I do drink wine on occasion, but prefer it with something savory instead of additional sugars. And, while I appreciate a good cup of coffee (naturally on tap), Bellingham is awash with adorable little cafes, many of which I've never set foot in and I feel a bit backlogged on those already. For my personal sanguinary tastes, I'd much prefer to go next store to Chocolate Necessities and get the darkest most sullen piece of unadulterated chocolate in a tiny little truffle form and cut out all the froofroo.
While I am really not a dessert person in terms of eating, I admittedly adore the eidos of dessert. And crossing the aesthetic divide from taste to pure visual, I appreciate these puffs and pastries passionately. Particularly the centerpiece and food sculptures that have divorced the correlation between food and eating to a similar extent that Fashion Week may have divorced fashion from wearing clothes.
While I am really not a dessert person in terms of eating, I admittedly adore the eidos of dessert. And crossing the aesthetic divide from taste to pure visual, I appreciate these puffs and pastries passionately. Particularly the centerpiece and food sculptures that have divorced the correlation between food and eating to a similar extent that Fashion Week may have divorced fashion from wearing clothes.
Hence my particular fascination with Top Chef: Just Desserts, etc. To me, the first AND final bite can all be through the eye, thanks much.
I found it an astute location for an informal milonga. Most milongas are wise to have sweets and wine, while others make do with coffee. Since a dessert shop has both, it works pretty well. Because Bellingham is anything if not unreliable about crowd size, the smaller floor is hardly an issue and the fact that there is wine and dessert over which to linger while waiting for the three or four leads to make their rounds is not much of an issue. And the decor is admittedly pleasant.Oh, best of all, of course, it's free.
The crowd was largely unfamiliar to me. It seemed like a melange of people who've signed onto this town in the last couple of years, and the WWU crowd. The guy who ran the place is a face I've seen in passing. He learned in Kansas, which gives him kudos in my world. One of my all time favorite festival finds was a Kansas dancer.
The crowd was largely unfamiliar to me. It seemed like a melange of people who've signed onto this town in the last couple of years, and the WWU crowd. The guy who ran the place is a face I've seen in passing. He learned in Kansas, which gives him kudos in my world. One of my all time favorite festival finds was a Kansas dancer.
I didn't get a chance to dance with him, so I can't say much about him specifically, but for now "Kansas" will suffice. Also, he has long hair and keeps it in a ponytail, which I clearly take as a marker of good things for reasons not entirely clear to me (but I have a few theories involving cute guys who damn well know how to hold a lady...).
The music was enjoyable and some of it novel, which I always appreciate considering my leviathon collection. My favorite set of the evening was a fortunate accident in terms of stumbling upon probably my favorite partner of the evening just as it began. The set was I think Yann Tiersen, although I didn't recognize all the pieces, but definitely very simple and haunting solo piano. The partner was a very light lead, and I was initially concerned, since my shoes were extremely slick (virtually new shoes on a concrete floor are like strapping on your own personal ice rink) and he was not exactly burly or towering next to me in my stilletos. But over the course of three songs, we really got a feel for each other and the final dance was just delicious (insert some kind of corny dessert related/bliss whatever joke here - I really wonder if the organizer chose Pure Bliss for its name alone). Did I mention, he also bore a passing resemblance to Daniel Radcliffe and thus I kept trying to call him Daniel (his real name is David) in my head. Or just Harry Potter. He's a wizard most definitely.
At any rate, I didn't stay particularly long, as I have had one of those obscenely candle-at-both-ends kinds of weeks and had spent all of my resolve just talking myself into not turning around and running home as I neared the shop in question.
Sadly, it is only a once a month venue, but it is fun to see how the scene has changed and evolved since I've been gone. I don't necessarily run into the same blissed out opportunities that I have gotten the lucky nights I managed to escape out in Seattle, but there are some pretty shiny little bright spots opening up.
The music was enjoyable and some of it novel, which I always appreciate considering my leviathon collection. My favorite set of the evening was a fortunate accident in terms of stumbling upon probably my favorite partner of the evening just as it began. The set was I think Yann Tiersen, although I didn't recognize all the pieces, but definitely very simple and haunting solo piano. The partner was a very light lead, and I was initially concerned, since my shoes were extremely slick (virtually new shoes on a concrete floor are like strapping on your own personal ice rink) and he was not exactly burly or towering next to me in my stilletos. But over the course of three songs, we really got a feel for each other and the final dance was just delicious (insert some kind of corny dessert related/bliss whatever joke here - I really wonder if the organizer chose Pure Bliss for its name alone). Did I mention, he also bore a passing resemblance to Daniel Radcliffe and thus I kept trying to call him Daniel (his real name is David) in my head. Or just Harry Potter. He's a wizard most definitely.
At any rate, I didn't stay particularly long, as I have had one of those obscenely candle-at-both-ends kinds of weeks and had spent all of my resolve just talking myself into not turning around and running home as I neared the shop in question.
Sadly, it is only a once a month venue, but it is fun to see how the scene has changed and evolved since I've been gone. I don't necessarily run into the same blissed out opportunities that I have gotten the lucky nights I managed to escape out in Seattle, but there are some pretty shiny little bright spots opening up.
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