Short trip, and we are back in the city already. Although it is good to be back home, this evening is a huge contrast to our quiet nights upstate, where there was nothing but silence and pitch black darkness as we went to sleep. As soon as we stepped into our apartment around 6pm, we heard party noises from down the block and a DJ blasting Lady Gaga and Rhianna from its sound system. Welcome back to Brooklyn. The kids were hyped up once we got back home too, chasing each other like banshees up and down the hall. These were the same kids that sat quiet as mice for almost an hour this morning, bird watching out on the back deck?

Our last day was spent having breakfast at an old, authentic diner called Danny’s with Mark’s dad, uncle and an old family friend. It’s never fun saying goodbye. As we drove south, clouds gathered and rain started to fall. Funny that we managed to escape the wet weather while we were away up north, even getting a little sunburned in the process, while the city still stood under clouds. On the way back we stopped for a long break at the outlet mall. Sheesh, we are so freaking American.

Still visiting with family. Saturday was a wash with all the rain, but we drove out for Korean BBQ with my parents to eat a gluttonous dinner. Sometimes Korean food really hits the spot.

You may recall from yesterday’s post that we were waffling over what to have for our Sunday lunch out since our plans to go away had changed. It used to be that Mark and I would make the decision, but with the girls old enough to voice their opinions, it isn’t always easy to get 4 people to agree. We decided to spend the afternoon in the East Village, our old neighborhood, and one that I’ve lived in on and off since the early 90s. Sadly, we don’t come to this neighborhood much since we moved to Brooklyn 9 years ago, so walking from the Union Square subway stop to our lunch destination, Soba-ya, I pointed all sorts of places out to Mia: our old apartment building on 12th street, the cheese store on 3rd ave, the Kiehl’s store (which, by the way, is HUGE now), Sunrise Mart, among others. Weaving our way down 9th street Mark and and I wondered if the Takoyaki stand was still open…and it was!

So after our delicious lunch of freshly made soba noodles in savory broth, which Claudine slurped down till she was the last one left eating, and an appetizer of uni tororo (sea urchin in grated Japanese yam, which Mia couldn’t get enough of), we headed out to Otafuku across the street to get Takoyaki, or as we used to call them, octopus balls. The space is tiny tiny so we waited outside on the bench for our order. Mia could hardly contain herself - she was so excited to try them and kept peering into the little window to watch the the guys cook the batter with octopus. After a 7 minute wait and one bite, she was hooked.

Soba-ya and Otafuku were old standbys back in the day since we used to live around the corner, but since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to drop by the Momofuku Milk Bar to see what all the hype was about. I have to admit that I still haven’t eaten at any of the David Chang empire of Momofuku restaurants, which as a foodie (did I just call myself a foodie?) is lame, but I attribute that to being a working parent on a tight budget (and maybe that’s an excuse, but it is true). The Milk Bar menu is a little bit eclectic as there are both sweet and savory dishes, including the famous pork buns and the cereal soft serve, but we went for the cornflake, marshmallow and chocolate chip cookie, and the Crack Pie. Both items had good flavor, but they were both really densely sweet and very buttery. Despite the fact that we’re in the business, I’ve never been able to handle very sweet desserts or cookies, but I do realize that a lot of people like them that way. I’d come back here though, but I’d have to have an intense sugar craving to plow through a cookie by myself (the girls had no problem though).

Once home, it struck me that weekends are fun again now that Mark is no longer stuck working in restaurants. Now that we are out of the baby phase, it’s really fun to explore the city with the girls who are enjoying these outings. Maybe Claudine is even growing out of her culinary pickiness just a little bit, as she’s starting to try new things and even tried a salmon roe (which Mia loves) and a piece of Takoyaki. Speaking of which, Mia is still talking about those octopus balls, raving that they are now her new favorite thing. What was my favorite takeaway from this day? The Soba-ya bathroom, which has one of those fancy Japanese toilets with heated seats and a bidet. I took Mia there hoping they would still have them. She was afraid of the idea of a bidet, but as she sat down on the heated seat, the funniest look of surprise spread across her face and she said, “It really IS warm. On my butt and on my legs”.

Valentine’s Day: a trip to the Whitney to catch the last weekend of the Alexander Calder circus exhibit, which was very timely since Mia was learning about him at school. Couldn’t take any photos, but it was fun to be at an art museum for the first time since Claudine’s been able to walk and talk. Since we were on the Upper East Side, we had lunch at the Central Park Boathouse. Mia misses coming here, but since Mark has been consulting here once a week since last summer, it isn’t weird to come in and eat. The restaurant is still beautiful, even in the dead of winter, when the rest of the park is brown and dead. The weather forecasts a return to winter this week. I’m still sick and patiently awaiting spring…

We had a great day yesterday. Seriously, it was the best birthday yet and I’m convinced more than ever that simple is just fine when it comes to birthdays. The birthday banner became cupcake toppers for the school party and I’m going to allow myself a little pat on the back with that one - I am really into the whole idea of cupcake toppers and it made the birthday spread that much more festive. As part of the celebration, the kids decorated chef hats and paper cups, and Mark brought the juicer and all kinds of fruits and vegetables for a live juicing demo where each kid got to pick their own juice combination. What’s cool about our juicer is that you can shove a whole apple and juice it so the effect was quite impressive to the kids. I think we got a little ambitious by bringing in spinach, ginger, kiwis and beets when most kids chose apple with a combination of strawberry, but it was all good.

Later that night, we went for sushi at Mia’s favorite neighborhood Japanese restaurant (she made sure to tell the waitresses that too). As a surprise at the end of the meal, they brought out this crazy candle flower thing that when lighted, shot sparkles in the air (was too late in the photo taking to catch the sparkles). It then unfolded like a flower with candles lighted on each petal and slowly rotated around. OMG. We had never seen anything like it and we were all standing back a bit afraid, not knowing what would happen when this thing got lighted. It was magnificent. And when the entire restaurant stopped and sang happy birthday, it made this newly turned 5 year old very very happy.

It’s true, and the cheaper the better, but our usual birthday dinner go-to place with our parents isn’t cheap at all - $29.95 a person, but Mia counts as $6 and Claudine eats free (prices for kids are measured by height, which means our tall kids will eventually be at a disadvantage). But sometimes you get what you pay for and you do get excellent variety at Minado, a colossal sushi buffet restaurant which serves surprisingly decent food, and despite the recession, it was jam-packed on a Saturday night. There are countless varieties of rolls and sushi to choose from, as well as sashimi, king crab legs, oysters and shrimp. One aisle has hot entrees (dumplings, soups, meats, tempura and the like) and another aisle has a dozen or so seafood and cold noodle salads. There was even uni (sea urchin) which I had never seen on the menu before (Mia tried it and liked it, but Claudine thought it was a mound of peanut butter).

So the trick to getting your money’s worth at a place like this is to strategically starve yourself for several hours prior to the meal. Start with the most expensive items first like sushi so you don’t unnecessarily fill up on cheaper items like shumai or chicken. It’s not uncommon to see tables with plates piled high with King Crab legs (ok, I am going to make a gross generalization here, but most of these people you see walking around with mounds of crab legs are usually Asian, like my grandmother). I make sure to hit the sushi aisle twice before moving on to the cold salads (my favorite is the raw red snapper in a mustard oil vinaigrette). I usually never hit the hot food side because when there’s raw fish around, I have no interest in eating fried food or meat. *I almost forgot to mention that you shouldn’t fill up on beverages, which come in huge glasses with free refills. This is just a ploy to fill you up and should be ignored - Claudine drank a lot of water and filled her tummy up. Clearly she has much to learn. Not surprisingly, the kids really dig this place because they like watching the row of sushi chefs work and they can tell you what they want when they see it. They also usually find the place fun as it does resemble something not unlike a Vegas playground (the place is clean, but you certainly don’t go for ambiance or charm, and it’s probably not going to impress your date either). Mia usually gets sushi, edamame, and a bowl of udon noodles. I’ve trained her well though, and she hits the sushi first before moving on to her noodles and tempura. Claudine, well….you see that plate of grapes, watermelon and jello square? (yes! they have jello!). She did scarf down a fair amount of udon noodles, but she really came alive during the dessert course. While everyone enjoyed a cup of soft serve green tea ice cream, she went for anything that was chocolate (unlike Mia who doesn’t really care for chocolate). The little cakes are 2-bite cakes so she was able to try a few, and by the time we all got back to my mom’s, their little bellies were round and full. So what do you do when you’re too hyped and full to go to sleep? Put Asian pear wrappers around your heads and put on a little show, of course.

Yeah, ok. I can see why eating out all the time is so appealing. No dishes, no mess. We’re not about to change our eating/spending habits, but it was really fun to celebrate Mark’s birthday with a full day of socializing and eating out. We started off early at brunch with our friends Shii Ann, Dave and Bea (and Claudine actually ate something off the menu that wasn’t bread or french fries, hooray!), then a lovely visit from our friend Christie who brought over presents for the girls which sort of boggled Mia’s mind (”what? I get presents on Daddy’s birthday???”). And we did have a French dinner down the street at Mark’s request, but ordered way too much food - a plate of charcuterie, escargot, onion soup, salmon tartare, and then entrees of casoulet and lamb shank (Claudine ate…bread and french fries). So how did Miss Mia like the snails? Well, we would ask her if she wanted one and she would keep saying that she would get to them later. Kudos to her for finally trying them though, and feigning interest and nodding that they were good when I could tell that she wasn’t sure about it. Mark and I were a bit too stuffed to eat the desserts that I bought around the corner, but the girls somehow found room in their stomachs to polish them all off.

I’m not sure if I can think of anything better to eat on a cold winter morning than a dim sum brunch. While our go-to place is usually Dim Sum Go Go, I was in the mood for the large banquet/dim sum cart experience, so we bundled up the kids on yet another snowy morning and met our friends Melissa, Brendan and their kids at Jing Fong on Elizabeth Street. I haven’t been there in years since I used to go fairly regularly with my NYU grad school asian posse friends, and I think it was the first time I went with the kids, but it’s the perfect place for rambunctious 2 and 4 year olds who, for some reason, thought it would be okay to go hide under the table and dance in the aisles even though they don’t normally do this in other restaurants. It’s probably because Jing Fong is loud, bustling and huge. The carts come right away even before you have time to sit down. Mia’s favorite dish has always been the fried taro (pictured above) and she expertly waved a cart down and pointed to a bamboo steamer full of dumplings that she wanted, even though she’s never done this before. The babies didn’t eat anything except peanut butter pretzels and banana (”blahnahs”, as Claudine calls them), but that wasn’t a surprise. We left the table an hour and a half later with full stomachs, though once home, Mark and I both revealed that we could have eaten so much more.