chopsticks

my oldest nephew came to visit about 2 months ago with my mom and sister.  at one point we all went out to eat at galanga, a thai restaurant in the village.  it never ceases to amaze me how my nephew just happily eats his vegetables - even broccoli or spinach (i'm a vegetarian, and i'm not sure i was nearly that good about it at his age).  but there he was, happily eating his veggies. and i noticed he was particularly enjoying using the brightly colored chopsticks ... and he was still holding onto them when the waitress came to clear the table.

now, these chopsticks were seriously just brightly colored plastic.  how expensive could they possibly be?  i was hoping she would just let the kid take them home with him.  but after clearing the table, she stood just staring and waiting until we figured out what she wanted (it was pretty awkward, actually).  and as silly as this probably is (they were just a pair of chopsticks), i've been feeling a little sad about it.  so i have decided that as a little compensatory side Christmas gift, this nephew really needs his own special pair of chopsticks.

thus, yesterday, j and i walked to Chinatown in search of a special pair (braving the masses of drunken santas).  we went to Yunhong Chopsticks (partly because NY Magazine promised it would be a fun gift shop, and partly because the store's website is "happychopsticks.com" so surely they would have enough happiness to compensate for the sadness of the earlier loss).  we succeeded in obtaining chopsticks with the appropriate sign of the Chinese zodiac for him.  the shop itself was fun and had quite the spectrum of chopstick options, from cheap plastic ones for kids to silver tipped pairs ... though I can't imagine ever spending several hundred dollars on a pair of chopsticks.

in any case, because i've been so frustrated by my inability to find a nice, compact list of where to buy exciting stocking stuffers in nyc, i've decided to add a page to the blog to start my own ... and am adding Yunhong Chopsticks to that list.  (most of these places have websites ... so for any non-new yorkers who need exciting ideas, this list could potentially be useful if you are willing to pay for shipping).