Braisin' Hussy

Thursday, September 30, 2004

Rob's character, Cooper, died tonight, felled by some big greatclubs. If I had rolled better on initiative, or had engaged my rage, I... would probably also be dead. Not raging kept my armor class high, and I was able to deflect most of the blows.

I need to wear a badge to D&D that says "Hi! My name is 20% MISSED CHANCE and DAMAGE -1." Because, seriously? I keep forgetting about them. And that's a bad thing to forget about.

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Monday, September 27, 2004

Okay, I have to say, I don't get the big love for Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale. It doesn't taste like pumpkin. It tastes like beer overpowered by cloves, allspice, and nutmeg. I didn't really like it. Rob and Jer didn't seem to take to it, either. (I couldn't directly link to Cynthia's post about it- scroll down, it's from September 21st.)

I do get the big love for Bruce Campbell. Ryan ditched us, but Rob, Jer, and I went to see Evil Dead II over the weekend. He's so cute, with his dark eyes and chin of strength. Even with the blood on his forehead that gives him a quasi-unibrow. He still rocks it.

I've had a yen for trashy cheese these last few days. Not, like, American processed cheese food, but worse. I really wanted some of those cracker sandwiches with the not-cheese in the middle. Or Handi-Snaks. I ended up with Combos. And then I felt ill. You shouldn't eat a lot of gross fake cheese.

On Saturday night, Jon and I pan-roasted a chicken. Well, Jon pan-roasted and I supervised. He wanted to learn how to properly take apart and cook quickly a chicken. And we did. I made green beans, and he made potato dauphinois to go along with it.

I brought my leftover chicken from last week to work today. This was the chicken I roasted with bacon under the skin. It wasn't bad when we first made it (although butter is a better fat for under the skin), but the leftovers were kind of meh. I ended up dousing the whole thing in lots of mustard.

I haven't watched last week's Semi-Homemade yet. I'm thinking about giving up the Sandra Lee snark. It just isn't as fun anymore. I dislike her, and I'm going to continue loathing her cooking and her show and the Vaseline-smeared lens and her freaky Cardassian neck, but I don't know if I can remain as invested in her downfall. I mean, I'm going to continue making my own stock in defiance, but I don't know if I'm going to take the time to watch and be aghast at her program anymore.

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Sarah's Green Beans

10-16 oz. haricot verde (I buy a package at Trader Joe's- they're so good)
8 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 Tbsp butter, divided
2 Tbsp shallot, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/2 cup water
Salt, to taste

Toast the almonds in a heavy skillet over low to medium heat. Remove from skillet when golden and set aside.

In the skillet, heat a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. When the foaming, subsides, add the mushrooms and brown. When they're about halfway done, add the shallot, garlic, and some salt and continue to cook. When the mushrooms are done, remove everything from the pan and set aside with the almonds.

Add the beans and water to the pan. Keep the heat at medium and cover the skillet. Stir occasionally and let cook/steam for 10-15 minutes, or until the beans are almost cooked. Remove the lid, turn the heat up to high, and boil the water away. Take the skillet off the heat and stir in the other tablespoon of butter. Return the almonds, mushrooms, shallots, and garlic to the skillet and stir to combine. Yum.

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Friday, September 24, 2004

I think my job is going to be ever so keen. The people are awesome, the product is very beneficial, and I've got access to all the Diet Coke I want. Yay!

We are continuing in the fun horror genre this week. Tomorrow night, I'm going with Rob, Ryan, and hopefully Jeremy (pesterpester) to the midnight showing of Evil Dead II. So, a few years back, Jeremy was at a special screening of Army of Darkness in a theater with a balcony. Oh, yeah, and Bruce Campbell was there, too. I think Jer was sitting at the front of the balcony area, and at some point in the movie, he yelled out, "Get that man an Oscar!" To which the reply from below was, "I can see you!" And it was Ash himself. That's so cool. And I think I told that story in the worst way possible. Whatever, good story, Sarah.

I need to cook tomorrow or something.

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Thursday, September 23, 2004

And now I do have a job! How excellent. I start... tomorrow. Kind of sudden, I know. Their current receptionist's last day is tomorrow, and they want her to give me some training before she leaves. It's a temp-to-hire position, so we'll see if I get a formal offer three or four months from now.

Now that I have a job, it's time to start pruning my Tivo season passes. A lot of things are going to go to "first run only." Goodbye, Good Eats reruns! I think I'll miss you most. Well, you, Deep Space Nine, and Farscape.

So, there was this race, and it was pretty darn amazing. I really enjoyed watching The Amazing Race these past months, and I highly recommend it to you all when it comes back at midseason (or whenever).

D&D last night was fascinating, even though I didn't get to beat on anything at all. We had the problem of our company being stuck 100 feet below the battle. Heh, "battle." It was our cleric, Joanna, against four mindflayers and a construct. If any of us had actually made it up there, we would have gotten stunned and had our brains sucked out very quickly indeed. (I tried to go up, but the rope was cut, and I fell. Again. But only forty feet or so.) Joanna's got a killer Will Save, so she was able to shrug all the stunnings off. Well, all except one. The only way she failed was to roll a one on a d20. Thankfully, we were able to get our wizard invisibled and up there to teleport her back out.

I know I have no qualifications to give out any music advice to people, except maybe about which recording of Shostakovich's Sixth Symphony is the best. (Conclusion? Save your money. I haven't found a great recording yet. Almost every recording plays the second and third movement too fast. Or the piccolo uses far too much vibrato. Or the xylophone isn't loud enough in the second movement. Or... I could go on.)

Anyway, after a long hiatus (seriously- ten years or so), I've started listening to the radio again. I turned it on in my car a few months ago when I was bored of my CDs. The first song I heard was from a group called Franz Ferdinand. I cracked up when I heard the band name. I don't know if anyone else besides my family remembers this, but on a old episode of Saturday Night Live (Roseanne hosted, I believe), there was a sketch called "Comedy Killers," or something along those lines. It was a Jeopardy-like game show, where the questions dealt with topics that are never, ever funny (I think Kevin Nealon played the host). The final question was, "What is the Ultimate Comedy Killer?" I can't remember all the answers the constestants gave, but Roseanne's was about making fun of the American flag. However, everyone was wrong. Why? Because the Ultimate Comedy Killer is the Archduke Franz Ferdinand (cut to a very solemn sepia-toned picture). Mom, Jon, and I laughed so very hard. It must have been something in the execution, because no one we ever told about it thought it was funny. But I guess that makes sense, Ultimate Comedy Killer and all.

Anyway, I'm listening to the Franz Ferdinand on the radio (yeah, it was "Take Me Out"), and they're getting a crapload of airtime. Not that it's a bad thing, I like the songs. I remember telling Jon that the stations seemed to play their music a lot, and that, "It's fun music, but I imagine it'd be pretty difficult to arrange for an a cappella group." (For those of you who don't know, Jon's an a cappella arranger and a damn good vocal percussionist. He got me into the genre when I was in high school, prompting many people to smack me when I said, "I've got a really great a cappella arrangement of that!" Because I didn't listen to the radio, you see [the reception sucked where we lived], and so it happened a lot that the first time I would hear a song would be in an a cappella arrangement. And sometimes, when I heard the real version of a song, it would be disappointing [I'm looking at you, Evanescence].)

So I issue a challenge to the a cappella arrangers out there. I'd like to hear if "Take Me Out" can be done well.

This ended up a lot longer than I was planning.

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Wednesday, September 22, 2004

I think I might have a job. It's so very exciting.

Yes, we are playing D&D tonight. I made cookies again. Yep, The Thin again- made correctly, this time.

I don't really have anything to talk about.

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Monday, September 20, 2004

Mm, leftover pizza. The family got together and went out last night to celebrate Dad and Ryan's birthdays. And Jon and Ryan's anniversary. And... my half-birthday, why not. We brought the ricotta-lemon cake and raspberry coulis to the restaurant, and they were very cool about us serving ourselves and eating not their food. I wasn't expecting their coolness.

I'm on my lunch break at this week's temp job. Woo. I've got another interview tomorrow, so yay also to that. Having money is a goodness.

The review for Shaun of the Dead is up at They're Coming to Get You, Barbara! It got five severed thumbs, an honor reserved for the cream of the crop like Dead Alive and Killer Klowns from Outer Space. (Those are they only ones I might actually watch, since I'm still a big scaredy-cat when it comes to actually really scary horror films like Cube or Night of the Living Dead. Although come to think of it, Killer Klowns might scare me more. Because, really, they're not just Clowns, which are by themselves scary, they're Klowns, which is much scarier. And not only that, but Klowns that Kill. [I think it's time for a "But I digress." And... GO!] But I digress.)

Actually, I don't think I had anything else to write about. I don't know how much I'm going to be cooking this week- I always find that I cook less when I'm working. It's probably because of the time needed to relax at home and clean off the Tivo.

I wonder if we're playing D&D this week.

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Saturday, September 18, 2004

Oh, wow. If you didn't catch Semi-Homemade this morning, watch one of the reruns during the week. I don't think I've ever seen one of Sandra Lee's shows that made me more angry. She humiliated food. It was just amazing. Worst. Episode. EVER.

I made chocolate chip cookies again yesterday. They didn't turn out well. I blame Jon. After tasting The Thin on Tuesday, he said, "I think if you make these again, you might try reducing the sugar. They're a little sweet." I should know better than to listen to my brother about baking issues. The recipe called for one cup of white sugar and half a cup of brown. I reduced these by a quarter (3/4 cup of white and 3/8 of brown). Wow, did that change things. Instead of getting fairly flat, thin and crispy cookies, I got puffy, bready cookies that were not as good. So, I'm going back to the original recipe because changing it sucked. I gave the cookies to Jon. They're not quite as bad frozen.

I found frozen porcini and chantarelle mushrooms at Trader Joe's. They were eight dollars a pound, which seemed pretty reasonable to me, so I bought them for Jon. (I was also worried that they might be gone by the next time I went shopping.) I told him he had to tell me when he was making something with them so I could come over.

Last night, I went to see Shaun of the Dead with Rob, Jeremy, and Ryan. Oh, was that fun! We laughed a lot. I think people in the audience must have missed the "Ash" joke, because it sounded like only Ryan and I cracked up at it. And everyone should laugh at an Evil Dead reference. Only communists don't laugh at an Evil Dead joke.

I made the lemon-ricotta cake again today. I stopped the mixer at medium peaks and beat them by hand the rest of the way. That worked much better. No overbeating! So, yes, it rose higher. Ryan's going to make the raspberry coulis tomorrow.

We (Jon, Ryan, and I) had chicken for dinner. I tried a little something different. Instead of spreading an herb butter under the skin, I adapted a recipe from Food and Wine that used bacon as the fat. It was good, but butter's better. I need to post that recipe- it's the one from a month or two ago that I never finished retyping. I started feeling queasy after dinner, and I was worried that I had screwed up the chicken, but Jon and Ryan were fine. It turned out that I was getting motion sickness from watching Jon play Vice City. So lame!

I think that's all.

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Thursday, September 16, 2004

Well, this week has gone down the tubes. I got in an accident yesterday. Everyone involved is fine, our cars are banged up, and I am supremely annoyed with and fairly disappointed in myself.

The week may not end sucking, though. After a long dry spell, I've got an interview for an administrative assistant position tomorrow. Woo!

The new Semi-Homemade recipes usually go up on Thursday. This weekend's show will be a treat. It's supposed to be Italian food. So, Sandra Lee's making a Viennese cake. Because, you see, from Venice, right? Oh, you stupid, stupid woman. The thread over at Television Without Pity has speculated that the recipes aren't up yet because people review them poorly before the show has aired. And maybe that's unfair, but you know what? It's totally fair.

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Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Well, two more points for Alton! Both of his recipes I tried today were very good- "The Thin" chocolate chip cookies and braciole. The only quibble I had with the cookies was that the yield was off and that they were done cooking in eight minutes, tops, not the thirteen minutes as stated by the recipe. If I had them in for that long, they would have been burnt beyond recognition. Jon and I ate a few, but there should be plenty for D&D tomorrow. They're not the most attractive cookies, I have to say, but they're very yummy.

Oh, the braciole was good. And such a presentation! It's a very pretty dish. (I should have taken a picture.) And, really, not very hard, although pounding out the flank steak was a bit of a pain. I don't think I got it thin enough, but it still worked. I need to learn how to truss, though. The way I bound the cylinder of steak was kind of a joke.

I was really quite pleased with the tomato sauce I used for the braciole. I did not make the recommended sauce, which was the horrible, horrible sauce from Pantry Raid II: Seeing Red. I just don't have enough hatred for that tomato sauce. Anyway. I used the reduced liquid from two cans of the Muir Glen Fire-Roasted Tomatoes (mixed with a wee bit of adobo sauce). You can't buy that. I guess the substitute would be just a can of good-quality tomato sauce mixed with some sun-dried tomato paste and some adobo sauce. I'll post a quasi-recipe later.

Celebrity nearness! The Graham Norton Effect has been asking Leigh to make cakes for their guests. They wanted a werewolf cake for Seth Green, but they asked the week of the show and there wasn't enough time to design and get it from Colorado to New York. They then asked (far enough in advance) if she'd make one for Cyndi Lauper. So Leigh made a bust of Ms. Lauper that has hair that lights up like a Tiffany lamp. Out of cake. Seriously, the woman's an artist. It should be on this Thursday's show (it got a little damaged in transit, but hopefully not too badly). So set your Tivos and VCRs!

Rob was feeling badly this weekend. He thought he had strep (he doesn't, thankfully), so I made him some Jewish penicillin on Saturday. It turned out okay. There were too many noodles and not enough broth. I had four cups of homemade stock and four cups of broth, but I only ended up using two cups of the broth because I realized that I wasn't using low-sodium broth. I kept having to add water to the soup because as it simmered, it got incredibly salty. Anyway, I changed some of the quantities in the recipe so it would hopefully turn out a little more balanced.

I'll finish this later. I'm monopolizing Ryan's computer.

Okay, then. On Sunday, Lydia and I trekked over to San Francisco for the Japantown Anime Faire. I must say, kind of a bust. I think we would have had as much fun had we just gone for no reason. We ate, we bought silly things at the $1 store, we talked about anime. We ran into a guy I remembered from Fanime in 1999, which was weird. I feel that since then, I've grown as a person. He was still kind of freaky. Lydia tried to get me to dress up, but... it's not really my thing. She looked all sorts of cute, though. She was dressed as Aryll from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Happy birthday, Dad!

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Two and a half dozen my ass. I got fifty-four cookies out of this recipe.

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Monday, September 13, 2004

Chicken Noodle Soup

8 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts (2-3)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 oz egg noodles, medium width
6-8 cups chicken stock, broth, or a combination of the two (if canned, preferably low-sodium)
¼ tsp marjoram
¼ tsp poultry seasoning
¼ tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp canola oil or chicken fat

In a large pot, heat the oil/fat over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breats to the pot and cook on each side for 4-5 minutes. Remove from pan and cube. Add the onion, celery, and carrot to the pot and cook in the remaining fat until softened. (If necessary, add a bit more oil to the pan.) When softened, add the stock/broth, marjoram, poultry seasoning, and bay leaf. Simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning (if you used canned broth, you may find it necessary to add more water). Add the chicken back to the bot and simmer for another 15 minutes. Add noodles and cook for 10 more minutes, or until the noodles are cooked. Remove bay leaf, add parsley and lemon juice, taste again for seasoning, and serve.
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Sesame Noodles with Shredded Chicken

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (approximately 1 1/2 pounds)
1 lb fresh Chinese egg noodles
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp sesame oil
4 green onions, sliced thinly on diagonal
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated on large holes of box grater (about 2/3 cup)
1 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Peanut-Sesame Sauce, or 1/4 cup prepared peanut sauce thinned with 2-4 Tbsp water (heavy cream consistency)

Adjust an oven rack to 6 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler. Spray the broiler pan top with vegetable cooking spray; place the chicken breasts on top and broil the chicken until lightly browned, 4 to 8 minutes. Using tongs, flip the chicken over and continue to broil until the thickest part is no longer pink when cut into and registers about 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes. Using 2 forks, shred the chicken into bite-size pieces and set aside.

Bring 6 quarts water to a boil in a stockpot over high heat. Add the salt and noodles to the boiling water; boil the noodles until tender, about 4 minutes for fresh. Drain, then rinse with cold running tap water until cool to the touch, and drain again. In a large bowl, toss the noodles with the sesame oil until evenly coated. Add the shredded chicken, scallions, carrot, and sauce. Toss to combine. Divide among individual bowls, sprinkle each bowl with a portion of sesame seeds, and serve.
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Peanut-Sesame Sauce

1/4 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
3 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp hot sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
4-5 Tbsp hot water

Puree all ingredients except water in a blender or food processor for about 30 seconds. While the machine is running, add the water a tablespoon at a time until the consistency is that of heavy cream.

Yield: Unsure (I need to ask Jon).

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Saturday, September 11, 2004

I had a brilliant idea last night!

I was at Jon and Ryan's, and we were having dinner with Mauria and Greg. We were drinking some quite good wine and finished the bottle. Jon was annoyed that the canola oil was in such an unwieldy bottle and that he couldn't keep it on the counter. I said, "Why don't you rinse the wine bottle out, pour the oil in, and stick a pourer on the top?" So he did. And it worked. I'm so cool.

Good story, Sarah.

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Friday, September 10, 2004

I just bought myself some of those slanted Oxo measuring cups. Five dollars for a set of three (one, two, and four-cup sizes) seemed like a good deal. Plus, I got paid today for my two days of work last week, so I felt like celebrating. A teeny tiny bit.

I still think I can smell pork on my hands. Last night Sara and I shredded a whole damn lot of pig for her church. They're going to be making pulled pork sandwiches for the... yeah, I already talked about this. What was interesting is that they converted a non-functioning industrial refrigerator to a huge-ass smoker. I think that's pretty much the coolest thing ever. Very Alton of them.

Operation Re-Geek is going fairly well. Man, I used to listen to some (but not all) downright horrible music. I am relieved that it's not all crap, though. I've been slowly going through a few pages of manga each night, struggling with the scraps of Japanese left in my brain. Watched a few episodes of Escaflowne, Gokinjo Monogatari, and Maho Tsukai Tai yesterday, and I've got Utena and Shamanic Princess up for today. Major props to Maho Tsukai Tai (aka Magic Users' Club) for still being able to make me laugh out loud.

There's a new love in my life. Muir Glen Fire-Roasted Tomatoes. These made such a good salsa the other day! And a pretty tasty Jonsauce, too. They're sold at Trader Joe's for $1.19 for a 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes. That's a good price. I took the leftover liquid from the can and boiled it down into a sauce consistency. I'll use that to replace one of the cans of tomato sauce the next time I make Jonsauce and see how it tastes.

I need to make more salsa now. Ryan's garden will not stop with the chiles!

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Thursday, September 09, 2004

Dude, I reek of pork.

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Tuesday, September 07, 2004

This Thursday, I'm going to be heading down to Mountain View to shred pork with Sara for the Art and Wine Festival being held this weekend. Good times! Also, mmmm.

For Labor Day, we all trekked up to San Francisco for a barbeque being held by Eddie and Bud. Eddie knows his ribs. Those were tasty. Parboiled in beer for an hour, then grilled and basted with a homemeade barbeque sauce. I brought rather half-assed sesame noodles. I didn't make the sauce myself, I used a bottle. Jon made the sauce once; it was very good. However, the stuff in the bottle was pretty tasty. Certainly made it easier on me.

Butter at Trader Joe's has gone down in price! $2.59 a pound, salted or unsalted. I know, I've said in the past that I don't want to pay over two dollars for a pound of butter. Now that I know that Ryan has had to spend up to five dollars for unsalted butter, I've changed my position a bit. I think my price-I-will-pay has gone up to three dollars.

The Masala Lamb is adapted from a recipe that I received from one of the readers of this blog. Thank you, Paula!

The Lemon Ricotta Cake is a very... subtle cake. Yes, that's not a bad adjective. Unassuming. Seriously, it's kind of meh, but it's better than the Orange Tea Cake. (Although, really, I need to give that one another chance, since I made it wrong.) It is, however, a lovely carrier of the Raspberry Coulis. The lemon and raspberry flavors are very nice together. The recipe itself suggested dusting the top with confectioner's sugar, but I prefer the coulis.

I think I overbeat the egg whites, though. The cake turned out a little flat. There's that horrible line, "I'm going to beat you into an inch of your life. Then, I'm going to take that inch." Yeah, I took that inch. (I think that line's from an episode of Angel.) Getting egg whites to stiff peaks is very stressful. I should have taken them out at medium peaks, then beat them by hand the rest of the way. That would have been smart.

I'm in training this week to recapture the nerdliness I had five years ago. Lydia and I are going to San Francisco on Sunday for one day of the Japantown Anime Faire. I have to say, it's hard to regress in geekdom. But it'll be fun, I'm sure. We'll catch a few newer series and eat some good food. I haven't bought any anime since Fruits Basket, which sounds like a dumb concept but is so adorable. I'm curious as to what's popular these days.

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Monday, September 06, 2004

Masala Lamb

1 lb boneless lamb, cut into cubes
1 large red onion, sliced into half-moons
2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tomato, chopped
1 potato, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp tumeric
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup coconut milk
1-2 Tbsp canola oil
Water, as needed

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the canola oil and add the onions, garlic,m and cumin seeds. Fry/saute these until soft and lightly browned. Move to the sides of the pan, leaving the center free.

Add the curry powder, tumeric chili powder, and salt to the center of the pan. Stir constantly for 1-2 minutes, then add the meat and a cup of water. Stir and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the potatoes and check the water level. During the cooking, you always want to make sure there's enough water in the pan so nothing burns. If you add too much water, don't worry, it'll boil away eventually. Stir occasionally.

When the potatoes are almost cooked (approximately 20 minutes), add the tomato and cook another 10 minutes. At this point, boil away enough of the water so it looks like a thick broth.

Add the coconut milk, cilantro, and a little more salt. Taste and adjust seasonings (if you find you need acid, sugar, and/or more tomato flavor, add about a tablespoon of ketchup). Cook for 5 minutes more. Serve with rice.

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Sunday, September 05, 2004

Lemon Ricotta Cake

6 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
3 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon, grated

Grease a 9-inch round cake or springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the paper. Dust with flour. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in the ricotta, then the egg yolks, one at a time. Add 2 Tbsp of the flour, the lemon zest, and the lemon juice. Sift the baking powder into the rest of the flour. Beat into the batter until well blended only.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks (be careful not to overbeat). Fold the egg whites carefully into the batter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning it out onto a rack to cool.

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Raspberry Coulis
Joy of Cooking

1 pint fresh raspberries or 12 oz. frozen dry-pack raspberries, thawed
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained

Puree ingredients in a blender or food processor. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing firmly with a rubber spatula. Taste, then stir in a little more sugar or lemon juice if needed. Serve at once, either at room temperature or chilled, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Makes about 1 cup.

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Saturday, September 04, 2004

I said I'd make something on Thursday. Clearly, I meant Friday. I made a lamb curry and an Italian lemon cake that involved ricotta cheese. I'll post at least one of the recipes later. Right now, I'm tired. Zzzz and whatnot.

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Thursday, September 02, 2004

I almost died!

So, in D&D, you lose consciousness at zero hit points, and then you're dying, losing a hit point per round until you hit negative ten, in which case you die. I got down to negative seven. I have a feeling that the DM was being kind to Mynnyd. Why? We're still in the astral plane, and getting him resurrected would have been an enormous pain. Mynnyd was rescued at the last moment by the appearance of a gold dragon we'd been travelling with, who scared off the attackers.

It was stupid. I had 54 hit points (out of my original 88). We were going to camp for the night when we decided to look inside this cavern to see if there was some shelter, so we wouldn't just be sleeping outside. We were just going to go in a short distance, find a place to sleep, and in the morning, once our cleric had regained her healing spells and such, I'd be back up to snuff. We had a wand of healing, but we decided to save that for when it was really necessary.

Anyway, we go in, find a bunch of really unpleasant spider-like creatures, who proceed to beat the crap out of me and bull rush me off a causeway that's 100 feet over the ground. OW.

But I'm still alive.

And we levelled, so I've got a new feat and skills to pick. Unfortunately, the armor I'm wearing (chain shirt [formerly +2]) doesn't allow me to exercise my new dexterity bonus, so the bonuses to my armor class, ranged weapon attack, initiative, and reflex save won't be going up. As soon as we get back to Manifest, I'm investing in some +2 or +3 mithril armor. Good times.

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