Early this afternoon, Shobhit mentioned that he didn't see a blog post yet today. I told him I didn't think I would post one today.
I just changed my mind. It occurs to me that I'm going to be unusually tight on time at work in the coming week, both because of the catchup I'll be doing after a week off, and because I'll be leaving early at least three days, maybe even four. I don't need to be spending time on blogging tomorrow about Saturday and Sunday. I'll probably still update again, it'll just be short. That's the plan right now, anyway.
We had Shobhit's friend Ellen and her husband Arthur over for dinner last night. Shobhit has been trying, literally for months, to coordinate a date with her when she could come and he could make dinner for them. He really wanted to do this as a thank-you for how much she's done for him, particularly during his campaign for Seattle City Council last year.
I have to admit, I was slightly wary of having Ellen, in particular, over for dinner. She has, historically at least, had a wild amount of dietary restrictions. She and her husband were last at our condo
seventeen years ago, when we had our housewarming party in December 2007. I remember Ellen commenting on all the dishes Shobhit made that she could not eat, mostly because, to my astonishment, she said she couldn't eat tomatoes. Shobhit puts tomatoes, or tomato sauce or some version of it, in nearly every dish he makes—just like a shit ton of American dishes also have some form of tomato in it.
I was a little worried about how this might play out at dinner last night, but not only did Shobhit run all his planned dishes by her over email beforehand, but this time she also knew to come prepared: she took some pills that would help with potential reactions. She also said these issues are currently less severe for her than they have been in the past, so that was a relief. She ate from practically all of the
six main dishes Shobhit cooked, talking all the while about how much she loved Indian food. She even literally said "Yum yum yum!" while eating some of it.
Apparently, she just assumed we would have naan, I'm guessing just because that is typically the type of flatbread one gets at Indian restaurants. Instead of telling her he's actually never made naan before, Shobhit looked up a recipe online and attempted it. There was evidently some kind of issue with the yeast he used, as he could not get the bread dough to rise the way he expected it to, nor did it when he fried the breads in the cast iron skillet. In spite of that, the flatter-than-usual naans he made were excellent. Ellen certainly agreed: "Yum yum yum!"
I think Shobhit may have outdone himself with this dinner, making even more than he usually does for a dinner of four—and he always makes a massive excess of food. The six main courses were shahi paneer (my favorite); eggplant squash (my second favorite); a drier garbanzo bean dish Shobhit had never made that way before and was excellent; a yogurt based dish (not my favorite) with lauki kofta in it (these were amazing—grated opo [bottle gourd] mashed into balls, coated with bread crumbs, and deep fried; basically kind of bottle gourd pakoras); a potato based dish; and the one Shobhit made for himself but which Ellen was all over, an okra dish (I won't touch that shit).
In addition to the naans, there were sides of rice; grated daikon; raita (yogurt with chopped cucumber mixed in); and chopped fresh cucumber with salt and pepper (the most delicious thing imaginable for something so simple).
Shobhit really tried to get them to take leftovers home, but a bit predictably, they declined because their own refrigerator is already packed with Thanksgiving leftovers. So, we'll have
our own leftovers for about a week.
Shobhit usually wants any planned dinner to be around 6:00 at the earliest, preferably later. But, Ellen and Arthur are evidently early to bed, so Shobhit agreed to make this one 5:00, once he was finally able to nail down Saturday November 30 as the date. This was the one day of my Thanksgiving Week Vacation where I did not plan anything else at all, and dedicated myself to helping Shobhit however he needed—with two exceptions: I did need to write a blog post, which I did in the early afternoon; and I spent most of the mid- and late-morning putting up the Christmas decorations. That took me a couple of hours, and once all that was done, I was available for whatever Shobhit needed.
Ellen and Arthur arrived shortly after 5:00, and they came with a gift: a poinsettia plant.
I did encounter some of Ellen's dietary restrictions pretty early. Shobhit asked if they would like chai, and Ellen asked, "Would there be caffeine in it?" Yes. So, she declined—but Arthur, who has lived in the U.S. since the mid-eighties (he was apparently among the very first Microsoft employees, extrapolate from that what you will) but is originally from the UK, accepted. So I made chai for Shobhit and Arthur and myself, using the smaller, fancy mugs we tend to use only for company.
We had just heated or reheated all the dishes, so after maybe twenty minutes of chatting in the living room, I asked Shobhit if the food might be getting cold. So, we moved to the dining table.
Given that Ellen had helped Shobhit with his campaign, it follows that there would be a lot of politics discussed. Ellen strikes me as a moderate, leaning pretty far left on some issues but a bit to the right on other issues. Arthur, at least based on the ways he would interject here and there, seemed a little more consistently liberal. These are just first impressions. As I said, the last time we had them over, it was part of a big party; this was the first time we'd ever had them as company just the two of them.
It wasn't just all politics, though. Ellen has a significant connection to and history with arts & entertainment, and she ended about fourteen years of professionally reviewing live theater shows in the Puget Sound region only a few years ago. This was actually how we pivoted from politics to entertainment, actually, because I brought up Ronadl Reagan as a horrible person who can still be blamed for a lot of our current problems, and Ellen said he was a "terrible actor." I've never seen any of his movies, I wouldn't know. But, I had to mention the great line from my all-time favorite comedy film,
Airplane!, when a sick passenger says, "I haven't felt this awful since we saw that Ronald Reagan film!" This made Ellen laugh.
And then? When I mentioned that I still maintain
Airplane! is the funniest movie ever made, Ellen said, "Have you ever seen
Snakes on a Plane? Uhh . . . yes. Well, Ellen says it made her laugh more than any other movie she's ever seen. Arthur talked about how much of her cackling he had to endure next to her in the theater. Ellen laughed a great deal just recounting the stuff she found funny in the movie. When they left, after about three hours and they said they needed to go home, Ellen quipped to Arthur, "Can we watch
Snakes on a Plane?" We were literally still talking about this movie when they were at the front door and putting their shoes and coats back on.
It occurred to me that I must have reviewed that movie, and,
indeed I did. I had also forgotten that it was one of very few movies I ever gave two different grades: C-minus "overall" but B-plus for "fun factor." I think it's a bit telling, though, that that movie came out in 2006, I did see it in the theater then, but I have never watched it again. It wasn't
that fun, and there's probably a fair chance I wouldn't even find it as fun as I did then, now. I suppose I won't ever know unless I actually watch it again, though.
Holy shit, that was 18 years ago. I guess Ellen herself would have been 55 at the time. She told us last night she's 73, which really shocked Shobhit; he assumed she was in her sixties at the oldest. This came up because I asked how long they have been married, and Ellen told me "It'll be 48 years on Tuesday." Damn! That's legitimately impressive. (If Shobhit and I make it together that long—together, not technically married, so it adds nine years—then I'll be 76 and Shobhit will be 78. Geopolitical and climatic dangers aside, we could easily make it.)
Anyway. Dinner went quite well last night. Ellen even emailed Shobhit later to tell him how much fun they had at dinner. She's apparently in a French choir that has
a concert next Saturday, which Shobhit and I will likely be going to see—after two other things I already have planned that same day (the Great Figgy Pudding Caroling Competition with Alexia and Laney, and then the Dina Martina Christmas Show with Alexia).
As for today? It was really the single day this entire 10-day stretch where I had nothing planned besides a standard movie—and I went to that by myself. I went to see
Maria, which was fine, but, considering how much I've loved this director's previous films, not as great as I hoped or wanted it to be. I don't regret going to see it, of course, even though it'll be streaming on Netflix at the end of next week. I won't have as much time then, though, with all the other shit I already have planned all month, and I also wanted the cinema experience.
It's only playing at the Landmark Crest Cinema in Shoreline, which is typically the case with any Netflix movie given a limited theatrical release. This is now the third such movie I have seen at The Crest in the past month, though the second I got to via Light Rail and then walking the mile from the station. Last time, I took Shobhit's advice and just drove since he wasn't using the car, and encountered unexpected traffic and found it generally very annoying. So, I went back to Light Rail today.
I still didn't quite leave early enough for the journey there to be comfortably without worry. I left home 45 minutes before the movie showtime, and I really should have left so I would have arrived at Capitol Hill Station 45 minutes ahead of time—which would have meant leaving home 55 minutes ahead of time. When I went to see
Emelia Perez there on November 3, I overcorrected in the other direction, and was there 20 minutes before they even opened, and 35 minutes before the movie showtime. I should have checked this this morning: I would have left home at 12:15, and was at the Crest, after the 18-minute train ride and the one-mile walk, at 1:05: it thus took me a good 50 minutes, from the door to my condo to the door of the theater. (You have to add the 10+ minute walk to Capitol Hill Station, the wait for the train, etc.)
Today, I blithely thought I would be fine leaving the condo 45 minutes before showtime. When I got to the station, there was not a train for another 9 minutes, so that was 9 minutes wasted. When I checked the time as the train approached Shoreline South Station, it was already 11:38, and the showtime was at 11:45. I still had a mile to walk. And I could have hopped on a bus, but because One Bus Away said it was only a minute away when I was not yet off the train, I figured I had missed it. I was nearly to the street outside the station parking lot when I saw the bus I actually would have wanted pull
in. But, I was too afraid of rushing back and still not making it, so I thought maybe I would get to the next bus stop on its route on time. Nope! The bus totally zipped right past me. Dammit! So, I just speed-walked to the theater.
In the end, of course, it was fine. I even bought popcorn. When I walked into the theater, I had missed all the trailers I have no doubt already seen multiple times, and the opening credits were running.
The only awkwardness after that was the fact that, when you go into this theater late and the movie is showing only scenes that are dark, you can't see shit. I
thought I had let my eyes adjust enough, and I sat in a chair right by the aisle, a couple of rows up the rather steep stadium seating this screening room has. I really thought I was in an empty row, but then I heard breathing, something perhaps even close to a half-chuckle. The movie became brighter, and I looked to my right to be startled by a man sitting there, alone, in the seat right next to me.
"Oh shit!" I whispered. "Sorry. I didn't see anybody there." And then I got up and went back another couple of rows to one that was definitely actually empty.
When the movie ended, I had a much more leisurely walk along the mile back to the light rail station. Note to self: when taking light rail to Shoreline for a movie, never leave any less than 50 minutes before showtime! Anyway, Shobhit met me at Capitol Hill Station so we could then walk together to QFC to get some skim milk on sale. We walked it home and I made us chai, using up the last of the whole milk Shobhit had bought for some of the dishes, particularly the shahi paneer.
Shobhit is at a 5-9pm work shift as I write this, and at this moment, it's 8:30. He should be home in about an hour. I think I'll still want to watch this week's episode of
Dune Prophecy tonight, even though I need to try to get to bed earlier tonight. It was kind of amazing how quickly I shifted to a schedule every night where I went to bed between midnight and 1 a.m., and woke up consistently between 7 and 8 a.m. I'm back to getting up at 5:15 tomorrow morning, and after a week of this, that might be a little rough.
Oh. Two more quick things. I took only four photos related to last night's dinner, and Ellen and Arthur weren't even in them. Still, I added them to my "
Hosted Dinners 2024" photo album, which now covers four different hosted dinners: when we had Gabby & Nick over in June; when Shobhit made a dinner in honor of Beth's visit in July; when we had Alexia over for dinner and Beth happened to be still visiting (after two delays) in early August; and now when we had Ellen and Arthur over in late November. The last time we hosted several dinners in one calendar year was in 2018, and I made
a similar photo album then too (that one covered six dinners: Claudia, Dylan and Jasper in March; Abhishek and Vinaya in April; Karen, Anita, Danielle, Morgan and Rylee in May [part of my Birth Week that year]; Lynn, Zephyr and Nick in July; Danielle, Morgan and some friends of Morgan's for her birthday in July; and both Scott and Noah from work, with their wives and one of Noah's kids, in October).
I guess we just took a break after that in 2019. 2020 and 2021 had no such dinners for obvious, pandemic reasons. We hosted one dinner party in 2022, having Lynne from work shortly after she let PCC, plus a friend of hers; and also Cathryn and her husband, as a thank-you for getting us delivered lunches when we were sick with covid earlier that year.
And, again: a bit of a break in 2023, unless you want to count when we had Alexia over for dinner on Shobhit's birthday and we didn't tell her it was her birthday until she came over. I should probably add that to my
Dinners photo albums collection, come to think of it. Anyway, clearly in 2024 we shifted a bit closer, if not quite as active, as we had been in 2018. And now that I've listed all those names, we really need to get together again with Abhishek and Vinaya. We haven't seen them since we hung out with them with Shivy in early January of last year. We probably won't see them again until early next year, which will make it a solid two years.
Sheesh! So much for "quick"! You see why I didn't want to write all this tomorrow? I've got other shit to do!
The second quick thing. I went outside shortly after Shobhit left for work, to get an exterior shot of the Christmas Tree and Christmas lights. I love them so much. Okay, this one actually was quick, so I can finally post this now!
[posted 8:48 pm]
