昨日のファヒータの具の残り（チリコンカーニっぽいもの）をトーストにのせて玉ねぎとチーズをのせて焼いてランチにしました。でも、１枚分しかなかったのでもう１枚、トマトペースト、トマト、玉ねぎ、チーズをのせたものと半分ずつ。

We used the left-over beef filling from last night (it’s like Chilli Con Carne) to make our lunch – Japanese style Pizza Toast with onion and cheese on top.  There was only enough for one slice so we made another one with tomato paste, tomato, onion and cheese and had a half each.   I think things in Japan changed, sadly, because of the rise of the big chain coffee shops like Starbucks, but when we were living in Japan there were so many small coffee/tea shops everywhere and they were very popular for light lunches as well as tea or coffee, and one of the items that you almost always found there were what we call “Pizza Toast”, which is a thick slice of bread with some kind of topping (often pizza sauce, tomato & onion) and cheese (not Cheddar but a milder melting cheese), grilled until bubbly and brown.

ピザトーストを作る時、いつも夫ともめるのがパンの厚さです。わたしはもっと分厚く切って〜と言うのですが、夫が、これで十分だと言うので、それを何度か繰り返してやっとこの厚さです。昔日本の喫茶店で食べていたものはこの倍くらいあったかも。美味しかったですが、この厚さでこれだけだとランチには少し足りないのですよね。なので、この後、バナナスムージーを飲みました。ちなみに、わたしは必ずタバスコをふります。イタリアのピザには使いませんが、ピザトーストやアメリカのピザにはジャンクな味のタバスコをかけるのがすきです。

Whenever we make Pizza Toast, my husband and I always ‘argue’ about the thickness.  I say “That’s too thin, thicker please!” and he says “This is thick enough!”.  He would go a little thicker each time I ask and says “this is like a door stop!” and this is the end result.  To me this isn’t thick enough, in Japan it would be much thicker, maybe about double of this.  The thing is, this much bread isn’t enough for lunch.  We had banana smoothie afterwards to fill in the gap.  Incidentally, I always use Tabasco for these pizza toasts.  I don’t use it for Italian pizza but I like the junky taste of Tabasco with things like pizza toast and American style pizza.