Dinner with Flo and Raymond at Assaggio’s

Here we are with our dear friends, who kindly treated us to dinner at Assaggio’s Italian Restaurant in Ala Moana Center.  From left:  Raymond, Flo, me, and David.  I am wearing the blue hat, which Flo gave me.  How sweet of her!  I, in turn, gave her a silk scarf and souvenirs from India and an autographed copy of my first book.

We discovered that Raymond believes in ghosts, the supernatural, and the paranormal.  He told us stories about his house being haunted and about ghosts appearing at a popular hotel in Hawaii, of all places.  Well, needless to say, I had goose bumps on my skin.  I suggested to Raymond that he read up on near-death experiences to add to his knowledge about the supernatural.  I, myself, have read many books on that subject.

To please those of you, who love food and the culinary arts, here are photos of what we ate:

Antipasto: Left: Anchovy, cheese, and salami.  Right: Artichoke hearts, bell pepper, and spinach.  I especially liked the artichoke hearts.

Raymond ordered osso buco and seafood with linguine.

David ordered osso buco with linguine.  He really liked the veal, which other restaurants don’t often serve for moral reasons, i.e., veal comes from a young calf.

Flo ordered shrimp and chicken with rigatoni.

I ordered the eggplant parmigiana with linguine.  I felt that Romano’s Macaroni Grill served a better version of this dish.

For dessert, Raymond had lychee sorbet while the rest of us had spumoni ice cream.

All in all, Assaggio’s is a pretty classy restaurant.  It was quiet and we did not feel rushed.  We ate leisurely and had enough time to converse with each other.

When we parted, David and I invited Flo and Raymond to dinner at Benihana of Tokyo in Waikiki sometime in October.  We really like these friends.  They are fun to be with.