We are still closed for the holidays.  One more day to go and I will be able to say that I’ve successfully weathered another season.  It was a long weekend for me, but a mostly boring one.  Boring is safe though.  We ate out a lot though, and even tried a few new places.  Thursday night we met up with the Martins at The Sky’s down at Crown Center.  It was a solid dinner, but I don’t imagine we’ll make it a weekly dining spot, based on price alone if nothing else.  I had the ribeye steak, which was “OK” but for the money I’ll take Mortons or Capitol Grille.  Martin The Slayer had been out bird hunting all day, and after dinner he gave me a half-dozen quail he’d brutally massacred.  I could have made use of several more, but beggars can’t be choosers.  He said he gave all the rest of his to Schmidt and Scotten so they wouldn’t have to go home empty handed, which I thought noble of him.

Friday brought more dining opportunities.  For lunch I met up with several elderly gentlemen down at George Brett’s on the Plaza.  This is Munkir’s annual effort at socializing, and not to be missed.  We hung out there for several hours, and then a few of us decided to while away the rest of the afternoon at the Brooksider.  Alas, when I stopped by the house to replenish my wallet, I was informed that I would be doing no such thing, as I had unscheduled dinner plans.  Our friends John & Susan took us out to the Blue Koi to celebrate Donette’s birthday.  Yes, her birthday was three weeks ago, and yes she is still milking it.  Dinner was quite good;  I had the duck and noodle soup in case you’re wondering.  While slightly outside our geographically limited entertainment area, I’d say this place will be on our “repeat visit” list.

Saturday brought an almost intolerable day of complete boredom.  My exposure to the outside world was limited to retrieving the morning paper;  After that I was relegated to the couch.  I probably have never been so excited about a football game as I was for the New England game.  Not so much about the game itself, just to have something to watch other than the same reruns I’d been staring at for the last 12 hours.  Hey, I like “The Dog Whisperer” and “American Chopper” as much as anybody, but when they cycle around to the same episode you saw that morning it’s time to watch something else.

Sunday started off looking like a repeat of Saturday.  I finally rallied off the couch around noon though, and decided to make a pot of gumbo.  I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with the quail that Martin had given me, and I figured gumbo was safe.  I threw in a few pheasant that a buddy at work had given me too, and it made for pretty good eating.  You put enough cayenne pepper in something, it really doesn’t matter what else is in it.  Reasonable theory, huh.  Enlivened by that culinary experimentation, I then went down to the Brooksider to watch the Chiefs game.  Alas, the game knocked me right back into my state of perpetual boredom, so I went back home and spent the rest of the day on the couch.