The ocean was perfect turquoise in Dominican Republic. Since we are having such a cold summer in NY, I felt we had to travel south. This was the furthest we ever traveled, and yes, we jumped right into the height of summer. The beach was right in front of us at this beautiful resort. A pair of flamingos lived in the middle of the garden. It took me some time to convince Taiyo to step onto the beach although it was only a few steps away from the swimming pool we were hanging out all day. Sun was high and strong, but even warm ocean water gave me a break in mid-day. Sea was calm, and crystal clear. They made really good mojitos at the bar. Food was also pretty good at the buffet. For Taiyo, added bonus was watching SpongeBob on cable TV. Since we stayed at the resort for the whole time, I feel like I really didn't visit Dominican Republic. Nevertheless it was a wonderful and successsful vacation.

The country life was just wonderful. We got used to it all right- having a yard full of flowers to run around, having a spacious porch to have all three meals on, making a fire to roast marshmallows, waking up to birds loudly chirping outside the window, instead of horns and garbage trucks. Coming back was a shock. For days I just wanted to move to a country. Taiyo had a terrible tantrum for two days, but on the third day, he said he was glad to be home. After a week we seem to be adjusting to the way of our summer days. Shopping in the morning, then working in the restaurant in the afternoon. Then what did we do this weekend? Went fishing! At a festival on East River at Pier 42, we attempted to fish. We were told not eat the fish if we ever got one. We never did. But next day at a fair in Williamsburg, Taiyo won two goldfishes. One died overnight, but the surviving red capped guy seems pretty happy so far in a little tank with a fake plant. Ah, city life even for a goldfish.

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.

It was our Spring Break. Time for our annual "tax refund vacation." Taiyo was off from school for 10 days- we had to get out of town. A month ago, I was still undecided going through family destination travel book. Then I came across "Dollywood," Dolly Parton's amusement park in Tennessee. Although I'm not a particular fan of Dolly Parton, I did want to go there once in my life. After a bit of research, it turned out to be a perfect destination: a short flight (less than two hours) with perfect schedule (afternoon flights), in the south (kind of exotic and it should be warmer!), and I found a beautiful mountain resort with a huge indoor water park on site. So that was our trip: Dollywood and Great Smokey Mountains. I was so proud of myself to come up with such a plan- obviously not many family Spring Breakers were heading that way. There was one direct flight a day to Knoxsville, Tennessee, and it was a tiny airplane, and not even full. Not many people were heading there from NYC, period. The timing was perfect. The flowers were everywhere down there. And we just missed a crowd they just had for a big car show down there, they told us when we arrived the resort. We stayed up on a hill overlooking across Great Smokey Mountains. Taiyo totally loved the place since our unit was more like a real apartment than a hotel- a kitchen, living room with TV, washer and dryer in the bathroom, and bedroom with TV (we did not need it and we did not use it.)

We dined at Smokehouse Grill at the resort. I ordered smoked brisket and here it was, two thick slices with 70-percent fat, seriously. I could not eat a quarter of it. Taiyo loved chicken fingers and curly fries.

The following day, we had to do Dollywood! Taiyo had vintage photo taken, got on some rides, chatted with an old blacksmith, saw a show of yodeling grandpas from Switzerland, rode a steam engine, and had Chinese buffet lunch of predictable qualities. There in Tennessee, I was surprised to be served by all white people everywhere, even in Chinese buffet restaurant. It was very, very white country. And they were nice, friendly, and spoke with slow southern accent which sounded to me like foreign language. I didn't notice a single Asian person there, although we drove by maybe two Japanese/Chinese restaurant.
The next day it rained/snowed all day. It was like 30 degrees! This was supposed to be southern vacation! So we enjoyed their massive indoor water park with no guilt. Then Taiyo enjoyed watching Sponge Bob back in our room. The arcade at the resort was also handy.

There were so may pancake places down there, so we had to try one of them before leaving. We went to Flapjack's Pancake Cabin, which was just down the street fro the resort. Taiyo got kid's french toast, and I got "The Works" omelette which came with two pancakes and yucky grits (I could never understand it.) These and a cup of coffee and orange juice was 14 dollars. So really cheap, but worth the money? Mmmm....
So I'd say it was pretty good successful vacation, although food was pretty bad in general. If we ever go down there again, I will just drive straight to a supermarket and utilize the kitchen. But it was interesting, a new country, and yes, we are safe back in the city.

Finally air is softening. I got some cherry branches from Union Square market and buds are surely fattening. Last Sunday, we went to see "Robot Competition" at Javits Center. Aside from watching robots built by middle-school students hauling balls, which was a great environment by itself, Taiyo got to control a little robot, and made a balloon fueled car with popsicle sticks and life savers.

On the way back we stopped at Skylight Diner on 34th Street and 9th ave, because it was there on the way to B&H, one of the few places nowadays I can purchase real film for my old camera. Taiyo never protests going to a "Diner." I try to avoid it, because I won't be able to eat anything decent. That was exactly what happened. The decor was old diner style, cute and bright. I liked it. Service was quick and friendly, which is pretty good. But the food. I don't even want to describe the food. I don't come to this type of place with high expectations, but my. It reminded me of that diner in Forest Hills we went last year only because it was conveniently located right by the subway. At least it wasn't horrendously expensive and Taiyo ate at least half of his French toast that was alarmingly yellow. I ate my eggs Benedict although it was too runny and not poached enough because I was hungry but felt so low eating it. I would say we shall return only if it was the only place nearby and the world was ending. I just wanted to have an average food, but not bad food.

But trip to B&H compensated for bad lunch. This place still totally amazes me with it's automated efficiency. The baskets are transported overhead to the pick-up area via tracks, which of course is the coolest thing to hang around and watch. We don't even have to go play with all kinds of camera and gadgets in the store. Just watch those bins transported above. I felt like I was the coolest mom to take him to such coolest places.

With arrival of Daylight Savings we sprang forward and days got a lot longer. We still feel return of cold spell here and there, but overall, air is warming up. Flowers are getting ready to bloom. Except my Amaryllis. Last year it gave me two stalks of flowers, so it seemed to skip flowering this year. This past bitter winter, we didn't make enough trek uptown, so the visit to the park was due. Goats must be hungry. They are always hungry. We had a beautiful afternoon in the park- with added bonus of Humpty-Dumpty puppet show. We saw his act somewhere else about a year and a half ago. Taiyo remembered. He enjoyed the show even more. Adult enjoyed the show because kids were just so adorable - they had a ball getting an egg thrown by Humpty-Dumpty. One of those magical moments that makes you feel so lucky and privileged to be there.