Ah, what a lovely day Sunday was! The sun was shining, the weather mild–and more so than that, people were out and aboot! For me that mean a combination of some of my all-time favorite activities. That is: eating, drinking, and playing board games!
First up was a cheeky gathering with some friends for bubble tea. I’m sure any parental units (ahem) who may be reading this are wondering what bubble tea is, so a handy Wiki explanation: “Bubble tea is a Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Taichung in the 1980s. Most bubble tea recipes contain a tea base mixed/shaken with fruit or milk, to which chewy tapioca balls and fruit jelly are often added.”
Because of the balls (which is hilarious to describe in any case) the drink features a big ol’ straw. The finished product usually looks like a variation of this:
To be fair, the first time I had bubble tea was in Murfreesboro, and the large, chewy, gelatinous tapioca balls totally put me right off. But like all things, sometimes a repeat exposure does the trick. After all, who enjoyed coffee or beer the first time they ever tried it?!
I didn’t take a picture of my delicious banana-strawberry tea, but I did snap a photo of the monstrosity my friend Jacky ordered. I don’t know what the thing was even called, but “Waffle Monster” is what we’ll go with. The beautiful, terrible creation featured ice cream, whipped cream, sprinkles, m&m’s, lucky charms, two chocolate sticks, and then some all wrapped up in a diabetic-coma inducing waffle. But just look how glorious it is.
To its credit, it really has a way of bringing folks together! Look at that team effort. A+ all around.
Afterwards H and I joined another group of friends for a card game called Munchkin and some food and drink. But how to describe Munchkin?
Online it says: “Munchkin is the mega-hit card game about dungeon adventure . . . with none of that stupid role-playing stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items! Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm . . . or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon . . .”
Suggested play-time: one to two hours. Our playtime? Well over three hours folks. And that’s when a good game turns bad. You know how in the beginning of Risk and Monopoly it’s all fun and games till someone gets some good land or properties and then someone gets owned? Then suddenly it’s time to get serious and the look of affection between partners and friends turns to cold, sinister calculation? Yeah. Munchkin can have a bit of that once everyone starts taking off the kid gloves, and when the fun wears off in say, the third hour or so!
Still, it was good times, and plenty of food and wine to go along with it. Here’s a photo of a bit of the mayhem–looks like I was caught in the act! (Check out that beard/moustache combo. Kid looks like a freaking viking!)
Clarissa Explains Hardly Anything 