Northstar Cafe

For dinner, we went to a place in the Short North called Northstar Cafe. On Matt and Juliet’s recommendation, I ordered the veggie burger, and HOLY CRAP was it good. I’ve never had a veggie burger like this before – ever. The comb of beets and beans and rice made it, I swear to Christ, taste remarkably like a genuine hamburger.

In fact, I was so impressed – I ended up asking for a businesscard. I don’t think they’re a chain (yet), but I was actually interested in finding out if there was some way to invest in the company. I’m serious – the burger was that good.

Afterwards, we went back to Matt and Juliet’s and watched the remainder of the Yankee game on TV. What with all the food today, I was darn near comatose and was nodding off near the end of the game.

But – once Matt’s family called it a night, I stayed up a bit to talk with Matt and Juliet. Well, one of us decided to crack a beer. And the next thing you know, we’re mixing drinks and staying up late talking and laughing with one another.

I ended up playing a game with the two of them (they like to make up games), which they dubbed: Once a month, Once a week, Never.

How it works is this: one person comes up with three options/scenarios. You then need to pair up the option with the frequency. Of the three things mentioned, you have to determine which one you’ll do once a month, which one you’ll do once a week, and which one you’ll never do again.

Sounds like it would be a cinch to make it a difficult choice… but my first few attempts were way too easy. The goal of this game, afterall, was to come up with a way to make the participants agonize over the options.

As the night wore on, the options got goofier and goofier. It was a lot of fun to play, and we kept each other laughing for a good long while. Remember: the name of the game is Once a month, Once a week, Never. Here were some of the options we came up with:

• Glasses. Pants. Combs.
• Jim Beam. Coffee. Underwear.
• Alcohol. Caffeine. Computers.
• Water. Soap. Toilets.
• Wearing only a sweatsuit. Screaming everytime you go to the bathroom. Drooling everytime you speak.
• The color green. Your teeth. Music.
• Living in a glass cage in the middle of downtown. Giving birth. Shooting a puppy in the head.
• Having a personal narrator with a bullhorn document your every action. Perpetual flatulence. Uncontrollable dancing whenever someone says the word “it.”

LOL. Reading this again made me smile. It’s a tough game, and will assuredly make you come up with some rather bizarre options. Give it a go sometime.