Yes, even in the new year I am persisting with the late updates. Timely blogging wasn’t one of my resolutions, what can I say. The issue is, I didn’t want to turn on my PC yesterday and waste electricity, due to the ongoing drought conditions out here. You are correct, that makes no sense at all, I’m just reaching.
We kicked off the weekend Friday night with a big ol’ night of nothing. It was sort of a rough week, I think we were both out of gas. Donette sat on the couch and enjoyed whatever the TV had to offer, and I chose to fire up the heater on the patio and have a cigar. Yes, my first cigar in… A long time. I bought one a few weeks ago on a whim, despite the fact I have probably 30 sitting in my humidor, and decided it was time to give it a try. Quite enjoyable really, or maybe it was just nice to be sitting outside in January. It passed the time at any rate.
Saturday we hosted a semi-impromptu football watch party. It’s not just every year you get to see the Chiefs in a playoff game, so we decided to make the most of it. Donette made a pot of chili, some cheese dip, salads, wings, etc, and we had a few friends over to watch the games. There was a two-year-old in the mix too, who kept us just about as entertained as the games. (Despite the favorable outcome, I didn’t really find the Chiefs game all that interesting…) One of her favorite pastimes is “running,” as in, race from one side of the house to the other. The requirement to play this game comes up rather frequently, and you are all but obligated to play when directed. A sample conversation would be:
Harper: “Phil, let’s run.”
Phil: “No, not right now, I’m watching the football game.”
Harper: “Phil, let’s run.”
Phil: “Go give Doni a try, she likes to run.”
Harper: “Phil, let’s run.”
You get the idea. You can draw it out as long as you like, but at the end of the day you might as well just get up and run. This scenario has played out many times, with many different victims, and to date I’ve never seen it end any differently. Hey, I probably need the exercise anyway. After enjoying the Chiefs victory, and many laps across the house, we still had a lot of food and a moderate amount of energy left so we tuned in to the second game. Despite no interest whatsoever in the outcome (except wanting the Chiefs to get Denver in the next game,) we ended up watching that whole game also. Hey, nothing better to do with a Saturday.
Sunday we got up and headed to the big city of Folsom to meet some friends at Land Ocean for a tasty brunch. It was a fine brunch, I’d go back. As usual, I had to find a few quibbles with the California food though. I ordered the chilaquiles, based on the fact that, well, I like them. What I got on my plate was a tasty dish indeed. It was, however, by no possible stretch of the imagination, chilaquiles. It didn’t even have chips in it! (OK, there were a few strips sprinkled on top, sort of a garnish. The very BASE of chilaquiles is chips.) You can’t, or at least you shouldn’t, just throw together a few random things and name it after a semi-traditional dish. It should at the very least vaguely RESEMBLE said dish. This was a plate of black beans and potatoes with a fried egg on top. What in the name of all that is holy. I guess I can’t complain too much because I quite enjoyed it, but at the same time the disappointment was very real. I have a tough go at the restaurants out here, I’ll tell you what. After that, my heart heavy with another grave food injustice, we headed across the street to the movie theater and caught the noon showing of The Hateful Eight. It was every bit the over-the-top graphic bloodbath we expected, and so we thoroughly enjoyed it. When we got out of the theater it was a rather nice afternoon out, so we joined some friends at their house down the street for a little backyard party. Just kind of sat around and watched his smoker and enjoyed the weather: Fitting Sunday entertainment. For the big Sunday finale, I went home and fixed myself a big skillet full of chilaquiles, and ate the whole thing. OK not really. But I wanted to. And maybe next weekend I shall.