Writing as of late

So as of late I have had a couple writing projects coming to an end including three stories. All of them have 2-3 thousand words. Two of them are for the Newgrounds writers guild and the last one is a writing exercise me and a friend online were doing for practice with the subject of romance. I will not have the full things on here, because three stories of that length could be a little bit daunting for some. So instead I will have just the starting paragraph to all three and if you like them then their will either be a place you can read them in full or I could just put it up later depending.

Duty Of The Heart – Romance

Watching the sun fall over the village all was as it should have been from the outside. Peaceful and many of the soldiers back home with their loved ones. That did not make him feel any better as he stood watching from his place near the window. For as the moonlight began to glow the questions begin to come en masse. Why did everyone hate them? Why did they believe they would do them harm? It was only when they had mobilized from the village that the battle truly began and all of his power to stop it was useless at the charge of the masses.

Fact Or Fiction – Newgrounds Horror 1

You never know when creatures like me are watching. We all exist outside of your fears no matter how much things like the news try to tell you every few days with some new crime that would shock even the police officers. Some of you reading this may even be seeing me very soon all comfortable in your room or local library surrounded by people you would think are fine upstanding citizens.

Pale Rider – Newgrounds Horror 2

He ran over the stone path. Orange light painted everything abnormal shades making him further on edge then he could be. Snapping back there was no body, no form behind him that could be seen following him. It did not matter though, because he knew he was in it’s view. The uneasy weight baring down on his spirit made it all so clear. Clearing the gate with a vault the time was ticking down before he could get to the door. Home was in sight as he took bigger breaths for the final push. Willing his legs to go faster. Everyone who would be able to watch wouldn’t even say anything for their were the kind of people to not get in to someone else’s affairs no matter what they were. If it was illegal or even slightly suspicious people would rather just close their blinds before saying something and he might die because of it.

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Let’s play – Let’s not

For those who do not know I have a Youtube channel and for those who do know it is only been indie games. Games not released by big studios for people to have fun and not for the profit margins. Recently though I was going to begin a let’s play on Advance Wars a charming little real time strategy with a good style and overall pleasantness despite the subject of war. Then I realized after editing had been done and all the little things ironed out. Except Nintendo has this program that if you do not release videos under then it would count as a copyright strike. Three copyright strikes means the channel gets iced and I would like to keep it for a little bit.

So that means to scrap the whole thing and do another video. Which is not a problem to anything but to the clock. I am getting another video done. It just really is a buzzkill not because of the whole profitability issue. I am not making any money off my channel so it does not really matter. It sucks because how many other people do you think said things to themselves before deciding on doing a video. It can make one wonder how much free advertising Nintendo is removing from themselves.

Oh well. If that’s what they want they can have the consequences to boot.

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Spicy Pork in Lettuce Cups

So here is a dish that you can make and if you do not have the lettuce then you can use the pork mix as a topping for salads. This makes a great meal and really is simpler then one would expect. Once again this is for a big old pot of the stuff so if you think this is too much then chop the recipe in half or even to a quarter if needed. They also work well tossed with noodles warm in a bowl.

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Ingredients
3*1 lb package of Pork Chorizo
2 lbs small diced Pork
1 lb package Beef Chorizo
4 Bell Peppers of your choice
Mine was 1 orange, 2 red, and 1 yellow
1 bunch of Green Onions
1/2 can of Chipotle in Adobo
1/2 lb Honey Roasted Peanuts
1/2 clove of Elephant Garlic or 2 cloves Garlic
1 head Iceburg Lettuce

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Get your all your meat in the pot on medium heat first to cook up and their will be a fair amount of fat coming out we are going to use this to help flavor all the veggies. It will be the base of the sauce for everything to contribute to. While this is going on you can chop up your veggies. Roughly dice everything before tossing the green onions and garlic in when the meat seems to be almost cooked through. Continue to heat until warmed through before removing from the

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Toss your veggies on with the remnants of fat in the pot to help saute the all the beautiful colors. Toss your peanuts when you are ready to pull the trigger, and if you are worried about the sugar of the peanuts burning then a quick stir every so often will make sure to stop that. You want to cook everything until peppers begin to shimmer like little gems from sauteing.

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When you put the meat back in to heat together you can add your Chipotle in Adobo before mixing it all together and warming it up. If there happens to be a couple of caramelized things at the bottom of the pan then you can deglaze with a couple drops of Rice Wine Vinegar before continuing to finish it up

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Take your Iceberg Lettuce and get your filling in to the cup. I find a quarter cup of the filling per leaf is right about good for me before rolling up and chowing down. If you do not want the little amount of sauce to leak then you could always double up on your leaves with no problems.

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Delicious.

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Nightwish is coming to town…

So for those who do not know Portland has a bit of a music scene. If you did not know then it is completely alright. I didn’t know until my senior year in high school. So don’t feel bad if anyone was actually hurt. For the rest of the population there is a band I am a major fan of and I know it is silly to fawn over them in a blog post. But I hurt my shoulders sleeping in a position that resembled a knotted piece of spaghetti and personally I would love to do something that does not involve the y-axis with my arms. Nightwish is a band that covers a lot of different schools throughout the music but can be summarized in the term operatic synth euro metal.

They are very popular in Europe and could be considered a big thing when you go to places that have thousands upon thousands of people cheering for you to where they are going now in their tour through Portland where only about 1,000 people can fit it makes things interesting because their is not a bad seat in the house. The last time Nightwish had come through that I was able to go the singer had just been replaced from Tarja who has a wide range and an operatic voice versus Annette who has more energy and a style of singing that may make more people comfortable to listen to. Now, with this tour we get to hear the new singer Floor Jansen and I am psyched like a Pomeranian on a sugar rush.

If you think you may want to give these a listen I would suggest Wish I Had An Angel, Bye Bye Beautiful, Amaranth, and Over The Hills.

This band is maybe one of two I would actually move my entire life projects and all to go see. The other two include a band that does not tour.(Black Mages) So while I am psyched to go my question today is what band would you money willing go see even if that meant calling sick or otherwise sloughing off everything else that day to get ready for? Comment below and if you have ever met someone who has a crazy story about going to a concert then share this with them. i am sure they will like it.

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When is too much?

So with the past week this was on my plate. Three pieces of writing for the new grounds writing guild for their horror collection. Another book soon coming out nothing awe inspiring just a collection of stupid quotes for stupid conversations.  I had to work out how to get the labels for the bath salts. To work on a website for my father. A full time week at the mail center and some cleaning up in my humble apartment has made me go from one thing to another at a rate where I have felt less then my best. My writing did not have the horrifying snap that I would think that it does and nothing I really have been writing has not been feeling like my best.

It was one of those weeks that made you feel like something less then your normal clip which I kinda felt blue over. Time is important so I took a little time to kinda recharge my batteries a bit because with work need growin’ I need to handle it or things will soon fall. So after tonight I am going to turn my dials up to full. Sometimes I just have to refocus my energies before making more progress.

I think some of the things that I may try is to get more grassroots advertising. Try to get people interested in to looking to my stuff and then things can get moving.

Time is sacred and no one knows how much time is left on their lifespan so using it to do the most you can makes the most sense in my world. I just need to make sure I keep myself in the sweet spot between doing just enough and burning out. So now we can bring you to your regular scheduled progress.

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Three Ages Of Cuisine

In cooking one can boil the where of their culinary homeland pretty easily. When it comes to recipes the case is a little harder, but still manageable. Many times though when people ask someone who cooks what kind of food they like to cook this little detail goes out the window. In any case here are the three general time frames of cuisine.

Classical
This would be the recipes that are often heralded by many critics. These are the ones that have passed from generation to generation. Things that have been around for many years in some cases hundreds or even thousands. From here you will see less technical ways with common ingredients of the era. This food often while have a higher bar of detail in flavoring using a strict set of ingredients while still trying to create new recipes within it. Le Tour D’argent’s more popular recipes could be seen as classical french food. Often times also the French, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian cuisines will go more back in to their culinary history as they have many centuries of recipes to go through in a style of food that has been found pleasing on the world stage.

Modern
This would be the most popular time frame of cooking simply with what you have using the basic techniques that the common person has access to. Most places nowadays will go through this era of food as it is often the easiest to create often by here say or just by the equipment and time available to cook. Here is where will we say newer countries really begin to make their stand as well as some who maybe have not been given the same opportunities due to simple lack of knowledge about it. This would include a fair mix of countries including the America’s, Spain, Indian, Korean, and most of the Arabic states.

Neo or New Age cuisine
This is where fusion would be situated, and the realm of neo cuisine is the unexplored the new and brash scientific edge meeting a different set of flavor combinations that neither era of cuisine before it could have dealt with. David Chang has a great penchant for making good food no matter the ingredients. Another style of food that would be here is molecular gastronomy. Where more of the new ground is still being made. Every national cuisine can be done in to a new style making it an interesting exchange between the new style and the older version. A restaurant idea could be even made on highlighting the difference between the old and the new while having the tasters enjoy them both in their own special ways.

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When your head is wired a bit differently

So normally my posts are fairly positive or pokes fun at something. This time I am going to be a bit serious for a moment, no not really as I will poke fun at myself but for those who do not know me let’s just say I can be a bit eclectic. Bit of an understatement can be made on that as you see I have more things going then the US Government.

For many years I have been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. Which I would agree with no that I have figured out to make it work. My high moods are short blips of having enough positive energy I could get Richard Simmons to tell me to calm down and down turns so dark that goths would need a mining helmet to talk to me for more then a dozen minutes. The down turns are normally twice to three times as long as the upturns and every so often I get a nice case of social anxiety or paranoia flashes. Which means if someone talks to me for one hour every week I will go from how I normally am to a bit of a dysfunction in skin turning in to something that fears the light and just wants to sit in the shadows hissing and snapping at people until they pass. A werewolf basically.

After the hour passes I can usually get myself under control at least in the realm of wherever my personality is at the time.

The thing is when your head works a bit differently the first thing people will give you is some kind of pills. I do not like that because I do not like having another item I need to pay for with more side effects then a mystery cocktail made of bleach and drain cleaner. So what I do is try to deal with it. My moods come with their own pluses and minuses and I try to work my style so I can get the most out of myself. If happy and chipper then I can move faster and remember things longer without writing it down. When I am more morose I tend to be more intellectually active to balance out the speed I lose. Often my technique of doing something simple will differ between the two moods which makes things interesting in the kitchen and you try both side by side.

Finding those positives and negatives and working with them has been one of the reasons I can do so much at a level I am proud of learning at or doing at. Having something different from other people is common actually, and as odd as the sentence sounded it really is odd because the one thing everyone has in common is the unique traits they have making everything in to a bit of a tcg called life. Do you go for someone with a high mana cost and seven effects or drop another land? Couldn’t tell you but what I do know is when your head is wired a bit differently the next person that tries to counter your next spell

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Why So Mad, Trolls?

So I read my news and people are angry. I watch my videos and people are angry in the comments. I exchange some tips on forums I am a regular on and others are mad because the correct use of the oxford comma. Which got me to thinking.

If so many people are angry then why is there very little being done about it?

People feel safe to say things behind the keyboard then they would face to face with someone. Although I never really understood that.

I will never say I am a tough guy, but at least I understand how the joints work normally and how they work when someone is trying to pull them in a way they are not meant to ever bend. Does that make me tough? No, that makes me sore with knees made of candy corn depending on the day. I have given some punches and taken a few or more so what is the point of everyone thinking they need to be so angry while on the internet. Does trying to play the tough guy get you some kind of discount at the local supermarket? Do barbed insults lower the utility bills? Is there some kind of magical machine that turns randomly spouted hate in to some viable energy ready to lower your electric bill?

No?

Then what is the point?

We have ourselves an information superhighway capable of talking to people on the other side of the world with a couple of finger twitches and can find groups of people with our same likes to talk with and still grow our social abilities. Why don’t we just enjoy what we have and if you have to say something to someone clearly wanting attention ask yourself this.

“If I say this now will I be happy I said it tomorrow and ok to show it to people I care for and respect?” If the answer is no then it is not the best idea to say it. I am not perfect on this either, but a moment may happen many just shows the trash in the spirit of whomever you are dealing with.Just my thoughts, it was on my mind for a while.

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100 posts !

So when I started this project I was a soda drinking, overly serious human being with a propensity for projects. I still am in every sense, but I know how sometimes I can be just a little too serious. When in culinary school some people thought I actually was either a vampire or a cyborg. I kid you not when girls were scared of me because I reminded them of something out of Bram Stoker. I don’t tan much and the whole being up night and day and seemingly everywhere at once made fore some parts scary and quite exhausting. In any case thanks for being by and watching this little project grow.

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Thanks everyone for reading. More will be coming. I also will be doing more writing soon. From here we will be going to a schedule I will most likely stick with for the remainder of the year. Three posts weekly. Just doing progress updates and recipes often can be two posts a week and I think a third will just be at my limit now that I am getting some steam doing these posts and interacting. So starting from the beginning of March we are going for it all and I hope everyone enjoys what they do on their own special projects. Although I am not perfect with my interactions I hope we all can grow with this.

Have a good one folks.

Also, I just had to be as big a dork with the picture as possible :p

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Enchilada Casserole

You will need the following ingredients to fill one deep baking tray/casserole dish.
2.5 lb 75/25 Ground Beef
1 lb Beef or Pork Chorizo
1 White Onion
1 can Refried Beans of choice or 1 1/2 C homemade Refried Beans
4 cups dried Rice
1 bunch of Cilantro leaves
1 cup grated Cheddar
Garlic and Chilies to season
Your Tortilla of choice. If 12 inch you will need about a dozen. 10 inch you will need close to 15
1 pt finely diced Salsa or Enchilada Sauce if you want

So first you want to get your rice going 6-8 cups of water (out with six and keep the other two off to the side just in case it needs it. Due to variances between rice when farmed it is not impossible to hear of or have happen. While this is going on chop up your cilantro, grate your cheddar, chop up your onion, and get your beans warm. After your rice is cooked take it out of the pot and let it cool for a moment.

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So toss your chorizo, beef, and onion in to the pot on medium heat until the onions are soft.

When it is almost done you can toss your cilantro in with your rice and whatever seasonings you wish and give that a good mix.

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At this point you may want to preheat your oven to about 300 F. It doesn’t take me that long and while that is going it is time to take our baking tray out and begin construction on each burrito just as soon as the meat finishes.

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As you can see we get more then just meat or cheese. You can also see from the shadow that my kitchen lighting needs some work.(oh well no fancy foodie pictures here what you see is still good enough to eat) A spoonful of meat, a spoonful of rice, a half spoonful of warm refried beans and a heavy pinch of cheddar before being rolled up. Prep for the baking tray if you want is to spoon a little bit of your sauce or salsa in. Finely diced salsa was on heavy sale so I just grabbed that. If you make it or buy it you will need about a pint.

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Almost a dozen big ol’ beefy burritos before saucing and cheese on top. If you do not want use all your sauce do not feel the need to with thinner sauces you may find a little less works or some people really like theirs saucy. In any case play it how you wish to play it as you can see below mine is a little drier.You can tell this will definitely get you full in hurry. Dress up the top with some more of the sauce and the remainder of the cheese before being put in for 20 minutes.

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You want it in the oven long enough just for the cheese to melt and the tortilla to absorb some of the liquid. This makes 5-6 servings and does really well in the microwave after being kept in the fridge.

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