9 February 2017
Since I've been sick, I didn't meet anyone new today... But I could talk about someone who I encountered previously. I mentioned that I had gone to Senia in my previous post. When I went to Senia, it was an awesome experience, but this is not a food review.
When I go out to eat, I prefer the corner chair, corner table, corner of the restaurant. Just. Corner. If I can't get the corner, I will pick the chair closest to the corner. I will move faster than everyone else in the party just so I can have the corner. I prefer it because I like to watch what's going on in the environment and the people around me. It's a nice intermission to see how interactions unfold outside of your own.
Anyway, the table I got was the corner table of all corner tables. There were a bunch of different people here that I had the divine pleasure of observing.
The couple to my left were good friends catching up since they were here for a wedding. The people in the middle of the dinning room looked like they were on a date... And so did the woman sitting directly across from me.
The layout of Senia's corners may be a little peculiar to some people. Whatever seat you took at the corner, you would make eye contact with someone directly across from you... And wasn't in your party. I didn't mind this because my company was fantastic.
But I might have encountered someone doing the same thing as me. With each lull of the conversation, my eyes wandered across the room again, and landed on the woman across from me. I felt a sense of kinship with her dining partner, since we had both chosen the same beers for the evening (Echigo is my favorite, in case you were wondering). I'm not sure what was different about this woman, but she seemed rather disdainful, like she was judging me. Harshly. It didn't matter though, I was pretty buzzed and having a grand time. Eventually, the co-owner/cook approached her table and she lit up.
"Oh, it's so nice to meet you! We've been dying to try this place when it first opened. We first heard of you when..."
She continued praising him as he smiled graciously. As soon as the he walked away, her demeanor changed.
"Why'd you have to order another beer?"
Her partner continued to drink his beer peacefully.
"Hurry up and finish your drink so we can leave."
Eventually the bill came around and he excused himself from the table, presumably for the bathroom. It was the first time the woman and I made eye contact. I was awkwardly putting an ahi topped rice cracker into my mouth, smiling. She was wearing the scowl on her face, as she had been all evening. When our eyes met, she quickly looked away.
I continued to eat, my happiness in spite of her. In any case, here's a pic of what I'm pretty sure I ate that day.