4 Hour Chef - Meal 1

My sister got me the book 4 Hour Chef for my birthday and I have to say I enjoy what I've read so far.  There's a lot of info in this book, and not all of it is cooking related, but I've found all of it interesting.  I thought it'd be fun to actually follow/learn from the book and I've always wanted to cook by way through a cookbook.  Interestingly the recipes are laid out in such an order as to help slowly build one's skills.  I don't think I'll be able to follow the time frame suggested (2 meals a week) due to work schedules and (mostly) due to the cost of supplies, but I plan to tackle each recipe when I can.

I tried my hand at the first recipe, Osso "Buko", a delicious lamb recipe that basically comes down to just throwing everything in a pot and cooking it.  The goal of this meal is to teach some basic knife skills (in which I learned that I've been holding my knife wrong all this time) and gain some confidence.  It was a fairly easy dish and came out really well.  To complete the meal Emily made a spinach side dish and we used some of the leftover wine as a drink.

I'm not sure why the photos of the lamb turned out so yellow while the spinach photo looks just fine.  That's a photography question.

2013 Goals review - July

It's been a while since I updated this and things haven't really progressed much.  I read Divergent and Insurgent for the new book club I joined. Divergent was pretty good, but I didn't really enjoy Insurgent all that much.  It wasn't bad, it just didn't connect with me.  I'm currently reading A Wise Man's Fear, the sequel to Name of the Wind, and really enjoying it so far.  I think this might be one of my favorite series.  I'm also reading/working through The 4-Hour Chef, which my sister gave me as an early birthday present.

I'm hoping to cook my way through it, though I think there are some later chapters where he talks about cooking /surviving in the wild as well as some crazy molecular-gastronomy recipes I might not be able to do or afford, but we'll see how it goes when I get there.  My plan is to post about it as I go.

We've made some progress on the garage.  We recently started going through my old Magic: The Gathering cards with plans to sell them off.  I'm not sure how much money we could actually get for it all or what the money will go towards, but the way things are going we've got some time to think about our options.  In keeping with the selling-off-stuff motif, we've planned a garage sale for August 23-24.  It'll be over at the Beeby's house and include our stuff, their stuff, and some of the Malecha's stuff.  I created a Tumblr page for it, we'll see how well that goes.

Here's what I've accomplished so far this year.

• Game/Recreation Related
• Played a game of Fiasco
• DM a small campaign (Mouse Guard, Supernatural, or Shadowrun)
• Play the quick play game of Leverage RPG
• Play Artemis
• Play through Mass Effect 3
• Play through Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Play through Assassin's Creed 3
• Get all achievements on Dance Central 2 (requires help from someone else or a dance party)
• Play through Dance Central 3 [Finished campaign, haven't played all the new songs]
• Collect all Riddler trophies in Batman: Arkham City [Slowly making progress]
• Paint my first mini (most likely board game related)
• Play all of the games I own at least once or sell them off (what I have left unplayed: The Amazing Race game, Acquire, Anima: Shadow of Omega, Catch Phrase, Pumpkin King, Rook, Sorry Sliders, Space Cadets)
• Play through Bioshock: Infinite
• House Related
• Clean out the garage
• Paint the hall
• Redo the downstairs bathroom (involves buying a new tub and installing all the tile we have)
• Install a Dishwasher
• Remodel the kitchen (nothing expansive just: install some track lighting, open up the island, install pot rack,get a new faucet, dishwasher, reorganize cabinets, repaint cabinet doors)
• Finish the bedroom (mostly Ikea closet pieces, installing curtains, and setting up a workspace for Emily)
• Create a nursery/child's bedroom
• Finish the upstairs bathroom (repaint the windowsill, glue down the door jam/floor connector thingy)
• Well Being
• Be in better shape (get back to 150~160 pounds)
• Meditate Regularly (30 minutes day?)
• Have a healthy kid
• Acquire more financial freedom
• Open our Comic/Game/Geekery store
• Read more books for fun [Book Count = 5, started/joined a book club]
• Cook my way through 4 Hour Chef

2013 Goals review - April

Emily and I set-up a weekly schedule of sorts, Tuesday is Family Meeting Night, Wednesday we take some time to work on a house project (lately it's been going through at least 1 box of things), Thursday is for working towards the game store.  This at least provides some direction.

The last few weeks or so I had some trouble moving and doing.  It could be bouts of depression and/or dealing with sleep apnea.  Either way I probably need some professional help in dealing with them.  Lately we've been staying up until midnight or so before falling asleep, not for any real reason than just being on our laptops (Emily's usually playing Candy Crush or Bubble Witch while I get sucked into either Marvel: Avenegers Alliance or Reddit).  I don't know why I decided to look into Reddit, but there you have it.

Currently, at least, things are looking better.  Emily's back on Amour which means she's not so physically incapacitated anymore and springs trying to arrive, which means nicer days and better moods.

Here's what I've accomplished so far this year.

• Game/Recreation Related
• Played a game of Fiasco
• DM a small campaign (Mouse Guard, Supernatural, or Shadowrun)
• Play the quick play game of Leverage RPG
• Play Artemis
• Play through Mass Effect 3
• Play through Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Play through Assassin's Creed 3
• Get all achievements on Dance Central 2 (requires help from someone else or a dance party)
• Play through Dance Central 3 [Started playing]
• Collect all Riddler trophies in Batman: Arkham City [Slowly making progress]
• Paint my first mini (most likely board game related)
• Play all of the games I own at least once or sell them off (what I have left unplayed: The Amazing Race game, Acquire, Anima: Shadow of Omega, Catch Phrase, Pumpkin King, Rook, Sorry Sliders, Space Cadets)
• House Related
• Clean out the garage
• Paint the hall
• Redo the downstairs bathroom (involves buying a new tub and installing all the tile we have)
• Install a Dishwasher
• Remodel the kitchen (nothing expansive just: install some track lighting, open up the island, install pot rack,get a new faucet, dishwasher, reorganize cabinets, repaint cabinet doors)
• Finish the bedroom (mostly Ikea closet pieces, installing curtains, and setting up a workspace for Emily)
• Create a nursery/child's bedroom
• Finish the upstairs bathroom (repaint the windowsill, glue down the door jam/floor connector thingy)
• Well Being
• Be in better shape (get back to 150~160 pounds)
• Meditate Regularly (30 minutes day?)
• Have a healthy kid
• Acquire more financial freedom
• Open our Comic/Game/Geekery store
• Read more books for fun [Book Count = 3, started/joined a book club]

Name of The Wind review

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is a great fantasy epic.  It's the first in a trilogy and takes place in a land where magic is exerted through the power of belief, basically if you believe hard enough a rock will float it does.  It's more technical than that, but the way it's handled adds a nice science flair to it.  The story follows a red haired man named Kvothe, who's quick witted and seems to quickly grasp anything put in front of him.  I really enjoyed the style of the writing, the author's voice if you will.  I think I would describe it as conversational storytelling.  It eases you into the world and keeps the pace steady, quickly moving from one interesting scene to the next.

I really fell into this story and if you like fantasy I highly recommend you give this one a read.

Monthly Goal Review

It's been roughly a month since I posted what I wanted to accomplish this year, so I figured it might be good to review how things are going.  See what's working and what's not.

• Game/Recreation
• I've played some Dance Central 2, which gets me closer to the 3500 calorie achievement (I still have like 1000 to go).
• Played some more Batman Arkham City.
• I've scheduled an Artemis party with some friends of mine.
• House Related
• I've been washing a load of dishes before going to bed most nights.
• We've been paring down the overall clutter around the house.
• I think the major house projects will be tackled once the weather gets nicer.
• Well Being
• I read Name of the Wind, which was a really good read. I plan on writing more about it in a future post.
• I've been increasing my exercise a little, but we think the biggest health issue for me as well as for Emily is that we have trouble eating regularly.
• We're refinancing the house, which should decrease the payments some.

Some things I've need to work on still:

• I'm still drawn into the Marvel Avengers Alliance facebook game more than I should be, but I have cut back on how often I'm playing it.
• I've collected objects to try to sell online, but I haven't posted anything yet.
• I still need to schedule a time of the week to get together with Emily and talk about things, whether it's family life or the store or finances or whatever.
• I also have been thinking I need to just set aside some time to research/plan the store.  I figure I'd be working there in the evenings if it was open, so I might as well spend that time trying to open it.

Not the greatest start, but a least I'm making progress right?  There's still plenty of year left.

New Year Goals

There are a few things I would like to accomplish this year.

• Game/Recreation Related
• Play a game of Fiasco
• DM a small campaign of Mouse Guard
• Play the quick play game of Leverage RPG
• Play Artemis
• Play through Mass Effect 3
• Play through Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Play through Assassin's Creed 3
• Get all achievements on Dance Central 2 (requires help from someone else or a dance party)
• Play through Dance Central 3
• Collect all Riddler trophies in Batman: Arkham City
• Paint my first mini (most likely board game related)
• Play all of the games I own at least once or sell them off (what I have left unplayed: The Amazing Race game, Acquire, Anima: Shadow of Omega, Catch Phrase, Pumpkin King, Rook, Sorry Sliders)
• House Related
• Clean out the garage
• Paint the hall
• Redo the downstairs bathroom (involves buying a new tub and installing all the tile we have)
• Install a Dishwasher
• Remodel the kitchen (nothing expansive just: install some track lighting, open up the island, install pot rack,get a new faucet, dishwasher, reorganize cabinets, repaint cabinet doors)
• Finish the bedroom (mostly Ikea closet pieces, installing curtains, and setting up a workspace for Emily)
• Create a nursery/child's bedroom
• Finish the upstairs bathroom (repaint the windowsill, glue down the door jam/floor connector thingy)
• Well Being
• Be in better shape (details needed)
• Meditate Regularly
• Have a healthy kid
• Acquire more financial freedom
• Open our Comic/Game/Geekery store
• Read more books for fun

That's a lot of gaming goals, but I feel like the others are larger endeavors and thus more overwhelming.  The Well Being goals are probably too vague; there's not enough detail which it makes it harder to visualize accomplishing them.  Many of the house projects require money, so that complicates things.

Ideas on how to achieve some of this

• Watch less TV (unless doing something else as well, like exercises, finances, going through boxes of stuff)
• Play Facebook games less
• No games until the evening, and
• Daily chores done (1 load of dishes washed, 1 pile of clothes put away, occassional trash)
• 1 Major project task completed (Finances, Home Remodel, Store)
• this excludes dancing and fitness games
• Start an exercise routine (mornings?, lunch break?, daily?, MWF?, run? gym? dance? videos?)
• Sell off unused items (clothes, games, random household objects) through eBay
• Reinstate weekly meetings (if it's for the store possibly include other willing/interested in helping)
• Set aside time to help my mom start her real estate side business. Not sure what this would entirely entail, but I'm guessing doing some research would be part of it.

If you have any suggestions on other goals I've talked about but left out, or some ideas on how to help achieve any of these, feel free to post.

Who's out there?

I check the page views for this blog, because it posts the numbers right there for you to see, and apparently I actually get a few views everyday.  It's not a lot, like I think the most I've seen is maybe 9, but it's something. Most likely it's just bots programmed to surf the web and look for links, but it's interesting to think that even these posts are part of the world wide web.

I'm grateful that I have such good friends, friends that are kind enough and generous enough to be willing to lend me one of their Xbox's will mine gets fixed/replaced.

Homemade Desert

My wife recently kept the house so dry that when you got done with a shower, the mirror was still dry.  Now I'm not sure if I'm feeling sick or just dried out.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to have dinner with a good friend tonight.

Drawing a blank

You know, throughout the day I think of all of these things I want to talk about and then evening comes around I forget about them. I need to work on a solution for that.

I'm grateful for Suck.UK's fabulous customer service. I was missing a part to the Cat DJ scratching kit and they mailed me a replacement.  Now my cats can scratch away.

Surprise! I'm still here!

I bet you thought you heard the last from me, what with the delay between posts and all, but no siree.  I'm still here.  I was on a business trip last week, so writing up posts was difficult.  Now I'm back home and should be able to make regular posts again.

On a sadder note, my Xbox 360 starting displaying these weird graphical bugs when I was playing Batman: Arkham City and Burnout Crash.  I hope this isn't a sign that it's dying on me.

I'm grateful I have friends that will buy me drinks.

Ooops

I realized that I forgot to write yesterday, but you know what? I'm not going to fret over it.  It's still a good exercise.  I just need to try and keep it up from this point on.

I'm grateful for having a working cell phone.

Airline Service

Why is it that when you're on a plane they serve you a drink and snacks and then 5 minutes later come back to collect trash?  Am I really supposed to down all of my drink within that amount of time?  It wouldn't be so bad if they came by more often later, but usually if you miss that first opportunity you have to hold on to your trash until it's time to land.

I'm grateful I live in a time when human flight through air is commonplace.

Bedroom Rearrange

Today we rearranged the furniture in the bedroom.  I don't think it really created more space, but it change the feel of the room some.  It also pointed out that we had a lot of stuff in our bedroom and a surprisingly large amount of clothes.  We haven't finished moving all of our things back in just yet, that will require more deliberate planning.

I'm grateful for the help Emily's mom provide today.

$5 Microsoft point cards

Why doesn't Microsoft sell $5 point cards at stores?  Is it just not cost effective?  Does it really cost more than $5 to make and ship those cards?  All I'm saying is that when I'm out shopping, it'd be nothing for me to throw in an extra $5 purchase, but a $20 purchase causes me to pause.  I know I'd be buying more points than I am now.  And yes I know you can purchase small increments online, but when I'm home I'm not in a money spending mood.

I'm grateful for the warm comfy socks I own.

Sleepy time?

Sometimes I get into a state where I'm so tired that I have trouble going to bed; not falling asleep mind you, but just the acting of getting ready and climbing into bed.

I'm grateful for having such good friends.

Tired?

I think I don't do well when I'm behind on sleep, but there are so many things I want to do.

I'm grateful for the laptop we got some months go. Our first one!

Twilight Struggle

I played Twilight Struggle for the first time today and thought it was pretty fun.  I was afraid that I wasn't going to like it much, that it would be too dry and complex, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.  It's a two player game about the Cold War where one player is the US and the other plays the Soviet Union.  You only a have few options on your turn, so it's more about planning ahead a few steps than crazy micromanagement.  When I played it it lasted about 3 hours, which was more than I expected, and though the game did end, it certainly could have gone longer.  I had fun playing and would play it again given the chance.  I don't know how many opportunities I'd have to play it if I owned it, so I'm not rushing out to get it for myself, but I'd definitely play again if the occasion arose.

Oh, in case you were wondering, I was playing the Soviet Union and we won because the US learned to love the bomb which sent everyone to Defcon 1, and then the next turn they attempted a coups in Africa, which start a nuclear war, and since they started it, the the Soviet Union won. 

I'm grateful that my wife has started feeling better enough that she's able to work on some of her projects around the house.

Realization

Ok, yes, I realize that this exercise is basically no different than making a facebook post, or even a tweet but that's not the point. The goal is to get used to coming to this blog and making a post.  I'm trying for consistency.  Who knows, it may lead to more verbose posts.

I'm grateful for the fact that today's weather was nice enough to allow for a walk outside with my wife during lunch.

January 06

What once was lost, is still lost. I have no idea what happened to that Microsoft points card.

I'm grateful we still have that drain auger.

January 05

This was one of those days where you do a lot, make a lot of progress, but don't really finish anything in particular.

Today I'm grateful for gifts that come with gift receipts.

Quick note

Went to work at 9 am, left work at 9 pm - must be a build day.

I'm grateful for having health insurance that covers flu shots.

New Plans

OK, so I thought I might try something this year. I like to write, actually I like to do all kinds of creative things, writing being one of them, and to facilitate that, I'm going to set a goal to write 1 sentence a day It will probably be about the day, but it doesn't have to be.  I figure I'll start with 1 month and see how it goes.

On top of that, (why start one thing when you can overload yourself with so many other things as well) I'll add something I'm grateful for as well. I hear that's helpful in living a happy life. Wish me luck!

I started the day with a full head of steam, well at least some steam, but it all went away by 8.

I'm grateful for the fact that our griddle is seasoned enough that I can easily cook eggs on it now.