Friday night we moved our theoretical conversations about a weekly Shabbat dinner into more concrete terms. It was Simchat Torah, which is the week that the annual schedule for reading the Torah resets back to The Beginning. Matt studied and made a fantastic pesto aoli, which he served with an amazing salmon fillet. I contributed Tomato Bread Soup (with a few modifications), that was frankly awesome, and a lovely spinach salad. Andy came over to enhance the sparkling conversation and contributed some excellent bottles of wine. Doug showed up late after getting a ticket on the drive up from Portland, and all in all it was a really great way to remind ourselves about what a day of rest should be like. Thus ends the exercise in positive, or hyperbolic, adjectives. Thank you.
The entire rest of the weekend, with little exception, was dominated by board games.
I am not in any way complaining. Quite the contrary, I’ve heard it hypothesized that because the weather is so bad here, people are obligated to be and do interesting things indoors. Intelligent conversation and compelling board games seem to be much more highly valued here than in other places I have lived. Not surprisingly, I’m thrilled.
Doug bought and taught us Rummikub. It’s Rummy, played with some variations and very satisfying domino-like tiles instead of cards. We played that for a bit after the hike and before dinner.
Then we taught Doug how to play Settlers of Catan. It’s a Risk-like game, where you expand, settle, and eventually dominate. I really don’t know what it is about this game; the board is different each time, and that’s kind of interesting, plus there’s lots of other things that can be left to chance and you get to barter/trade/extort from your fellow players, but for whatever reason, BEWARE SETTLERS. It is addicting. I mean addicting. We spent the rest of the weekend playing this game. The only time we weren’t playing was when we were eating or sleeping. No lie. Doug admits to waking up this morning, thinking about the game.
Luckily, Matt and I were able to go to work today, as the game requires 3 players and Doug went back to Portland Sunday evening.
Other games we’ve been enjoying quite immensely are Carcassone, which is sort of like Settlers, but different and available to 2 players, Set, which is an old favorite among many friends, and Killer Bunnies, which I still have kind of mixed feelings about. The game is smart, and the cards are funny, but somehow I’m just not sold.
Also of note: We ate at the highly recommended Santa Fe Cafe last night. There were enough green chiles in that meal to satisfy even me. It was scrumptious.
And, so ensure this post goes full-circle, I made Matzoh Ball Soup tonight for dinner. It was quite good, if I do say so myself. Hmmm…why am I suddenly feeling guilty all the time?
