BSP

An update

2008-07-07T13:31:00.002-06:00

In which there are many unconnected thoughts.

Greek food is good, and easy. Ok, the spanikopita weren't easy, per se, but they were super yummy. I think I'm going to have to do more greek cooking.

I keep wanting to order in the Fair Trade dark chocolate from Callebaut, but keep getting hung up on storage. Where does one put a 10 kilo bag of chocolate pieces? Anyone interested in splitting it with me?

The Stuff and Things segment is officially dead: Europe killed it. Not in and of itself, but those few weeks before and the week or two after were so busy that I just could not keep track of receipts. But hey, it lasted a good 5+ months.

I have gushed in person about Amsterdam; someday soon I will gush here about it.

James

Pork souvlaki

2008-06-30T13:10:00.004-06:00

Haha, see? It's still June!

... yeah, I suck.

Sorry for leaving you all hanging on the edge of your seats, imaginary audience, feverishly clicking refresh for a whole month to no avail.

Today, I present pork souvlaki, by way of apology.

You will need:
A big lump of pork, no bone. Boneless rib roast or shoulder works very well. About 3/4 kilo per person if this is the main course
oregano, if you've not got it already
red wine (or red wine vinegar)
extra virgin olive oil (get the good stuff, it's SO worth it)
BBQ skewers
a BBQ or grill
sea salt or kosher salt

You already have:
pepper

So yeah, this one is sort of using almost nothing from the basic list, but it's yummy and super easy, so you'll forive me, right?

Cut up your lump of pork into 1/2 or 3/4 inch cubes. Ish. Dump them in a bowl and pour 2 tablespoons of red wine and 2 tablespoons of olive oil over top. Mix it around until all the meat is pretty well coated.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of oregano and 1 tablespoon of sea salt. Again, mix it around until everything is pretty evenly coated.

Cover it, and put in the fridge for a couple hours to refridgerate. (If you are using wooden skewers, soak them in water for about a half hour before you're ready to cook.)

Turn on your grill, as high as it goes. Get it nice and hot in there. Skewer the pork, leaving an inch or so at each end of the skewer so you have something to grab to turn them (and swear about when you burn your fingers)

Turn the grill down to a medium-low heat and put the skewers on. Turn them regularly to make sure all the sides get cooked. They should be cooked through after about 15 minutes.

James

I'm off (like that mayo in the back of the fridge)

2008-05-17T00:53:00.001-06:00

Dear Internet:

Gone to Europe, see you in June.

xoxoxo

James

We aren't quite there yet, dear.

2008-05-10T14:00:00.002-06:00

In the last century or so, western society has take some huge strides in social awareness and acceptance. Some member cultures moreso than others, but still. Even the most "backward" and parochial of societies in the western world will agree that slavery was probably bad and - as long as they don't do it here - gays don't need to be shot on sight.

We're in an age of information, where hard numbers about inequality and injustice can be generated, and each generation is, roughly, growing up more aware.

But we're not there yet. I hope someday to see a world where the inequalities we see and are aware of are dealt with, and we can begin to tackle the next set of monsters from our psyche.

This is a fantastic article. You should go read it.

James

I'm pretending it's summer!

2008-05-08T09:25:00.002-06:00

Even if it isn't, quite. But it'll be warm this weekend, so the Weather Oracles promise us.

So, for the 3 people in the world who aren't on facebook (not that you read my blog, but hey, if there's one thing Douglas Adams taught me, it's that it's not my fault you didn't know - I announced it.), we're casting the net a little wider for Friday Gaming this week.

There's no regular game on right now, and we're going to be gone for the next three weeks, so it seemed like a good time to have a BBQ. Come on over and eat burgers and hot dogs and hang out. Maybe there will be gaming. Maybe there will be videos.

James

Stuff and Things, 17 and 18

2008-05-08T09:06:00.003-06:00

El boring post, a few days late.

Stuff and Things for May 5:
-36.63l regular gas (Apr 24)
-32.0l regular gas (Apr 28)
-33.16; regular gas (May 1)

It really doesn't look like I drive a Prius, does it? But then I look through my call log and realize I put on nearly 2000 kilometers in a bit over a week. Oh. Oy.

James

Advance warning

2008-04-27T20:58:00.001-06:00

Just so the people in my life are warned well in advance:

I will be useless come September.

Remember: you were warned.

James

Wacky Cake

2008-04-23T11:40:00.004-06:00

Cooking isn't Complicated returns after a long hiatus, to show that Baking isn't Complicated, either! At least, sometimes.

Today is wacky cake, one of my favorite recipes growing up, and kids can make it. In fact, I helped Kalen make it last night.

You will need:
8"x8" pan
flour
sugar
baking soda
cocoa powder
vanilla
vinegar
brown sugar
cornstarch

You already have:
small pot
measuring cups and spoons
salt
butter
vegetable oil (for some inane reason, this isn't on the list of essentials. Consider it there now.)
In an 8"x8" pan, dump:

1 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp cocoa powder

Mix it around with a fork until it's pretty uniform. Make three holes in the top, and pour in:

1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp vinegar
6 tbsp oil

Pour 1 cup of cold water over the whole mess and mix it up with the fork. Don't lose the fork! My brother baked the fork in the cake once, over 20 years ago, and he still gets teased about it. I'm just sayin'.

Go back up to the top, and preheat your oven to 350 f.

Put the cake in for 25-30 minutes. Probably better on the long side unless your oven runs hot.

While it's cooling on a rack (don't take it out of the pan), get a small saucepan and dump:

3/4 c brown sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch

Mix them a bit, and pour in 1 1/2 cups of cold water. Stir it around until there's no guck sticking to the bottom, and turn on the heat. When it starts to boil, stir it for 3 minutes, and/or until it gets clear and thick.

Take it off the heat, and put in 1/4 c of butter. Stir until it's a yummy butterscotch colour.

Cut up the cake into 9 pieces (more and less are both sacrilege), and put one in a bowl. Pour butterscotch sauce over top, and eat it with a spoon. Other people can fend for themselves and get their own darn cake.

Yelp because it's still super hot. Eat it anyway.

James

Stuff and things, Parts Ten Through Sixteen, Inclusive

2008-04-22T10:39:00.002-06:00

Umm, yikes?

Ok. I should have all my receipts, but may have missed a thing or two.

For April 21:
-23.27l regular gas (Mar 11)
-33.48l regular gas (Mar 13)
-12.86l regular gas (Mar 17)
-25.49l regular gas (Mar 17)
-18.52l regular gas (Mar 18)
-4l 5w30 oil, oil filter, cabin filter and gasket (Mar 18)
-Command & Conquer 3 for Xbox360 (Mar 18)
-BSG Season 3 box set (Mar 18)
-Small Favor (new Dresden hardcover, insert fanboy squee here) (Mar 22)
-Epistle-inspring swim trunks, later abandoned (Mar 24)
-33.82l regular gas (Apr 14)
-Exchange program propane tank (Apr 17)
-35.82l regular gas (Apr 18)
-Temp/Pressure relief valve, plumbers tape and a CPVC drip tube for my hot water heater (Apr 21)

And I think that actually covers it...

James

Update-o-rama

2008-04-17T11:25:00.003-06:00

So, in case the silence hasn't been eloquent enough, things have been busy at work and home the last little while. The last two posts were produced from my hotel room in Vancouver, WA, where I was for 2 weeks on a company training course.

A company training course that happened to land me in town for Gamestorm, which was the best co-incidence ever. I got in some good gaming while I was down, and did some road trips to catch dinner with Frank and Sarana, as well as hanging out with Jake and Matt and meeting many of the other faces under that communal roof. I spent some time and some excellent gaming with Ben, which was good because we're otherwise missing each other this year.

Then I got back and spent a week scrambling to catch up and be a useful human again, before disappearing on the weekend for Forge Midwest.

Forge Midwest was awesome. The Madison location was great, I had some excellent gaming, including a couple runs of Reality Cops, and just excellent company and fun overall.

Then I got back and have spent the last couple days scrambling to catch up and be a useful human again. I'm almost there. Soon, I will be able to meander vaguely towards a regular blogging schedule again.

Footnote of the day: If your soul is touched by music, August Rush is a powerful, very moving story. If music is a thing you can take or leave, I suspect it's predictable schlock. I loved it to death, and was moved to tears more than once. But, it's been established in the past that I'm a sucker for schlock.

Also, Nine Worlds again this Friday, or at least, that's what I'm planning towards. Steak and asperagus and nothing fancy or time-consuming is the meal plan.

James

Izza Poll!

2008-04-01T16:40:00.002-06:00

...Because that's what weblog authors do when they're short on content and desperate for feedback!

So, I played Death's Door with Ben Lehman and Jake Richmond at Gamestorm, and it went really, really well. It wasn't "awesome" because one of our Boundaries was "Do not Bring The Awesome" - short hand for keep it real; no action-adventure bullshit. But if not for that caveat, you could describe it as awesome.

In post game chat, we talked about the little scraps of paper that people use to scribble what they want to do before they die, and what happens to them. Right now, they are all saved. Yes, all of them. Could you throw out someone else's dream?

Which means that, on the corner of my desk, I have a ever-growing pile of other people's hopes and dreams - and let me tell you, that is a seriously motivating thing to be responsible for.

But it's a touch selfish to hold that too close, I think. Ben suggested I should do something with them, and I agreed, but ran into the same thing I keep running into when I think about it: What?

So, a poll.

A) Keep them selfishly to myself.
B) Make a new weekly blog catagory "Hopes and Dreams" and post a few every week.
C) Make a new weekly blog catagory "Hopes and Dreams" and post one each week, with some discussion.
D) Load them into some kind of funky java applet and have a spot on the website that has "Somebody out there wants to..." and fade/cycle them through that.
E) Make some kind of craft art or scrapbooky thing.
F) Something else.

Reply in comments with your thoughts, if you agree with any, or have variations, or other ideas. I trust you, internet.

James

The Sad State of Men's Swimwear

2008-03-24T22:52:00.006-06:00

It is, nominally, Monday, when I blog about stuff and things. But my receipts for what I bought in the last week (or two) are back in Edmonton, and I am not.

So, instead, I will mark the occaision with an epistle.

A letter from James, to the blogreaders, on the sad state of men's swimwear. May this find you in good health.

When last I chanced to need swimwear on little notice, I was puzzled and a touch dismayed by how poor the selection was. A tiny rack, with perhaps a dozen or so sets of trunks, in various sizes, off in the middle of nowhere. Not only could I not find it, it took the salespeople I asked quite some time to track it down for me. "Out of season", I was told. Reasonable, I thought. It was, after all, middling to late august, and stores were no longer paying attention to summer things, but the seasons coming up, Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I bought the one least offensive to my sensibilities, a single colour red set of trunks. Boring, and not what I would prefer, but what do you expect from the dregs of summer gone?

Today, I thought, today will be different. Spring is in the air, so stores must be selling all their summer stuff - what with spring things having been sold back in February. And, lo, it was different. This time there were two racks with possibly as many as two dozen sets of trunks. And it only took me fifteen minutes to find it, without needing to call on the ever-absent and inattentive sales staff. (This, I note, in marked contrast to the women's swimwear section, which was approximately the size of a football field, with lovingly photoshopped models displaying what I presume to be swimwear, though I'm not sure what is to distinguish it from underwear. Perhaps the beach in the background? To be fair, the football field of women's swimwear and the two racks of men's swimwear contained roughly equal amounts of total cloth, so perhaps that is their idea of equality? Enough, I will not be digressed - further - with thoughts of gender bias.)

These two racks of swimwear came in a singular type: knee length trunks with pockets. They did, to their credit come in a variety of styles, as many as five or six different colour patterns were available, that I might find something akin to pleasing. Or at least, not too offensive. For, you see, the styles fell into two broad catagories. The first evokes images of California beaches, surfboards, and blond, tanned boys saying "duuuude" and smoking pot. Not, I'll grant, an entirely bad image, but the intensity of the image was striking. An apt comparison might be using a leather hairband, tie-died shirt, bell-bottom jeans and sandles to evoke hippie. It certainly accomplishes the task, but with nothing that resembles subtlety or style. Rather, it bludgeons the senses with the impression until you wander away, dazed, trying to remember where you are, and why the sound of surf is so strong in your ears.

The second style was rather the opposite. They were so inoffensive, so muted and drab as to go beyond the pale and offend with their sheer lack of interest. Anyone, woman, or man, no matter their actual age or appearance, upon donning these shorts, would have no difficulty getting a seniors discount anywhere such things are granted. These are not the swim trunks your father buys. These are not the swim trunks your grandfather buys. These are the swim trunks your grandmother buys for your grandfather because his old pair, acquired shortly before Edison patented the lightbulb, are "getting a touch ratty".

Eventually, I settled for the least offensive of the srfr duuude stylings, a sort of khaki affair with camo on the inside of the waistband (The inside? Why, pray tell?). But I was not content with them, and couldn't help but wonder why there was so little choice and variety, and further, if I was particularly unlucky, or if it was always like that? I don't miss The Baywatch Years, but just because not everyone should wear Speedos doesn't mean they should be banished from the racks. And what's wrong with some variety in length? Knee length isn't everyone's preference in a swim trunk. And pockets. Why, pardon my brief foray into foul language, the hell do swimtrunks have pockets? one pocket that seals shut for a locker key, or a credit card I'll grant is a good idea. But big front pockets like casual pants? There's really only one good reason for hands to be in your swimwear, and you don't need pockets for that.

How about styles? Surely there is some middle ground between California surfer and retirement trunks? What about something tight and black, for the goth crowd? Or, on consideration, something lacy and black, for the goth crowd? Where are the swim trunks for punks, the one that say "Screw you!" to the establishment? Designer trunks, exactly like the other ones, except with an expensive logo stitched in a corner for the too-much-money crowd?

Is this too much to ask, my friends?

Rambling and things

2008-03-12T10:32:00.003-06:00

Random, rambly thoughts follow. Coherency is not guaranteed.

This coming Friday is 3.14, sometimes known as Pi(e) day. I think we will feed gamers pie to celebrate. Any favorite pies to request? No, I'm not going to make a Grete Pye. Too much work for a Friday. I will do spinach and cheese pie.

Also, if we aren't doing Nine Worlds this Friday, Levi may come out and run some Red Box Hack, because I goaded him. Hee hee hee, oops?

Stuff and Things for Mar 10:
-22.2l of regular gas (Mar 4)
-27.82l of regular gas (Mar 7)

Yikes! I'm due for an oil change again. Curse this proper vehicle maintenance!

James

The passing of a giant

2008-03-04T11:37:00.003-07:00

Troll Lord Games forum announcement (slow: they're getting hit with a lot of traffic)

It was announced today that Gary Gygax died in his home, presumably yesterday or on the weekend.

I never met him, but he changed my life. I'm sitting here at work, crying, and I can't even explain why.

God speed, Gary.

Edited to note: It was, in fact, this morning.

"I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else."

Okay.

James

Stuff and Things, Part The Ninth

2008-03-03T12:25:00.002-07:00

... in which I get boring again.

For March 3rd:
-28.88l of regular gas (Feb 25)
-33.28l of regular gas (Mar 1)

James

Stuffed Potatos

2008-02-26T10:58:00.002-07:00

These are possibly the second easiest thing in the world to prepare, after chicken with crunchy skin. And they feel like cheating, because the end product is fancier.

Nota bene: start well ahead of when you want to serve them: these don't care if they're cold in the middle of the process, and you can do the 'rice crispie squares' trick of pretending these are all crazy hard to make, and aren't you cool?

You will need:
Baker potatos, 1 per person, and one or two extra, because they'll get eaten.
Cream cheese
other cheese (I usually use cheddar)
milk
bacon bits

You already have:
butter or margarine
an oven
a baking tray/cookie sheet
a 'how to cook everything' cookbook.

Bake the potatos. Your 'how to cook everything' cookbook will tell you how. Personally, I use the microwave, with the button that says "potatoes". Remember to stab them with a fork several times first, or they'll explode.

Once the potatos are cool enough to handle, cut them lengthwise, as close to the skin as you can manage, so you end up with a 3/4 potato and a 1/4 (or less) potato. Scoop out the potato insides into a pot, without getting too close to the skin - the potato shells should hold their own integrity. Do this to both parts; the 3/4 and the 1/4.

Over top of the potatos, dump a generous amount of butter, a couple kinds of cheese, crumbled bacon, and some milk. Either mash it or beat it until it's evenly-ish mixed.

You will note no proportions in the last paragraph, beyond "generous". That's the thing that makes this recipe so easy. Too much cheese? Oops, darn. Not enough bacon? Oops, darn. The potatos don't care. You're basically just making mashed potatos and adding some tasty things. I usually use bacon, butter, cream cheese, shredded aged cheddar and milk, but there's no magic list. Use what you like!

Spoon the mashed stuff back into the potato shells. You will have more stuff than space to put it. Pile up more on top so that it looks a little bit like the potatoes exploded in the oven, and this tasty stuff just spilled out. If you still have more, you can pile stuff onto the 1/4 shells as well. I've done this the last couple times instead of making potato skins, and it worked well.

A little while before you're going to eat, say, 15 minutes or so, put them into an oven preheated to 350f. For the last two minutes, put them on the top rack, and switch your oven over to broil. Watch them. Watch them. When the tips of stuff start to turn brown, take them out and serve.

These are tasty, just like you'd expect baked potatos with cheese and bacon and butter mixed in, and look fancy and complicated. Perfect for impressing people like family-in-law or prospective dates. (Um, probably not both at the same time. Just sayin'.)

James

ps: I had to go through about a thousand times to spell potato(e) consistently. Because in my brain, potatoe looks wrong, but potatoes looks right. In the interests of electron conservation, I went with the shorter versions.
Also, if you're reading this on Monday, note the time travel, because it's posted on Tuesday. /creepy music

Stuff and Things, Part Eight

2008-02-25T10:22:00.002-07:00

This week's lesson is "check your receipts more rigorously". For, you see, my vehicle only takes 36 litres of fuel when bone dry, and it wasn't bone dry when I filled it. But I don't think I was ripped off, just a victim of weird accounting, because the total feels about right, and the receipt doesn't have any of the other things I bought at the same time as gas.

For February 25:
-30.22l of regular gas (Feb 20)
-38.2l of regular gas (Feb 21)

James

Dear Sleeping Brain,

2008-02-20T08:59:00.003-07:00

Next time you grace me with dreams about Tricia Helfer, could you at least have it be, like, vaguely erotic or something? Why do you serve up meaningful conversation instead? It's a dream, sleeping brain.

Sigh. Even in my dreams, women are safe.

James

Stuff and Things, Part Seven

2008-02-19T09:47:00.004-07:00

In which we abandon the 'No Pants' plan, to great lamenting. While it is starting to get warm enough for No Pants to possibly be a viable option, I have, alas, found pants.

For February 19:
-29.18l of regular gas (Feb 13)
-4 pairs of pants and a double boiler (Feb 18)

The double boiler is me finally giving in to the fact that I've been wishing I had one for a decade or more, and Lagostina stuff was on sale at the Bay while I was buying pants.

In unrelated news, a playtest of Reality Cops is scheduled for this Friday. Tap me if you're interested.

James

A new perspective on a childhood favorite

2008-02-14T09:37:00.005-07:00

Shame

I think I need to re-read Earthsea. I also think that, should I ever succumb to temptation (as I almost have in the past) and watch the travesty that is the film version, I will stream it illegally, so that I do not incent the creators to repeat their behaviour.

James

Pork chops in mushroom sauce

2008-02-13T10:52:00.003-07:00

For today's episode of Cooking isn't Complicated, we're digging way back into my bachelor days, before I met (and married) people with mushroom allergies. You could probably also do this dish with chicken and chicken soup, but that kinda misses the point of the whole 'pork and mushrooms' thing...

You will need:
Porkchops, bone in, the thin, fast cooking kind, 1 per person
cream of mushroom soup, a can for every 2-3 porkchops
canned and/or fresh mushrooms, volume managed by your preferences

--------
You already have:
frying pan
cooking oil
oven safe large pot (or casserole dish)
celery
oven
multispice

Fry the porkchops as for Salty Pork of Doom, except without using the salt and multispice. You also don't need to be super paranoid about the flipping and the cooking through, because they will also cook in the oven, later.

Preheat your oven to 350, the Universal Temperature.

Chop up your mushrooms, if they aren't already sliced. When I used to do this, I'd use a can of sliced mushrooms per can of mushroom soup; it's very shroomy, which is good. If you are using fresh mushrooms, keep a few of the prettiest slices aside.

Dump the soup and the shrooms and a half-can of water (per can of soup) into your pot/casserole. Stir it until mostly mixed. Obligatory disclaimer: I had a casserole dish; I've never tried this in the oven safe pot. My gut instinct says 'add more water'. Slice up a couple celery sticks and mix them in. Throw in the porkchops, shake some multispice (not too much) over the top, and slide the whole thing, with lid, into the oven for about an hour.

If you're feeling super fancy, I bet you could pull the chops out, and either in the oven or on the stove, keep the sauce cooking at low heat for another half hour or so to turn into a nice thick porky-mushroomy gravy.

Serves well over rice, or with potatoes on the side. Non green vegtables, like cauliflower or carrots or a mix, go well with this, but aren't strictly necessary, what with mushrooms in the main course. If you kept aside some sliced mushrooms, scatter them aesthetically over the porkchop when serving.

James

Stuff and Things, Part Six, and a pants update.

2008-02-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

This week I get to look like a good little non-consumer. Only 1 tank of gas, and that's all, yay!

Nothing to do with the fact that I was a stay-at-home dad all week, with Raven being in Australia, no...

For February 11:
-31.46l of regular gas (Feb 8)

And in other news, the No Pants solution has been postponed indefinately, due to Holy Crap, it's Cold Out.

James

Stupid standard sizing.

2008-02-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

I seem to have healthy living-ed myself into the land of No Pants.

As far as I can tell, nobody makes pants in 32-34 size. What's up with that? 32-32 I can find. 34-32 and 34-34 are easily had. But 32-34 appears to be this mutant pant size. I'd stop exercising and eating well so that my waist climbed back up to 34, except that I'm really enjoying the healthy living stuff.

There's only one reasonable course of action available to me: stop wearing pants.

James

I suck (gas, apparently) Stuff and Things parts 3,4 and 5

2008-02-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in the last three weeks, I bought something. But I can't remember what it was, and I can't find the receipt. I suck! It wasn't a big thing; it was an under $20 kind of thing.

For February 4:
-21.86l regular gas (Jan 14)
-23.78l regular gas (Jan 17)
-23.38l regular gas (Jan 21)
-26.7l regular gas (Jan 28)
-29.45l regular gas (Jan 30)
-34.89l regular gas (Feb 04)

Wait! I remember. I bought a book on the way home from Dreamation. So:
-The Wizard of London (Jan 27-ish?)

Wow, I go through a lot of gas. I'm, uh, kinda glad I never did this sort of record-keeping when I was driving the van... eep!

James

Time flies...

2008-02-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Holy Flying Monkeys Batman, it's February! That means I need to get off my butt and start doing A Thing A Day.

I'm going to try drawing, and I'll probably post them here, because Wordpress is Different and therefore Scary.

James