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Ichiban has long been a family tradition for me. Every year since I was 5 years old, we have gone to Ichiban for my brother's birthday on July 29th. We have celebrated many of birthdays there as I am now 35 years old. After I was married and began to have children, my children always knew that when it was Uncle Gerry's birthday we had to go to "Ichibam". At a very young age, my children learned to love stir fry, chicken livers and cucumber salad.
On July 29th of 2004, we were planning on going to Ichiban to celebrate another of my brother's birthdays and hoping to get our favorite chef, Edwin. All day my oldest daughter asked "Is it time yet... is it time yet?" I had a doctor's appointment that afternoon, and again my daughter asked me, "is it time yet to go to Ichiban?" The doctor then tells me, "there will be no Ichiban tonight, you're having your baby tonight." My daughter's excitement about the new baby now changed to complete disappointed with the news of no Ichiban. "Why can't the baby come tomorrow instead?" she asked.
Needless to say, tradition is tradition so my brother, my mom and our 2 kids all went to Ichiban as I lay at Victoria hospital along with my husband and gave birth to a little girl born at 10:53 p.m. Guess where our now 5 year old daughter has spent her last 5 birthdays (including tonight)? You guessed it... Ichiban along with her uncle, whom she now shares a July 29th birthday with.
C Paterson
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