Week Forty-Five: Eliza and Juan

This week's theme was cancellations. We had a cancellation on Saturday, followed by a fill-in cancellation and a backup cancellation! We had to move the dinner to Tuesday and set up a blind date between random friends. The day of, the guy got sick and backed out. So, at the buzzer, Week 45 ended up being my buddy Juan from work meeting my friend Eliza for the first time on a dinner date. Madness ensued!



Eliza is kind of like the Sweet Dee (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) of our crew. She is vibrant, hilarious and loves to party. I met her via Ian (Week 33) when they worked together at Jillian's and Ian and I were in The Let Go. She would come support us at the shows and ended up playing an extra in one of my music videos and later a lead role in another.

Juan was hired on at Homegrown before I was in control of the staff, earlier this year. The owner hired him and said "he's one of those guys you automatically know you like after two minutes." I was skeptical because I did not make the hire, but sure enough, two minutes after meeting Juan, I liked the guy. He is social, charming and extremely friendly. He likes a good film and a cold beer.



For dinner, Eliza said she wanted Chicken Marsala. Erica and I have been on an Indian food kick lately, so I read her text as Chicken MASALA. Rather than checking on it, I decided to go all in on the Indian dish because I have never cooked Indian food. The first step was choosing the style of Masala. Erica always orders Butter, so I was somewhat familiar with the flavor, and I wanted to get risky, so I looked up a recipe for Tikki, purchased the ingredients and discarded the instructions.

It was pretty easy to make. Essentially, I just made a marinade for the chicken with yogurt, lemon juice and several spices. I let the chicken sit in the marinade in the fridge for a little over an hour. I removed the chicken from the juices, cooked it in a skillet and keep it warm in the oven. Then I created a base with tomato sauce, heavy whipping cream, garlic, ginger and more spices. I added the chicken in, cooked it some more and served it over white rice. It was pretty awesome!



The nature of the date was pretty low-pressure and laid back, although Eliza did come through with a bottle of whiskey. Both roommates were looming around, so Griff (Week 28) and Aaron (Week 4) both ended up joining the action shortly after the meal. The action was a double header, game-wise: starting with Table Topics and leading to Drinking Jenga.

Of all the memorable silliness the occurs on 52 DD, Jenga provided us with an epic moment this time. Aaron pulled the ill fated "lap dance" piece, which forced him to give a participant a lap dance. That participant was Eliza. I am not sure how much SHE enjoyed the lap dance, but the rest of us loved it.



By some strange stroke of luck, I ended up knocking the tower down and drinking a bowl full of drinks. With the conclusion of the games, the crew packed up and hit the road for Yen Wor. Yen Wor, the best bar in Seattle. Yen Wor, the land of fun.



We entered Yen Wor ablaze. Juan and I hit the stage and murdered "Ebony and Ivory" which really set the tone. Eliza got the group a round of shots, we continued to sing, and before long, we were best friends with everybody in the bar. We met a lovely set of ladies (Allison, Caitlin and Teal) who actually knew both Sarah (Week 5) and Annie Bell (Week 15). You never know what will happen at Yen Wor, but rest assured it will be a great time!



Also up in the air is who is coming over next and when that will be! The only thing I know for certain is I will be headlining Nectar Lounge in a week on Friday, November 23rd, and I hope to see a large group of friends there partying. I have about 7 days to prepare for that, and I have the same number of dates left for the challenge. 7...