In Week 14 I posted that we had a mystery guest coming. That wasn't entirely true. Originally, our friend Krystal and her boyfriend Chad were scheduled. But some important family issues came up and they promptly informed me the Sunday prior to the date they would be unable to make it.
Erica and I then rescheduled with her good friend Kalei, who is single however. So we weren't sure if she had a date or needed one, etc. When we couldn't get a hold of her after we first spoke to get meal info, we decided we needed to get a back up plan. I posted on Facebook that we had an opening. That resulted in a few things. First, two unscheduled people volunteered, one of those people sent me a very sweet personal message. Before I could respond, I had about seven different couples scheduled farther down the line contact me via some various mediums. I tried to offer the night to a few of them, but because it was the night prior to the date, most people couldn't make plans on such short notice. So the morning of the date, I ended up texting Sarah Abel's (Week 5) good friend Annie Bell, who was bravely slotted for a blind date in July and I knew was always down to party.
Annie Bell is super fun, extremely social, and very reliable. I figured if it was coming down to a casual stop-by appearance, she'd be the one. Luckily, she even had arrangements with a gentlemen that evening. Her friend she used to work with (as of very recently) Chase. She said he would be done with a business meeting around 9pm. And that I should make "something Mexican" and pour strong drinks.
This is going to sound lame, but I was stressing out about possibly missing a date. And it possibly not going well. Let alone not knowing what to get at the grocery store. As you know, we have done tacos TWICE already. So when she said "something Mexican," it was vague enough that I decided it meant I could invent a brand new food that had typical ingredients from Mexican cuisine.
At the store I grabbed chicken, flour tortillas, shredded sharp cheddar, sour cream, an onion, a red pepper, and a green pepper. When I got home, I knew I had lots of time before the estimated 9pm arrival of guests, so I decided to make a marinade for the chicken. I took a pot and put in one cup of olive oil and one cup of lemon juice, then I sprinkled in thyme, basil, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, salt, pepper and a few other herbs off our rack. I sliced the chicken breasts into smaller strips and dumped it in the marinade and tossed that in the fridge to sit.
Here comes a 52 DD Original Recipe: "Something Mexican Chicken"
-make the marinaded chicken
-dice an onion and julienne two peppers
-make a skillet hot, then toss in the onion and peppers and cook for 5 minutes
-add the chicken (pull out of the marinade) and cook for 8 minutes
-take a flour tortilla and spread sour cream on it like tomato sauce on pizza dough
-top the tortilla with a healthy amount of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
-pop the tortilla in the microwave to melt the cheese and heat the tortilla
-toss some of the cooked chicken, onion and peppers on the tortilla and fold up
-add hot sauce as needed
Unfortunately, Annie Bell and Chase (not originally planning to be on a double date when they woke up that morning) made a late arrival, passed 11pm, and Erica and I had a few Something Mexican Chickens before they got there. And when they got there, they weren't hungry. So they incidentally receive three dubious awards off the jump: first couple to not eat, latest arrival for a couple, and first couple that actually isn't a couple.
As awkward as a "first date" must be at a late dinner in a married couple's house, I knew I had to follow Annie Bell's advice and make the drinks strong. The drink I decided to go with is one of Erica's favorites, the mojito. All that is required is lime juice, club soda, sugar, fresh mint leaves, ice and, of course, clear rum. It was my first attempt at the drink, and they weren't bad, but they certainly weren't pro. My advice, after my cherry popping, is to use freshly squeezed limes and make sure to muddle the mint leaves enough to release their flavor. I failed at both and thus we were essentially drinking spruced up Tonic Rums.
The late arrival and opening tour were confusing and awkward. I'm sure Chase had no clue why the hell he was there. We had the first round in the backyard, where Annie Bell took note that she lived in the apartment building behind our house many years ago, and had seen our backyard and previous owners. Round two landed us in the TV room in the basement. This is were the turn of the evening occurred.
Chase is also a musician. So we launched into music talk. He is in a funk band called Tip to Base, and knows the recording process, all about booking and playing shows, inter-band politics, the joy of creation, etc. So we shared experiences and opinions until it was time for round three.
Up in the living room, Annie Bell attempted a "should we go..." type exit that was rejected by Chase and myself. We weren't done with the musician exchange or the mojitos. We broke out the Table Topics and burned through a few questions. One of them was "At what stage is abortion still okay?" to which my answer was "17 years old."
We had some more laughs and another round. Annie Bell told me about how she attempted to get a slow clap going at her job (which was insurance related) because she knew someone who was in a Vern Fonk commercial. That someone was me and that commercial is here:
Then Annie Bell and Chase took off. At first, Erica and I looked at each other like we might have just cheated the system. Does it count if they don't eat our food? Then we sat down and discussed the blog. Maybe we shouldn't take it too seriously. It's not a set thing, with rules, and more importantly, it's our thing. For fun.
And that's when I realized what the date was. It was a date with my wife. I got to spend the entire night with my wife. We spoke while I did the prep work in the kitchen. We sat down and ate together. We even did a trial run of mojitos before our company arrived. And then we talked about our feelings about the blog and process after. It doesn't have to be so ridged. And honestly, Annie Bell and Chase were awesome company. Cool people to hangout with.
In reflection, I have several things to be stoked about from that night. Spending time with my wife is always a blessing. Secondly, I have a friend like Annie Bell who is fun, and open to stuff, and she came through for us and kept the blog alive. And, of course, I made a new bro in Chase, who is charming and hilarious. Look for a Worst Animal/Tip to Base show sometime in the future! The dates don't always have to be a certain structure, at a certain time, or even within the week. This one counts and we liked it.
I posted yesterday that the blog might be shutting down. We were cancelled on again for this week's date and I wasn't sure I could go through the same process two weeks in a row. I only have one day open this week, because of my show at the Funhouse on Friday and Sky Sander's bachelor party on Saturday. Erica and I are also living on credit at this point. And April 20th (the day of MY SHOW, at the FUNHOUSE, which is THIS FRIDAY) will be my second day off from work... in the month of April.
With stress levels still high from a few weeks ago, a large work load, and preparation for the weekend events, I wasn't sure I wanted to force in a DD. But, once again, a friend came through in the clutch, and tomorrow night Erica and I will be hosting her bridesmaid Kawai and Kawai's boyfriend Danny.
The blog lives. I do it for my friends. So I can see them. Because I love them. On that note, I will leave you with an ode to "My Friends" from my new EP, available for free download HERE and IS safe for work and children, for once. See you at the Funhouse on April 20th, and hopefully at dinner. Our place.
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