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February Decor
We have made it through one of the rainiest seasons in Portugal (and much of Europe) in decades. Thankfully we didn’t have any water related problems of note, but it did mean we spent a lot of time indoors January and early February. Back in Medford our house had, over the years, slowly gained specific…
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Rainy Season Comfort Food
Winter and the rainy season have undoubtedly arrived in Northern Portugal. We have been spending most days indoors with video games, board games, and movies to keep us entertained. We have been playing the heck out of a new video game, maybe we’ll cover that topic in a future blog. When rain is pouring down…
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December Viewing: Baby Don’t Hurt Me
Way back in 1993 Haddaway asked us “What Is Love” and every December Michelle and I sit through a bunch of films trying to see if his answer, “Baby don’t hurt me” is correct. Technically this month is my romantic comedy counter to Michelle’s fear filled October, but every year a few other genres sneak…
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Cross Stitch Christmas
In 2005 I started making annual Christmas ornaments for Andrew, myself, our parents, and sisters. By 2019 it had become one of those projects that brought more stress than joy. I always felt behind during the frenzied holiday season, so I stopped doing it. Last December when we pulled out our seasonal decor, my old…
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Ark Nova: A Zoo Building Boardgame
In reality building and running a zoo seems like a nightmare to most people, except maybe Matt Damon and a handful of zoologists. Today I hope to tell you how the experience translates into a board game, specifically Ark Nova. Released in 2021 by first time developer Mathias Wigge and currently rated as the #2…
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Friendsgiving 2025
I am absolutely food obsessed. This is not a new development. Food and memories of holidays, people, and places are pretty much inextricably linked for me. I remember baking cookies with Gram Novotny when I was too tiny to reach the counter (I had to stand on a step stool or chair). My passion for…
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Fall Cooking 2025
As fall settles in and winter quickly approaches, we’ve been making some seasonal dishes. Many of our choices were made with our Thanksgiving celebration in mind, specifically dishes or ingredients we could prepare and freeze for that menu. We mentioned before that we had some Roasted Pumpkin Soup the night we went to see Jethro…
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ROCK That Flute Jethro
We carved out some time between our intense, scary Halloween movie schedule in order to attend a concert. Several months back, Andrew and I had seen a bulletin board advertising that Jethro Tull was going to be in Guimarães in October. It just seemed like one of those opportunities we shouldn’t pass up. I mentioned…
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A Lot Of Silent Hill 2 And A Few More Movies
Slow dread, unnerving suspense, paranoia, unexpected startles, and gory demises made up a large part of our October. During the last week of the month we spent many hours beating the video game Silent Hill 2 (Remake) and saw a handful of horror films that were surprisingly high quality. If you want to emulate our…
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Horror Filled October
Andrew allowed me to start my scary movie viewing a few days early. Since we both got minor colds during the last days of September, we had even more time to settle into our excessively dark cinema room with cozy blankets and get sketched out. I decided to publish our list a week early in…