My old friend Darren Drake has moved back to the area, after more than five years in Houston, Texas. I'm glad he's here, I've missed him and hope to get the friendship going again. We're both married now, and neither of us were married when he moved down there, so things are different... but it seems to be a change for the better: we brag about our wives (Corinne and Angie) to each other, but we're not being competitive.

Though he's not particularly happy about it, he's the store manager for KB Toys at the Crystal Mall, about ten miles from my house.

Monday evening, I drove Shane over there to apply for a job (I'd already OK'd it with Darren), because he doesn't have a car right now (long story). While Shane was filling out the application, Darren sat on the bench with me outside the store, just to chat a little. When Shane was finished, he came out and sat down on the bench also, so that Darren could interview him. I moved over and turned away so that I wouldn't disturb them, but Darren decided to act like he didn't know me. "Sir, I'm trying to conduct an interview here, could you please sit somewhere else?," he asked in a loud voice.

Sigh. He was just teasing me, but I played along and acted like I didn't know him either (big mistake). I went back into the store and started reading a cheater's manual on Tekken 3.

About ten minutes later, Darren and Shane came back into the store, heading for his office at the back. On his way past me, Darren said in a very loud voice, "Sir, if you're not going to buy the book, please put it back!"

I wasn't ready for that! If I'd known he was going to keep it up, I wouldn't have been embarrassed, but as it was I just put the book down, and walked out of the store red-faced. I needed to pick up dinner for Corinne and I anyway, at the other end of the mall, but I had planned to wait for Shane.

So, that's one point for Darren. I'll make up for it by wipping him at Chess or Big Boggle.

Oh, one last thing: Corinne says she's glad that Darren's back here, and so am I. He used to be my best friend, and while she now holds that unique position in my life, he and I share some interests (and history) that I haven't found in common with anybody else in quite the same measure (Chess and Big Boggle being two of them).

Corinne and I went to lunch at the Voodoo Grill in downtown Mystic, CT, on Friday.

The restaurant's not much more than a hole in the wall. They share a building with three other (tiny) restaurants, and in order to maximize their seating, they put the kitchen on the second floor! In the 45 minutes we were there, our waiter must have run up and down those stairs at least 20 times, and all for just four tables (it was mostly empty, as Tourist season is finally over).

How can I describe the food? Well, as you might guess from the name, it's a Cajun restaurant, and it's the only one of its kind in Mystic, or even in the general Mystic area.

What I really need to tell you, though, is how good the food was. To say it was "good" doesn't do it justice! I couldn't believe it... I've never had so much nearly perfect food in a restaurant at one sitting.

We ordered Buffalo Wings (er, more like Bayou Wings) for an appetizer. The wings were offered at five different heat settings: Arctic Heat, mild, medium, hot, and Roadhouse Fire. However, there was a warning that even the mild is hot, so we only ordered "medium". After all, this is a cajun restaurant... better safe than sorry! The wings were perfect. Hot enough to give me a little zing, but not so hot that Corinne couldn't eat them (she had three before it was too much for her).

I also ordered my first ever cup of gumbo. The menu billed it as "The Mighty Gumbo: an ever changing concoction." It was really good, this time it had crawfish and chicken. I'll probably order it as my main course next time. I'd say more about it, but I dn't have anything to compare it with. It was delicious!

Corinne's main dish was Creole Shrimp, a spicy mixture of shrimp, vegetables, and rice. She liked it, but she was still smouldering from the wings and wasn't able to finish it (my poor delicate flower had smoke coming out of her hears).

My main dish was the Big Daddy: a totally gigantic hamburger, flame broiled with bacon, cheese, mushrooms, onions... the works. The burger was at least a half pound, but what amazed me was the diameter! It was easily eight inches across, and cooked perfectly. They served it on a platter, because it would have hung over the edges of anything smaller.

When we had finished eating, we started talking about how good the food had been, and I started laughing. I couldn't believe it... I have a new favorite restaurant, knocking Dillon's Steakhouse (Westerly, RI) down to number two.

Oh, the bill. Including everything I've described here, plus two sodas and a huge Cajun Chicken sandwich for Shane, the bill was just $34 (not including the tip).