Luna, Sophie and I dashed through our first BeatWalk and just got back. Turns out it’s a great excuse to pop into Columbia City’s shops and restaurants, despite it being 36°F out! We made sure that Sophie was snug as a bug in her patented Pink Astronaut Garb.
I entered Bookworm Exchange, got my hand stamped, and danced with Sophie on the shop’s periphery while a jazz sextet blared away. The bookshop looked better than I remembered (because more new books were on offer?), so I’ll drop by again.
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You gotta love Glo’s on East Olive. Their breakfasts never fail to satisfy, even if you have to camp out for a table. I usually spring for the frittata, but today we had variations on Eggs Benedict. Halfway through Luna and I swapped. Luna preferred the salty bacon in my “Blackstone,” and I vastly preferred her “Californian” for its lemony avocado.
Sophie got two separate “Your baby is so beautiful” compliments. The guy, with his overbite and blocky glasses, was a natural comedian. “I mean it,” he said, “because . . . you know . . . so many babies are not!” Hilarious. He kept making teh funny with his breakfast companion, a rangy redhead. For once I loved the eavesdropping value of such a tiny restaurant.
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We hit the Intiman tonight to see Lynn Nottage’s play, “Intimate Apparel.” I liked it enormously. Its protagonist, Esther, is a humble, African-American seamstress in the New York of 1905 whose business—producing exquisite undergarments for her uptown and downtown clients—and late-blooming love life come to successfully dramatize a host of class, gender and race issues in a way that had me emotionally engaged from the first scene. The tender, unspoken, impossible attraction between Esther and Mr. Marks, an Orthodox Jewish fabric salesman, totally had me.
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Superbrief weekend update:
Kha and Christine held their wedding last Saturday. Banquet at Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant. (pictures)
Sunday we had Jennifer C & Nathan, Jen L & Matt, and Rachel over in Rachel’s honor: she’s going back to school for Industrial Design up at Western Washington University. We fired up the grill and made margaritas for all. (pictures)
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Replied to a good chunk of my brothers’ emails.
Met cousin Nam’s new family in Tacoma. It was my first time seeing his wife, Thao, and their preemie, infant twins, Sarah and Hannah. What eyes those twins had, such big dark irises. Cute.
Lunch was Pho Bac with Mom, Luna and Sophie. Rushed. I had the Special.
Saw “Princesses” at the Fifth Avenue Theater. It did not suck, at all. Too bad I was an exhausted Dad: that big dark theater virtually beckoned sleep. I slurped down coffee before Act Two. First time I’ve seen musical theater alone. When Sophie started wailing 10 minutes into Act One, Luna ditched the theater and headed to Nordstrom. I joined her afterward for excellent salads at the Cafe.
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My favorite spot for a Vietnamese meal has to be Lemongrass Restaurant. The nearby Tamarind Tree is well-reviewed, with its creative takes on Vietnamese classics and sheer atmosphere. By comparison, Lemongrass doesn’t list a lychee martini on its menu. On the other hand, I’ve never had a disappointing meal at Lemongrass. Food and service are consistently good and a fantastic value. The room is more relaxed. I come away hugely satisified.
We went to celebrate. I survived my first week home minding Sophie. I poured myself a Red Hook, and together we shared a mango-tofu salad, a savory chicken dish, and canh ca. Desert was flan for Luna and for me fried banana in coconut milk.
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The street was closed for the annual, neighborhood block party Tuesday. The food was delicious, the neighbors were all just great, and the kids even had a piñata to kick around. Great job, Kat and Tari! We stayed until the dark crept up. See rest of the photos I took in this (
http://flickr.com/photos/tri/sets/689394/ “Block Party 2005 – a photoset on Flickr”).
