FIRN

— पांच हजार आठ सौ चौंतीस — I budgeted $50 for Happy Hour with Laney yesterday, at a brand new rooftop bar in Pioneer Square called Firn—it opened on May 22—and I wound up spending $54.30. One one cocktail and one appetizer (or, what their menu calls "Tidbits"). And you know what? This was a very rare case of it being totally worth it. I went back and forth a bit, between getting the one $8 hard cider on the menu versus the $20 "Old-Fashioned Love Song" (bourbon, banana, demerara, chocolate & aromatic bitters). In the end I let the bartender convince me to get the latter, as Laney and I sat at the bar waiting for a table to open up in the outdoor seating. It was neither as chocolatey nor as banana-flavored as I was hoping, but I could still detect notes of both, and I could really recognize the high quality of the drink. It was good that it wasn't too sweetly delicious, too, as I easily nursed it over the course of our entire time there without ever being tempted to get another cocktail. Far more impressive, though, was the White Bean Hummus dish that Laney and I each ordered one of (with feta, crudite, crostini). These are seen pictured below, and they were truly fantastic. The selection of vegetables and crostini were all perfect; the hummus was easily among the best I have ever had; I loved how perfectly matched the amounts were—I had just enough hummus for the amount of vegetables and crostini we were given to eat with it. These were $19 each, which was also steep, but Laney and I both agreed it was actually a good value, the quality was so good. A lot of these places charge astronomical prices for no better than average food or drinks. Not the case here. We had a lovely spot there, once the seating started to open up. The place opened at 4:00 and we arrived at 5:00—we might have gone in earlier, but I had walked from work down the waterfront and Laney had walked all the way from Volunteer Park(!) on Capitol Hill, and was sitting in Occidental Square to cool off. Once we figured that out while exchanging texts, I went to sit with her until she was ready to walk the block or so further to Populus Seattle Hotel, where Firn is located. Anyway, it was packed when we got in, and Laney did say, "I think there's a soccer game today." I then clocked that about half the people in there had soccer fan attire on. I was on the phone with Gabriel for about 20 minutes this morning. He told me the game was actually at noon, and he even went to it. All the soccer people we saw would have been hanging out after the game, not getting drinks beforehand as Laney and I were presuming. Laney and I must have waited half an hour at the bar, and we ordered both our drinks and our food while we were there. We got the drinks at the bar, but the food did not come until after we were seated outside. We left around 6:30, which means we spent a good 90 minutes at Firn, a solid hour out on the corner couch they put us on in the outside seating. By the time we were done, it was kind of astonishing how much the place had cleared out. We thought maybe they were just a super popular place, but it seems clear now that they had been slammed largely because of the soccer game. We might not have had to wait half an hour to get seated outside on another day. But whatever, it turned out fine. — पांच हजार आठ सौ चौंतीस — — पांच हजार आठ सौ चौंतीस — Laney and I already knew that Happy Hour yesterday was going to be expensive, so we both decided we would bring an extra drink to have in a nearby park once we finished at Firn. But! I had such an insanely busy day on Sunday (with downtown with Shobhit and Alexia; brunch at Lowell's at the Market with Alexia; Batman Begins and The Dark Knight double feature with Alexia; final stretch of p-patch shed construction and then dinner at our place with Shobhit and Gina; walk with Shobhit to Seattle Center for the Hot Air Balloon Glow-Up), I hardly had time to think, let alone remember to pack an extra drink to bring along to work with me yesterday. I might have managed had I gone home first, but Firn is in Pioneer Square and I left the office at 4:15 to walk down there as it was. I texted Laney to say I had forgot to bring a second drink, but I'd be fine (I'M FINE!—I joked). She found this unacceptable and very graciously offered to bring one for me, with her limited but workable options. She really likes mixing her tequila with cinnamon whiskey, says it's very tasty, and offered to bring that with a small can of tonic water. I said that would work great. She asked if I had a cup I could bring—at first I wasn't sure, as I took most of the stuff on and in my desk home weeks ago in preparation for our office move in August. But, I still have both the tumbler I use for tea and the tumbler I use for water, and the latter worked perfectly. I put that in my backpack and I was all set. So, after Laney and I left Firn, and I got my exterior shot of Populus Seattle Hotel (you can't even see that there's a rooftop bar up there from the street), we walked over to Occidental Square and found a small table to sit at. The weather was wonderful yesterday. Occidental Park is almost entirely shaded by a canopy of trees, and even in the shade the temperature could not have been more perfectly comfortable. If only the entire summer could be like this! I did steer us a bit away among the tables, from a homeless woman who had a mystifying mask of shocking white on her entire face. I have no idea what it was, and she probably was harmless, but I still preferred to keep our distance. Later, another woman approached us to ask for money. She was very thin and in a very tight outfit, black leggings and an orange top. I half expected her to start miming. She was apologetic at first: "I'm sorry, I know you're talking." And then she said, "I'm just a poor woman—" I had already said "Sorry," as I do to all panhandlers, and Laney apologized herself and said, "I'm sorry, I don't carry cash." The lady even said, "No coins?" Laney said, "I don't carry cash at all." Anyway. The shots I got from Laney (in a small jar, which made it look a bit like a urine sample) were a little strong. Not terribly strong, but a little. She noted she doesn't have any shot glasses and so just guessed; she recently ordered some. I'm sure it would have been fine on its own, but after the "Old Fashioned Love Song" I'd already drank, I was pleasantly buzzed by the time we got up and made our way to the ferry terminal so Laney could use the bathroom. Laney said she was too. We both took the RapidRide G line home, and my buzz was pretty much over by the time I got home, though. — पांच हजार आठ सौ चौंतीस — [posted 1:28pm]

Sunset at Habitat Beach

— पांच हजार सात सौ अस्सी छह — I had such a lovely, pleasant evening last night—even after the definitive disappointment of discovering the waterfront swings, which had been very much the target location of our planned in-person, BYOB Happy Hour after work yesterday, were all taped off to disallow access. We shifted over to Pioneer Square Habitat Beach instead, and it proved to be a truly wonderful alternative location. At Laney's request, we stayed until the sun set. This means we were there from shortly after 5:00 until shortly after 7:30. A good two and a half hours, which worked out great. Laney and I met down there, but we had taken different routes. She came from home on Capitol Hill; I walked down the waterfront from work, about a half-hour walk. She was using the bathroom at the ferry terminal, which is right next to these swings. I walked up to them and texted her that the swings were fucking taped off. I later posted to all my socials, with nine different photos, three of them of Laney and me sitting in the swings even with the tape on them. I got a reply from Waterfront Park Seattle on Threads, having completely forgotten that I had gotten a reply from them to another post before, and had even been following them since—it should have occurred to me they might see what I posted last night, which ended with "Still, we stuck it to the man and took photos in the taped off swings anyway." And, of course, the three photos Shobhit took of us. So, I replied with an apology—because, as soon as Laney and I were getting out of the swings for our photo op, this group of three much younger people were getting into other swings the very same way. Laney and Shobhit had to pee yet again when we left, which was why we all went up to the upper level of the ferry terminal again, and how we wound up with the vantage point from the pedestrian bridge across Alaskan Way at Marion Street. We saw from up there that some people—no idea if it was the young group we had already seen or someone else—had straight up torn all the tape right off all the swings. And all that aside, that first reply from Waterfront Park Seattle on Threads had offered an explanation: they're fixing some of the bumpers on the swings. Well, okay, I guess I can accept that. I replied with my apology that we had been such bad influences and that the tape had been torn all the way down; the incredibly understanding person who runs that account just responded with "No worries!" and that they'd let their team know. Anyway, all that is just about the access to the swings being blocked—and, as Laney noted whe we did take our photo op, the swings are a bit awkward in terms of actually being able to visit each other. They all face the northwest at an angle, and result in swings next to each other also being one slighty further back than the other. The person on the right would have to look both to the left and behind in order to see them. Honestly going over to Pioneer Square Habitat Beach was much more conducive to hanging out for two and a half hours. Laney and I found a log to sit on, and eventually sat on the rocks leaning against said log. I had made my hot chocolate at work right before leaving, nuking a mug of milk in the microwave, pouring that into my insulated tumbler, and mixing the Equal Exchange cocoa powder into it. I was a little annoyed that the can did not bother with specifics in instructions: "Add to hot milk." Okay, but how much? I was afraid I might have added too much of the cocoa powder but in the end it was perfect. I also poured my shot glass of Rumple Minze into it. I did that while sitting right at my desk, which gave me a minor thrill. I did not drink any of it until I was actually at that rocky beach, of course. Also, I lost some of it because at one point I knocked the tumbler over when I had it propped on the rocks without the lid on. What an amateur! At least not too much of it spilled out. — पांच हजार सात सौ अस्सी छह — Laney and I had lots to walk about, as always. We never lack for conversation subjects, which is kind of amazing considering how much time we spend together. Shobhit actually joined us after a while. He arrived sometime around 6:30 probably, give or take, and stayed until we all went home. Social Review point for him, hooray! He had gone to a meeting with TPS at Seattle Center that had ended at 4:00 if I remember right. At first he had declined joining Laney and me for our Happy Hour: "I'll be in the way," he said, which was just insecure ridiculousness. He had wanted to get a beer flight at Old Stove Brewing at the Pike Place MarketFront, so at first he just went and did that instead. He later told us he had wound up sharing a table with a KIRO news person who appreciated advice Shobhit gave her about a gay son going to college in New York. So, when he was done, and was also buzzed (or "BuzEd," as he adorably wrote it over text), he decided to walk and meet up with us after all. The group selfie Laney took of the three of us makes me smile every time I look at it. It was an unseasonably warm day yesterday, a high of 71° apparently, after the forecast had it at like 63°. That may be the difference between the official high at SeaTac Airport and my Weather app forecast for Seattle proper, I'm not sure. Suffice it to say that it either way, it became the first "no jacket" day of the year—I did wear my jacked the whole walk down there after work, but for a good couple of hours while sitting on the beach, Laney and I both had our jackets off. I draped mine over the log next to me. We both only put layers back on during the last hour we were there, as the sun went down. Laney had sat on the rocks next to me, so for much of the time we were both sitting on the rocks and leaning against the log, the water of Elliott Bay and the passenger ferries' Pier 50 stretched out in front of us; a somewhat industrial view behind us but one which still included the top of the Smith Tower. By the time the sun was behind the Olympic Mountains, and Laney and I had both gotten some very pretty photos, it was getty chilly even with my light jacket on. I was ready to go then, and so were they (Shobhit had been ready to go much earlier, but Laney wanted to stay until sunset—which I understood; as I noted, it may be a while before we get a day this nice again). That was when we went over to take the photos on the taped swings, and you know the rest. — पांच हजार सात सौ अस्सी छह — We then all went over to catch the RapidRide G bus back up to Capitol Hill via Madison Street. We all sat together in the back row of the bus. Laney got off at the 12th Avenue stop and walked home to Broadway from there. Shobhit and I got off at 17th and walked home to 15th from there. Shobhit and I had a late dinner after that. I baked one of my sample boxes of vegan "seafood rings." Not terrible! I know veggie "seafood" never sells well, but I always like it because there's an element of eating things like breaded shrimp that I miss. The key factors here are the breading and the tartar sauce; the "meat" contained inside isn't long on flavor. I suggested we check out The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow on Max. It had two seasons, one in 2005 and one in 2014, so both are pretty old now. I understand it to have been a show with kind of a cult following, but did not know it was shot as though it was the raw footage of a reality show. I may continue watching as I expect it to get better, but I suspect Shobhit wont' be much interested. I think we need to check out The Pitt. — पांच हजार सात सौ अस्सी छह — [posted 12:32pm]