So I discovered the secret for becoming the coolest mom ever- taking my son to Built-A-Bear Workshop! Thanks to their TV commercials, Taiyo was asking me to take him there for a while. It was a really cute thing to do. He picked out a dog, and made it come alive! First, he got it stuffed, helping the store staff by stepping on a foot pedal. Before finishing, we had heart-beat device added, then Taiyo picked out a little heart which he rubbed, kissed, and made a wish, then had it put in his new friend. We picked out his clothes- a car racer's jump suit with Lightening McQueen from Cars on the back. They also told him to name this new buddy. So I helped him enter the doggy's new name "Scout" at a computer station. "His last name is Biscuit," Taiyo was so proud. We received his birth certificate at check-out, where he was placed in a cardboard kennel. For the rest of the day and after, Taiyo kept saying that I was the coolest mom ever.

On the way back, this seemed to be a perfect place for our lunch: La Follia was not crowded, European decor, tables on sidewalk, reasonably priced (relatively). We situated ourselves at an outside table, with his new buddy on a chair next to us. The setting was almost perfect for nice Sunday brunch. Then here they came, our french toast and Italian sausage omelette. The plates looked pretty, and Taiyo immediately picked all the bananas off his french toast. It was supposed to be "Brioche French Toast," although it was plain toast, and was extremely mushy. We've been trying French toast here and there, and they are often mediocre to terrible. My omelette wasn't terrible, but it was like diner omelette. So food wasn't anything I'd like to go back to, but it was nice relaxing brunch. I enjoyed having my glass of Bellini, and was glad that it was $6, and not $10 or more like in many other places these days.

My phone died recently after 4 years of good service. I was delighted to find one surviving simple flip-phone at a Sprint store. Everything else was a smartphone. I am afraid one day I'll be forced to join the rest. But in the meantime I was able to acquire this old people phone with EXTRA LARGE FONT. Texting is still an enormous task on this kind of phone, and it is my main excuse for not replying to text messages. I love the small size and the fact that it's just a phone. But I ended up selling my soul to a promotion to receive a free Samsung tablet for two-year data service contract. Now I really don't need a smartphone.

So much has happened in between while I was slacking in blogging. Hopefully I'll catch up with some of the food/restaurant items I should really be talking about, but here's the latest.

We went to check out our new neighbor on Clinton St. Ivan Ramen with Rey and Elliot. Mr. Ivan himself was hanging out in front of the restaurant greeting us. We were there early Sunday evening. At 6 o'clock, the brand-new shop was already half full. Taiyo quickly picked out his favorite Anpan Man in the mural near the entrance. We got a nice spacious table in the garden. Taiyo was somehow uninterested in the whole dinner experience and kept doodling by the lovely bowl of ramen. Well, the meal was nice, with two appetizers we shared- four cute meatballs($9) and a plate of three "Kewpie" mayonnaise drenched shrimp over watercress($14) and we(adults) had Triple Pork Triple Garlic Mazemen(Rey, $15), Shoyu Ramen with egg(Elliot, $15), and Tokyo Shio Ramen, fully loaded with an egg, pork chashu, and roasted tomato (me, $18.) It was delicious, unique in its own way, but this is not a Japanese ramen shop. If you're Japanese and was looking for a ramen shop, you'll be disappointed. Rye noodle don't have that bounce of ramen noodle. My broth had too much bonito powder. Egg had the perfect soft consistency but not flavored (as normally expected to be for ramen topping.) Pork Chashu was thick boiled pork belly. Chashu means barbecued. There was no gyoza dumplings on the menu. With a beer each, the check was $96. This was not a ramen shop in Japanese dictionary. I guess that's what to expect from a fine-dining-trained chef. But Mr. Ivan is so nice and friendly, and food was tasty and service was more than efficient, and casual enough to bring kids of any age, so fairly recommended. I just wish it was more ramen shop priced.