Yesterday, Adam and I had one of those best of all dates, the totally spontaneous just-because-we-feel-like-it-and-we-don’t-have-any-responsibilities-otherwise kind. Adam had taken his next-to-last final in the morning (Crim Law) and was feeling recklessly drunk with the sort of relief that only a worn down law student with the end nearly in sight can feel. He had one more (Secured Trans), but not till Friday, and it was beautifully sunny and warm, so when he picked me up he announced he was blowing off the rest of the day to have fun and hang out.
First, we spent an hour and a half soaking up the sun at Jamison Square, our feet in the water, getting occasionally splashed by the myriad adorable little kids jumping about, and talked about life and us and plans for our new apartment – just fun stuff though, not too deep. (I snagged this pic online, since I was having too much fun to remember to take one.)
Then we headed over to the east side and our favorite wine bar, Noble Rot – spectacular views of downtown and the West Hills from their rooftop terrace. We sat in more sun and drank prosecco, which they were handing around in celebration of their 9th birthday, and then we had more prosecco with limoncello, and then whiskey with crushed ginger. I had a salad of butter lettuce from their garden, with red onion and sunflower seeds.
It hit us next that sushi would be just the thing, and conveniently our favorite Portland sushi house was within blocks. This place – Bamboo – is awesome. It took us awhile to find a replacement for Sushi Toro in DC. Here in Portland, it seemed for awhile that all the sushi was either large and homogenous (Mio) or tiny and overpriced (Hiroshi). Bamboo features a lot of sustainably-harvested fish and their decor is very minimalist-industrial-northwest.
I asked the bartender for a sake rec and she gave me the best one I’d ever had. They serve it in a tall, narrow shot glass inside a red and black lacquered box – pouring until the liquid spills over the glass and fills up the box. I drank two of these and part of Adam’s, which could have contributed to my general feeling of bliss, I suppose, although it could also have been the avocado nigiri with truffled black salt – divine.
Over dinner, we discussed various events we could celebrate as the impetus for the evening – Early 30th Birthday Celebration! Almost Done With School Celebration! I Just Got a Raise Celebration! Adam said, “We celebrate a lot.” I laughed at the time, but today I keep coming back to that comment. It strikes me as meaningful in such a big, wonderful, totally lucky sort of way. It’s amazing to have so much to celebrate.
