I started writing in the blog and I heard something. Some electric music coming from the other side of the apartment. Something I've never heard of. I traced the source of the music and it turned out to be a clock radio that makes Taiyo feel better when he turns it on lately which obviously he set an alarm for 12 am. But no, it did not wake him up- he went to bed quite early today at 10 pm.

A few days after that tub talk Taiyo showed me something on 'his' iPad. "Mama, look." It was from his interactive book- a bath-tub car with wheels and a steering wheel. "Oh, no. I thought you were being totally original." Well, but still. Taiyo's bath-tub car was a bit more advanced since this one on iPad didn't have any covering or changing area in case you wanted to go outside.

So strange things happen. I was feeling acoustic and was listening to Devendra Banhart someone told me about a few months ago. A couple of tracks into it here he was, into my restaurant with his girlfriend Ana who's been my new regular for two weeks. It was so like Taiyo's favorite phrase, "How did this happen?" It was like an awkward mistake. So strange things sometimes happen.

Weekend was nice and mellow and chilly again. On Sunday we got on the ferris wheel at Toys'R'Us in Times Square for the first time. When I saw that ferris wheel for the first time, I explaimed "That was my idea to put a ferris wheel inside a building!!" But mine also served as an elevator between floors. Anyway, it cost us $5 each and it was fun the first round but maybe five more times around the floors of Toys'R'Us was kind of nightmarish we were pretty happy to get off. Taiyo scored some new toys of course and it was like another Christmas or birthday for him.

We stopped at Guy's American Kitchen and Bar, which I wasn't expecting best service, and wasn't expecting to be impressed with the food, and I was just right on. I didn't know who this 'Guy' was until I opened the menu, and ok, this name attached, and so conveniently located right off Broadway, I really didn't expect too much of it but knew that it will be kid-friendly and would be comfortable enough for me. And I was right on. Well, food was almost good, but not too expensive. Service was good but almost too fast and sort of pressuring to finish the plate and go. But Taiyo ate more than just his french fries and they seemed to be quite tolerant even when Taiyo became more mobile around the floor between their feet. So overall I'd recommend it.

I made paper airplanes today for the first time in probably 30 or more years. With a little one you get to do things you never thought you'd do again. I didn't remember how to make a good paper airplanes- first tries sadly nosedived to the floor and didn't fly at all. But thanks to internet, I found some fabulous simple paper airplane prescriptions and we enjoyed flying colorful big airplanes across the restaurant this mellow afternoon. Cold has gone for the week and it felt like spring. Conversation with Taiyo has been just endlessly entertaining. Today in the tub, he started talking about "Bathtub car." "We need a bathtub car. We need wheels and remote control for the bathtub," he said. "Bathtub car? This tub turns into a car to drive outside?" "Yep." "So we can drive around while taking a bath?" "Yep. We need a steeering wheel." "But is it all open and people can see us taking a bath?" "No there's black cover and people can't see from outside." "Oh, ok. So they can't see us taking a bath inside." "Nope." "But how about when we want to stop some place. We just get dressed and go outside?" "Yep." I swear this was really what we were talking about in the tub.

Another long weekend for the New Year holiday- although quite mellow, it was still tiring. On 30th of December I suddenly decided to do a paint job in the restaurant, and that's what I did after Taiyo went to sleep. It's somehow so hard to get motivated to do this- this time it was relatively short two years- but once you get started it is quite therapeutic to apply fresh coat of paint. I very much enjoyed quiet relaxing and uninterrupted time although it was still work. A few beer helped very much. By 4am I finished major parts of dining area. So we woke up to this newly painted restaurant but to my surprise and disappointment, Taiyo didn't seem to notice. He was of course excited about some tools laying around.


Finally I lured him out of the house after two days of spending mostly indoors to see the train show at the Grand Central Station. Then we went to Bryant Park and got on the carousel. These were the most holiday-like things we've done this season. Then Taiyo had to have a hotdog. The only hotdog I found around the Bryant Park holiday market was "Hotdog Strudel." It was pretty yummy he had to have the second.

Back home, we rang in the New Year watching "Nightmare Before Christmas," second time this week. "It was great!" He wanted to watch again. It was just another night for him. My block was fairly quiet- I didn't even notice when it past midnight. My New Year resolution- I usually like to keep it simple- drink more tea.

Oh, boy. We did it again. We are about to see another year gone by. Oh, well, what a year it's been! Later part of the year was literally disastrous, except the result of the presidential election. Well, at least this month we survived another end of the world and a major holiday that always makes me feel like an orphan. I just don't celebrate Christmas, ok? I don't have any reason to. So we went to chase chickens at the garden. These chicks made their seasonal migration from Governor's Island to our garden, and they gave us good enough excuse to stick around the neighborhood this holiday season. We've been harvesting fresh eggs when we go to take care of them. Taiyo went berserk when I boiled them back in the restaurant, since he thought he was going to hatch them. But as soon as he tasted the boiled egg, he decided to just eat them all.

Later we did go celebrate a little bit of Christmas with Kristof's family in Greenpoint. Somehow, Taiyo decided to put on his Spiderman's costume. I said, why not, since it's getting too tight on him. They had some beautiful traditions like having an empty seat with food for a 'traveler' or anyone who happened to walk in the door, even a burglar, to join the dinner, or sharing bread with everyone around the room. The rest of my four-day off was super mellow, and it was good too. Getting ready for count-down- another quiet half-week off.

as we leave November, here's some more things happened...

Thanksgiving! My favorite holiday! We began our tradition at Union Square Market, shopping for some fresh herbs and produce for the special dinner. The holiday market was already open on the other side of the park. Taiyo walked around burying his face into a big blueberry muffin, entertaining other market shoppers. In the evening we survived the crowd for the balloon inflation by the Natural History Museum uptown. How they barricade these events and create more chaos is so crazy and unfortunate. It really takes so much fun out of it. We used a shortcut to enter the balloon viewing from subway station, but then at the end of the block they forced us to exit and find our way through the sea of people across Columbus Avenue because that was the official 'entrance' to the event. And the other side was ridiculously crowded and less enjoyable anyway. Next year, we'll do just the half of the balloons and go home happily.

Next day at seven o'clock, my Thanksgiving dinner was ready at it's perfection. My shio-koji-brined turkey was so tender wings fell off when I picked it up from the roasting pan. Then there was of course my famous sausage stuffing with apples and cashews. Mashed potato was lightly herbed with dill, accompanied by herbed miso gravy sauce(Tim called it 'divine') brussels sprouts with bacon, roasted cauliflower with crushed garlic and pine nuts, sweet potato and corn casserole, Japanese potato salad, green salad with ume-shiso dressing, plus roasted fall vegetables Kathy brought in. So 12 adults and one 3-year-old feasted and they all said it was a great dinner and I totally agree. There's no photos to prove since my little camera was in the repair and our new toy iPad mini didn't arrive from China for a few more days.

What a week it's been! Monday afternoon Taiyo and I spent quiet afternoon at SOY. With Hurricane Sandy approaching, wind was getting stronger, and rain was not hard but continuous. Matthew next door came down to have a bowl of ramen. The day before hardware stores and grocery stores were having busy day. At Essex Market the shelves were being emptied which I've never seen. I thought I was going to be blessed with a day or two off. Maybe I'll fix the tiles in the bathroom. Or do some readying for a change. We were watching "The Right Stuff" in the evening when lights blinked. The strong wind was bending all the trees outside. Sandy was here. So far it was still ok, but I decided to lay candles on the table, and located flashlights. Sometime later, darkness arrived. Taiyo shrieked, of course. I was glad I had candles ready. I lit many many candles, even birthday candles, so we won't be scared. Later I realized there's no hot water for bath. I tried to boil some water with portable burner (I don't have gas stove in my apartment) but the tub won't hold water very well. We went to sleep and I dreamed that power was back in the morning.

Tuesday. It was gloomy but rather mild day. I listened to radio on a alarm clock. Mayor said that the power may take 3, 4 days to be restored, so as subway system. I really wasn't prepared for a lenthy power outage. I may lose everything in fridge and freezer. There was nothing I really could do, so we got on the bike and went explore uptown. Lights were out all the way to around 40th street on the east side. There were so many people walking uptown. Then lights were on but most of the business were still closed. All the restaurants open had people waiting. We cut across Times Square, which was ironically just as bright as any other day. We stopped at B&H and got a USB cable so I can power up my cell phone with lapatop, which was rather useless without internet. Back home we were hanging out in the restaurant, and some neighbors stopped by. Elliot and Ray never got out- they had a planned trip out to the west coast with the flight that never left on Monday. Michelle and Jaime were around and they even had hot water! So Taiyo and I were able to take a bath, which was a blessing. Later we went to visit Elliot and Ray for some chocolate cake, then hang out with Kathy and the second night seemed a lot more social than usual although it was dark and cold.

Wednesday morning, we crossed the bridge with Michelle and Jaime in search of power and snack. Every cafe was packed and most outlets were occupied with similar refugee from Manhattan. I felt a bit bitter that while I was losing business they were profiting from disaster across the river. It was Halloween and kids were out along Bedford trick-or-treating just like any other Halloween. Taiyo put on his costume for a while to get into the spirit.

We met with Susan in front of her building on Ridge Street later afternoon as two Spidermen. She had bagful of candies but couldn't find any other kids. We walked around found a few other neighborhood kids in the playground. Nobody seemed to be in the Halloween mood in the Lower East Side. I was glad I didn't make too many decoration for the garden for the Halloween party which was obviously not happening. Early evening Krzystof came to pick us up to spend the night in his place in Greenpoint. We made a plan to visit him for dinner that night anyway before the storm since another good old friend Tarja was visiting from Finland and staying with him. He had plenty of couch space to accommodate us also. We totally appreciated no darkness and hot water. Gas stations by him has already run out of gas, and supermarkets had bare produce shelves.

Krzystof left at 6am to go to work, but came back in a couple of hours because he had no gas. He is a cab driver. I ran back over Williamsburg Bridge with Taiyo on jogging stroller. It took us only a bit over 30 minutes, but I wished I were in better shape. Quiet afternoon, and I only kept the door open at SOY to keep the place cool. We were supposed to get power back by Saturday 11pm. Two more nights. We went back on bike to Greenpoint. There were so many bikes crossing over the dark bridge and nobody was kind to give way to this one with a kid in the back. Tarja was frantic making phone calls to car service companies. Many of them didn't answer or wouldn't accept reservation and told her to call back next day. The subway was still hardly working and she's been walking over the Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan.

Tarja safely left Friday morning to fly back to Finland. Another commute over the bridge, and Paul stopped by after big warm breakfast across the bridge. Taiyo had been in good spirit; kids are fragile but also adaptable, I thought. He didn't ask me to turn the lights on after the first day. He didn't ask me to put the TV on any more. It still has been an effort to get him to use the bathroom, finally getting toilet trained only two weeks go. Now the toilet seats were so cold. I had to sit and warm up the toilet seat for him before having him sit. But he had no accidents day or night whole week. I was really glad not have to worry about diaper supply.

I tried to convince Taiyo to stay at home even if it was dark, since I was getting tired of this commute. The trip over the bridge with so many bikes and insensitive walkers in bike lanes has been difficult and dangerous. But he wanted to go back to Brooklyn. We were ready to leave at 4pm, this time early enough so we can make it back before dark. I was about to mount on the bike when someone came out of my building and said, "We got the light!" I turned around and saw lights in my window. I still had to make the trip to get my computer. Taiyo fell asleep on the bike and woke up when I was turning around with another big load to come home. He wanted to stay there and sobbed all the way home. My butt hurt after so much biking with weights in the back and front. He is getting so big and the bike was getting small. Back in the restaurant I was glad to see much of things in the fridge and freezer were still good. Elliot came down with 3 pounds of pork chops that came out of his freezer, and we cooked them up to celebrate the end of black-out. It was truly a long week and I was so happy to have an extra hour this morning. New words that were added to Taiyo's vocabulary this week: Hurricane Sandy and Greenpoint.

How ironic was the title of my last entry. A week ago, my dear neighbor from the salon next door, Akiro san, passed away after years of battle with cancer. His farewell party was on Saturday night, which I had an honor of serving some food. It was quite a turn-out as expected. Many of his loyal customers also became mine, since he often sent them my way, and I also befriended his employees who were also my neighbors. Seeing all the people who took over the sidewalk Saturday night, I realized the depth of his six-degrees. He was mostly a quiet neighbor, not extremely chatty, but still sweet and generous. He was also a character, everyone will tell you. For many years, he would go with his dog to dine out, which I was invited to join them one night. I also got many hair-cuts from him, but he always wanted make me look like a 'lady' which I didn't feel appropriate for me. I met so many people through him, and some people I've met already knew him anyway. But the most painful memory associated with this event was the fact that I've lost a dear friend in that very space next door years before Akiro moved in. It was in the spring of 2001, before 9-11, before SOY. I never told Akiro, but he left a part of the space raw, a large mirror near the back wall, that he used while cutting hair to see the side view. I always loved to see that still there while getting my hair-cut. So this weekend was so overwhelming with memories of Akiro and Bartholomew. I know that Bartholomew's spirit tried to protect Akiro, since he was a cool good neighbor, but Akiro couldn't beat the disease. He loved my Tofu Steak and Cod with ginger sauce. Sometimes he would ask for ramen with a croquette on top, which is a funny thing in Japanese standard. Farewell, and rest in peace my friend Akiro. His six-degrees will continue for many years to come.