Ribs and risks

Angela's mom was in town over the weekend, and she and a friend came over for a barbecue on Saturday. We love the grillin'! Angela is great with meat. She can marinate, dry rub, and baste with the best of them. Meat intimidates me a bit, so I'm not so good at cookin' it. Angela's strength is my weakness.

We played euker for the first time. We've played pitch and spades before, but somehow we had missed the euker boat until Saturday. It wasn't that hot so we played outside on the patio. Angela and I were partners, against Angela's mom and her friend Julie, and we managed to hang in there with them. I don't think I bid very well because I always thought I had a crappy hand. I had a decent hand once and didn't bid, but Julie bid and we ended up setting them. I felt bad because I probably should have bid. One can't go through rounds of cards (or life) playing defense all the time. But I didn't feel like I knew what I was doing so I decided to sit on it rather than make a move and potentially make a fool of myself. Hmm...it's the same sentiment with meat and cards. If I don't feel like I can master the process, I don't try. Interesting. Or I let someone else do it better. At the very least, I need to feel like I'm decent at it before I put myself out there. That could be a mix between the fear of failure and pure laziness. Something to ponder. Taking risks comes so naturally for me in other areas. But since they are areas of familiarity, perhaps they aren't risks at all. Perhaps they only appear to be risks to objective bystanders who don't share the comfort level.

My goodness...I just wanted to write a blog about spare ribs, and now I've launched into deep thoughts about what constitutes being out on a limb. Who knew that euker could produce so much self-awareness.