14 05-11 Mother’s Day – Part I; Journal

One day before, May 10^th, Mother’s Day celebration at Pasteur Vietnamese Restaurant invited by Elsa.

This is the front entrance and the side windows of Pasteur.  This restaurant had been located here for around 15 years.

This is their outdoor dining area behind the restaurant.  Elsa and Dan-san had already sat down under the umbrella.  It was very windy day, so this umbrella was taken away later.  The weather finally warmed up to around 70 degree and a very fine day.  The greenery is very beautiful, and all dead trees in Chicago called by the 5 years old boy from Hawaii come alive.

Appetizer

Vietnamese spring rolls made with thin rice noodle, beef, some vegetable, and nuts

The sauce was really tasty.

Before the main dishes came, soup was served.  The light salt taste of the soup with couple of different vegetables and mushrooms was very good.  No soup photo.

Here are main dishes ordered by three of us.

So-te (sautéed) Vegetable and Shrimp with the rice dish for Elsa

So-te Vegetable and Beef with Thin Rice Noodle for Dan-san

So-te vegetable and Fried Calamari with Rice for Hiroko

You can see how we enjoyed the lunch.  It was a very tasty foods.  Thanks Elsa for these delicious foods.

Elsa ordered Vietnamese coffee for after drink.  It wasn’t anything fancy coffee maker came with.  Hiroko’s blog friend Hakoniwa-san mentioned in her blog about her experience at Vietnamese Restaurant at Hakone, in Japan.  French traditional coffee maker called Café Fine was used to make the coffee. 

This is Hakoniwa-san’s photo.  Can you see the coffee maker in this photo? 

Coffee was very strong and sweet.  Hiroko enjoyed this coffee as dessert. 

Lisa/Dave and Steven/Amanda, and Elsa/Richard again will invite Hiroko/Dan-san to late Mother’s Day dinner at Japanese Restaurant, Sun Shine Café on Saturday, May 17.  Steven had already made the reservation.  I don’t know how, but this restaurant owner told Hiroko that they have never accepted reservation from anyone before.

Well, Hiroko can’t wait for the dinner.

Amanda, thank you for your invitation to cook Mother’s Day dinner for Hiroko.  Hiroko will have to wait for your cooking until August having the family gathering at your house.

Long Stem Red Rose

One of the young men of Hiroko’s church prepared to give away many different color roses.  Hiroko loves red rose, so picked this rose.  Hiroko thinks the red rose shows the passionate love.

Hiroko’s father used to raise the red roses in his garden all year around, so Hiroko grew up in the red roses.

God created this beautiful red rose.  Hiroko imagines that all the mothers raise their children with the passionate love like the red rose, and then all the children will grow up beautiful and good.

Let’s have grateful for having the children who celebrate the Mother’s day, said by Arboretum-san.  Hiroko gives thanksgiving for the children.

Putting this long stem red rose on the window shell by the sink, Hiroko will enjoy and meditate many thoughts with this red rose.