more gyoza!

Taiyo woke up early cranky, and he had to sit for a while on my lap to calm down before I was even fully awake. Finished laundry first, and we were ready to head out under gloomy sky. Union Square Greenmarket was full of beautiful fall colors- pumpkins, mums, all kinds of delicious grapes, but Taiyo fell asleep on the way. This was a tricky situation. I wasn't able to complete our mission of shopping and having lunch. If I headed back home, I still won't be able to move him to bed to let him nap longer, since he pretty much always wake up these days. I just rode around Styvesant Town, and an old lady yelled at me, "Excuse me, but look at him! He's sleeping!" Oh, yes he's sleeping in the bike seat and this thing is not quite designed for a child to sleep in. Taiyo looks like he's falling over. "Yes, I know he's sleeping! What am I supposed to do?!" I yelled back. Should I wake him up and make him upset, or go home and remove him from the seat to wake him up and make him cry? Meantime I got a text from Fairycon that it will start at Thompkins Square Park. Of course these strange things always happen around there, as I expected. I headed to the park and Taiyo woke up in time but there was still no sign of fairies- unlike Santacon, when the streets are filled with hundreds of Santas bar hopping, this event is still new and probably fairly small. Then of course Taiyo started asking for gyoza. It was time for lunch.

We settled at Ichiraku on First Avenue near St. Marks. It used to be another Japanese ramen chain, and since the name was changed, I supposed it may be a bit different. Now it was another ramen place by Korean people- it seems many more Japanese ramen places are run by Koreans now, at least in this neighborhood. The young Korean waitress spoke fluent Japanese and she was very nice to Taiyo. She brought him a high chair from the back restaurant, Bibim Bar, but the counter was too high it didn't make it any better. Taiyo was able to handle eating on his knees, as he usually do these days, but the stools have no backs and there's no low tables and it will be difficult to have babies and toddlers who may not be able to handle stools. The waitress gave him a fork and a small bowl, but apologized that she had only large forks and it may be dangerous for him. He was fine with it, but he utilized more hands. Food was ok, and he ate all the gyoza skins and slurped good amount of noodles. It was 'no surprises' meal that was prepared according to the manual, good price, friendly service, but unfortunately the seating situation do not make this place kid-friendly. And I was disappointed by gyoza not having any chives in it!