So no more football on Sundays huh?  Somebody send me some new Sunday hobbies, pronto-like.  I’m thinking maybe something along the lines of laying on the couch watching synchronized swimming or rugby.  Cartoons?  Outdoor soccer?  Whatever it takes.

That weekend wasn’t all bad considering I was oncall.  We started off Friday stopping by the Brooksider to say hi.  That entertained us for an hour or so, then we walked down the street for dinner at Jalapeno’s.  I was moderately fired up for this excursion, as the last Friday of the month is “chicken verde burrito” day.  As I’ve probably mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of the menu at Jalapeno’s, despite the fact that I eat there once or twice a week.  The chicken verde isn’t on the menu though, it’s a once-a-month special that I rather fancy.  Apparently I don’t fancy it enough to wait in line though, because when I saw the crowded dining room and the waiting list, I turned back around and left.  Mexican food still sounded good, so we headed to option B, which was Cantina Del Rey up the street from our house.  I like the food a lot better at that place than Jalapenos, yet I’ve only been there twice since it opened several months ago.  Go figure.  Apparently lots of people like it, because it was even more crowded, and the wait even longer.  We were getting hungry though, so we decided to hunker down for the 20-minute wait the girl quoted.  After 30-35 minutes we went and checked on our spot, and got the uncomfortable blank look that said we probably had gotten lost in the shuffle.  She guaranteed no more than 10 more minutes, but we’d kind of lost our appetites by that time so we called dinner a bust and went home to round out the evening with a few sets of Rock Band and a bag of chips.

Saturday we didn’t have a lot of qualifications around the day’s activities, just that they be outdoors.  So determined were we to take advantage of the forecasted 60-degree weather, we even conceeded to crossing the river to join the Northlanders for some entertainment.  Kevin was debuting his newly-completed smoker, so we threw a few slabs of ribs in the car and made the arduous trip up I-435.  We finally arrived at noon, and were pleased to find that the smokers were running, and Carol had a spread of snacks out that would have kept even Todd happy.  We threw the ribs on, made a plate of nachos, and spent the rest of the day sitting in the driveway watching the flesh cook.  Around six, we started pulling ribs and doing some taste-testing.  (Not of consequence, but definitely of note, our elected onsite judge ruled one of my slabs the #1 entry.  Just thought I’d throw that in there.)  As to the performance of the new smoker, well I must grudgingly admit it turned out some good product.  It is a super-duper bleeding edge pellet fired machine, as opposed to the traditional off-set wood burner we’ve used for the last several years.  We had both of them running, and I did one slab on each;  The slab off the pellet smoker was undoubtedly better.  But, that said, there is an underlying feeling of “cheating” when you flip a switch, go play cards for 5 hours, then come back to a finished product.  We’ll just have to see if my morals hold up when it’s 3 o’clock in the morning, freezing cold, and I’m faced with throwing a log on the fire every hour or flipping an “on” switch and going to bed.

Sunday afternoon we were still sort of hungry for some Mexican food, so we went back to Jalapeno’s again.  Alas, they were closed.  Geez, who closes for Super Bowl Sunday???  Not like it’s a freaking holiday or something.  We rather dejectedly walked up to the Brooksider and narrowed the arteries on their deep-fried offerings, then went home and waited for game-time.  For the big game, we headed South to our friends the Johnsons.  So far South is this trip (like 15 miles MINIMUM) that we only see them twice a year;  The Fantasy Football draft and Super Bowl Sunday.  I must admit the game didn’t hold a lot of interest for me, but the promise of more BBQ certainly did;  There was a fine spread of smoked ribs and sausage, as well as the various side dishes that everybody brought.  We tore up the buffet table, then settled in and watched the first half of the game with the crowd.  We left at half-time though;  For one thing it was time to get back into our well-defined one mile circle of safety, and for another thing the little people were making me nervous.  I’d say, conservatively, there were at least 10 party-goers under the age of 3 in attendance.  Might have been more, but it was hard to get a count because they wouldn’t quit moving.  Well enough behaved lil’ urchins, but I was sure I was going to turn around and accidentally punt one of the munchins sooner or later.  You just don’t want to be between me and the rib platter, especially when you’re only knee-high;  Dangerous situation.  So, for safety’s sake, we headed back home and watched the second half on the couch.