The best things in life really are free. I mean sure, you could give them to the birds and the bees and give me money (I can't help that I'm a sucker for cheesy but catchy song lyrics), but for now, while I'm in this phase of survival, I'll take all the free stuff I can get.
Of course, free stuff doesn't typically just fall into my lap. Thanks to some karma god who ensures that I have the worst of luck (There's a solid reason my old cross country coach nicknamed me after Elliot, the blond pseudo-ditsy, incredibly unlucky -- yet ever persevering -- character from the TV show Scrubs), I am on the receiving end of good and free fortune less than the average citizen. I can in fact catalog the most recent instances when unearned SWAG has found its way into my pocket:
1. Sophomore year of high school, homecoming dance. My then-boyfriend and two cross country teammates went bowling after the dance. While exchanging my heels for the oh-so-fashionable bowling loafers, I found a $20 bill hiding underneath the bench.
2. Freshman year of college (That's right; three whole years between freebies), San Francisco's China Town. I was in SF for a journalism conference with three of my colleagues. We went to lunch in Chinatown, stuffing ourselves with dim sum. As we were pulling our debit cards out, a man and his wife who were sitting at the table next to us stopped us and asked to pay for our meal, citing the fact that his daughter was in college on the East Coast and he could only imagine her delight if someone had done the same for her. I only count this freebie as 1/3 of one, considering that two others got in on the action too.
3. Last summer of college; dinner at Murata's. Enough lovey-dovey giggling and schmoozing with a Japanese Intel higher up earned my now-ex boyfriend and I one of the most filling, delicious and expensive meals of raw fish and sake imaginable. It helped that, with my short hair and fair skin, he thought I looked like Princess Di (I still don't see it but if it gets me free toro, I'll put on a crown and practice my white-gloved wave). Kampai!
And honestly, I think that might be it, aside from the occasional "We messed up your drink so the next one's on us" coupon from Starbucks and the once-every-blue-moon free beer from some nice guy I'll decide to strike up a conversation with. What I've learned is that, to really reap the benefits of the freebies, you have to search it out yourself...
...which brings me to yesterday when I went cupping at Stumptown's Annex location on SE Belmont and 34th. Cupping, or coffee tasting, at the Annex is totally free and a super great opportunity to try new coffees AND learn about the drink that makes the world run. Although I have been twice before, yesterday's experience was especially welcoming and enjoyable (perhaps because it was also a date, which is always, always enjoyable). During a cupping at the Annex, tasters get to try six different varietals, ranging in smooth to bold. Each varietal comes from a farm from different regions of the world that Stumptown has direct trade relationships with. The cupping ritual is vital to ensuring that a coffee is not only delicious, but consistent in its taste as well. It's a soothing process, filled with bold aromas (Tasters are to put their noses just centimeters away from the coffee multiple times, including while slowly breaking the oily crust that forms while the coffee is stewing) and bolder tastes that are so damn wonderful they make their way through your entire body and curl your toes (And who doesn't like a good toe-curling experience?).
Of course, free stuff doesn't typically just fall into my lap. Thanks to some karma god who ensures that I have the worst of luck (There's a solid reason my old cross country coach nicknamed me after Elliot, the blond pseudo-ditsy, incredibly unlucky -- yet ever persevering -- character from the TV show Scrubs), I am on the receiving end of good and free fortune less than the average citizen. I can in fact catalog the most recent instances when unearned SWAG has found its way into my pocket:
1. Sophomore year of high school, homecoming dance. My then-boyfriend and two cross country teammates went bowling after the dance. While exchanging my heels for the oh-so-fashionable bowling loafers, I found a $20 bill hiding underneath the bench.
2. Freshman year of college (That's right; three whole years between freebies), San Francisco's China Town. I was in SF for a journalism conference with three of my colleagues. We went to lunch in Chinatown, stuffing ourselves with dim sum. As we were pulling our debit cards out, a man and his wife who were sitting at the table next to us stopped us and asked to pay for our meal, citing the fact that his daughter was in college on the East Coast and he could only imagine her delight if someone had done the same for her. I only count this freebie as 1/3 of one, considering that two others got in on the action too.
3. Last summer of college; dinner at Murata's. Enough lovey-dovey giggling and schmoozing with a Japanese Intel higher up earned my now-ex boyfriend and I one of the most filling, delicious and expensive meals of raw fish and sake imaginable. It helped that, with my short hair and fair skin, he thought I looked like Princess Di (I still don't see it but if it gets me free toro, I'll put on a crown and practice my white-gloved wave). Kampai!
And honestly, I think that might be it, aside from the occasional "We messed up your drink so the next one's on us" coupon from Starbucks and the once-every-blue-moon free beer from some nice guy I'll decide to strike up a conversation with. What I've learned is that, to really reap the benefits of the freebies, you have to search it out yourself...
...which brings me to yesterday when I went cupping at Stumptown's Annex location on SE Belmont and 34th. Cupping, or coffee tasting, at the Annex is totally free and a super great opportunity to try new coffees AND learn about the drink that makes the world run. Although I have been twice before, yesterday's experience was especially welcoming and enjoyable (perhaps because it was also a date, which is always, always enjoyable). During a cupping at the Annex, tasters get to try six different varietals, ranging in smooth to bold. Each varietal comes from a farm from different regions of the world that Stumptown has direct trade relationships with. The cupping ritual is vital to ensuring that a coffee is not only delicious, but consistent in its taste as well. It's a soothing process, filled with bold aromas (Tasters are to put their noses just centimeters away from the coffee multiple times, including while slowly breaking the oily crust that forms while the coffee is stewing) and bolder tastes that are so damn wonderful they make their way through your entire body and curl your toes (And who doesn't like a good toe-curling experience?).
We got to try coffee from Costa Rica, Kenya, Colombia, Ethiopia and Indonesia. My favorite was the Ethiopian coffee, which carried aromas and flavors of wild berries and cider -- not a spicy cider, but a thick, almost syrupy and molasses cider. If little wood nymph creatures had just tried to make wine by squashing berries with their feet and then decided to stomp out a tribal dance on my palate, that's how the Ethiopian varietal tasted.The best part, as I mentioned before, is that the cupping was totally, one hundred percent gratis. AND the Annex does it twice a day, at 11 am and 3 pm, every day.
I'm on the lookout for more free stuff this wonderful, unemployed city has to offer.
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