Chef Callan

Callan has turned the sunroom into a full service restaurant complete with dining room, kitchen, and waiting area.  Nearly every day he turns our two laundry baskets upside down and sets one behind him and one in front of him.  These become his stove and counter top. On the baskets he places frying pans, tea kettles, sauce pans, mixing bowls and whatever else he can find in the kitchen cabinets.  What he can’t reach himself, he asks us to get, which usually includes a mixing spoon, a spatula, a few paper plates, and of course an apron, which nearly wraps around him twice.  He then goes into his ‘kitchen’ and cooks.  The menu usually consists of strawberry sauce and pancakes, but occasionally he makes soup, or noodles.  When he is finished cooking he comes back into the kitchen, takes us by the hand and says, in perfectly clear English ‘come eat! Come eat.”  We drop everything of course and follow him back to his restaurant where he instructs us to sit down on the floor and wait to be served.  Often his doggy and bunny are already sitting their waiting for their meal and Callan invites us to sit down next to them.  Callan uses a spatula and lifts very hot, very imaginary pancakes from the frying pan onto our plates, and then takes the ladle and scoops up some warm strawberry sauce.  He even adjusts the heat on his stove and warns us that ‘it’s hot.’ For the first time today we actually paid for our meal ( a few yen for my pancakes, and a couple dollars in play money for Melissa’s).  Once again, we are amazed at just how much he ‘sees’ what we are doing.