Erica and I were stoked to branch out, and equally nervous. I was also making both tacos and margaritas for the first time ever. Spoiler alert: both the double date and the food and drinks went very well. As it turns out, Sarah and Jesse are very social people and we felt extremely comfortable around these two even though we don't know them extremely well.
Sarah and I know each other via our mutual friend Annie Bell, who is a fantastic human being. I distinctly remember meeting Sarah at a house party when I lived in the Northgate area in yet another shithole with Aaron Greene. I had a room, Aaron lived in a tent in the living room. The house was always full of various people and drinks. It was actually the birth place of 52 Parties, which failed after three months, but became in inspiration for 52 Double Dates. Now Erica and I just have to make it through March to beat my previous record, which should be easy since we are already booked up to April 27th.
Anyways, Aaron had invited Annie Bell over, who brought Sarah with her. Sarah was hysterically funny. Loud. Crass. In your face. She has the large kind of personality that takes over rooms. And I loved her whole deal right off the bat. She is so awesome.
As our friendship continued to blossom over the years, mainly fueled by group meetings at bars and shows, I encouraged Sarah to explore her performer side at one of my events. I used to host comedy nights to showcase both standup comics as well as musicians who make funny music called The Joke's On You. Sarah had the balls to perform a 5 minute set at one of these, and she killed it. That's how she rolls, which is why she has been on stage with Andy Dick, partied with Suge Knight and had a round of shots purchased for her entire crew by Seattle legend Shawn Kemp.
We both have such over-the-top personas that I was concerned we would takeover the conversation and Jesse and Erica wouldn't get much time in. I was only half right. As they came into our home, I explained I was brand new to the preparation aspect of our food and drink offerings. Jesse jumped in and lent a hand with the drinks. To my horror as a novice, Jesse is a professional bartender. I would have been humiliated if I tried to make the google recipes, half-winged with zero guidance. But Jesse was super helpful and encouraging and even let me follow his instructions rather than take over. And so the drinks got done properly, and the night just followed suit.
As it turns out, the key to great cocktails is fresh squeezed juice. The margarita recipe we followed was the most traditional: 1 1/2 ounces of clear tequila, 1/2 ounce of triple sec, 1/2 ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice and ice in a shaker, poured into a glass with a salted rim. Thanks Jesse for the lessons!
I never had the chance to get to know Jesse extensively, so it was very cool to sit down in a private environment and get to speak with him. When I said I was half right, it was because Jesse and I did quite a bit of the talking. We have a lot in common, and it turns out he is just as entertaining as Sarah. Time flew by quickly, and the conversation moved around extremely naturally. Before we knew it, three hours had passed and we hadn't even taken out the table topics games. Erica and I had just hosted four dinners in a row that all ultimately lead to question prompt cards to keep things moving... and that was with the best friends we have! It was a crowning accomplishment for my wife, who is adorably shy, and myself, an incredibly awkward man, to have a normal dinner and have it go so well.
Jesse and Sarah had plans to go to a benefit concert later that night. Erica and I were headed out to Black Lodge to watch Aaron and Rudy play a show. We were having so much fun, we decided to catch the bus together downtown and then they would reconvene with us at Black Lodge later. The bus route by our house is the legendary 358. Everytime I ride that bus, there is some loud mouth saying something interesting. If you can't spot the loud mouth within three minutes... you are the loud mouth. And for the first time on the 358, I think I was the loud mouth! Another major victory for an unconfident public transportation passenger.
As promised, we met up at Black Lodge and cabbed back home for a night cap. We did a second round of tacos and cheers'd some Fireball shots to the successful night. Then Sarah attempted what I must describe as the worst worm ever.
I had a blast and I can't imagine how it could've gone better. Next week brings my "man crush" (at least according to video footage) Matt Gomez and his lovely girlfriend Devon. Stay tuned for a wild one!
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