Winter Is Coming

Sorry for missing Thursday. I was busy deck building for the Game of Thrones Card Game.

Being part of a giant group of geeky friends is a beautiful and frustrating thing. For one we will never solve who is a better superhero, and two, we do all kinds of things without any shame at all.

Like most people in the world we are currently addicted to Game of Thrones. We fell in love with the card game because as magic players it was a similar game without having to constantly shell out tons of money for the latest and greatest cards. the GoT game is pretty equal about cards. Each set comes with the same thing, always. And new cards and mechanics aren't being churned out as fast as humanly possible so a couple trips to the store should cover you for quite some time.

The other aspect I like is that it plays well with more people, the one on one games are okay, but it' the big messy ones that are great. You can make a night of it with a bunch of people.

Tomorrow we are having our first 6 person game, up till now we have only attempted 4. I am really psyched. To get into the mood I am going to be making Arya's Snitched Tarts from the Feast of Fire and Ice cookbook. If you don't have the cookbook I recommend checking out Inn at the Crossroads site. The ladies who run it helped create the cookbook. It will give you an idea whether or not you should purchase the book.

It will be good practice for when we have our official Winter Game of Thrones Feast as a pre Christmas event for all our friends before they go off and do family things. Everyone is coming dressed as a character. I will keep you guys posted on the menu and hopefully add photos from the event itself.

Meanwhile I am off again. Almost time to leave work and go enjoy National Drink Beer Day! We will be going to the Congregation Ale House as they have delicious food and a phenomenal beer list.

Huzzah!

Chainmaille x 2

My new walking regiment involves trips to Disneyland where I use as much willpower as possible to ignore the smells of caramel popcorn, churros, and funnel cakes, and walk my butt off all over Fantasyland to California Adventure. The reward for walking is a ride instead of food or a drink. What better reward for exercise?

So as a result I have slacked on my crafting somewhat. (Wouldn't you?) But I did complete a Captive Inverted Round Chainmaille necklace which looks really cool in person. It's got a nice heavy weight and the chunkyness gives it a modern twist.

The picture shows it somewhat but the lighting doesn't give the silver the right gleam.

I have also made a delicate looking bracelet with what I have dubbed The Planet Pattern since "Rhinos Snorting Drano" is not a very good name for what looks very lovely and nothing like a rhino. I will post that soon as well.

Is anyone out there trying out any of the other patterns from CGMaille? Any success, failures? I won't be showing you my attempt at ruffles, it was just sad. I definitely need to use smaller rings for the smaller rings, mine flopped around unattractively.

Fallen London

Reading doesn't always have to be thought of as something linear. And shouldn't have to be. One of my favorite forms of reading is actually narrative gaming.

One of the best examples is Fallen London. You enter a world that is reminiscent of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. In it you use action points to interact with devils, rubbery men and shadowy figures. The world slowly unfurls in snippets of story, as you gain levels in danger, shadow, watchfulness and persuasion. Other strange qualities some negative, some helpful can also be acquired.

It launches your mind into new realms and you will thirst for more, anxiously awaiting a new action point to continue to discover things about the Masters of the Bazaar, the revolutionists, the Universities and then sail to the other corners of the world that have yet to be revealed.

Content is always being added to the game and if you enjoy casual gaming and are not that great with your thumbs on a joystick I would give Fallen London a try. It's free for the most part unless you want to access special content.

Leafy Greens with Bacon and Onions

I had this delicious side to some chicken this weekend at Stone Brewery and I wanted to try to recreate it. It included kale but I figured since I already had spinach I would substitute that.

Ingredients
Bag of fresh spinach
4 slices bacon
Onion (your choice, diced)
Pinch of brown sugar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil Spray
Salt and Pepper
Optional: Bragg's Amino Acids. (Has a soyish flavor, really good for you if you are trying to lose weight.)
You need a decent sized pan, at least 12 inches around.

I used evoo spray to save on calories and spritzed my pan. Then I tossed in the onions. I cooked them at low-medium heat. After about a minute I added the brown sugar.
While the onions were caramelizing in the pan I placed the bacon in the microwave between sheets of paper towels. I let them cook about 6 minutes then took it out. I broke the slices into small pieces.
I let the onions cook until translucent, occasionally stirring. Then I folded in the spinach and the bacon, letting the spinach cook until wilted.
Add a few shakes of salt and pepper and a couple Sprays of your Bragg's if you are using it and toss one final time before turning off the stove.
Serve immediately.

Garlic Infused Vodka

I love savory drinks, as I have mentioned. So when I got a giant bag of garlic I had to try and recreate the garlic martini from the Stinking Rose.

That's my giant bag of garlicI fell in love with driving through Gilroy. I love that Gilroy smells like roasting garlic. It's amazing. I am afraid I don't have a picture of the infused vodka right now but my first attempt wasn't that pretty anyway. I used the recipe from Pop Diva for my infused vodka. I got some glass flasks at Ross but you can find the same ones at The Container Store.

What I learned from my first attempt is that after about a week it's perfect, any longer and it's too much. And straining it is a must. If anyone out there has any suggestions for clarifying the resulting vodka please let me know, because it took on an ugly yellow color from the garlic.

I am a huge fan of making your own flavored vodka. Makes a great present. Enjoy!

Walk Like an ...

Egyptian Theater. Lesser well known the The Grauman's Chinese Theater, but just as cool. Next month it will be celebrating its' 90th Anniversary and if you haven't gotten tickets yet there are still some left for this 90th Anniversary Ball on October 20th.

How could I not want to go after this season's opener to Boardwalk Empire.

Not sure if I will be wearing beads on my head but I am damn excited to get a 20's beaded dress.

Cabin in the Woods

Here's the close to being done cross stitch. I like the way it uses negative space and the blue cloth to define some of the areas. I just need to finish the backstitching, add the date of the wedding and then mail it. Better late than never! Then back to the epic Thomas Kincade Beauty and the Beast cross stitch, which I took a break on about 6 months into.

I use The Stitchery for my cross stitch supplies.