Yay! Another post! It’s been a really long time. Goodness! Since Nov of last year.

Well it’s been pretty busy, and I’ve been coping with a brutal Eve Online addiction, but it’s starting to wear off so the blog may start to flow again.

Only time will tell, really.

I suppose one of the things I could talk about is a recent experience with gout. I’ll tell you what. That’s some painful stuff there. My toe was sore, and by the third day it had progressed to the point a visit to urgent care was called for. A good friend of mine, Kevin, had actually said I might have gout the first time I mentioned my toe was sore. Turns out that was the case because an anti-inflamatory I was prescribed helped greatly and the bloodwork came back with a serum urate level slightly higher than normal.

After the symptoms subsided I had a more thorough checkup, and kidney function and everything is okay. A month later I had a second acute attack a few days after eating a bunch of sushi so that sort of sealed it for me as far as providing motivation to change diet. Since then I’ve avoided over ninety percent of the meat and alchohol I would have had in a normal week and it hasn’t been a problem. Knock on wood.

Plus it turns out I lost ten pounds. So having certain foods on special occasions, instead of whenever I’m at a restaurant, seems like a reasonable price to pay for slightly better health and to avoid a toe that feels like there’s broken glass being shoved into it whenever it’s slightly jostled.

Now for another story! Brenda’s cousin Gene has come over for his birthday! He wanted to do some shopping in the city so we went to Monster’s Den, Hot Comics, and the Mall of America. Hot Comics was the biggest hit - he was hunting for some Doctor Who collectible stuff and was thrilled with what he found.

Buffalo Chicken Strips

When we get back there were … let’s see … ten or eleven people at the house since Brenda’s father and his wife were also visiting, and her sister had also come over with a small handful of her family as well.

If you’re ever in that situation give this recipe for buffalo chicken strips a try. I recommend doubling the amount of blue cheese stuff you make. I didn’t care for the look of the ketchup sauce either so I melted a stick of butter in a sauce pan and added a bottle of Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing sauce. Perfection. Also don’t put together the sauce and chicken or the blue cheese and salad - just serve it all seperately so people can mix and match what they want.

So - home made mashed potatoes, some corn, rolls, beans, six pounds of chicken strips, buffalo sauce and blue cheese, made for a pretty dang good unplanned family reunion dinner.