Last night, we went out for sushi.
I love sushi. It’s one of my absolute favorite foods. I prefer to go sans little ones, but we’ve taken Claire to the various sushi restaurants we frequent many times, and we’ve never had a problem. Either way works for us. (No, she doesn’t eat the raw fish, but there are lots of cooked options.)
Last night, we had planned on a nice, quiet evening with one of our friends. The three of us were going to meet him at the sushi place, and it was going to be great. Somehow, between the time we made our plans and 6pm yesterday, it turned into a whole dinner party.
There were 10 of us.
There were 3 kids.
Somehow, the table got situated so that all the guys were at one end, and one of my friends and I were at the other. She was with her three year old, and I was with Claire. But, if you’ve ever been around two small children, the attention they require grows exponentially.
It’s like one of my friends told me when they had a second child. She said the math just doesn’t work. You’d think that one child plus one child would equal two children, but somehow, in reality, it equals three. It defies logic.
Anyway, both girls were extremely good, and so was the five year old boy. But, it was hectic. It was not the quiet evening I’d envisioned.
At one point in the evening, I looked at my friend and said, “Wow, I’m so glad you and I could go out tonight.” And she said, “Yeah, alone…with our children,” as we both looked at the far end of the table at our husbands, who were totally oblivious to anything around them.
But, something happened that made the evening worth it…something I wasn’t even expecting. When the server came to take our orders, the father of the five year old asked for a chopstick helper for his son. My friend and I took his lead and asked for two more for the girls.
Because I don’t remember the word he used for it, and because it could vary by region, here’s what the server brought to us:
Click to enlarge photo.
This (the orange plastic clip) is a guide of sorts that keeps the chopsticks together, so all you have to do to make them work is squeeze them together.
I was raised on a farm in the Midwest on good ol’ Midwestern Cuisine. We didn’t have Chinese Food. We didn’t go for sushi. In fact, I was trying to remember the first time I ever used chopsticks, and I think I was either in college or had already graduated!
(Obviously I’ve made up for lost time. I’m really good with chopsticks, and like I said, sushi is my favorite food.)
Claire picked up her chopsticks. Took one look at how I was eating with them, and started putting her rice in her mouth…with the chopsticks…with perfect form. The little chopstick holders worked like a charm.
She’s two years old, and she’s using chopsticks! She ate her whole bowl of rice this way! I was amazed.
She’s never going to know what it’s like to not know how to use chopsticks. When she’s in college, someone will ask her if she knows how, and she will. They’ll ask when she learned to use chopsticks, and she won’t remember. It will be something she’s always known how to do. How awesome is that?
*Note: This used to be one of my favorite movies of all time. Wax on. Wax off.
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I’ve used chopsticks for several years and I’m still pathetic with them. Last night we went out for pho and I had vermicelli noodles everywhere. R, who is a slow eater at the best of times, usually gives up with his chopsticks about 1/2 way through the meal when everyone else has finished their food and is waiting for him.
Sounds like you had a fun, albeit not very quiet, evening.
A Japanese consultant I met called them “Kaizen” chopsticks (meaning “continuous improvement”). I also have heard a friend say that one is like none and two is like twenty when he had his second child. (I know one is really not like none, I’m just quoting him–he must have meant comparatively?) I love sushi too. I also know what you mean about husbands being oblivious sometimes.
I took the kids for Japanese food recently, too. My son especially loved the hashi for their resemblance to swords. And the server also gave them the rubber thingy that makes them more manageable.
IN MY DAY…we had to struggle with the chopsticks! We at only the 1% that didn’t fall off the sticks! We didn’t ask for a fork and we suffered with the awkwardness and We Liked It. WE. LOVED. IT.
It’s a golden age to be a kid
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Sounds lame but I still use the chopstick helpers..I am so lame without them, I would starve to death.