By Nek Nosnibor

Flame was in her big black chair looking at shoes on the internet. I was where I usually am in the morning, behind her in the kitchen, trying to figure out what to make for her for breakfast. The day after New year's Day isn't a special occasion. I figured something eggy would do.

"How about a boiled egg?"

No answer.

"Or, there's some old seasoned pulled pork in the bottom of the fridge. I could mix it up in a scramble…"

I could almost feel the rolling of her eyes.

Flame: "I'll just have cereal."

"I can make you something."

"Do we have any bread?"

"Yes. Some potato bread, in the freezer."

"How old is it? Is it that stuff we bought at Costco?"

"Yeah. But it was frozen. It's fine."

"Yuck. No thanks."

"I could go to the store."

"I don't want to spend the money."

(Figures. The more money you spend on food, the less you have for shoes. As it is, her collection rivals Imelda Marcos.)

"I want French toast."

"I can do that, but it will have to be with the Costco bread. Is that okay?"

"You know how I like it."

"Tell me again."

"With fresh ground nutmeg, a little Saigon cinnamon, two tablespoons of two-percent milk and a little honey and a dash of vanilla. Use the handmixer and not the immersion blender. It bruises the eggs."

"Right. And butter on the toast?"

"Butter, but not too much, and powdered sugar."

So I made that.

I plated the meal and presented it on the bamboo tray we bought years ago at Sur la Table. Naturally, I glanced at her computer screen.

"So, catching up on North Korea, eh?"

"Re-reading. Kim Jong Un is making reparations noises. This is huge. It has been more than 70 years since the country was divided. I suspect he has had a taste of what life can be like in a democracy and wants some of it, probably from some of the 20,000 movies his dad collected."

"Do you thing that new movie tipped him over?"

"Not really. But I do think it is wrong for the moviemakers to belittle that country."

"The kid might be a megalomaniac. His dad was bona fide dictator and his father was a a rebel fighter and the kid got the job as the first communist dynastic handover in history."

"We don't really know the guy. He might be bright, reform-minded and willing to modernize his country. Did you know that people in North Korea on average are eight inches shorter than people in South Korea? And it is because of poor nutrition?"

"I didn't know that. But I can imagine a diet heavy in fermented cabbage would tend to cause one to eat less. They should eat more French toast."

"Did you know that South Korea has the fourth largest Gross Domestic Product in Asia, bigger than South Korea? Or that North Korea has a million-man army, the fourth largest in the world, just across the border? Or that the country is only the size of Mississippi but has a population of 23 million people?

"No. But if you start counting all the Hyundais on the road, you get a pretty good idea that things are booming in Seoul."

"Most of the Hyundais you see are made in Alabama. North Korea has no trade."

"I thought you were shoe shopping."

"I was. The shoes that caught my eye are made in South Korea."

"Okay. While I'm rooting around in the kitchen, what do you think you might like for dinner tonight?"

"What do we have?" God. I hate that question.

"Okay. We have one hot dog left from that cooler full of meat from Nebraska your mother gave us for Christmas. Some old tuna I mixed up with a combination of ranch dressing and Srircha sauce. Half a wedge of lettuce, some bacon bits and blue cheese dressing. That's about it."

"How about making that Drunk Chicken thing you like to make?"

"I didn't mention chicken."

"You could go to the store."

"I thought you didn't want to spend the money?"

'It's okay. I just saved quite a bit shopping online for shoes."

Nek Nosnibor has lived in West Seattle, Gold Bar, Snohomish, Federal Way, Burien, Berlin, Frankfurt and SeaTac. He likes to cook. His wife is beautiful and long-suffering.