February 28, March 1-2, 2011 Bridgewater, NJ and Brooklyn, NY

After shedding a few sad tears upon departure, Sonia and Jason continued on the Loaf Love Tour from Sonia’s biological parents home to her Godparents home in New Jersey.  Ranjan Aunitie and Sanmukh Mama have been friends with Sonia’s parents for a lifetime it seems. Sonia’s Dad and Sanmukh Mama came to the States from India together in 1969 and have been friends ever since. Ranjan Auntie and Sonia’s Mom might as well have been cut from the same cloth and are more like sisters then just friends. They could talk daily for hours and never run out of things to talk about. Ranjan Auntie and Sanmukh Mama had Roshni (a girl born 2 months before Sonia’s brother, Dipan) and Chirag (a boy born 2 weeks after Sonia). Our families grew up together and the kids have been “womb-buddies”. 

We are welcomed with pure love and joy into their home. A big deal is made because Jason (a son-in-law) is coming home for the first time into their home…we even ate in the formal dining room. Sonia doesn’t recall eating in that dining room as a child—the kids were confined to eating at the kitchen table!! But anything for the precious son-in-law…haha!!  We ate, talked and visited a short while before we got directions into Brooklyn, NY to Roshni’s place—the next stop on the Loaf Love Tour. Before we left, we had to take more food to-go from Ranjan Auntie...Thanks for all the goodies, Ranjan Auntie and Mama.

After an easy drive from NJ to NY- thanks to explicit directions from Sanmukh Mama- we arrived at Roshni and Phillipp’s apt in Brooklyn. These are our hip city friends living in Williamsburg, NY….that means very little to us, but it seemed like a cool part of town. Roshni and Sonia have a very strange greeting of high-pitched laughs and hugs…something in a language of their own.  Baby Mira was asleep on arrival and we were able to visit with Roshni for a couple hours.   Roshni put Jason’s handyman skills to work and he was happy to help.  Eventually, Mira woke up and was standing in her crib—hair flopped in her face and looking very muppet-esque…very cute indeed.  She woke up happy and stayed happy.

Monday evening, Sonia’s high school friend, Mahveen and her husband, Aaron, came over and we went out for dinner. La Nonna Italian Restaurant—very good, casual Italian place---good sauce, good food. Sonia and Mahveen haven’t seen each other in 10 years and reconnected like no time has passed between them. That’s when you know it’s a good friend. All 4 of us talked, drank red wine and unfortunately had to cut the night short because of this thing that gets in the way of life called work. We would meet again on Wednesday for lunch at DiFara’s for the best pizza in NY!  We can alter our plans to get a slice of the best pizza in NY. A good night spent with good friends.

Tuesday was Jason and Sonia’s closest shot at their parenting skills yet on this trip. We had Mira duty all day. She’s an easy-going, happy kid…it shouldn’t be too difficult right? If Roshni and Philipp trust us to watch their firstborn child, then we should be capable. Roshni and Philipp were out the door early for work.  We heard the “whahh” from the back room and there she is, standing in her crib with that same muppet-do…soooo adoreable indeed.  Jason picks her up and she looks at him with a sideways glance and decides that he must be ok. Phewww!  She starts her day with “ohhh-ing” and using her little pointer finger at everything in her environment. She is just so darn cute. Sonia’s called in to do the diaper change and we can then start the day. Playtime, eat, play some more and eat, poop, repeat.  Sounds easy enough. We did venture out after lunch to check out the view of NYC from Brooklyn across the unknown body of water—maybe the East River. We geared up Mira in warm clothes, her bottle, her stroller, diaper bag and ourselves—to head out for a walk. By the time we got outside, we were already so grateful there were 2 of us to load this one 11 month old child up….there is a lot of things to remember and pack. How do single parents do it??  It was a sunny, but chilly and windy day outside. Mira was happy in her stroller cacoon and fell quickly asleep. Sonia was worried about Mira’s little neck all sidebent and flexed in the stroller. So, we decided to go back home and put her down to sleep in her crib. (We couldn’t figure out how to recline the stroller! That was the other reason!! )  Mira slept for 3 hours! She woke up, diaper change, play, eat, poop, repeat….this is familiar!!  We had so much fun with her. She is just lovely. Happy, easy-going, easily entertained and also entertains herself well. If all kids were like this…parenting could be a cinch…but not usually the case. Mira is cruising furniture and climbing up, in and around things but not quite yet walking. We all enjoyed ourselves today.

That evening, Roshni and Philipp got in from work and we continued what we did all day—hang out, play and eat…and poop. It was great to see Roshni, Philipp and Mira again. They are great people and we loved being there, even if it was just for a short time. Take care all.

Wednesday morning we packed up the Loaf and watched Mira until her proud grandparents, Ranjan Auntie and Sanmukh Mama, came to relieve our post. You should have seen Mira’s beautiful green eyes light up when Ba and Dada (grandma and grandpa) walked into the room. All of them were so happy, it was an incredible feeling. Ba and Dada were so proud of their first granddaughter and showed off her little talents of rhythm by singing and dancing and watching Mira shake her  thang.   It was soooo cute. We weren’t sure who was actually cuter -the kid or the grandparents. After another sad departure, we pulled out of Williamsburg and headed into another part of Brooklyn to Aaron and Mahveen’s house.

We got a tour of a 100 year old Victorian home in Brooklyn. An area with the largest concentration of Victorian homes in the USA.  Mahveen and Aaron bought this house recently and are in for a huge project. The house is gorgeous and will be even more spectacular when it’s remodeled and insulated!  Good luck with that project.

They took us to DiFara’s Pizza-voted the best pizza place in New York. The owner is an 80 year old gentleman who has only taken off 2 days in his career of 40 years owning this pizza joint. He is the ONLY one who actually makes the pizza. It opened at noon. We arrived at 11:45am to stand in line behind 4-5 others already. By the time, it opened the line was forming along the sidewalk…People taking pictures and anxiously waiting to sink their teeth into a slice of pizza. This ol’fella lifts the pizza straight out of the oven with bare hands….no pizza paddle needed!!  Well, let us tell you, this pizza is good. It’s better than good. It’s excellent. He spreads the tomato sauce, then pours olive oil and shreds chunks of cheese and toppings and lovingly places the pizza in the oven. The crust bubbles , the cheese melts, the flavors meld….yummmy. My mouth is watering just writing this!  It was good. It was better than good. It was excellent. After a couple slices each, we felt satiated and happy. We went back to their house and continued the Loaf Love Tour North. Next stop Burlington, VT to Sona’s house.