July Wrap-Up

 

July was full of travel and family time. Time just flew by because I was only home about half of the days of the month. We went back home to Syracuse around the fourth, spent a few days at Great Wolf Lodge, and I also attended my first work travel for my new role. I had a very enjoyable time meeting my counterparts from all over the country. August will start to bring in back our normal schedule towards the end of the month, but we also still have one last big trip left before that happens. 

Blah Blog Log

• June 2024 Wrap-Up - A lot of gaming, one of my favorite TV shows of all time, and a strange chip flavor.
• Table For One - An uncomfortable experience while on a work trip.
  

Bored Board Games

It was another BGA heavy month, but some of those play were with friends which was nice. I also got in two in person sessions and played a couple of solo games while on a work trip. In person gaming should ramp up back to normal levels as we head into the school year. For July, I logged 48 plays across 20 games, 10 of those being new for the year. That brought me to 69.8% of the way to part one of my goal (600 plays) and 78.6% of the way to part two of my goal (150 unique games). This month's highlighted game is:

Food Chain Island - As a part of a black Friday order through the publisher Button Shy, I picked up a handful of solo only games that have been well regarded in the solo game community. The gameplay and goal are simple, from the publisher's website "with a goal of only having one land animal card left on the table after starting with a grid of 16. On each turn, you must move one animal to eat another smaller, adjacent animal. If you cannot move an animal to eat another, the game ends." It kind of reminds me of the triangle peg puzzle that I play/played at Cracker Barrel, in that you're trying to reduce your peg count, or in this case card count, to just one. It seems very simple but the planning and decisions can be complex.

The hook of the game is that each card, numbered 0 - 15 in the base game, has an ability listed on them. Abilities on the lower valued cards are incredibly helpful, but at some point you'll have to lose access to them. Some allow you to move animals, others force you to eat in a specific way, and a couple allow you to remove cards without having to eat them. I played a couple of games while on my work trip one afternoon. What I love about these little wallet games is that they are so portable and can offer some great gameplay in such a small package. There are a few expansions that add more cards to increase the complexity level and offer some new twists. I plan on picking those up sometime soon.

Enjoyable Eats

While on my first ever work travel, I got to have some very enjoyable meals. Getting a per diem allowance means I had consider what I had to spend for the day, but also put me at ease when ordering since I wasn't having to pay out of pocket for anything. Over the 5 days of travel, I didn't come anywhere close to my max any day. 

Pictured above are four different tacos from Taco Bamba that I enjoyed over two trips, a pizza from Matchbox that I talked a bit about in my Table For One post, and ham and cheese croissants from a local bakery & cafe called Mirabeau that were so good I ended up going back the next day for another one. As much as I enjoyed my work conference, having an incredible amount of choices to pick from for food has me so excited to return next year.

I'm Watching 👀

Even though it premiered in June, we've been very happy with how season two of House of the Dragon progressed throughout July. Not having read the books means I can enjoy this show, just as I did with Game of Thrones, because I don't know what's "supposed" to happen with any of the characters. While fantasy outside of the Lord of the Rings universe hasn't always been my thing, I've loved the TV adaptation of George R.R. Martin's work. Season two, so far, has provided us with at great battle and the political scheming that really keeps me engaged. I'm sure we'll see at least a couple more seasons of this before it ends, I just hope it's able to keep up the pace.

Resolutions Update

Doing really well with these. I'm interested in what the last month of the first half of the year has in store. Summer always tends to be the tipping point for some of these.

• Goal #1: Cook More Italian Food - I made Chicken Parm that came out really well, it's definitely one of my favorite things to make. Need to look at making more traditional dishes.
• Goal #2: Log 600 Plays of At Least 150 Games - As of July 31st, I've played 118 unique games 419 times total.
• Goal #3: Write at Least 3 Blog Posts Each Month - I only snuck in a second post just before the end of the month. So I've only completed this 4 of 7 months so far. If I can get back to it for the remaining months then I'd hit 75% for the year, which is pretty good.

Whatcha Snackin?

I mentioned last month when sharing about the Hot Mustard flavored Doritos that we had also picked up the Tangy Pickle flavor of Doritos but hadn't tried them. Once we did crack them open, they didn't last long. I think between myself, Christine, and Grace, the bag was gone in two days. While I think I still enjoyed the Hot Mustard ones more because they were so different, I can understand why the girls preferred the Tangy Pickle flavor. They had a fairly tangy and vinegar forward flavor with the standard Doritos crunch.

I feel like pickle flavored things are having a real moment right now. I've shared a couple of items, many of which were from Aldi, that have that flavor profile and taste great. I mean, it's kind of like the summer version of pumpkin spice. Wherever dill and vinegar made sense, it seemed like there was a version of the product. I saw chips, popcorn, pasta, hummus, spreads, dips, nuts, etc. It may not be for everyone, but we're here for it.

Wrap It Up

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