Nathan's Japanese Birthday Dinner 1/17/09

Hello again,

It is me once again with something fun today. My friend and brother in Christ, Nathan celebrated his 30th birthday last week. Today his sister Natalie, friends Arlene, Frank with Frank's children (sorry I will not name children under the age of 18) and myself would take Nathan to dinner. We went to a Japanese restaurant called Hibachi Japanese Steak and Bar B Q. I fell in love with the food about 3 or 4 years ago so I mentioned taking Nathan to the restaurant at Sunday night services at church prior to his birthday. She thought it was a good idea. We had thought about having the dinner last weekend. But something came up and our plans changed.

It was this change that made me think of inviting Frank. Arlene wasn't sure if he would make it. You see Frank is divorced and gets his kids every other weekend (if he is so blessed). This weekend was his time with the kids. As it turned out he and the kids came with us.

Did I mention that the place we were going was to be a secret. Nathan said that he thought that he knew were we were going. And he would say something about Hibachi. But we would not confirm or deny that he got it right. We just told him that he thought he knew where we were going. We just would not give it away .

I found out that it was the first time that Nathan and Natalie would be going to this type of restaurant. I did not know that it was Frank and his kids first time. Arlene and I were old hats at dinning at this restaurant. I was going to enjoy introducing new people to my favorite type of food.

We had reservation for 4:30 PM and got there right on time. The only person I was worried about was Natalie. You see the only chairs I knew of were like bar stools. Nat is shorter than I am and she has a handicap. She uses crutches to walk. But the Lord was watching out for my sister. He provided a room that had a lower table and chairs. And we had the room to ourselves for our entire meal.

We were served a salad and then our appetizers were served. Prior to eating we said a prayer for the meal. I was the one who said that pray. I kept it short and simple.

The unique thing about this table is that the grill is built right in. Arlene and I were use to the show that was to come. And a show it was. The cook made sure to speak to each of us but more so to the kids. He set the grill on "fire" and cracked the eggs with his metal turner. He even made an onion volcano. The kids loved it. After the meal was cooked, our chief asked if we wanted to catch a shrimp. All but Nat tried. Of course Frank and his kids were the only ones that were able to catch the shrimp. Nathan, Arlene and I all missed.

The meals were all great. It was then that I learned that Frank (a pro with the chop sticks) and his kids have not been to a restaurant like this. They enjoyed the expenses but tasty meal. We all agreed that this was not an everyday restaurant. We would come for special occasions. I explained that my mum and I come in (prior to getting Maya) only when we got coupons in the mail.

After our meal Arlene, Nathan, Nat and I had Green Tea Ice Cream. I love the stuff and I learned to make it from vanilla ice cream and a Green Tea mix I would get from an Oriental Market. I had asked that happy birthday would be sung to Nathan. Well just before we left our waiter came out with his gong and sang happy birthday. It was cool. Nathan was given a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a candle in it. We waited until he finished that and the waiter took our bill. I will not bore you with the total.

While we waited until the check was paid, Nathan and Frank's son got into a song battle. They were using songs from and changing the words to match the name of the person they were singing about. It was very funny. Some of the songs I remember were Prince's "Purple Rain", "When the Dove Cries", Barry Manilow's "Mandy" and a few show tunes. Needless to say Nathan blew away his competition. Since we arrived in two cars. Frank would meet Arlene, Nathan and Natalie back at Arlene's house. Arlene would drop me off at my home. But it was not an uneventful ride home. Nathan hopped up on good food and Green Tea (we think) would continue with his songs. Poor Arlene had a hard time driving and me giving directions from the restaurant to my apartment because of his funny songs.

All in all it was a wonderful night spent with family and good food. The Lord did answer my prayer for the meal.
I will not always be able to write a blog a night but wanted to share this with you. It was a great godly experience that brought us all a bit closer.

Another significant thing about this group was that we were all in a dinner murder mystery play given about a year ago for the Singles Ministry at our church. So we were close already because of that experience. This brought us closer. I sort of wish we could have invited more people but that would have made communication a bit hard. The tables only seat 8 people and our small Tuesday night Singles Fellowship is a bit larger than 8 people.

Well I want to wish you all a good night and blessed dreams.