Hooray for delicious food. To celebrating the loving holiday of Valentines, Sarah decided to celebrate that which she loves most; making food! We hosted a potluck here at the manor of Valentines Day themed food. Reds, pinks, and hearts were all on display, as the pictures will show.

As you have no doubt noticed, many of these dishes are gluten free. Our good friend Stacy is celiac, and we do our best to accommodate our friends. This whole spread was absolutely delicious, and we had several guests. In addition to the aforementioned Stacy, we also had Nik, Darwin, and Gary. After we ate to our fill, we had a Board Games night. However, we will cover that it in a later post. All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

    Last night was pretty spectacular. About a year ago, Sarah got the crazy idea to make the board game Settlers of Catan out of edible cookies. After enlisting some help from friends, she made all terrain tiles out of cookies, icing, and the occasional candy. However, conflicting schedules prevented us from getting together for a boardgame night, so cookie Catan was sent to the freezer.

    All you really need to know is that it was absolutely worth the wait. The cookies kept very well, the icing was delicious, and the level of detail on each cookie was really impressive. Using liquorice, gummy bears, and jujubes playing pieces, we made a completely edible gameboard. My personal favourites were the prairie tiles, which included little gummy tractors.

    After Settlers of Catan, we started playing Cards Against Humanity. The quickest and most accurate summary of this game is Apples to Apples for horrible people. Witty, quick-paced, hilarious, and always offensive, this game gets pretty regular play on boardgame nights.

    We finished off the night with Tsuro, a simple strategy game. I had looked at this game many times before, but last night was my first opportunity to play it, and it was an absolute blast. A quick game that marries simple mechanics to deep strategy. Furthermore, this game is very aesthetically pleasing. Tsuro is a perfect closer to the evening, being equal parts serene and engaging.

    All in all, it was an excellent boardgame night. Many thanks to all involved; this is absolutely what I needed to relax from the holidays.

-Alastair