Green Lobster

Mood: Okay
Song: N/A
Units of Caffeine: 1

I’m beginning to realize how much it sucks to not have a credit or debit card or at least a few checks. Because of our little car break-in last Thursday, K and I had to close our bank accounts and open new ones. Right now, we’re in a 5 to 10-day period of time in which our finances are in limbo, and we don’t have any access to any of our cash. Thankfully, my brother and his partner have given us a bit of cash to help out during this period, but there are some things that we just can’t take care of with cash without being a HUGE pain in the ass. Bills are an issue – you can’t just stuff some cash in an envelope and send it on its way. (Well, you can, but there aren’t any guarantees that it will be applied to your account, if received at all.) Laundry is another issue – the washing and drying machines in our building work by way of a card that you can recharge. However, you need a credit/debit card in order to recharge it. No cash accepted. Yes, I could go to some laundry place, but I really don’t want to load up all of my laundry, and spend a few hours sitting around, waiting. I’d rather do that in my own apartment.

But, it’s only for a few days, and what better way to keep me from spending money, right? The good news is that we did get to do some special things for my 6-year anniversary with K, albeit with a story or two. (Since when has my life ever been boring?)

Last Friday night, K and I went to our favorite restaurant in Seattle, the Dahlia Lounge. It’s one of Tom Douglas’s restaurants and, although has a few other great restaurants in Seattle, we just can’t seem to get ourselves to venture outside of the Dahlia. (Note to anyone visiting Seattle – Tom Douglas is a bit of a local celebrity. If nothing else, make damn sure you go to one of his restaurants! You will be glad you did.) So, an evening at the Dahlia isn’t just “going out to dinner,” it’s an experience. It’s relaxing. It’s high-end. The waiters are attentive, but not over-bearing or pretentious. It’s just great! Every time we’ve been there, we’ve gone all out and just ordered things on the menu that we wouldn’t otherwise order – really obscure, adventurous dishes, and I have never been disappointed. But this time around, I ordered a rib-eye with braised kale and a sweet-potato dumpling. The kale and the dumpling were by far the best items on the plate, but the rib-eye was unimpressive: it was rather tough and had too much of a charred flavor to it. I only ate about half of it and politely indicated to the waitress that I wasn’t as impressed with it as other things that I have had in the past. She was extremely apologetic and even went so far as to remove the steak from our bill. (I really wasn’t expecting that, especially since it was the most expensive item on the menu.) But this wasn’t to say that we didn’t drop a lot of money at the Dahlia, and it isn’t to say that it is no longer our favorite spot in Seattle. In fact, this experience is just another reason why we love it so much.

The following night, October 13^th, was our actual anniversary, so I decided to make something special for dinner: stuffed lobster. I’ve made this dish many times in the past, and it’s a keeper! While K was at hear Saturday rehearsal fro Seussical, I went out grocery shopping with some cash borrowed from my brother and his partner. Everything looked great: fresh ingredients, and a couple of live, kicking lobsters! (They were certainly kicking when I put them into the steamer basket, that’s for damn sure!) So, you can imagine my surprise when I cut into one of them and found the meat to be a disturbing, sickly green color. Having made lobster several times, I know the reasons for using live critters: as soon as they die, their bodies immediately begin to decompose and spoil. Although, it’s not color that indicates spoilage, but rather the smell of ammonia. So, I was quite surprised when the offending lobster was NOT dead, nor did it smell of ammonia – but there was no way that I was going to serve this thing; there was definitely something wrong with it, so I threw it away. God, was I pissed. Not only did we now only have half a lobster each, but at $15 per pound, I basically threw away $30 with the 2 lb. lobster. GAH! As it turned out, I had plenty of food, (especially with some seared scallop chowder I bought from Pike Place Chowder and my home made chocolate mousse for dessert), but still – when I make very little money as a theatre artisan AND I have no access to cash due to some asshole who felt the need to take shit, I was (and am) really freaking pissed about the whole thing. Of course, I kept a smile on my face and my moth shut – nothing spoils a romantic, candle-lit anniversary dinner more than a husband yelling, “MOTHERFUCKER!”