Last night the kids and I went with a couple of Oakleaf families to Chinatown in Yokohama for some Chinese food. Jose had a party with the Japanese intern alumni, alumnesses ? alumnobs? anyway, he couldn't make it. Anyway, we took the train from Yokosuka to Yokohama station, about 1/2 hr or so. I would have paid better attention if the boys would not have teased eachother so much. Then, we got on the train Minato-Mirai and took it to motomachi something or other, or something. Turn into the Chinatown gate, go down the block, turn at the coconuts and that is precisely how to get to this restaurant. We had our own little tatami room which was cool. Kathy Mullens had the stroke of pure genius to bring a little portable DVD player to keep tiny little Erin out of trouble when she was done at the table. I did not bring enough duct tape to keep Nate out of trouble however. Our food was yummy: a plate of asparagus, a plate of spicy tofu, a plate of beef and peppers, a plate of fried chicken chunks for the picky ones, two big bowls of homemade noodles and spicy broth, some awesome fried rice with lots of shrimp, some fried dumplings and bowls of rice for everyone. The grownups had Jamine tea, my kids had coke.

Frankie really likes babies. Here he is with Kathy's little chubber, Natalie. She is darling! Frankie has a patience and gentle touch with babies and toddlers and I think he will make a great babysitter. I don't know why this gentle spirit or kindness does not extend to his little brother.

This is Darlene, her husband Bob, a surgeon at USNH who works with Jose and sometimes goes out for beers with him at the O Club after work on a Friday, and their little peanut Zelig. I must confess I teased Zelig and made him giggle and act silly the whole way to Yokohama. He is going to be four on July 21. He is going to have cake but no ice cream. He does not need any ice cream. He is going to get a Ben 10 watch. There will be Power Rangers there. His friends will be there. I am not his friend. I can come, but I cannot have any of his cake.

This is Kathy and her two girls, the baby Natalie and the the irrepressible Erin. Kathy is in my book club and usually reads the books. To top it off, she usually has intelligent and thoughtful comments and ideas about the book. I really like Kathy despite this. Her husband Frank is a radiologist at the hospital. Poor gal, he is one of only two so he is on call every other week intead of every 4th week like Jose. She is getting practice taking these two dumplings of the trains with their stroller, diaper bag, etc.

After dinner, we walked around a bit and enjoyed the sights. We got ice cream cones. It was hard to choose from: green tea, black sesame, chocolate, strawberry, mango, grape, pineapple, vanilla. Nate had chocolate and I had pineapple. Frankie was too cool for ice cream and as you will notice, he was too cool to stand too close to me because, in fact, I embarrass him. I do many embarrassing things and in fact my very existence is embarrassing. Now, isn't that an ironic twist of fate. More on that later, I am sure.

As you can see in the picture, there is a young person selling roasted chestnuts. There were lots of roasted chestnuts stands. They are pretty good, if a bit starchy and mealy. But yummy with syrup over them as a desert. I did get some giggles when a strange man offered me a taste of his nuts and then insisted that I eat one. Maybe one ok, but I'm not buying the whole sack. Sorry.