date night: tapas

Wait, if this is a date night, shouldn't I be getting to second base (or beyond) instead of blogging the dinner?

A point to ponder. For now, some dining out photos. I was lazy, and Conrad doesn't cook. Hence, a date night. He had suggested some sushi at Wakamono, but we tend to turn to various Asian cuisines when we want to order in or have a quick dinner all too often. Either that, or we head to Whole Foods. I wasn't in the mood for either. Middle of the afternoon today, though, and inspiration struck me: Spanish.

We. Freakin'. Loved. Spain. Alright, I'll amend that and say we just don't get why people think Seville is so terrific - we didn't care for it at all. But we loved almost everything else about the two weeks we spent in Spain in 2004. Cordoba, Granada, Ronda, Madrid. Side trips to other towns for a day. The food. The food. Ahhhhh, the food. Yep, date night would be a walk down to a restaurant, Arco de Cuchilleros, we haven't popped into in years. Shame on us. We'll be back, I hope.

So then, photos of us, happy to have a night together (and starting out with some manzanilla sherry).
I really like that shirt of mine. Why yes, I am vain, why do you ask?

And the food...

Marinated olives.

A cheese plate.

Sole on sauteed spinach.

Cod with a lot of garlic. Oh so much garlic. This was lovely, truly.


Chicken in a sauce of red pepper and wine.

Artichokes with pancetta (wait, that's Italian).

All of it was good, and to top it all (and the wine), we came home to have some white chocolate chip cookies. So much for me being in good shape for the reunion this summer!

And now, back to my date...

Seattle so far

Is it chauvinistic of me to blog an entry on each street corner or morsel of food in Vancouver and then come to the US and lump three days in Seattle into one entry so far? Likely. Sorry. Also very lazy of me. Let's get started.

Friday we arrived, having taken time on the way to shop at some outlet stores. I didn't have any particular obligations on the Friday beyond dinner CG arranged at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar. Such very odd and not especially good service. [PLUNK!] a glass of wine is set down and no indication of what it is or why it was paired with the course. Half an hour later: [PLUNK!] Strange night of dining, but as we were all determined to have a good time, I think we did. FXK and Melissa joined our ranks for that meal. Only the photo of the Syrah brownie turned out in terms of photos of food, alas.





The Midwinter Meetings really began for me on Saturday. Happily, my schedule wasn't all that crammed, so I did get to stroll around some, including walking down to the Market with CG and grabbing a bite of lunch.



That night we hit a couple of vendor receptions, one at the Experience Music Project where we roamed in the museum and pretended to know what we were doing with musical and recording instruments. After that it was a brief stop in the Space Needle before I called it an early night.




Yesterday brought some more meetings and a focus group, but also lunch with a friend from the Twin Cities, Bob. The Public Library, where we took these photos, is quite an interesting (if not actually attractive building). Some of the colouring is a bit disconcerting, like the red hallway outside the room where the GLBT Round Table social was last night. But still, good to see what the fuss was about.

I escaped the social before the end, and headed back past the convention center to grab dinner at Tango with a friend from Houston, David. Good to dine with him again, a regular conference occurrence, it seems. Sweetheart of a guy, now if I can just convince him to run Victoria this year as well!




Today? Campaigning for Jim Rettig, then I tried to find a hotel where a discussion group was being held. No such luck. Merde. My sense of direction is so bad. Ah well. I did have an enjoyable breakfast with the friend of a friend. Steve is a flight attendant for Delta and soon to move to an Ontario farm with his partner. Interesting the paths we all choose, I think. We strolled around a gay neighbourhood some, then it was time for more committee meetings.


Still up for this trip: two more nice meals out and one more committee meeting. But truthfully? I will be very glad to be home on Wednesday night and gladder still to see Conrad when he gets back from Orlando on Friday night.