February 2024 Wrap-Up


I was sick with the flu for a portion of the month, but it was still pretty jam packed. Christine and I saw two live shows, we visited the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science with the kids, and I still found time to play a bunch of games.

Blah Blog Log

Bored Board Games

Due to being sick throughout the middle of the month, I wasn't able to keep up the incredible pace that I set in January. However, I did still play quite a bit more than I typically played up until recently. I logged 45 plays across 26 games, 19 of those being new for the year. That brought me to 24.1% of the way to part one of my goal (600 plays) and 36% of the way to part two of my goal (150 unique games). Only two of the games were new to me, so the game I'm going to highlight this month is an absolute favorite of mine:

Rajas of the Ganges - This was my favorite game that I didn't own for many years, until very recently when I traded a bunch of games in and finally got my own copy along with some other titles. It's no surprise that I enjoy it so much because the married duo behind it also designed another one of my favorite euros, Village. I've also played Murano and will be playing A Castle for All Seasons sometime this month. Rajas of the Ganges is a worker placement racing game that incorporates dice to carry out various functions, including purchasing tiles that then get placed on a player's board. There are so many mechanics that come together in just the perfect way for me, with how the end game is triggered being my favorite. Players have two tracks, money and fame. that run opposite directions towards each other. When the same player's tracks cross each other on the board, the game enters its final turns depending on the current player order. The race to be the first player to do this while also maintaining enough of a lead when it's done creates such great tension as the game nears the end. There's also the river track that needs to be used very strategically if you want to be successful and careful management of dice so you're not wasting one of your moves from round to round. I can't say enough about this game other than you should definitely play it if you like worker placement games or just euros in general.

Enjoyable Eats

Before going to see Chicago at the Smyrna Opera House, Christine and I went to dinner at Jack's on Main in our tiny town of Clayton. It's the only full service restaurant that sits in town limits, but an absolute hidden gem in the state. With less than a dozen tables, reservations are pretty much required for dinner, but you can usually snag a spot during lunch where they're making some amazing sandwiches. The dinner menu is upscale with a mix of fresh seafood dishes and other American fare like prime rib. I opted for one of the specials that I saw on Facebook "The Cracken".
With what I can only assume was inspired by the Turducken (deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, further stuffed into a deboned turkey), the Cracken is a stuffed chicken dish that I've never seen before. It's a chicken breast that has been stuffed with a crab cake and then wrapped in bacon. It was salty and somewhat sweet while also being very juicy. It was served on top of a mornay sauce that added a light cheese flavor and complimented the rollup very well.  

I'm Watching 👀

True Detective: Season One - This segment is back because Christine and I just watched the first season of this fantastic show that came out in 2014. We're definitely late to the party, but I'm so glad we finally got around to watching this. We have always loved true crime, crime documentaries, and crime drama so this was definitely right in our wheelhouse. We also happened to like Matthew McConaughey...I mean who doesn't? He did an amazing job in the role of Detective Rust Cohle and I think his counterpart Woody Harrelson, who play's his partner Detective Marty Hart, was just as good. The latter surprised me because I've never been that big of a Woody Harrelson fan, but he was great. I highly suggest this show to anyone.  

Resolutions Update

It's clear that setting goals you actually want to do is a great way to make sure you do well at them.
  • Goal #1: Cook More Italian Food - I bought a bunch of specialty pasta from Trader Joe's and made Italian chicken cutlets in the same way I make one of my favorite dishes growing up, Italian beef cutlets.
  • Goal #2: Log 600 Plays of At Least 150 Games - As of February 29th I've played 54 unique games 145 times total.
  • Goal #3: Write at Least 3 Blog Posts Each Month - I made it to three on the normal last day of February.

Whatcha Snackin?

I posted about baked green pea snacks on Facebook years ago and still love them. Aldi has their own version that I was buying when they had them during the summer, but last year they didn't carry them in our local stores. On a recent trip to Trader Joes, I saw that they have their own version in stock so I grabbed three bags and have now eaten all of them already.
If you have never had them, they're a crunchy and salty snack that has the texture of cheese puffs but an earthy green vegetable flavor. They're somewhat better for you compared to other similarly processed snack foods, but I can mindlessly eat them without feeling that bad because they're not AS processed. They have fewer ingredients and do start from a green vegetable after all. Depending on the brand you'll get a little more protein and less fat per serving. 

Wrap It Up

Please comment below with any thoughts or comments on anything I've covered. Thanks for reading!

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