26 January 2009
Cheesey winey fun and outright rage
Rather than go out for an expensive night's clubbing, we thought recently that maybe we would try to do a few cheaper but just-as-fun things. This is partly due to our house buying economy drive, and also as a 'beat the credit crunch' initiative. Incidentally, I'm starting to HATE the term credit crunch. Every news item at the moment is credit crunch this, credit crunch that; I think it is being incredibly over-used and must surely by now be losing some of its crunchiness.
Anyway, so on Saturday instead of going out we hosted a Cheese and Wine Evening. It was all terribly sophisticated, and guests were instructed they all had to bring one interesting cheese and one bottle of wine that had been reduced in price by at least £3. I think people did very well indeed on the cheese front; the wine front is a little more hazy but I recall that there was a lot of it, and a lot of empty bottles in the kitchen the next day.
I got to try some great cheeses I've never had before, and had often never even heard of before, including Blacksticks Blue, Cambozola, Wensleydale with cranberries in it, cheddar with mustard in it, organic cheddar, brie, goat's cheese, and Austrian smoked cheese (the one that comes in little orange sausages). It made me appreciate how easy it is just to buy cheddar and never eat anything else, and to miss out on the whole cheesey world that's out there.
And we managed to sound ever so high brow making comments like "it has the taste of a blue, but the creaminess of a brie", before we descended into wine-fuelled SingStar cacophony.
I had a very nice weekend overall, and not just the cheesey winey part.
We'd also said recently that maybe we should have the occasional boardgame night, again as a money saving thing. We've only got a few at the moment, like Monopoly and Risk and they both take ages to play, so we bought a new one we saw while we were out called Blokus. We played it a couple of times on Saturday, and while it was fun and is a good game, it did unfortunately remind me how bad Chris and I are at playing together. I always think "oh we're a bit older and more mature now, we'll be fine", but invariably we are not.
Basically we are both awful AWFUL losers, and sometimes it'll be one of us and sometimes the other, but usually someone ends up in a right strop. It sounds so silly after the event, and it only lasts as long as we're actually playing, but at the time it is the source of uncontrollable rage and frustration. It doesn't help that depending on the game there is usually one of us that clearly wins loads to the detriment of the other, so there isn't even any give or take. Like Chris ALWAYS wins at Buzz, to the point where I want to strangle him with my Buzz Buzzer wire. He always seems to win at Monopoly as well. But then I seemed to do better at Blokus (although we only played twice before we had to stop for the sake of our marriage).
I think it's based on the fact that if we were playing someone else, each of us would usually win, and so losing becomes very difficult to swallow. That sounds a bit conceited, but I'd challenge anyone to play Chris at Buzz Music and not end up feeling like a total retard. It's also much easier to be cross with your partner I think - if you're playing a friend you have to shut your face and pretend you're enjoying it even if they completely demolish you and make smug comments while doing so.
So anyway, I'd say boardgame night was only a partial success. I'm sure we'll forget all about the rage and try again in a few days though, so if I'm found floating face down in a canal with a six-sided dice jammed somewhere unpleasant you'll know why.
Anyway, so on Saturday instead of going out we hosted a Cheese and Wine Evening. It was all terribly sophisticated, and guests were instructed they all had to bring one interesting cheese and one bottle of wine that had been reduced in price by at least £3. I think people did very well indeed on the cheese front; the wine front is a little more hazy but I recall that there was a lot of it, and a lot of empty bottles in the kitchen the next day.
I got to try some great cheeses I've never had before, and had often never even heard of before, including Blacksticks Blue, Cambozola, Wensleydale with cranberries in it, cheddar with mustard in it, organic cheddar, brie, goat's cheese, and Austrian smoked cheese (the one that comes in little orange sausages). It made me appreciate how easy it is just to buy cheddar and never eat anything else, and to miss out on the whole cheesey world that's out there.
And we managed to sound ever so high brow making comments like "it has the taste of a blue, but the creaminess of a brie", before we descended into wine-fuelled SingStar cacophony.
I had a very nice weekend overall, and not just the cheesey winey part.
We'd also said recently that maybe we should have the occasional boardgame night, again as a money saving thing. We've only got a few at the moment, like Monopoly and Risk and they both take ages to play, so we bought a new one we saw while we were out called Blokus. We played it a couple of times on Saturday, and while it was fun and is a good game, it did unfortunately remind me how bad Chris and I are at playing together. I always think "oh we're a bit older and more mature now, we'll be fine", but invariably we are not.
Basically we are both awful AWFUL losers, and sometimes it'll be one of us and sometimes the other, but usually someone ends up in a right strop. It sounds so silly after the event, and it only lasts as long as we're actually playing, but at the time it is the source of uncontrollable rage and frustration. It doesn't help that depending on the game there is usually one of us that clearly wins loads to the detriment of the other, so there isn't even any give or take. Like Chris ALWAYS wins at Buzz, to the point where I want to strangle him with my Buzz Buzzer wire. He always seems to win at Monopoly as well. But then I seemed to do better at Blokus (although we only played twice before we had to stop for the sake of our marriage).
I think it's based on the fact that if we were playing someone else, each of us would usually win, and so losing becomes very difficult to swallow. That sounds a bit conceited, but I'd challenge anyone to play Chris at Buzz Music and not end up feeling like a total retard. It's also much easier to be cross with your partner I think - if you're playing a friend you have to shut your face and pretend you're enjoying it even if they completely demolish you and make smug comments while doing so.
So anyway, I'd say boardgame night was only a partial success. I'm sure we'll forget all about the rage and try again in a few days though, so if I'm found floating face down in a canal with a six-sided dice jammed somewhere unpleasant you'll know why.
3 comments:
i get totally competitive as well and am one of those awful people who really crow with excitment when i am winning. and get annoyed and tantrummy if i am losing. luckily Dave hates board games so we dont play them and our marriage is therefore safe. woe betide him if we play a computer game though.
Dom
Oh good, it's not just us then! You'd think we'd all be old enough to know better, but obviously not...
Felix has not felt the full impact of my competitive nature but my sister and I tend not to be able to play board games anymore (unless of course we are on the same team, in which case we are insufferable but also always the winners). I've done alright with lunchtime games but really only because I don't know the games well enough to stand a chance of winning.
Helen
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