Finally they arrived. Saturday morning, I had my first snow shoveling duty of the season. We really have no snow this year- it's already late January. Last year Taiyo was quite enthusiastic and grabbed the shovel and dragged it around the sidewalk, trying to do the job. And he got millions of pictures taken! This year to my surprise, he wasn't interested anymore. He stuck his hands in his coat pockets and watched me shovel light accumulation off the sidewalk. Now he can say "See you later, alligator," and already working on "in a while crocodile."

Despite of my suggestions, Taiyo decided to spend another Sunday naked in the house today. He loves to roll around and jump on the bed while chanting, "No more Taiyo jumping on the bed!" Clearly, that book about jumping monkeys teach kids how fun it is to jump on the bed. At one point, he was also riding on a imaginary motorcycle with his grey kitty on his lap on the bed, "We're going to museum!" So it was also a doing-nothing Sunday for me too, and I didn't mind it at all with this kind of entertainment. We ordered lunch from Sauce on Rivington and Allen, and it was pretty quick but the delivery guy didn't speak a word of English and the bill didn't have a total. So after some hand gestures he called the restaurant and had to talk to a spanish guy and they he had to go talk to a guy in front. Meanwhile Taiyo was jumping up and down beside me just in diapers (at least he wasn't all naked) asking for the food. I handed him the package and he finally stopped screaming and ran into the house. I had to then ran to the package to grab the bill to explain to them what I had ordered to get the total. But now the delivery guy has no change. I had to look for some more change to pay for the food. So it was a kind of awkward ordering experience from them, but food was pretty good. Taiyo did like the hero sans meatballs, and potato and kale gnocchi with marinara sauce.

Last Wednesday, we had lunch at Phebes on Bowery and 4th Street. The Restaurant Week was on, but just didn't feel like going to a pretentious place, and this joint had a perfect sunny and laid back dining room for us. This used to be a dive with a scary bathroom, some 20 years ago. Sometime between now and then, probably the ownership changed, and they cleaned it up and turned into 'tavern and grill,' to match the changing scenery of Bowery. It still had a neighborhood pub feel, with a waitress who seems to recognize many regulars hanging around the bar, but the spacious place was served only by her, which was a bit crazy although tables weren't to busy. When we walked in she asked us if we want a high chair, and Taiyo answered yes, but she never had time to bring it to us, and she also forgot my drink which she realized toward the end of my meal. But Angus burger was pretty good although sauce was a bit too salty, and Taiyo of course was happy with the crispy french fries. I just really loved the feel and brightness of this place in the afternoon. Recommended.

My Thanksgiving tradition started Wednesday, making a trip to Union Square greenmarket to pick up some fresh herbs and vebetables. Taiyo slept through the whole trip in comfy sports utility jogging stroller. Late afternoon, we met up with Lynne and headed uptown to see the balloon inflation for Macy's Thanksgiving parade. We saw Snoopy, Spiderman, Hello Kitty, and some other bunch. It was so crowded we had enough just going through one block, half of the event.

We stopped at Cafe Con Leche on Amsterdam between 80th and 81st. It's a cute small latin joint. We were offered a table in the back with a bench, which was of course great for Taiyo. They also offered us a high chair, but Taiyo was already stretched out on the bench to check its comfort level. Taiyo's mind was all set for rice and beans. They brought his water in a paper coffee cup with top with a straw, which gets high points for being a kid-friendly restaurant. I settled on pork stew. It tasted pretty good, but pork was too cruncy and chewy for stew- the lighting was too dark to decide it was actually grilled pork with sauce or meat was simply dry and tough. But otherwise, service was friendly and Taiyo was happy with his rice and beans. He also chugged down more than half the plate of plantains Lynne ordered. The restaurant is pretty small and tables are close together- strollers may have hard time manuevering or finding a spot, but over all nice place to dine with a kid. Fairly recommended.

So it was Thanksgiving day. My plan was to do much of the cooking while Taiyo takes nap- we walked out early afternoon to pick up a few more things from a store, and he seemed pretty much ready for a little napping. But after half an hour I realized I'd better get back first and put my turkey in the oven. Then Taiyo was super upset that we didn't stop at the supermarket. While I threw turkey into the oven, he sat in the stroller in the doorway and kept screaming "SOOOOPER MAAARKKEEETTTT!!!!" into the street. Finally we rolled out again but Taiyo was super upset and kept screaming. When we got to the Chinese market on Clinton, the guy at the fish deparment gave him some chocolate and finally Taiyo stopped screaming. He held two chocolate, one on each hand, and sobbed for a while then fell asleep. I ran back thinking that I got two hours to get most of cooking done. So I thought. But only one hour late Taiyo woke up, and he was very needy. He had to sit on my lap, and wouldn't let me get up and cook. So until Mark and Steve arrived to distract Taiyo I wasn't able to get much done and it was a bit stressful after that trying to get everything ready in two hours. But all was well in the end with roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, my famous stuffing with cashews and sausage, garlic mashed potato, caponata, roasted zucchini and turnips, pumpkin and corn salad, and yuzu-tuna wrap. Taiyo made a mistake stuffing himself too early with cheese and crackers, but he still enjoyed turkey and cranberry sauce. Then he went totally high after green tea cheesecake and went running outside, taking hands of my guests one by one.

We enjoyed sleeping late today. It was a beautiful warm day and I took him out to Guitar Center on 14th Street. This place is a heaven for him with all kinds of music instruments! He went crazy in drums department, then we picked up a new uklele (on sale for $30!). Last one was broken after being banged around in his rock'n roll action.

We lunched at Japonica on University and 12th St. The bench was confortable with a pillow and Taiyo immediately jumped on it for a while, but he decided to take a chair on the other side of the table. They brought him a plastic cup and a straw with a tiny pinwheel, which was of course a high point for a kid-friendly restaurant. It kept him in the seat for a while. There was too many things on the menu, but I settled on lunch special box with eel and avocado donburi and shrimp tempra roll, and steamed shumai appetizer. The box was not quite impressive with mixed green and pinapples, and I felt there should've been just a little something like hijiki instead of edamame, but overall it was a great value. Taiyo immediately cleared eel- he couldn't wait for his fork to arrive and started grabbing it by hand. Then he of course enjoyed nice big shumai and finished all the pinapple. Dining room is fairly spacious and strollers should be able to find a room to park. Recommended.

Taiyo is turning into quite an entertainer. The other day he put on Dora's mask to crack me up. Later when my staff arrived he continued to wear the mask and greeted everyone with "Hora!"

As a single mother who works too much, I normally devote sundays as the day to do stuff out there with Taiyo, visiting zoos, parks, or museums, and trying out some restaurants we haven't been to. But yesterday, I couldn't convince him to leave the house. He just enjoyed hanging out in the house despite of the construction noise outside. Continuous playing of kids DVDs was annoying but I didn't mind hanging out insdie all day- maybe the first time since hurricane. Taiyo played his guitar, keyboard, danced around, wore his penguin hat and danced around some more. We briefly left for grocery shopping late afternoon, and I was hoping that he'd take a long nap. He fell asleep only a few blocks away on the way back, and woke up when I carried him upstairs. We decided to order in for dinner.

Last week I tried GrubHub.com for the first time to order. My order from Moustache on 10th street was estimated to be delivered in one hour. It was delivered in hour and a half, and soup was hot but "pitza" was cold. The next GrubHub asked for the first time review, so I told them what happened. No, I would not recommend it to my friends because it wasn't a great experience. They were sorry and send me $25 gift card. So I tried again yesterday. This time I went for Goodfella's Pizza on Rivington and Orchard. It's only four blocks away, and was expecting better result. Estimated delivery was one hour again. Hour and a half later, I was beginning to wonder where my food was, so called 800 number for GrubHub. I was holding for five minutes to speak to a rep, then finally the food arrived. You'd expect to have the pizza hot from a pizza restaurant, expecially when the rest of the order was a salad and garlic bread. Not this place. It was just kind of warm. Salad was rip off for $12, mesculan green and some sliced strawberries. It was supposed to be served with balsamic reduction, but it was just plain balsamic vinegar that came with it. Though it was nice to see Taiyo discovering strawberries and arugula together was a great match. The goodfella pizza was supposed to be the popular item, but it had too many chunks of too raw garlic and we couldn't eat half of it. The garlic bread was more like some bread with cheese on top, and guess what, they weren't hot either. Food was terrible, and expensive, and it came so late. Nothing good about this restaurant.

The heatwave seems to have no effect on Taiyo's appetite. Yesterday as we walked into SOY he asked for gyoza. After chugging on two plates of gyoza, he asked for a bowl of rice, which he enjoyed with his favorite takuan pickles. His favorite watermelon is also in high season. He ate a big bowlful after dinner.

Taiyo is such a city kid- lately he's often up until midnight. He still asks for Dora or Elmo, but I tell him it's mommy's time to watch television. Then he asks for Conan. We watch Conan if it's on, and he points at TV saying, "Conan," or "Andy." Other moms envy me when I tell them Taiyo usually sleeps until 9am. Today we didn't get up until 11am! He was in great mood, and had great appetite. Milk, a bowl of yogurt, handful of cereal- he prefers my cereal Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries over Cheerios - then of course asked for my bagel in between. For lunch we stopped at Roots & Vines on Grand Street near Clinton. This is one of the places we pass by all the time on the way to the supermarket or library, but hardly make a stop. It's known to be a local mom's hangout during the week, but on Saturday, there was no sight of a stroller beside ours. Entry is easy, with a wide doorway, and inside is fairy roomy for strollers also. Air conditioning wasn't working well today, and it was warm inside- perhaps that's why it wasn't as busy as they usually are. While I went to order our food at the counter, Taiyo quickly situated himself in the middle of the bench at the long table. Our sandwich, Mexcan style "Torta" with carne asada came pretty quickly, and it was nicely presented on a wooden square plate with a little thing of pink coleslaw. Taiyo didn't like coleslaw- he may immediately reject certain flavor, which I still can't predict. The sandwich wasn't great- the meat was super dry and the roll was stale, but he ate some of the bread and a slice of tomato. They had a bucket full of children's books by the window, which helped to keep him at the table. Later our long-time customer Seth walked in and congratulated us on Japan's women's world cup victory. Taiyo ran around a little making some old people smile, before getting his first lesson on the game of chess by Seth.

Today's sandwich was not a hit, but I've had pretty good food there in the past. They also serves brunch on weekends. This is a child-friendly neighborhood cafe and it's recommended.

Sometimes the simplest thing is the winner. Fresh asparagus yesterday morning was the thing for him. He didn't even bother to try my miso-mayo-tofu dip. He just kept munching on the steamed asparagus. Tougher bottom ends that I took off before cooking also provided him entertainment- he enjoyed snapping them for a while. After a long nap it was avocados. When he wandered into the kitchen I offered him a piece of avocado. He just couldn't have enough, living up to a moniker I gave him a long time ago: bottomless Taiyo. He kept asking for more, and ended up eating a whole big avocado. It's still hard to figure out what he may eat- some days he would spit out avocado I offer him. But today, it was the thing to die for.

This morning Taiyo let me take out a jogging stroller I haven't been able to use for a few weeks because he would protest it. He was a good coach trying get me back into shape- he called out, "Hashi, hashi (run, run)" everytime I slowed down and walked. We went to the Union Square market for some beautiful blueberries. On the way back we stopped at Chipotle at 14th Street and Irving Place.

This relatively new joint is spacious and clean, with lots of room for a SUV stroller we had to manuver around. This is definitely a better option among fast food, but to my suprise Taiyo showed no interest in colorful Burrito Bowl with chicken, corn salsa and extra topping of guacamole. He just kept drinking the apple cider from the market. I got him to taste a little, but only thing he liked and wanted was cilantro-lime rice. Meat was little spicy for him anyway. The little stool was low enough for him to climb on, and comfortable enough to sit on, and overall it was pretty good experience.

While he took a nap, I couldn't wait to cook up another prize from the market- beautiful golden chanterelle mushrooms. I sauteed with butter, little salt and soy sauce, and sprinkle of oregano. It was so delicious and I couldn't wait to have Taiyo try them, but when he woke up what he wanted was Chinese dumplings on Clinton Street: Prosperity Dumpling at Clinton between Rivington and Stanton. They make decent dumplings, and they are usually ready to be served. It's mainly a take-out joing, with limited seating area along the wall and the window, and there's no bathroom. Although I think the best dumplings in the neighborhood is found on East Broadway at a hand-pulled noodle place near the post office, Taiyo still loves this place's dumplings. It's pretty good deal: four dumplings for a buck.

Taiyo woke up with a serious funk. He cried because I wouldn't carry him while getting his milk together. I cried for milk and me at the same time. He had to have them both. I said I have to put him down to get his milk ready. He screamed and screamed. I ignored and put our breakfast together. Raising a child is a game of tolerance sometimes. I'm getting better playing it, but I still lose it here and there and scream back at him.

He wanted to go to the market, but we were going to see our dear friend Lynne, or Lakshmi, in her new free Little Movers Yoga movement class at Hamilton Fish Library. She just started offering this class at the library on Fridays at 10am. Little ones 12-36 months are welcomed. Taiyo loves running around the room, and going up and around the stage.

Taiyo slept three hours in the afternoon to get out his summer funk. For a few days the people from Love A Lot are bringing toys and it's been like Christmas for him. Today he woke up to a tub full of blocks. "Wow!!" He was just as excited to see his lunch bowl. It was vegetarian Friday for us, with fried tofu, avocado, and fresh mozzarella cubes, seasoned with balsamic vinegar. He loved the tofu, rice, and some avocado, but wasn't really fond of cheese to my surprise. He decided to get down on the floor and started running around, but every few minutes he came back to the table and asked for another bite. Also miso soup with daiko and napa never dissapoints him. It was definately like Christmas for him. After meal, he asked for his guitar and started singing stomping his little feet, providing live entertainment for customers.

Last year on 4th of July, Taiyo stood on his own for the first time. This year at 21-months, he's singing ABC's. I've been trying to start this new blog for a few months- Dining with Taiyo- because he just loves eating. He loves eating good food with other people. Is that because he's growing up in a restaurant? SOY blog has been pretty much Taiyo blog for two years now. I decided that I officially transform it into Taiyo blog. We'll be chronicling about our dining experiences in and out, just for the fun of it.

Today: Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria
282 Bowery at Houston
It was a dump day all day with drizzling rain. My plan was to walk up to Minca on 5th street for ramen noodle soup, but rain discouraged me and I pushed the stroller to the west along Houston because I had to pick up something at BestBuy on Broadway. We passed by a few places I was thinking about, but they seemed to be a little busy even though it was only 4pm in the afternoon on Sunday. We finally stopped at Pulino's at Bowery. This was our first visit there. Their sister restaurant Schiller's around the corner from us is fairy kid friendly- they will give Taiyo a set of crayons as we sit down, and there's always a very friendly waitress who would come around even if ours wasn't her table. Pulino's didn't have the crayons for Taiyo, but high-chair came right out for him, and access is nice and easy with the door wide open (thanks to the warm weather), plenty of room by the outside door to park the stroller, and Taiyo was happy looking around hipster interior with liquor bottles nicely decorating the walls. He also liked the view of the pizza oven behind him. Service was smooth and quick, and Taiyo liked their pizza very much- we had Bianca and he ate almost half of the pie. The table next to us, with older couple and their son, was quite amused with Taiyo. He really likes to entertain others. After he decided that he was through, Taiyo tried to run out to the street, but the staff there was quite aware of this little person and tried to stop him. That gave me more positive impression about this place. I say recommended. Sorry no pictures- Taiyo destroyed only a year old camera and I was on the way to pick up a new one.

Old blog is found here: http://www.soynyc.com/weblog/