An Afternoon in Chinatown

"I will be watching you and if I find that you are trying to corrupt my first born child, I will bring you down, baby. I will bring you down to Chinatown." - Robert De Niro in Meet the Parents

Nan needed to make a run to Chinatown today to pick up a pound of lavender she ordered from a natural foods shop on Baldwin Street so I accompanied her for the trip. She thought the store was at the corner of Baldwin and Spadina but it was in fact a full four blocks east of Spadina so we had a bit of a hike from where I parked in Kensington market. I don't ever recall walking on that part of Baldwin. It's a pretty cool area once you get past the residential part. There are lots of little restaurants and funky little shops.

It started to rain around the time we got to the shop so we ducked in quickly, picked up the lavender and then stopped at a small cafe for lunch. We each ordered a lunch salad and soon realized we should have split one. The salads were huge but delicious. Once the rain subsided we headed back toward the car, stopping in many little shops on Spadina in search of bargains and treasures. Other than having to hold my breath as I pass each grocery store to avoid the smell of stinky dried fish, I love shopping in Chinatown. There are so many treasures to buy at next to nothing prices - wicker baskets and little silk boxes, beaded purses and colourful pashminas. I didn't buy much today, just a couple of packages of napkins and a couple of pairs of baby booties to put in my gift cupboard but I could have spent hundreds of dollars. I saw some really special teapots and some great dishes - some of which may still end up in Jacob's new kitchen in Guelph. I also saw beautiful wooden spoons, ladles made from hollowed gourds and intricately carved chopsticks. I don't need any of those things but I'm filing away their location in the event I think of someone to buy them for.

When Jacob was in his early teens and was drawn to all things Oriental, he and I would often spend a summer afternoon exploring the shops in Chinatown. He found many things - paintings, jade statues and wood carvings which he purchased with his long saved birthday or Christmas money. All of those items still decorate his room or sit on shelves in the family room or hang on the walls downstairs. It's been a long time since we spent an afternoon strolling Chinatown but I'm betting this summer, I can entice him to spend an afternoon with me looking for new treasures to fill the spaces in the house he'll inhabit in the fall.