Week Twenty-One: Toby and Erin

With a roommate on his way in (Aaron from Week 4) and a paid vacation to Puerto Rico for a Wedding on the horizon, Erica and I packed our bags and opened our doors for a casual Sunday night dinner with a couple we hadn't seen since our own Wedding three years ago. And at our Wedding, that couple had also attended a funeral for a close family member prior to our ceremony and reception. We were super humbled and happy to see them there, and we were definitely pumped that my close friend from Roosevelt High School Toby and his fiance Erin agreed to partake in Week 21's DD.



Toby and I became close friends senior year at Roosevelt High School, way back in 1999. We had a physics class together with Mike Wong. Everyday in class, the three of us would sit in the back corner and play cards. Specifically a game called 13. If you aren't familiar, read up our how to play HERE. There are ways it can be played by only three opponents, I think we dealt out hands of 17 and left out a card. Anyhow, for some reason we would play using a Presidential deck, which had United States Presidents on the faces of cards. And THE card in the game is the 2 of Hearts, which happened to be Ike Eisenhower. Whenever Ike was dropped, and a major turn occurred in play, we would explode in screams of shock and awe, at least one of us yelling "THE IKE!" way too loud for a discrete card game during class. Needless to say, our teacher was very curious about who "Ike" was. Somehow we all passed that course.

For as many positive deviant memories Toby has provided, an extremely meaningful one is there to match. Toby is one of the brightest and most open minded people I know. His views on perspective are very revealing in his diction. His sentences are well-thought out and executed with expert timing. And he is fucking hilarious.

The best example of this, other than personal inside jokes that would make no sense to those not immersed in the circumstances, occurred while I was cooking the food for the date. The four of us stood in the kitchen, in my decorated house, with my lovely wife and my adorable dog, as I cooked a meal at 6:15pm on a Sunday afternoon, drinking water... very mature, very adult, very separate from our younger year experiences together... and Toby said (not verbatim, so I will spare the quotations) that since we had last spent time together, so long ago, those moments of us together were frozen in time in his mind. And thus, his idea of who I am today, prior to being here with me now, was similar to the wild party animal with no bounds or morals I once was. What kind of house would Jeff Tune live in? 17 year-old Jeff Tune? 21 year-old Jeff Tune? Jeff Tune of the shit hole households with Aaron living in his living room in a tent. After all, Aaron was set to move in later that week. Have we evolved? Were we different?

The thought was both insightful and humorous. It is very true. We hold onto memories and cherish the people we love for the moments we remember them. Think about those awkward conversations you have with people you haven't seen a in awhile. Those, how ya been, what ya up to, like you didn't see it on Facebook already conversations. Those revolve around the differences between the person now in front of you and the person they once were who is frozen in your head. We change, but the memories of each other don't, so when we don't stay in real touch, actually speaking together, we grow apart.

Fortunately, Toby and I were rekindling over some BLT's. I was excited for the suggestion. Cause I am a sandwich man. How could I mess this one up? I've been in the sandwich industry for three years now. I've climbed to the top. From sandwich line, to sandwich shop assistant, to store manager. This was the big stage: a double date... with a sandwich.

Spoiler alert: I fucked up the sandwiches. Not only was it a sandwich that I fucked up, which is embarrassing for a sandwich man, but it was a BLT... which is, by nature, excluding the bread and despite its three letter abbreviation, only a four ingredient sammy. I chose to not deviate from the traditional recipe. I went to PCC and picked up some nitrate-free natural uncured pork bacon, organic romaine, large slicalbe tomatoes, and garlic aioli (swapped in for mayo). On sourdough bread, of course.



My first misstep was not cooking the bacon before Toby and Erin arrived. We have a small skillet, and could only cook 4-5 pieces at a time, each batch took about 5-8 minutes. Per sammy that is up to 32 minutes of prepping the meat, leaving the first batch with 24 minutes of cooling time. What I should have done is pre-cooked the bacon then reheated it.



My second fatal error was the toasting of the bread. Henry Browne would be so ashamed. I decided to broil the pieces of sourdough in the oven, but badly mistimed it in the midst of conversation, thus making the slices of bread far too crispy for a delicious BLT. What I should have done is grilled the sandwich as a whole on the skillet as the final step, making it firm on the outside and doughy soft on the inside where the B, L and T combine.



My only success came with successfully acquiring the proper side dishes for a BLT. I chose a macaroni salad and fresh fruit medley. It was just the right amount of food to justify serving a sandwich as a dinner entree. Toby and Erin came through in the clutch with one of the best desserts 52 DD has seen: a chocolate mousse encased in a white chocolate/dark chocolate shell, topped with whipped cream, a chocolate wafer and a chocolate-covered strawberry. That much chocolate never equals fail. Good dessert.



The meal took us to the picture, and the picture lead us to the basement. The basement with the mancave television setup freshly moved into the hallway, as to create a basement bedroom for future roommate Aaron. We had an extended talk in the basement after the photoshoot. Toby pointed out the difference of now and then, as far as us as a pair, was the number of women present (two, versus zero), the number of men present (two, versus seven), the activity (speaking intelligently versus playing video games stoned or drunk) and what we were looking forward to (antibiotics and rest versus substances and partying). I recalled Henry's open mic comedy trial and suggested that Toby and I aim to do the same. We agreed it was destined to be.

We moved the dinner party upstairs, to what I thought, after a few nice hours, was the exit. But I offered up a game of Blokus, and it was accepted. We played twice, and talked longer, about Weddings (they are to be married in November) and life (we are all alive) and challenges and changes. And it was a beautiful moment. We like Toby and Erin and connect with them on a personal level. They are wonderful company.

The dinner party wrapped up, and Erica and I were on our way to a destination Wedding in Puerto Rico. The Wedding was beautiful, the beach was amazing and I had the must wonderful conversation with my mother, father and sister over dinner. It was a memory I hope remains frozen. And we have another 31 dinner dates to live up to the first 21.



Next week welcomes one of my two musical "ex-girlfriends" from The Let Go, the producer who introduced to the wonderful Steph (Week 19), Joe also known as Captain Midnite. Joe will be accompanied by one of my favorite personalities, the wildly individualistic Christina also know as Cheeks. We have big plans for an old fashion dinner and a movie date. Rest assured, it will be well documented and might be possibly be... frozen.

Week Twenty: Mom and Dad

Rumors of an alleged curse of the blog are circulating the net. Already three of the previous 19 couples invited to 52 DD have broken up. A few more are on the rocks. What to do in the face of such a terrifying vilification of Tune Castle? Put a marriage of 35 years plus to the test! Enter the original Tunes: Mom and Dad.



More of a concern than possibly breaking up my parents was this... what do I cook for a woman who cooked for me everyday for 18 years? It's a lot of pressure to try and perform a rap show in a room full of great rappers. Cooking for an experienced chef was along the same lines. Except this rapper birthed me, took care of me when I was sick, loaned me money when I was broke and offered emotional support in hard times.

Having chosen none of the meals up until this point, Erica came through with a perfect suggestion: Yakisoba noodles. I had not only never cooked this dish before, I had never eaten it. And I am positive that my Mom has never cooked it either. Otherwise, I probably would have eaten it. So I was up for the challenge.

Erica printed off a recipe she found on line. It called for the following ingredients to serve four people: 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil, 2 teaspoons canola oil, 1 tablespoon & 1 teaspoon chile paste, 1-1/4 cloves garlic chopped, 2-3/4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves cut into 1 inch cubes, 1/3 cup soy sauce, 5/8 onion, sliced lengthwise into eighths, 3/8 medium head cabbage coarsely chopped, 1-1/4 carrots, coarsely chopped and 5 ounces soba noodles cooked and drained. We had the soy sauce. That was it. So we drove over to Whole Foods in the Ravenna area to pick up the rest.

Whole Foods was one of the best grocery shopping experiences of my life. We loved it. But we did completely drop the ball on getting actual Yakisoba noodles... which are buckwheat noodles. Erica and I are white over wheat people. So we picked out the similar looking Udon noodles. This would cause a little more improvisation on my end than anticipated. But I will touch upon that in the cooking description.

In previous dinner parties at their place, I noticed my parents always have appetizers ready to eat, but the dinner only prepped and ready to cook. I figured I would try this method out. Especially since the appetizers we chose were just three different pieces of sushi: cucumber rolls, salmon rolls and tuna rolls.



When Mom and Dad arrived, at 6:00pm on the dot, they had arms full of gifts. They brought us one bottle of Scotch, two bottles of wine, cookies and two kinds of gelato. They also brought a visitor for Lola, their cairn terrier Monticello. (Dad is a huge Thomas Jefferson buff, and Monticello was the name of TJ's mansion. He jokes that they should get a black cairn and name her Sally. If you don't get that reference, read a history book.)



They obviously already had the house tour, so they didn't need to experience that social norm of the dinner party. But, in a very helping-parent fashion, the first thing they did was clean off our unused inherited BBQ grill to make sure it would be functional for our summer dates. Then we sat down to a bottle or red and some sushi rolls.



I started to cook the Udon noodles with a Yakisoba recipe, and I noticed that the prep instructions for the Udon noodles on the package suggested adding the veggies in with the noodles. I started with the oils and the garlic and cooking the chicken. I decided to do the onions on top of the chicken, but mixed in the carrots in with the noodles. I didn't add the cabbage until the chicken was fully cooked and mixed in with the noodles. Despite adding extra chili paste and doing things out of order, the dish turned out really great. It was something I was proud to serve to my Mom.



Dinner was pleasant, but also seemed very routine. We eat dinner at least once a month with my family. I consider us very fortunate for that. Not everyone has a family, or gets to see them frequently. When you live within arms reach of relatives, you should make a point of seeing each other an a regular basis. And Mom and Dad's efforts to stay in touch are more than ample.

As we sat and discussed things, Erica left the room for a moment, and I dropped the most recent disappointment bomb on them. Erica and I have amounted quite the credit card debt from decorating the house, covering bills, and putting on the double dates. Mom and Dad have been awesome about helping us out, and continue to offer support both financial and otherwise. However, we decided we needed to develop a plan to reach zero on our own, without assistance. A situation arose and we will be taking on Aaron (Week 4) as a roommate. He will temporarily rent out our basement, which will help us pay the mortgage, and watch Lola during the day, which will save us money on dog care.

I winced as I let out the news. I wasn't sure how they would react to us moving a roommate into a house they helped us buy and fix up. All my life, the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint my parents. And all my life, as long as I was honest to them, I never did. The Tune family lives by a strong code of integrity. And if you are open with your feelings and actions, almost everything is okay with them. They are truly great parents. Accepting, proud and supportive.

Dessert proved my largest culinary failure of all time. They knew Erica and I didn't own an ice cream scooper, so they literally brought their own to serve the gelato. Yet, some how, I brought out sliver rectangle portions, barely more than a few bites per plate. And I was accused of not knowing how to operate an ice cream scooper. If anything could possibly disappoint parents, it would surely be their offspring's failure to execute the simple function of a one-action device. The shame.



We continued to talk for a while, and Lola fell asleep on top of Monti. As Mom requested the Table Topics treatment, Dad decided to call it a night, and they were off. Another Tune family dinner in the books. I was very happy to host them, and it will likely mark the start of us cooking food for them. This is the point of no return. They changed my diapers in the beginning, but in the end, I will change their diapers. Circle of life.



And because I know they will be reading this, because they read every week, I must say... I love you very much Mom and Dad. You are the most amazing parents ever and I like you as friends as well.

Next week, a friend from Roosevelt High School, Toby, stops by with his fiance, Erin. If you haven't told your parents, brother, sister, or whomever is closest to you that you appreciate them today, then you should call them up and do that now. See you next week!

Week Nineteen: Steph and John

Finally back into a normal schedule, with a few days off form work under my belt, things began to balance out. The sunshine was out, and Erica and I were feeling good. And we got to play host to a couple seasoned in Blokus playing and karaoke singing with the Tunes, Steph and John.



Steph is a rapper. I met her via the Seattle rap scene through a producer I was making music with back in 2007. But back in 2007, Steph wasn't a rapper, she just happened to work at the same place as this producer and she had the ability to rap. A few years later, her boyfriend at the time coaxed her into recording a verse on one of his songs. Steph came to Undercaste Studios in Shoreline and blew everyone away. It was stated by the lead engineer that she was "shitting all over [her] boyfriend" on the song. While shitting all over someone might not sound pleasant, in the rap world, it means you have lyrically and stylistically dominated another artist. It has nothing to do with pooping.

Ironically, during this same time period, I was also introduced to John via the Seattle rap scene. John is a rapper and producer under the alias Shast. My friend Ben (Week 1) introduced me to his album and beats. I was working on my debut solo album Mustache Immaculate at the time, and I was in desperate need of fresh production. So I reached out to John and asked if he wanted to contribute anything to the project. He sent me a beat disc and I fell in love with this one beat.

And our first collaboration ended up being this song:


Steph and John, naturally, met each other via the Seattle rap scene sometime later. At this point, the focus of Shast was beats and he had fully immersed himself on the production end of music. John and Steph began developing a friendship and became quite close. They started to create songs together. Their chemistry was undeniable and of course they ended up dating.

John, Steph and I actually made a song together for fun. It is Steph and I rapping over a Shast beat:


Steph has always been the "little homie" to me. That's another vaguely rap-based slang term like the shitting on people thing. A little homie is the younger person in the crew everyone looks out for and tries to take under their wing. They show talent, promise and ambition. Pretty much everyone around Steph wanted to encourage her artistic growth. And we were all inspired by her enthusiasm. She is very animated and has outstanding character in her voice.

So I was lucky enough to put Steph on her first official show, which is one of my better memories in the Seattle music scene. Erica and I were setting off on a tour together, and since we hadn't been on a honeymoon yet, we called it The Honeymoon Tour. There were spot dates up and down the Westcoast, and the shows would pay for our gas and we would get to drive around together and visit friends. It was a very fun experience. The jumpoff date was of course in Seattle, and since it was my first headlining show as a solo act, I booked it at High Dive, which has a 120 person room capacity. That was Steph's debut show and it was a super special night for all of us. We sold out the venue and I pulled Erica up on stage at the end of my set to dance to the song that was played for the first dance of our Wedding, "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.



Later that year, Steph would be on the bill for yet another incredibly personal show for me: my birthday party at Blue Moon Tavern. My friend Jonny from NYC flew into Seattle to play on that bill as well, and we had an amazing weekend. There are very few rap shows I get misty-eyed thinking about, but both the start date to The Honeymoon Tour and my birthday show at Blue Moon were awesome memories that will stand out in my mind forever. And Steph was a part of both of them.

So Steph was set to come over with John, and the dinner choice was... drum roll... TACOS. Despite doing tacos back to back nights and for the 4th time overall, Erica and I were stoked for the date. Steph is super spunky and energetic. She has a huge dimply smile and it is rarely not on her face. She and John had just recently faced some personal tragedy, and I was worried it might be horrible timing to host a dinner party for them. But in classic Steph fashion, she showed up cheery and put out positive vibes all night long.



I went down to a local merchant called Mendoza's to pick up the ingredients for some chicken tacos. I got some handmade tortillas, a large chicken breast, seasoning, an onion, three tomatoes, two serrano peppers, a side ensalada, tortilla chips, fresh pico de gallo and some Mexican cane sugar Cokes for under $35. It was certainly enough food to feed four, but I over-seasoned the chicken and the serrano peppers added too much heat, so Erica was not digging the tacos this time around so much.



The difference maker on this date was certainly the drink choice: Long Island Iced Tea. In the past, I have consumed one or two of these. I knew they were incredibly strong drinks that contained multiple types of liquor. However, I always assumed it was liqueurs or some weaker stuff. I looked up the recipe and was blown away by the first four components: rum, tequila, vodka and gin. Okay. So this drink is basically committing to taking four shots before we start hanging out. Now THAT is an ice-breaker! (The rest is some triple sec, sour mix, Coke and ice BTW.)



So we launched into conversation immediately. And it never stopped! And shockingly, it contained a very minimal amount of rap talk. We caught each other up on what all our mutual friends were doing, who are all rappers, but other than that, we did a lot of life talk. How work is going, how John's son Gavin is doing, how we are dealing with the typical ups-and-downs of life, etc. Then a call came in from, of course, a mutual rapper friend, Neema. He was down at the Crocodile(*) in Belltown having a release show for his new album. So we all hopped on the 358 bus and headed toward the venue.



The bus ride proved to be more real than expected. Due to the LIIT's. When we arrived at the door of the Croc, the bouncer took one look at us and said "Nope." So Steph and I hoofed it down to Shorty's and got a similar response there. And it was back on the bus home time.



At home, Erica escorted herself to sleep and Steph did the same on the couch. John and I stayed up discussing "conspiracy fact" as he called it (which was awesome). I was on-board for the all the government planned 9-11 talk, but when we got to a bit about men drinking precious metals for life-extension and their skin turning blue, I decided to tap out as well.



Erica and I enjoy the company of John and Steph quite a bit. We both agreed it was an awesome date and we always look forward to spending time with them. I love Steph like she's my younger sister and for the rest of my life I will always do whatever is in my power to make sure things are going well for her.

Speaking of relatives, next week is bringing the first set of parents to the dinner date table. The ancient artifacts I call my Mom and Dad will be swinging by for what I'm sure will be the most out-of-control date yet. Jim and Kathy Tune, prepare for mayhem!

(*)The Crocodile will be host to my band's next show. It is on Friday, June 15th and you can pre-order tickets here:
http://thecrocodile.com/events/4831860/the-night-caps-release-party

Week Eighteen: Chad and Ellie

What a busy week! Erica and I had house guests from Minnesota starting Monday onward. I worked everyday at 7am, with four dudes in and out of the house day and night. All this leading up to Ben (Week 1) selling out the Crocodile on Friday and a good old fashion American Cinco de Mayo celebration with my co-worker Chad and his gorgeous girlfriend Ellie.



I met Chad through Homegrown. We were both hired as cafe-workers in the original Fremont location. Since then, we have both dedicated ourselves to moving up in the company, and I was promoted to manager of the Capitol Hill location and Chad runs the catering service. Because we are in separate locations, I rarely get to see Chad. So I was pumped to have him over for dinner and drinks.

Erica and I had recently run into Chad and Ellie at a fair well party for longtime HG mascot Henry Browne, who left with a bang performing a killer roast of the employees at a Comedy Open Mic night. Footage of that was posted online here and is, ironically, NOT SAFE FOR WORK. It ended up actually being a series of jokes about my assistant manager Jackie and the lack of size, shape and use of my genitals. Naturally, Henry was a little too drunk to nail the performance, at one point retelling the same joke one joke later. But I loved every second, and when he finished, we all went outside and he told all the jokes he couldn't fit into the 3 minute time slot and really murdered it there. Henry is the most quoted man in the company, giving the staff the infamous words "You know man, there's a lot of money to be made in standing around, you just gotta wait for it."



All the OG (original-Grown) employees were there, and it was killer to spend time as a group outside of work. At the roast, Chad and Ellie decided on Mexican food and offered to bring the tequila. We also committed to wearing sombreros and fake mustaches. The date was set.

Little did I know, every costume store would be entirely sold out of sombreros when the purchase is put off until the day of the holiday. I was able to grab a few mustaches, but I had to get a sun hat for Erica and a safari hat for myself. And I must say, we looked amazingly stupid. It was one of those things where we didn't want to be the party poopers and not try. Fortunately, Chad and Ellie had made the same mistake and arrived with mustaches only as well. Which saved Erica and I the embarrassment of dressing erroneously.



I decided to do tacos, which would make it the third time for tacos and the fourth Mexican cuisine choice at 52DD. I purchased some grass-fed ground beef, hard corn shells, soft flour tortillas, shredded romaine lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, organic sour cream, a white onion, cheddar cheese, refried beans, dirty rice and some limes. I made pretty straight forward beef tacos, the only twist being melted cheese on the tortilla wrapped around the crunchy hard shell, cheesey gordita crunch style.



The food wasn't particularly bad or good, but it was filling. It was intimidating to cook for Chad, who was tons of kitchen experience and hosts a taco night at his house every Tuesday. Chad is also the first person from work to take the date challenge. They were the youngest couple to come over as well, and I feel like a generation gap reared it's ugly head a few times. Like, the generation gap of Chad and Ellie being way hipper and more energetic than our old asses.



The date was rapid fire style. We sat down to eat immediately, then busted out a game of Blokus. Then the date took us to a place we had never been yet on the blog: outside of the house! Our friends and self-appointed safety couple Danny and Julie (Week 11) were hosting a Cinco de Mayo fiesta at their new condo in the Ravenna area, so we decided to swing by.



When we arrived, the party was small in size. There were about 5 girls and 3 guys. We stationed ourselves in the kitchen, did tequila shots and Chad related the story of Coachella to the engaged audience. He and Ellie had a blast down in Cali and urged everyone to pre-order tickets in June for the 2013 concert. And YES, they did see Hologram 2Pac. If you haven't, you really should...



I knew the party had an expiration date on it, because Chad and Ellie were set to host one of their own later. So after an hour, they took off to go back to their home. As they exited, so did a few other couples. Suddenly, it was just Erica and I with Danny and Julie.

Erica and I were having a good time, so we stayed and chatted it up with them for a while until more couples showed up. After their living room was filled back up with guests, we made an exit and headed towards Chad and Ellie's pad in the Green Lake area. When we arrived, the party was small in size. There were about 3 girls and 5 guys. We did a house tour and I woke up their roommate Josh, who is currently the manager of the Fremont Homegrown. We went downstairs and played some flip cup.

After four nail-biting wins in a row, and mandatory hugs initiated by me to three teammates I just met, Erica and I made an exit and headed back to Tune Castle. Oddly enough, the night was not overly wild. Which is a good thing. The dinner was pleasant, seeing Danny and Julie's place was nice, and being undefeated in flip cup made me feel like I was college-aged once again. I did feel like an old dork around them, although it wasn't anything they did. Chad and Ellie are a super welcoming couple and they put out awesome vibes. Erica and I are certainly going to make an effort to see them more. Probably at a taco Tuesday, so Chad can show me how it's done.



Next week I am super pumped to welcome a few of my rapper buddies, John and Steph. Yes, they both rap. But you will hear more about them later. Until then, stay happy and think positive things. Cheers.