That weekend fell squarely in the category of “Making the best of a bad situation.”  I was stuck oncall, but I have to admit I managed my share of fun.  I actually had a relatively fun week overall, including a few new dining experiences, but that would broaden the base of my update outside the normal scope so I’ll leave that part out.

Come to think of it, on further reflection, the only fun I had was Saturday.  Rats, I could have sworn I did a lot.    Well, I crammed an entire weekend of fun into one day I guess.  I got up semi-early, packed up a carload of supplies, and headed up to Martin’s for a day of cooking. He was firing up his smoker for some upcoming holiday or another, and had generously offered to share grill space with others.  I ran out and picked up a fresh turkey at Trader Joe’s, and while I was at it dug through the freezer to see if we couldn’t scare up a batch of gumbo too.  I got up to the Northland around 11:00, dropped off all the stuff, then Teagan and I had to run right back to the ‘hood to attend a doggie class.  We’ve taken a few classes at the local pet store, and since graduated to a private trainer for her “special needs.”  Well, this same trainer was offering a small class at the nearby Spay – Neuter clinic, and she thought Teagan might benefit from it, so I signed us up.  It’s just a basic obedience class, but she needs to work on her socialization skills so I figured what the heck.  (Some might argue I do too, yet I don’t get sent back to kindergarten every year.   Hmmm.  Food for thought.)  It went OK I guess.  At the end of the day it’s a six-week class for less than the cost of an hour visit to my house, so if I get tired of it I figure I already got my money’s worth.  After class I took the pup back home and rolled back north to check the turkey project.  It was going just swimmingly;  There were five or six birds on the cooker, and a good crowd had gathered to enjoy the afternoon.  Martin and I got to work on the gumbo, which kept me up there quite a while after the rest of the crowd had left.  I’ll tell you what, that stuff is quite a process.  Worth the effort though, I was very pleased with the results.  I was hesitant to leave Martin in charge of dividing it up equitably, but I had to go pick up Donette downtown so I trekked back south.  I slept very fitfully that night, convinced he was sneaking an extra scoop or so into his container.  Considering the mess we all left in his kitchen I suppose he deserved a slightly heavier portion though.

Sunday I never really got around.  You know, football and all that.  It appeared to be a beautiful day outside but I didn’t take advantage of it, save a short game of fetch in the backyard.  The vast majority of the day was spent on the couch watching all the games, and researching dutch ovens.  Oh, what a sad life I lead in my old age.  I’ll share the results though, since I am sure you want to participate in this fascinating life-event, and because I literally didn’t do anything else.  I’m in the market for a 5 – 6 qt enameled model.  After an entire day of reading, I believe I’ve narrowed it down to a Le Creuset, Staub, or possibly a Kirkland.  Honestly, I’m leaning towards the Staub at this point.  There are many on the ever-so-reputable Internet who will staunchly swear that Kirkland is the same thing, even that it is made in the Staub factory, so it is still in the mix.  The question remains though, could I do without that fancy name brand stamped on the lid?