beautiful moments

My friend Orly, who's like my Jewish sister, got married this hot summer afternoon. They had a beautiful ceremony in an art gallery in Chelsea. It was a great reunion of friends I know for 12 years or more. Being the only one in the party with a still camera, (of course everyone got digital cameras) I realized that I was the official photographer at the occasion. After a few drinks at the reception at Paladar, I felt so sentimental I cried as I hugged her. What a lightweight I am these days.

By the time I went out on my evening run, heat subsided slightly. The scenary at dusk on Hudson was amazing: the hazy sky and calm river was in the same gorgeous rosey grey. Cruise ships slid across the water in front of the Statue of Liberty. It was getting dark on the way back by Battery Park, which was filled with twinkles of fireflies. Another magical moment.
on june 26, 2005 @ 11:32 pm [link]

great moments

Yuri came to work this afternoon and said, "Since I'm working here a lot these days, I started dreaming about it. This morning my boyfriend said that I yelled in my sleep, "Damn, I forgot to start the timer for rice!" Worried about my rice in her sleep. Now, that's devotion. I felt like adopting her.

Yuri and Rikako were delighted to see their picture posted on our home page. "We are the SOY stars." They were very proud. How cute.

"For Mama san." Horisei san, a tatoo artist from 127 stanton brought me the tatoo shop's t-shirt. He's been coming to SOY religiously for the past month at least 4 days a week. I don't have a tatoo, but if I wear this t-shirt and walk around, are people going to imagine tatoo somewhere under my clothes?

Today's wisdom from the Samurai book: "There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.

"Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it were somewhere else. No one seems to have noticed this fact. But grasping this firmly, one must pile experience upon experience. And once one has come to this understanding he will be a different person from that point on, though he many not always bear it in mind."
on june 23, 2005 @ 01:18 am [link]

girls' talk overheard

I overheard two female customers as they picked up their lunch. "Look what I got. Jealous?" She pointed something on her neck, right under her chin. Of course I was thinking what were you thinking. A little hickey? "What is it?" "A pimple!" "Oh, you should pop it." Now, why would she be jealous of a pimple on her neck?

I'm reading the "Book of Samurai" which contains some interesting wisdom for samurai warriors of 18th century.
"No matter whaht it is, there is nothing that cannot be done. If one manifests the determination, he can move heaven and earth as he pleases. But because man is pluckless, he cannot set his mind to it. Moving heaven and earth without putting froth effort is simply a matter of concentration." I truly believe this.
on june 21, 2005 @ 01:32 am [link]

beautifying the neighborhood




A customer advised us this afternoon that we should put a larger sign on the street to have a bigger presence, so we have installed a more effective sign this evening as seen above. (Yes, we are only here to have fun sometimes.)

When I was leaving after work, I walked out and said, who the hell painting this late? The street was full of fresh paint. Turned out, that Andre Charles and company was working on that famous baby mural down the street, "beautifying the neighborhood," as he put it. I introduced myself as the "Japanese mama of Suffolk Street" as we exchanged cards, and he promised that he'd come try the famous Spicy Tuna and Avocado Bowl sometime soon.



on june 18, 2005 @ 12:32 am [link]

good time to cook, finally

Breeze came in and it felt like spring again. After that heat wave, finally it was a day I felt like cooking. Today's improvisation: cauliflower and lentil soup, spiced with toasted cumin. I'm not shy to say that it came out unbelievably well. I have to write down the recipe.
on june 15, 2005 @ 11:57 pm [link]

"thanks a bunch!!"

A thank you note arrived from Dan, one of my student from last Saturday's cooking class. What a nice gesture! It made my day. Being just another internet addict I haven't sent anyone a thank you note via snail mail in many years. I think we should do this more often. It is the best reward having this business receiving words of appreciation. People have called me to thank me after we've delivered food, or sometimes they would stop by to tell me how delicious the food was. This afternoon Jennifer down the block had to pop her head in to tell me how amazing my spicy tuna was last night. She has joined the spicy tuna addict club, ordering her daily dose this evening.
on june 9, 2005 @ 12:40 am [link]

The man with black nail polish

Rock'n roller Paul came and told me that Luna lounge where he works is closing this coming weekend. Their little building is being torn down in the wave of new development around Orchard-Ludlow streets vicinity. More fancy high-rise in the neighborhood? I wonder if the area is going to start looking more like uptown. I joined his little party with his neighbors and friends at Luna last night, helping them clear out the inventory on the shelf.

There's two bicycles on in front of SOY chained together to a street sign pole for at least about six months. It's hard enough to get sanitation department to come get abondaned car off the street (well, I called them about a beaten-up vehicle that said 'take me I'm stolen' up the block a few years ago, and the person on the phone asked me, 'but how do you know that the car is stolen?'), how are you supposed to deal with something like this? The bicycles look surprisingly in decent shape (although one is missing a seat), after all these months, but nobody has ever taken them off the pole for a minute for the past half year. I suspect these are abondoned vehicles. It's annoying since it's in front of SOY and this means that we have less bike parking space. I wonder if they can help me at 311.

Heat is here and that means more deliveries! Little Yuri was busy back and forth around the neighborhood.
on june 8, 2005 @ 01:07 am [link]

swimming with the sailors, that's what I really wanted to do

I was tempted to go hang out with the sailors, but I stuck with my initial plan of more improvements in the store. A year ago, I spent my Memorial day weekend laying tiles. This year I spent some quality time laying more tiles. Please admire new tiles on the floor by the bathroom at your next visit to SOY. Yesterday Kazu and Ippo, tile layers, approved of my work. I also spent two hours in a gym for a vigorous personal training session with my running friend Rickie. Oh, my, the things he made me do! He made me do some serious work out of my leg muscles. Then he gave me screaming torturous stretch that almost made me cry. But my whole body felt lighter after that. He said, "No running tomorrow." Well, I really wasn't in a shape for a run the next day. So I treated myself for a swimming session. Not with the sailors though. I got caught in a light rain on the way back, and of course had to make a stop at my favorite Home Depot. We've been having really busy days at SOY. Please be patient if our deliveries are a bit late.






on june 2, 2005 @ 12:52 am [link]