Appetizers

Some friends took us out last night to belatedly celebrate my birthday. They know I enjoy "experiences," and so they planned an evening of axe throwing and Ethiopian food. To start, they booked an hour and a half at the axe place, which included some light coaching. The instruction was pretty good, and I was pleased to stick my axe on the first try. It was literally hit or miss after that, but I felt good that I had considerably more hits than misses, including a few bullseyes. We rounded out our time competing in a version of twenty-one that our coach taught us. We played four games, and each of us won one, which was a perfect outcome for the group.

It's been years since I last had Ethiopian food. Back in the late 80s, when we first moved up here to Northern Virginia, the only place to get that cuisine was Adams Morgan, and we used to go down there every month or so. In fact, we once took my young cousin, Jennifer. She was 8 or 9 at the time, and we were childless twenty-somethings who enjoyed hanging out with a kid and doing fun things. 

On this particular occasion, I had to stop at an ATM because the place was cash-only. As we stood on the dark urban street surrounded by the usual collection of city denizens, she grabbed the money as it came out of the slot, waved it overhead, and skipped away shouting, "I'm rich! I'm rich!" Fortunately, we were able to corral her and recover the money without incident. It's hilarious in retrospect, but my heart was thumping as we made our way to the restaurant.

A little excitement is good for the appetite, though, and I enjoyed my meal then and relished it last night, too.