Nice Weekend...

Kickball...Defense Rules:
On Friday night, our intrepid kickball squad pulled out yet another victory. Once again, we played stellar defense (something that we Austinites have not seen much of this year. I'm looking at you, Longhorn secondary), earning the first shut-out in the league this year. We moved to 5-1 on the year with sole possession of first place.

Kickball defense may sound easy, but, folks, that red rubber ball can be tough to corral. It's a little too big to reliably catch with hands alone. One must use the arms and body to 'bear hug' the ball on pop ups. At the moment of the catch, there is a lot of recoil, as the ball is very bouncy. This is due to Newton's 2nd Law of kickball physics. The other challenge is in throwing out baserunners. An 8-inch rubber sphere has the aerodynamic qualities of a block of wood, and it's hard to grip. As a result, most throws to bases end up looking like Stephen McGee passes.

Defense requires concentration and a lot of coordination. It's a lot of fun.

Lending an air of credibility to our league is this nifty website with our standings.

Finger Food Fest Fabulous Fun for Friends and Family!
Saturday night, we hosted the hotly anticipated Finger Food Fest cooking challenge. The event was a rousing success, eclipsing the fun of the Guacamodown.

The head-to-head matchup structure worked perfectly, and the quality of the cooking was unreal. We have some serious culinary talent amongst our group of friends and family in Austin.

Some tidbits:

• We had more than 20 attendees with 12 different and unique food entries
• Props to Erin and Andy Chun for making the trip all the way from California for the event (well, they just happened to be in town, but it was great to see an old friend again)
• Someone (to be revealed in the full writeup) actually entered a concoction called "The Devil's Chocolate Mousse Eggs". Yes, these devilled eggs featured a chocolate filling. Fabulous.
  

I'll do a more full write-up soon with pictures.