Anyhow, had a decent night out yesterday - we went to go see Sideways [work gave me free tickets, yay for awesome bosses], and afterwards we headed out for a burger and beer at Elysian. I hadn't been so thirsty for good wine in so long... but we were dressed kinda tacky, so we couldn't go drop $100 on dinner at the fancy bistro with an amazing wine list down the block. However, my Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale 2004 was just about perfect for a cold Seattle winter night, and my blue cheese burger with fries was the tastiest thing I'd had all week. Afterwards, we headed up the block to CC's, where I nursed a shot of Knob Creek for a couple of hours while chatting with some of the usual suspects such as Stewart, Sam, Bob, and Brian. Dan and I decided to head back home and hit the hay, but Brian stayed out late [hic] and headed down to the Eagle, where lots of groovy folk such as Darren, Richard, Steve, and Jeff sent him home after a PBR or so... he was a little bit hung over this morning. :)
This morning, I snuggled with the world's most wonderful marmot, aka my very own
danlmarmot, and then we got a start on the day with Darjeeling tea from Waitrose and some good old reliable Bay Blend coffee from Trader Joe's. Outside, the temperature got down to 1 degree, so it was well frosty in the yard... there was even a bit of ice floating in Brian's canoe.After tidying up a bit, Dan called up Richard and Darren, and we all met at the Original Pancake House for breakfast. Sadly, it took ages to get a table, and the handsome waiter cub wasn't in attendance, but for once I was able to finish my order of pecan pancakes. Brian, meanwhile, tried in vain to attack his apple pancake, and everyone else enjoyed omelets with toast and pancakes. I was saddened to hear about Dan's trip to Hello Toast, which certainly sounds like the most wonderful name for a breakfast place ever [it's apparently an Ontarian in-joke that plays off the name of a Québécois breakfast place known as Bonjour Croissant]. I mean, honestly - what better way is there to start the day than with crisp white toast and a lovely cup of Assam tea? But I digress and/or sound like a fag.
After brekkie, Dan went to a nursery, and the rest of us went to the inexpensive tiki-themed skank pit that is Leilani Lanes, home of the $1 game. Boo and Pat joined us before too much longer, and then Dan replaced Brian, whose toe still hasn't completely healed up from his surgery earlier this week. I was in a really sour mood because Brian beat me at the first game, and hell, he hasn't played since elementary school or something.
Then, however, I don't know what went wrong... but for the first time in my entire life, I broke a hundred. I bowled a 110, believe it or not: it took me twenty years to do it, but I finally fucking did it. Amazingly, I even beat Boo, whose normally awesome bowling style was severely cramped by his having slept in a tiny twin size bed the night before. So, dude: 110. Rockin'.
Afterwards, the seven of us tried to decide on a movie to see - I was kinda hoping for Kinsey, but Boo and Pat beat everyone to it, and no one could agree on anything else. So, we went home and got to work. Brian and I stashed his canoe in the woods, and then I got busy with the crocus planting tool. You'll have to stop by in February to see them - we should have a couple of hundred showing up in the lawn - and then of course daffodils not too long afterwards, and then a few hundred tulips should show up by the end of April. It's gonna be beautiful.
Now, it's time to relax with some white Stilton with apricot [trust me, it's actually quite tasty, and this is coming from some who's not a fan of apricots], and then when Dan's done, Brian'll do up some bulgogi on the fabulous new gas grill he bought us as a wedding present, and then I'm finally gonna get my wine on... I'm thinking some old fancy Martinborough pinot noir in honor of Paul Giamatti's hot tub scene in Sideways. :)
