I love pen and paper role playing games. In fact I probably love buying new RPG books more than I actually enjoy role playing. I've got a bookshelf full of everything RPG related, from the most obscure out-of-print system to the most recent D&D stuff. If it's been published in the U.S., I've probably got at least one book from the series.
It's really amazing how wide the appeal of role playing can be. Take "Aria: The Canticle of the Monomyth." This is an RPG system that reads more like a college text book than a fantasy role playing game, and could probably be used as a tool to study both interpersonal relationships and how myth affects reality. On the opposite end of the spectrum we have "Toon: The Cartoon Role Playing Game," where players take on the role of over the top cartoon characters and smack each other with over sized hammers, 'cause, you know, it's funny.
There's Vampire: The Requiem for when you are feeling all emo and angst ridden. There's Call of Cthulhu when you want to go stark raving mad from reading a book that shouldn't be read and then have your character messily devoured by something not of this world. There's the Star Trek and Star Wars RPG systems for when you really need to get your nerd on. Then there's the tried and true Paranoia, for when you want the entire party to constantly be tripping over themselves to kill each other in the most humorous ways possible.
Fantasy has of course always composed the back bone of role playing, but there's a surprising amount of versatility within that category. Dungeons and Dragons is the grandaddy and crowned king, but there are so many more games beyond that. Earthdawn has a flavor all its own that D&D can't really match. The world is built directly into the system (as opposed to a world neutral game like D&D), which makes the rules more interactive and less restrictive. The Warhammer RPG is another one that's vastly different from D&D. Combat is more realistic, and therefore exceedingly deadly, unlike in D&D where the party can expect to get into a fight with some dragon or orc horde every few minutes and come out unscathed.
The Rolemaster RPG system is another fantasy gem that gets overlooked often. The system is exceedingly rules heavy, but it can be fun in the right setting. The "critical hits" tables alone are worth it. Forget that double damage stuff, you want a critical hit that cause a rib to puncture a lung so that the enemy dies horribly three rounds later, but doesn't realize he's dying now. "Critical fumbles" are even more brutal. Miscast that spell? Well you may internalize the spell and take a silly amount of damage, and then if you survive you can't cast another spell for 3 weeks.
That's just the tip of the iceberg too. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of role playing systems, each with its own take on how the game should be played. Take into account all the different campaign settings within each system, and you have a world that takes a lifetime to fully explore. Film noir, horror, sci-fi, western, cop drama, religious, comedy, if there's a concept out there then there is probably an RPG that covers it.
My personal favorite is the Pathfinder system by Paizo. It uses the D20 rules, so its easy to pick up. Paizo is the absolute best at designing adventures that are heavy on the role playing and have enough combat to keep things exciting. Some of our best gaming sessions have been playing through the "Rise of the Runelords" and "Second Darkness" adventure paths. Keep it up Paizo, the role playing world needs you.
So how about your thoughts? Any personal favorites or new RPGs I might not have heard of that you'd like to recommend?
Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Facebook Post
I ran out of room for the comment on Facebook, so I just posted it here :)
I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that point. No personal offense is intended here (as I think you’re an awesome guy and certainly wouldn’t want to alienate you or come off as being rude), but I pretty much disagree with your entire post. In a perfect world no one would share their religious beliefs with anyone else at all, so a live and let live philosophy would work just fine. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a world where religion is unquestionably the biggest driving force in nearly every aspect of our lives, from war to politics to medical advancement. People have a moral obligation to not idly sit by and let others continue believing uncontested in any utterly absurd thing they want that obviously isn’t true. When the leader of the free world, and the guy who has access to the nuclear codes, believes that we are in the “end times” and that God wants Russia to invade Israel to trigger the rapture, well then we have a serious problem. On the topic of Evolution, the fact that we have a fossil record in and of itself is a huge argument that can’t be overcome by the religious without resorting to “God put those there to test our faith” statements. The fossil record also isn’t the only thing pointing towards evolution, as there is veritable mountain of evidence suggesting that evolution is responsible for why we are the way we are today. But let’s say for the sake of argument that all those scientists have gotten this just dead wrong (which could be a possibility, based on past scientific findings that were later disproven, but not likely). Even if evolution was an absolute farce that will be disproven in the future, it doesn’t suddenly make the Christian creation myth anymore of a viable option. Whether evolution is a real force or not, the supernatural is still not real. There are no talking snakes or donkeys, no resurrections, no parting seas, no floating disembodied hands that scribble instructions on walls, no bushes that burn-but-are-not-consumed and have big booming voices coming out of them, no crazy prophets who can call down bears to devour upstart children. Even if there was no big bang and there is no natural selection, that doesn’t change the fact that there is still no Santa-Claus-for-adults that has a divine plan for the world. The key word here is “belief.” If someone has to say “I BELIEVE in this thing…” then that ought to tell you that there is no evidence whatsoever to back that belief up, but they are going to go ahead and pretend it’s true anyway.
I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that point. No personal offense is intended here (as I think you’re an awesome guy and certainly wouldn’t want to alienate you or come off as being rude), but I pretty much disagree with your entire post. In a perfect world no one would share their religious beliefs with anyone else at all, so a live and let live philosophy would work just fine. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a world where religion is unquestionably the biggest driving force in nearly every aspect of our lives, from war to politics to medical advancement. People have a moral obligation to not idly sit by and let others continue believing uncontested in any utterly absurd thing they want that obviously isn’t true. When the leader of the free world, and the guy who has access to the nuclear codes, believes that we are in the “end times” and that God wants Russia to invade Israel to trigger the rapture, well then we have a serious problem. On the topic of Evolution, the fact that we have a fossil record in and of itself is a huge argument that can’t be overcome by the religious without resorting to “God put those there to test our faith” statements. The fossil record also isn’t the only thing pointing towards evolution, as there is veritable mountain of evidence suggesting that evolution is responsible for why we are the way we are today. But let’s say for the sake of argument that all those scientists have gotten this just dead wrong (which could be a possibility, based on past scientific findings that were later disproven, but not likely). Even if evolution was an absolute farce that will be disproven in the future, it doesn’t suddenly make the Christian creation myth anymore of a viable option. Whether evolution is a real force or not, the supernatural is still not real. There are no talking snakes or donkeys, no resurrections, no parting seas, no floating disembodied hands that scribble instructions on walls, no bushes that burn-but-are-not-consumed and have big booming voices coming out of them, no crazy prophets who can call down bears to devour upstart children. Even if there was no big bang and there is no natural selection, that doesn’t change the fact that there is still no Santa-Claus-for-adults that has a divine plan for the world. The key word here is “belief.” If someone has to say “I BELIEVE in this thing…” then that ought to tell you that there is no evidence whatsoever to back that belief up, but they are going to go ahead and pretend it’s true anyway.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Eeeeeeeerrr....LOST
Note to those reading this right now: I'm currently very drunk. I'll come back and fix my spelling and grammar mistakes and clear up anything that doesn't make sense on the morrow once sobriety kicks in. Until then the general idea I'm going for should still be readily apparent, even if it does lack some polish.
Just saw the season finale of Lost the other day and I thought I'd give my two cents on what's going on. Anyone who hasn't seen it yet can officially skip this post as it's filled with spoilers. At first I wasn't too thrilled with the final episode this season as nothing happened that wasn't predictable. Obviously Locke isn't really Locke (did no one notice all the other dead people walking around the island telling people how to do things they shouldn't know how to do?) and obviously the bomb goes off, or at least they want us to think it did. Lost is known for having "OMFG! MIND FUCK!" endings which then turn out to be less than big. For instance, the "holy shit there's a light in the hatch!" turned out to be Desmond making a smoothie. I won't in any way be surprised if the flash of light at the end of the show that is supposed to be a nuclear explosion actually turns out to be a flashlight in Juliet's face or, more likely, the white light that Locke said he saw way back several seasons ago when everyone else saw the black smoke monster.
On to the real reason for this post. After some contemplation and a second watch through, it appears that the show has taken a serious turn for the religious. It should be noted that I was raised in a severely Christian home, going so far as to send me to Christian school for several years, so my thinking on this may be skewed and others may not see the religious connotations I've noticed. It should also be noted that even though I love Lost and I discuss religion heavily in this post I absolutely do not condone the belief in ANY religious system of any sort. If you actually follow the teachings of a book from the bronze age that lists prices for slaves and mentions talking animals as though they were real - well, you honestly need to remove yourself from the gene pool before you have the opportunity to breed.
The religious connotation of the last episode is almost immediately apparent with Jacob being a fisherman (an archetype featured heavily in the gospels). You'll then note that he wears white and the unnamed nemesis who speaks with him wears all black (good and evil). The unnamed nemesis appears to hate Jacob but seems to be powerless to stop him (God and the devil). When people on a ship approach the island their conversation takes a serious turn for the Anne Rice/C.S. Lewis variety as the unnamed foe mentions that "it always turns out the same with those people" (God, why did you create man when you know they will turn against you and be sent to hell?) while Jacob responds by saying "there's only one ending, anything before that is just progress" (Eventually I will end the world but up until that point I have a plan for humanity even if they do defy me). The foe then asks if Jacob knows how much he wants to kill him. Jacob simply says that he does (I know everything). The foe talks about finding a loophole, but it isn't clear if he means to stop Jacob's plan for the people (Anne Rice's idea that the devil Memnoch wants all souls to go directly to heaven and for God to stop making more people) or if he means that he wants to kill Jacob to stop his vision for the world. There is also the theory that "Jacob" is short hand for "Jacob's Ladder," which is the link between heaven and earth.
You may note a heavy Egyptian theme in the episode. It's not clear if that's because they are taking the religious connotation into an Egyptian direction or if the creators made everything Egyptian instead of Christian so that they wouldn't give away the direction of the story early on in the show. For those who aren't aware, Christianity has large portions of its holy book and central tenets lifted directly from the ancient Egyptian religion, so it's plausible that they are using the Egyptian theme to express Christian ideas. For example, the Egyptian religion had a baby who floated on a reed basket down a river to escape infanticide as well as a "son of God" figure who died and was resurrected long, long before Christianity was ever thought of. Both religions are also obsessed with the afterlife and how to prepare for it.
There are many more religious connotations throughout the episode, but because they haven't fully revealed who is who and what they want it isn't entirely clear what direction they are taking. For example if the unnamed foe, who has clearly taken on Locke's body, is really supposed to be a euphemism for Lucifer it could be that the island is heaven and the foe was cast out of it. This could be why, with the exception of during specific audiences (ala the book of Job when Satan goes to heaven to tell God to tempt Job) that the foe cannot take on physical form and must steal the body of someone else. This might also be why the foe himself cannot kill God but needs a human to do it as only humans have total free will (a contradiction yes, but that's a contradiction in actual Christianity as well so I won't bother to drop the argument in a fictional T.V. show). There's some discrepancy here though, as it seems that this foe was left bodiless in the cabin as a sort of prison, but somehow managed to escape (the broken ash line). They might also be going for a "Jacob knew all along" thing along the same lines as how Jesus knew he was going to be killed, battle Satan in hell, and then be resurrected. Jacob doesn't seem to be particularly concerned by what's happening to him and even goes so far as to try to get the people to come back to the island. He also says to Ben "What about you?" (I'm God and you are man, why do you think you deserve my attention even though you went through hell for me Job?) The foe/Locke also tempts Ben into agreeing to kill Jacob by using several real world arguments about why people would want to hate God in the same way a religious person would claim the devil would tempt people (you followed his laws your whole life but what did He ever do for you?). During the entire exodus of the Others to find Jacob he acts very much like a fallen angel would, pretending to be holy and using logic to cajole people but really having shifty ulterior motives. Richard also appears to be some sort of angel or prophet character who serves as Jacob's messenger.
The foe/Locke seems to have found his loophole by doing a reverse-resurrection where he is born again in an unholy manner, in a direct violation of the holy resurrection we see Jacob do for the original Locke or like what happened with Jesus. Jacob on the other hand follows the typical archetype of a modern day deity who is calm, all knowing, and sympathetic of human pain despite being the one who causes it (re-watch the scenes with Hurley, Sayid, young Kate, and young Sawyer).
There have been several other religious hints dropped throughout the early seasons. Locke's dad talks about being in hell on the island, the drugs were all in statues of the virgin Mary, Charlie was obsessed with baptizing Claire's baby. A huge temple is always looming the background, although it isn't clear what the temple is dedicated to. Even though these next ones are from different pantheons they are still religiously based: we see "Apollo" bars all the time, and Sun and Jin have made several statements which seem to indicate they are somehow associated with fertility and sun deities.
I'm not sure whether Lost is actually going for a directly God vs. Satan or Good vs. Evil motif, but there is without question a huge religious theme that wasn't entirely present before. Whether they take it someplace I hadn't seen or go for a straight Christianity parallel I will have to admit this season finale was the biggest mind fuck of all as it has completely changes how I view the show. Where as before everything was always mysterious but I never once wondered if it was all boiling down to a cosmic good vs. evil battle I'm now seeing everything in that light, even when going back and watching the early seasons. Hats off Lost creators. Even thought I think the Christian cosmology is completely ludicrous in real life I can't deny that it's interesting as fiction and you guys totally hid it well.
Just saw the season finale of Lost the other day and I thought I'd give my two cents on what's going on. Anyone who hasn't seen it yet can officially skip this post as it's filled with spoilers. At first I wasn't too thrilled with the final episode this season as nothing happened that wasn't predictable. Obviously Locke isn't really Locke (did no one notice all the other dead people walking around the island telling people how to do things they shouldn't know how to do?) and obviously the bomb goes off, or at least they want us to think it did. Lost is known for having "OMFG! MIND FUCK!" endings which then turn out to be less than big. For instance, the "holy shit there's a light in the hatch!" turned out to be Desmond making a smoothie. I won't in any way be surprised if the flash of light at the end of the show that is supposed to be a nuclear explosion actually turns out to be a flashlight in Juliet's face or, more likely, the white light that Locke said he saw way back several seasons ago when everyone else saw the black smoke monster.
On to the real reason for this post. After some contemplation and a second watch through, it appears that the show has taken a serious turn for the religious. It should be noted that I was raised in a severely Christian home, going so far as to send me to Christian school for several years, so my thinking on this may be skewed and others may not see the religious connotations I've noticed. It should also be noted that even though I love Lost and I discuss religion heavily in this post I absolutely do not condone the belief in ANY religious system of any sort. If you actually follow the teachings of a book from the bronze age that lists prices for slaves and mentions talking animals as though they were real - well, you honestly need to remove yourself from the gene pool before you have the opportunity to breed.
The religious connotation of the last episode is almost immediately apparent with Jacob being a fisherman (an archetype featured heavily in the gospels). You'll then note that he wears white and the unnamed nemesis who speaks with him wears all black (good and evil). The unnamed nemesis appears to hate Jacob but seems to be powerless to stop him (God and the devil). When people on a ship approach the island their conversation takes a serious turn for the Anne Rice/C.S. Lewis variety as the unnamed foe mentions that "it always turns out the same with those people" (God, why did you create man when you know they will turn against you and be sent to hell?) while Jacob responds by saying "there's only one ending, anything before that is just progress" (Eventually I will end the world but up until that point I have a plan for humanity even if they do defy me). The foe then asks if Jacob knows how much he wants to kill him. Jacob simply says that he does (I know everything). The foe talks about finding a loophole, but it isn't clear if he means to stop Jacob's plan for the people (Anne Rice's idea that the devil Memnoch wants all souls to go directly to heaven and for God to stop making more people) or if he means that he wants to kill Jacob to stop his vision for the world. There is also the theory that "Jacob" is short hand for "Jacob's Ladder," which is the link between heaven and earth.
You may note a heavy Egyptian theme in the episode. It's not clear if that's because they are taking the religious connotation into an Egyptian direction or if the creators made everything Egyptian instead of Christian so that they wouldn't give away the direction of the story early on in the show. For those who aren't aware, Christianity has large portions of its holy book and central tenets lifted directly from the ancient Egyptian religion, so it's plausible that they are using the Egyptian theme to express Christian ideas. For example, the Egyptian religion had a baby who floated on a reed basket down a river to escape infanticide as well as a "son of God" figure who died and was resurrected long, long before Christianity was ever thought of. Both religions are also obsessed with the afterlife and how to prepare for it.
There are many more religious connotations throughout the episode, but because they haven't fully revealed who is who and what they want it isn't entirely clear what direction they are taking. For example if the unnamed foe, who has clearly taken on Locke's body, is really supposed to be a euphemism for Lucifer it could be that the island is heaven and the foe was cast out of it. This could be why, with the exception of during specific audiences (ala the book of Job when Satan goes to heaven to tell God to tempt Job) that the foe cannot take on physical form and must steal the body of someone else. This might also be why the foe himself cannot kill God but needs a human to do it as only humans have total free will (a contradiction yes, but that's a contradiction in actual Christianity as well so I won't bother to drop the argument in a fictional T.V. show). There's some discrepancy here though, as it seems that this foe was left bodiless in the cabin as a sort of prison, but somehow managed to escape (the broken ash line). They might also be going for a "Jacob knew all along" thing along the same lines as how Jesus knew he was going to be killed, battle Satan in hell, and then be resurrected. Jacob doesn't seem to be particularly concerned by what's happening to him and even goes so far as to try to get the people to come back to the island. He also says to Ben "What about you?" (I'm God and you are man, why do you think you deserve my attention even though you went through hell for me Job?) The foe/Locke also tempts Ben into agreeing to kill Jacob by using several real world arguments about why people would want to hate God in the same way a religious person would claim the devil would tempt people (you followed his laws your whole life but what did He ever do for you?). During the entire exodus of the Others to find Jacob he acts very much like a fallen angel would, pretending to be holy and using logic to cajole people but really having shifty ulterior motives. Richard also appears to be some sort of angel or prophet character who serves as Jacob's messenger.
The foe/Locke seems to have found his loophole by doing a reverse-resurrection where he is born again in an unholy manner, in a direct violation of the holy resurrection we see Jacob do for the original Locke or like what happened with Jesus. Jacob on the other hand follows the typical archetype of a modern day deity who is calm, all knowing, and sympathetic of human pain despite being the one who causes it (re-watch the scenes with Hurley, Sayid, young Kate, and young Sawyer).
There have been several other religious hints dropped throughout the early seasons. Locke's dad talks about being in hell on the island, the drugs were all in statues of the virgin Mary, Charlie was obsessed with baptizing Claire's baby. A huge temple is always looming the background, although it isn't clear what the temple is dedicated to. Even though these next ones are from different pantheons they are still religiously based: we see "Apollo" bars all the time, and Sun and Jin have made several statements which seem to indicate they are somehow associated with fertility and sun deities.
I'm not sure whether Lost is actually going for a directly God vs. Satan or Good vs. Evil motif, but there is without question a huge religious theme that wasn't entirely present before. Whether they take it someplace I hadn't seen or go for a straight Christianity parallel I will have to admit this season finale was the biggest mind fuck of all as it has completely changes how I view the show. Where as before everything was always mysterious but I never once wondered if it was all boiling down to a cosmic good vs. evil battle I'm now seeing everything in that light, even when going back and watching the early seasons. Hats off Lost creators. Even thought I think the Christian cosmology is completely ludicrous in real life I can't deny that it's interesting as fiction and you guys totally hid it well.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Grillin!
It's been so absurdly nice out lately I decided we needed to get ourselves a grill and have a barbecue. We live in an apartment, so a massive standing grill was pretty much out of the question. We found a nice little sitting Blue Rhino grill on the cheap at Walmart and picked it up. We didn't want to mess around with charcoal because of the uneven cooking and big mess, so we went with the mini-propane tank variety. I wanted to make sure it stayed nice and pretty, so some accessories were in order as well.
Putting it together wasn't too bad, but I'd never assembled a grill before so it took me a good half hour or so of dropping wing nuts and trying to figure out the instructions. We had three main foods in mind to test it out, first being something my mom used to make when I was a kid. It consists of potatoes, green peppers, and onions cut up and put into a foil packet. We then drizzle on olive oil and put on whatever spices strikes our fancy. To try something new I added in some garlic this time too.
Of course we also did the standard burgers and hot dogs as well for good measure. I was thinking I wanted to go Boca burger and Morningstar Farms soy dogs myself, but once Megan had put all the spices in the hamburger I changed my mind.
Getting the propane tank on the grill and making sure it wasn't leaking was honestly kind of terrifying as I'd never used propane before. Once it was all done it was pretty smooth sailing. Here's the first official use of the grill tongs on the potato packets:
After the packets had cooked for about a half hour we put on the burgers and dogs. The bottom grill isn't big enough to hold everything so I transferred the packets onto the top heating grill and attempted to close the lid. Mistake it turns out, as the top grill isn't strong enough to support three foil packets full of potato wedges. It popped out of the slot and full onto the burgers. It took some quick maneuvering to get it back into the slot without anyone getting burned. I guess the top rack is going to be hot dog only territory from now on. Here's the finished meat:
Now that I've got a grill I intend to use the fuck out of it. We're going to go fishing this weekend and try out cooking our own fish. I usually grab a red snapper or catfish fillet from 2Js every Saturday to bake, so this ought to be a fun treat grilling something more fresh.
Putting it together wasn't too bad, but I'd never assembled a grill before so it took me a good half hour or so of dropping wing nuts and trying to figure out the instructions. We had three main foods in mind to test it out, first being something my mom used to make when I was a kid. It consists of potatoes, green peppers, and onions cut up and put into a foil packet. We then drizzle on olive oil and put on whatever spices strikes our fancy. To try something new I added in some garlic this time too.
Of course we also did the standard burgers and hot dogs as well for good measure. I was thinking I wanted to go Boca burger and Morningstar Farms soy dogs myself, but once Megan had put all the spices in the hamburger I changed my mind.
Getting the propane tank on the grill and making sure it wasn't leaking was honestly kind of terrifying as I'd never used propane before. Once it was all done it was pretty smooth sailing. Here's the first official use of the grill tongs on the potato packets:
After the packets had cooked for about a half hour we put on the burgers and dogs. The bottom grill isn't big enough to hold everything so I transferred the packets onto the top heating grill and attempted to close the lid. Mistake it turns out, as the top grill isn't strong enough to support three foil packets full of potato wedges. It popped out of the slot and full onto the burgers. It took some quick maneuvering to get it back into the slot without anyone getting burned. I guess the top rack is going to be hot dog only territory from now on. Here's the finished meat:
Now that I've got a grill I intend to use the fuck out of it. We're going to go fishing this weekend and try out cooking our own fish. I usually grab a red snapper or catfish fillet from 2Js every Saturday to bake, so this ought to be a fun treat grilling something more fresh.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
There aren't many sushi restaurants in Montana, so most of the time I have to deal with store bought rolls that are lacking in quality and aren't exactly fresh. That all changed at Gift Giving Orgy Day (the day formerly known as Christmas) when Megan got me all of the ingredients I would need to make my own along with rolling mats, recipe books, and an instructional video. Fuck she gives the best gifts. This one probably tops the basket filled with carefully chosen mustard varieties to complement my pre-existing collection.
Anyway, we made two different kinds of sushi tonight to celebrate the weekend, so here's some pictures of how it all went down.
The first type is a normal nori roll featuring traditional ingredients. I just recently found a place in town that offers sushi grade tuna so I thought I'd give it a try. To complement the fish I cooked up some asparagus, which was cooked in a mixture of water and freshly squeezed lemon juice with salt and pepper.
Next up I started preparing the second kind of filling, which is much less traditional but still amazingly good. First I diced up a bunch of celery and green onions.
Then I diced and mixed in pickled ginger along with mashed up surimi (fake crab made with several different fish). Some mayonnaise (sorry, American instead of Japanese as nowhere sells it around here), wasabi and Asian chili sauce rounded it out.
Back to the first kind of roll. It was firm to the touch, the right color, and wasn't frozen, but unfortunately it had a bit of that unpleasantly pungent fish odor. This is the number 1 indicator that it isn't sushi grade and is not safe to eat raw. I made a quick nigri-zushi roll to taste it and make the final decision.
The tuna tasted good raw, but I would be serving these rolls to other people so I decided to err on the side of caution and pan sear it for about a minute on each side. This did give me the benefit of being able to play around with the flavor. I cooked it in lemon, soy sauce, and a dash of salt and pepper.
Here's a picture of the main ingredients for the first kind of roll in their finalized forms.
And then here's the finished stuffing for the reverse nori spicy sarimi roll.
We layed the nori rolls on our sushi mats and covered them with the sushi rice I had made the day before. For anyone who hasn't made this before, you have to use Japanese short grain rice instead of normal rice. Once it's cooked add in rice vinegar and sugar.
Here's a nori roll with a good layer of rice.
And then here's some of the first kind of filling.
This is the finished product (pre-cutting) and man it looks nice!
This is one of Megan making a reverse nori roll. To make this one you need to cover the mat in plastic wrap, cover a roll in rice, and then flip it over and put the fillings on top.
The final product of both types is shown below.
Normally the Japanese would dip their sushi in soy sauce and then eat a piece of pickled ginger afterwords to cleanse the palette, but personally I prefer to put wasabi and ginger on top of my roll and eat all at once.
Anyway, we made two different kinds of sushi tonight to celebrate the weekend, so here's some pictures of how it all went down.
The first type is a normal nori roll featuring traditional ingredients. I just recently found a place in town that offers sushi grade tuna so I thought I'd give it a try. To complement the fish I cooked up some asparagus, which was cooked in a mixture of water and freshly squeezed lemon juice with salt and pepper.
Next up I started preparing the second kind of filling, which is much less traditional but still amazingly good. First I diced up a bunch of celery and green onions.
Then I diced and mixed in pickled ginger along with mashed up surimi (fake crab made with several different fish). Some mayonnaise (sorry, American instead of Japanese as nowhere sells it around here), wasabi and Asian chili sauce rounded it out.
Back to the first kind of roll. It was firm to the touch, the right color, and wasn't frozen, but unfortunately it had a bit of that unpleasantly pungent fish odor. This is the number 1 indicator that it isn't sushi grade and is not safe to eat raw. I made a quick nigri-zushi roll to taste it and make the final decision.
The tuna tasted good raw, but I would be serving these rolls to other people so I decided to err on the side of caution and pan sear it for about a minute on each side. This did give me the benefit of being able to play around with the flavor. I cooked it in lemon, soy sauce, and a dash of salt and pepper.
Here's a picture of the main ingredients for the first kind of roll in their finalized forms.
And then here's the finished stuffing for the reverse nori spicy sarimi roll.
We layed the nori rolls on our sushi mats and covered them with the sushi rice I had made the day before. For anyone who hasn't made this before, you have to use Japanese short grain rice instead of normal rice. Once it's cooked add in rice vinegar and sugar.
Here's a nori roll with a good layer of rice.
And then here's some of the first kind of filling.
This is the finished product (pre-cutting) and man it looks nice!
This is one of Megan making a reverse nori roll. To make this one you need to cover the mat in plastic wrap, cover a roll in rice, and then flip it over and put the fillings on top.
The final product of both types is shown below.
Normally the Japanese would dip their sushi in soy sauce and then eat a piece of pickled ginger afterwords to cleanse the palette, but personally I prefer to put wasabi and ginger on top of my roll and eat all at once.
Pizza Night
We've had a long running tradition of making our own pizzas at home rather than ordering out or using frozen. There's a ridiculous number of toppings, sauces, and crusts you can mix together for a perfect pizza that will satisfy anyone's palette. Some of our personal favorites are buffalo chicken, cheeseburger (complete with pickles!), and apple and Gorgonzola. Megan and I were looking through some old cooking magazines we hadn't used in awhile and found an issue of Vegetarian Times featuring an amazing looking veggie pizza on the cover. Below is a picture tour of our attempts to recreate it.
First up is my amazingly hot wife cutting up some veggies. We used zucchini, yellow squash, orange bell pepper, red onion, and grape tomatoes.
Here's a picture of all of the veggies used and the magazine cover that inspired us.
Then we made the sauce, which was made with garlic and butter instead of the traditional tomato based sauce.
Here's my pie rolling out the crust!
This doesn't really need a picture, but I love documenting our cooking experiences. Here's the lemon water we made (oh so refreshing!) to go with our meal.
After setting down the garlic sauce we made a thin cover of mozzarella cheese.
And laying down the veggie toppings...
Here's all of the toppings down, including the red pepper flakes on top to give it some kick.
And finally the finished cooked product, which was then devoured messily.
All in all, a successful meal!
First up is my amazingly hot wife cutting up some veggies. We used zucchini, yellow squash, orange bell pepper, red onion, and grape tomatoes.
Here's a picture of all of the veggies used and the magazine cover that inspired us.
Then we made the sauce, which was made with garlic and butter instead of the traditional tomato based sauce.
Here's my pie rolling out the crust!
This doesn't really need a picture, but I love documenting our cooking experiences. Here's the lemon water we made (oh so refreshing!) to go with our meal.
After setting down the garlic sauce we made a thin cover of mozzarella cheese.
And laying down the veggie toppings...
Here's all of the toppings down, including the red pepper flakes on top to give it some kick.
And finally the finished cooked product, which was then devoured messily.
All in all, a successful meal!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Great Lobster Extravaganza!
For those who didn't know, the Great Lobster Extravaganza is the biggest event (of any variety) of the entire year! Spanning two separate apartments and feeding a full four people past the point of fullness, the Great Lobster Extravaganza was a rousing success!
OK, so basically it was just Matt's birthday and we wanted to re-create a meal we'd had at Red Lobster once, but it was still pretty damn awesome. The meal consisted of marinated steaks with a crab/lobster topping, broiled lobster tail, asparagus in butter sauce, mashed potatoes, salad, and a desert of cheesecake with sour cream and fruit topping.
We started out by slicing open the steaks, stuffing them with garlic, and then marinating them in A1 "Savory Onion and Black Pepper" sauce for a full day. When the time for the meal itself came we started by preparing the lobster, which is actually pretty fun. We cut open the top shell so we could pour a butter sauce over it and then snipped the little feet off for a prettier presentation.
After that Matt got mad at the oven mitt for some reason...
Next we made the sauce for the lobster, which was just a basic butter/garlic/pepper mixture. The asparagus got cooked up in olive oil, butter, balsamic vinegar, and pepper. Fattening to be sure, but delicious beyond belief.
For the steak topping we pulled a little of the lobster meat out and then mixed it with Surimi (fake crab) and cooked it in butter and pepper.
Then I got mad at Matt for some reason, only I went for a knife instead of a finger....
My pie cooked up the steaks on the stove in more marinade to make them juicy, then finished them up on the George Foreman to make the cooking go faster.
And now for a Lobster before and after shot!
The dinner table all set up...
And then the super sexy finished product!
And once the meal proper was done, we hoofed it over to Jake's to feast on his amazing cheesecake. He said the secret ingredient was "Love," which I took to mean semen, but it was still good.
OK, so basically it was just Matt's birthday and we wanted to re-create a meal we'd had at Red Lobster once, but it was still pretty damn awesome. The meal consisted of marinated steaks with a crab/lobster topping, broiled lobster tail, asparagus in butter sauce, mashed potatoes, salad, and a desert of cheesecake with sour cream and fruit topping.
We started out by slicing open the steaks, stuffing them with garlic, and then marinating them in A1 "Savory Onion and Black Pepper" sauce for a full day. When the time for the meal itself came we started by preparing the lobster, which is actually pretty fun. We cut open the top shell so we could pour a butter sauce over it and then snipped the little feet off for a prettier presentation.
After that Matt got mad at the oven mitt for some reason...
Next we made the sauce for the lobster, which was just a basic butter/garlic/pepper mixture. The asparagus got cooked up in olive oil, butter, balsamic vinegar, and pepper. Fattening to be sure, but delicious beyond belief.
For the steak topping we pulled a little of the lobster meat out and then mixed it with Surimi (fake crab) and cooked it in butter and pepper.
Then I got mad at Matt for some reason, only I went for a knife instead of a finger....
My pie cooked up the steaks on the stove in more marinade to make them juicy, then finished them up on the George Foreman to make the cooking go faster.
And now for a Lobster before and after shot!
The dinner table all set up...
And then the super sexy finished product!
And once the meal proper was done, we hoofed it over to Jake's to feast on his amazing cheesecake. He said the secret ingredient was "Love," which I took to mean semen, but it was still good.
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