Daniel J Isom

March felt like it was full of just the daily grind into busy weekends. There were after school practices, various medical appointments, a vet appointment, gymnastics, and the first mowing of the season. On the weekends there was cleaning, three game days, the new Pixar movie,  Hoppers , a birthday party, and I Love Smyrna School District day where Ben had a chorus performance. In anticipation for a busy final week of the month/first week of April, I took a rare Friday off to allow us to have a quiet final weekend before we spend this upcoming weekend in Syracuse for Easter. With the weather starting to get nicer, the kids got out on their new scooters and I set up the basketball hoop we got them for Christmas. Earlier in the month I found some time to update my "top 10" board games list which hadn't been done in six and half years. It was a fun exercise and post to write and has spurred me to revisit some old favorites, some of which stayed on the list while others dropp...

One of my earliest and certainly the most nostalgic food memories is the breakfast dish eggs in frame. It's know by many names: bullseye eggs, eggs in a frame, egg in a hole, eggs in a nest, hole in one, one-eyed Jack, and many others. I've always called it eggs in a frame since I was a kid. I remember seeing it in the children's cookbook  Kids Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual  and must have asked my mom to make it. It was a favorite back then and it has remained that way as I near my fortieth year. If you know me you know my love for bread, so it should be no surprise that my favorite breakfast dish contains it. Bagels are right up there but eggs in a frame just has more flavors and textures that can't be beat. If you're not familiar with eggs in a frame, it's a very simple dish that only requires three ingredients: eggs, bread, and butter. Any type of bread will work, as long as it's sliced like a standard supermarket loaf of sandwich brea...

 I'm a big fan of BBQ ribs but because these didn't have the smoky and sweet spices that I normal go for, I didn't jump at making them right away. I knew Christine wouldn't really go for them either since she isn't much of a BBQ or pork fan, so I'd have to eat the whole rack myself. The original recipe calls for 8 pounds or approximately 4 racks of ribs. Since I was the only one likely to eat them, I picked up a single rack. I had most of the ingredients except for the main flavor, balsamic vinegar. It may be a staple in many people's households, but I rarely use it but maybe once or twice a year. So I grabbed a decent bottle along with the rack of ribs and headed home. Unlike BBQ dry rub ribs, this used a mixture a fewer spices with sugar, rosemary, and lots of garlic along with the balsamic vinegar. Following the style of many of the recipes, it's got few ingredients and a couple of techniques to create the finished project. Something I found incredibl...

      December followed November with 2 blog posts, no games, and lots of baking. The year as a whole went really well for blogging and baking. I was successful of doing at least two of each of those activities each month, but we didn't make it on the board game challenge. It was a bit of a risk including that one, but it's given me some perspective going forward regarding my board gaming goals. Overall, I'm happy with what I was able to accomplish in 2020. For 2021, I decided to be very aggressive and set 6 goals. You can read all about them here . For now, here is what I accomplished in the last month of 2020: 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month I stated that  Christmas is Canceled . Wrote a recap of the unplayed games I was able to get to the table in 2020. 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge As I stated in the intro, we didn't get anything played in December. It was part giving up and part canceling gaming with friends because of COVID....

     November was an uneven month when it came to accomplishments. Even though I only wrote two posts, they were more involved and a couple of my favorites for the year. The chance to succeed at the board game challenge is basically dead in the water, but I did some really good baking. 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month Did a little health update and things are going really well. Shared our Christmas traditions and some new ones we're starting. 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge We played none of our games for the challenge. That means we still have 7 total plays left to do before the end of the year. It's nearly certain that we won't complete the challenge. I'm sad. I've already decided not to include any board game related resolutions next year. 3)  Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month There's never a bad time to make biscuits. I decided to do a Twitter thread on the steps as I made them. I had a lot of fun doing it, so I ...

    The new school year brought a whole new set of headaches, as we navigated virtually learning. It was an overall better month than August for blog related matters, but not by much. 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month Shared about Cribbage with Grandpas , a mobile game that's very important to me. Wrote a haiku when I couldn't come up with anything else to write about. 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge We got our second play of Takenoko and our first play of Legendary Encounters: The X-Files Deck Building Game in with Shawn and Kelly. That leaves us with 7 total plays left, so we'll need to play 4 games a month for the final two months of the year. It's not looking good folks. However, we do have a lot of time off because of holidays, and with no expected travel, we might just get there. Trying to keep it positive. 3)  Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month October was good month for pizza and other bread type items. Expect more sw...

   The new school year brought a whole new set of headaches, as we navigated virtually learning. It was an overall better month than August for blog related matters, but not by much. 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month We went to the Jurassic Quest exhibit in Philadelphia. Shared my new favorite thing to watch: T90Official's Age of Empires II casts. 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge We got the first of two plays needed for Gold West in with Shawn and Kelly. I really like this game a lot, but Christine isn't really a fan. We now need to average 3 plays a month for the rest of the year. I've moved beyond concerned that we might not finish this challenge to seeing it as doubtful.   3)  Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month It took some time before baking commenced in September, but as the temperatures dropped I got more in the mood. I started the month off just making a couple loaves of rustic sourdough. They came out pretty...

  August wasn't great overall. I hope I'm not losing steam. 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month I shared the a podcast that I really enjoy,  The Endless Honeymoon Podcast Our cherry tomato plants have gone crazy, now I just make batches of Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta Sauce . 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge We didn't get any of our challenge games in with Shawn and Kelly and we never found time to play together. I'm starting to get concerned that we're not going to make it at this point.  3)  Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month August was an okay month for baking. I'm back into weight loss mode, so I've not been super keen on baking much because I'm usually the one who ends up eating most of it. That being said, I did work on my my bread a bit. To start the month I made peanut butter dark chocolate Oreo chunk cookies that I saw on Facebook. They turned out pretty darn good and everyone in the house who tried one seemed to...