Ninja

It happened, it finally happened! Brian turned 30! Now I don't feel so old. I've been thirty since November, so its nice to have a friend. 

The last two weeks have been miserable for Brian and I. I caught a head cold which turned into a chest cold which then turned into a sinus and ear infection. Good times, good times. Well, being the generous person that I am I decided to share my illness with Brian. So my cold has been going strong for the last two weeks with Brian feeling sick on and off. After a round of antibiotics and lots of rest I think we are finally (crossing my fingers) getting over it. 

Brian's actual birthday came and went without too much celebrating on our part. I felt bad. All Brian wanted for his birthday was to go out to a restaurant called Ninja. We had made reservations for when Tom was going to be here so he could come with us. It was going to be a few days after Brian's birthday. I was planning to make a nice dinner of chicken fried steak, potatoes and gravy and a key lime pie for desert to have a celebration on the actual day, but I was feeling so miserable that it didn't happen. :(

Tom's trip got cancelled. We kept our reservation, because we were both feeling okay and could taste food again. I bundled up really well, wearing a scarf wrapped around the bottom half of my face and a knitted hat and the hood of my coat covering the top of my head. I looked like a ninja with just a slit for my eyes. Very fitting. It was freezing cold and snowing like crazy when we left, and I wasn't taking any chances.

We got to the restaurant and checked in. It was just a small room with a hostess at her station and then an elevator behind her. Everything was black and dimly lit. We got on the elevator and went down a floor. As the elevator doors opened and a person, dressed in black ninja garb jumped out of nowhere while screaming "Hiya!" I had told Brian that I would probably scream (we were aware that ninjas would be serving us, scaring us, and "attacking" us). I did. But Brian also let out a little yelp of his own. 

The ninja then directed us to walk down a winding, dark hallway where another ninja jumped out at the end and led us to our table. The inside of the restaurant is decorated like a Japanese village which was kind of cool. The lighting was very dim and they had instrumental Shamisen music, the Yoshida Brothers to be exact (Brian is my encyclopedia, especially about Asian/Japanese anything). Our table was in a little nook with a sliding wooden panel to block out the passing traffic.

Brian kept saying that his 12-year-old-self would be so jealous, but I was thinking that his 30-year-old-self was pretty dang excited as well. He was so happy! We ordered various kinds of sushi to keep within our Sushi-palooza tradition on his birthday. I ordered a plate of ribs. :) I tried some of the vegetarian sushi that he got and it was good.

There were lots of "Hiya's!" throughout the night and a ninja stabbed Brian in the side during dinner. We ordered a piece of tofu cheesecake with mango that came with a small cinnamony philo dough pastry stick for desert. It was called the Sunnyside Up and the cake looked like an egg and the pastry was supposed to be a piece of bacon. It was really delicious.

After dinner we were escorted by a ninja out of the winding hallway and back to the elevator where he unrolled a banner saying "Sayanora" as the doors closed. Back outside there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground with giant snowflakes still falling. The city sounds were muted and it was eerily quiet for downtown Manhattan.

We had a really fun time and I think Brian enjoyed the whole Ninja experience. Happy Birthday Brian!