Friday, August 1
I was stunned at how quickly the week passed. The week had been really pleasant with 70+ degree weather and perfect blue skies, only to meet an ending of gray. It drizzled off and on and then was just gray and cloudy for the rest of the afternoon. I kept hoping the sun would break.
I initially told my friends I couldn’t go “out”, mainly because I am trying to be better with my money. So, we were going to meet up by the rose garden after work to play tennis. Only, by the time I drove off from work, the plans had changed and we were going to meet up at Grand Central Bowl.
I got home, cleaned up some kitty fur ball puke, and then changed about three times. I ended up with my Nike jacket on until I talked to the girls who were at Bar Mingo having cocktails. So, I put on a fun top with a cool jacket, touched up my make-up and headed off to Bar Mingo.
There, the girls were sipping on wine and finishing up salads. They were sitting in the lounge area, people watching and gawking at the very handsome men. It was a date place with handsome men on dates with pretty women or equally cute guys.
I ordered a Maker’s Manhattan and the house made sausage with polenta and sauteed spinach with garlic, and an insalata mista. The sausage was so ridiculously delicious that the girls wanted to split another one. After, we walked up to 23rd Street and got gelato.
Susan was exhausted and bid adieu. I gave Kerry her birthday present a week late, the ceramic wine cooler I painted for her, a bottle of Argyle Extended Tirage, and a collection of food and wine writing from Gourmet, including excerpts by M.F.K. Fischer, James Beard and literary writers covering food.
Kerry and I then walked through the Pearl in search of a cool place to hang out. We walked past Blue Hour, The Vault, District, Teardrop – nothing was really calling us, we just weren’t feeling the vibe. We passed Deschutes Brewery, which was more or less dead. We walked up toward Powell’s where the street had been closed off for a crazy event for some vampire book release, and we continued along toward Clyde Common, also not the right vibe. We turned around and headed back down toward Glisan, where we both had parked over by Andina.
On our way, we passed a cool looking spot that appeared to be open. At first, we weren’t sure if it was a bar or a hair salon! We climbed a couple of stairs and saw, clearly, the cool bar area and lovely restaurant spot called 50 Plates, just opened on Monday. We sat at the tall table with stools right by the kitchen with a view of the chefs wrapping up for the night. Kerry and I both ordered the sipping chocolate. They had a cool late night menu, too. All in all, it looked like an interesting place, we chatted at length with the guy doing the wine list. We’ll be back for dinner.
