Stephanie, Penny’s Noodle Shop, Wicker Park, Chicago

Stephanie, Penny’s Noodle Shop, Wicker Park, Chicago

Stephanie, Penny’s Noodle Shop, Wicker Park, Chicago

Jessica, Penny’s Noodle Shop, Wicker Park, Chicago

A few weeks ago I took my family out to Penny’s Noodle Shop by the Damen Blue Line stop. My niece Stephanie is 8 and we were showing her how to use chopsticks. We positioned her hand and had her practice picking things up. I remember saying “you might not be able to eat anything yet, but if you practice with the chopsticks every time you’re at a restaurant that has them, then someday you’ll learn to use them.” Then my niece proceeded to eat her entire meal with chopsticks. And ramen noodles aren’t exactly the easiest thing to eat.

I think that Stephanie using chopsticks especially impressed me because I didn’t learn to eat with them until I moved to California when I was 24. I remember sitting at Tokyo House (also my first sushi) with Mark and Ryan while they made me practice picking things up with chopsticks. The town that I grew up in didn’t have a Chinese restaurant until after I moved away from it when I was 19. I remember working in Appleton and my entire department loved this place called Chef Chu’s. It was my first experience with Chinese food and I remember not liking it.. but threatening to throw me out of the Marketing department if I didn’t conform, I found a dish I liked – Moo Goo Gai Pan. .. and it’s something that to this day I still order often when going out for Chinese. Getting back to Steph, it’s interesting to watch her and Jessica grow up and see how things are different than how I grew up.

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