Who's Got the Magic Carrot?

Hot Dog Heaven
Originally uploaded by kardinalsin.

Well, I'm a bit backed up on the posting and while I can take the cop-out answer that the holidays have pretty much slapped me upside the braincan, I seriously have no excuse. Really. None. Nothing. It's pure Virgo laziness at this point.

Aside from all that, I feel like I've been really busy. Just to catch up on a one-by-one basis, let's take a couple of weekends ago, pre-Thanksgiving and pre-December where Grace and I made a small trip out to Buena Park to hang out with one of her former co-workers to catch the USC/Cal game (which incidentally, we did not watch).

What ensued was quite fun, given that I'm not normally very good around people I don't know at all that well. We'll start with our dinner at the Illinois chain standard, Portillo's. You know Skooby's, right? That bastion of fancified organic hot dogs? Well, Portillo's is like that cousin that visits from the Midwest in all his cornfed glory, but covered in savory grilled onions. The highlight of this visit has to be their famous chocolate cake shake. Never have I had such a devilish sweetness post-dinner and probably would make the trip to Buena Park for this dessert alone. Too delicious.

After that, we rolled ourselves back to the house for a game of Killer Bunnies which turns out to be a mind-bender of a game. When one of your weapons is a negative black hole, you have to believe this is one twisted little game.

Through one learning game, I was quite lucky to come really close to winning before losing out to Grace. Truthfully, the bunny army I amassed in the second game was more intimidating and I probably one out of sheer lucky, but needless to say, I think I got the hang of it.

It all comes back to something that I do tend to enjoy and endorse. If you manage to meet up with people, it tends to be more fun experiencing new things and just sitting and chatting for a bit. While I do have a good time just lounging in front of the tube for a while, there's something to be said for the lost art of game night.

Anyone up for some shoots & ladders?