Cue the Wayne's World Flashback Effects

What's Wayne's World? Is that like Elmo's World?

Since our last post back in October of 82', a lot has happened here at La Hacienda De Handfelt (translated as 'the two and a half bedroom apartment of de Handfelts). Well, not really, but relatively speaking it will surely seem that way since I'm going to cram 2 months worth of modest social activities into one post. Bullet points always seem like a good place to start in scenarios such as these. In other words, I'm in no mood for creative, or even logical segues.

-October saw hordes of out-of-town Handfelts descending upon the Windy City, taking the City of Broad shoulders and getting it into a virtual headlock, noogies included. First up was the San Diego clan, Leo and Mary, who were in town to visit Cousin (well, their daughter) Katie, who, by all accounts, is the "original Katie Handfelt". Never mind that their names are spelled differently, it's a semantics issue. We met up at Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder, which appears to have been dropped into Lincoln Park from The Shire. Oddly shaped pizza pot pies were consumed before we headed over to get some late season ice cream at Annette's. Upon seeing so many young, virile* college students who reminded me of my rapid ascent towards old age and mortality, I consumed my Styrofoam bowl of chocolate frozen yogurt as fast as I could, in a vain attempt to achieve a Mach 5 level ice cream headache that would "make it all go away."

*I may have used the word 'virile' in a wrong, potentially awkward way right there.

Leo, Katy, Lily ("hello? Down here!"), some creepo, Katie's roommate Ally, Katie and Mary. A crew best not trifled with, to be sure.

Uncle Leo and Aunt Mary make their HHH debut with everyone's favorite photo accessory.

-Later that month (Halloween weekend for those of you playing "HHH Bingo" at home), Bernie and Chris came for a visit. Lily was fawned and feted upon, as that's actually Grandparent Law. Every time a grandparent ignores this law, a CSI gets cancelled. It's not only law, it's science. We were also able to fit in another trip to The Publican, and once again it was met with thunderous applause and flashing, the latter being done by me. Bernie and Chris were understandably nervous about letting me order for the table, but soon came to embrace the chicken, country ribs and pork belly like long lost relatives back from the war.*

*Calm down there Sally, food pics will be forthcoming in a later post. You know this man!

At The Publican with Bernie and Chris, where we ate like kings and queens. In fact, I banged my fist on the table numerous times, speaking in rich, deep tones and drinking out of goblet while wiping my ale stained beard on my sleeve and laughing at misfortune of others. (Because that's what I imagine kings did at large, gluttonous feasts.)

Wait, what? My head appears to be on a different body? Classic! I can really get behind this type of innocent tomfoolery.

-Fast forward the Handfelt VHS tape to November for a visit from Katy's friend Jen and her husband Chadwick (though for some reason he prefers "Chad", his given name), who came into town for the Iowa/Northwestern game. Also known as, "the start of Iowa's downward shame spiral". None-the-less, we had no idea the fate that would befall our black and gold heroes, so it was a blast all the same. We ended up tailgating in Evanston on a side street by ourselves (probably a good thing since I had unbearable B.O. that day) and had to huddle together inside a giant bison carcass to keep warm, but were thankfully saved by Katy's slow cooker BBQ pork sandwiches on French bread* and Chad's well worn gloves. You read can Jen's far more eloquent recap on their blog, found here. Same wit and charm without the drunken, esoteric rambling.

Jen and Katy, tailgating. Alone and cold. Not pictured: me desperately trying to not pee my pants while Chad offers stern words of encouragement.

Jen and Chad's rental car.* Respect the ginger stache! (But did it blog a 'Mustache Diaries'?)

*LOL WUT? J/K.

What else?

• Katy got bangs.
• Lily turns 11 months in 2 days. She'll likely be walking before the next update.
• Go see 127 Hours and Black Swan - out December 3rd. Not just because I'm working on them (though c'mon, do me a solid), but that they're two of the best movies of the year. Black Swan will blow your mind. In the next weeks I'm seeing True Grit, The Fighter, The Company Men and Blue Valentine. I'll have wholly original Top 10 list posted by the end of the year. Mark your calendars! (In pencil. And write it really light.)
• Lots of good stuff coming up this week: the return of the HHH Hotcake Showdown; a new feature where we cook the whole Rick Bayless cookbook, a la Julie & Julia, but in super slow motion; FOOD PICS, a tale of two Thanksgivings, and of course, a big ole' Lily update. I have some other relatively decent ideas (and jokes) that I'm tossing around, but either way there should be a lot more content up on a regular basis. Try not to pee your pants like I almost did at the Iowa game.
• Remember to bookmark the old/new site. http://thehandfelthappyhour.blogspot.com. Lily and Carm are working diligently to procure our old website address, but until then, just bask in the nostalgia of the .blogspot era.