smile I've ever seen, as she said.
Erina: Yes. Hai, I do accept.
I came around and hugged her and we kissed as I slipped the ring on her finger.
Y/N: You finished with your meal?
Erina: Yes I am. Really good spaghetti, Y/N.
Y/N: Thanks, Erina.
As I put the dishes into the sink to wash them later on, I received a call from the hospital.
I was hoping to hear good news, but I dropped a plate as I was so shocked.
Erina: Y/N? Babe? What is wrong?
I responded with desperation and we had to leave, now.
Y/N: We gotta get to the hospital, Erina. My mom's dying.
We immediately left the apartment and rushed to the hospital, but when Erina and I got there, it was too late.