Listen to the Rain

Last night, worldbshiny and I went to a sake tasting event at Slurping Turtle. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, since the event just read:

Sip on a variety of rare and hard to find Sakes at this unique event! Join us on Tuesday, April 16th, 2019 from 6pm-9pm for a Sake Social, including 10+ Sakes, Japanese whisky & passed appetizers. Industry experts will guide your tasting experience and provide details about all things sake!

Guide our tasting experience? "Passed" appetizers? Well, sake is the best alcohol on the planet, so I asked some people and of them worldbshiny was free, so we went.

It turned out to be much more informal than I was expecting. Slurping Turtle had put out takoyaki, kara-age, cucumber rolls, edamame, and gyōza and then the sakes were mostly in plastic tubs filled with ice. There were people on both sides of the central table, and the host told us to go join the line, so we did.

( Pictures and comments within )

We were there until just after nine when the event ended, much to our surprise. worldbshiny said she had expected to be there until maybe 7:30, but the atmosphere turned into more of a party as the night went on. The experts brought out a drinking game with three kabuki masks of various sizes and a dreidel (their words) which had mask pictures on the sides, and players would drink from the mask whose picture came up. I said I was Jewish and had lived in Japan, and then they said that because of that I had to play, so I did. I spun the dreidel off the table and they told me that was a multiplier, so when the largest mask came up on the second spin, I drank twice from it.

Waking up this morning was a bit rough, though I'm fine now as I write this.

As worldbshiny were standing near the game, a couple (Edit: cillic and heather.eisele) came up to talk to us. cillic took in my all-black clothing and my long hair and asked me what I did, as he opined that I did not seem like someone from the corporate world. I told him I worked for the AMA, and he said he also worked for a nonprofit, and we chatted for a while. I do not remember about what, but I do remember having a nice time, and we exchanged Twitter usernames and Facebook invites all around. And then worldbshiny and I walked to the red line, both made it home safe, and collapsed into bed.

Best $30 I've spent in a long time! One of the experts said that given the value of the sake they were serving, it should have cost $150 a ticket, but even at that low price there didn't seem to be that many people there. worldbshiny suggested that maybe they were expecting a bigger turnout, and maybe they were. But it meant the event was pretty cozy and there wasn't any rushing, so I'm satisfied even if Slurping Turtle wasn't!