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01/29/2006: "Year of the Dog"

My crazy friend Pablo was in town, so we went to dance with the lions in Chinatown. It was a drizzly but another unseasonably warm afternoon, and the colors of the streamers shot out in the grey sky were being washed out in the rain, creating colorful paddles everywhere. It was fun afternoon, but we still missed the sound of fire crackers they used to scare us all over the place in the New Year.

Yesterday a couple with stars painted on their face wondered in to have dinner. They told me about this Idiotarod shopping cart race by hundreds of costumed people, which may explain why there were so many police in the neighborhood. This city is so much fun! When people ask me if I plan to live here forever, I always says yes with a conviction, even though I didn't race in a costume pulling a stolen shopping cart yesterday.

Yuri finished her work Friday, since her busy last semester at the college is starting. It was sad, but that's the way it is. They come and go, unfortunately. Restaurants have very fast turnover. I'm lucky if they stay for a year. Customers come and go also, although most of them come back sooner or later. A longtime loyal customer Ali came to pick up her favorite ginger tofu the other night, before she left the neighborhood. "It's sad to leave, but we need to get a bigger place," she said, rubbing her round 5-month belly. Thanks to my friend Noah, I made some new friends from fancy Rivington Hotel this week, who are already sending people over my way. I think out of towners would definately enjoy our locally friendly little restaurant on Suffolk.