Recently Mia's favorite food has changed from Japanese curry rice to spaghetti. She only likes tomato sauce spaghetti. And of course, Maika doesn't eat tomato sauce spaghetti.

So when we have spaghetti for dinner (because Mia asks for it EVERY DAY) I make two different spaghettis. And no, the second one isn't Alfredo.

Living in Japan gave me a taste for Japanese Italian food. So I make one of either of these two spaghettis, which are Kirsten's versions of spaghettis eaten at Japanese Italian restaurants.

#1 Mushroom Chicken

Chop up a bunch of garlic
Saute on low heat in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of butter
Saute some chopped chicken in the garlic oil/butter
Chop up a bunch of different mushrooms (I like enoki, shiitake, eringi, and maitake, but basically any bunch of mushrooms of various sizes works) and add to the pan
Add in a tablespoon or so of soy sauce
boil spaghetti
Add spaghetti to the pan and toss in a handful of parmesan
serve

#2 Napa cabbage and shiitake

Chop up a bunch of garlic
Saute on low heat in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
Chop up cabbage and shiitake (not too big chunks)
Saute in garlic oil on medium high heat
add 2-3 tablespoons chicken/vegetable stock, cover, and cook until desired tenderness (for me about two minutes)
boil spaghetti
Add spaghetti to the pan, take off cover, and heat another few minutes
serve

Of course, to put a Japanese twist on ye olde store bought tomato sauce, I add a can of tuna packed in water. It's good for you and adds a nice taste.