Daily Haiku - November 11th, 2014

Time to sing some songs
A holiday cabaret
by Larry O'Keefe

-----

Well, there goes all my free time for the next month! :P

I auditioned and got cast in a holiday cabaret celebrating the music of Larry O'Keefe. In case you aren't familiar with him, he's the guy who composed the music and lyrics for Bat Boy: The Musical, Legally Blonde: The Musical, and, just this year, Heathers: The Musical. He's got more shows under his belt, but those are his most well known ones.

I'm super excited to be doing this because it's with the same group I did Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Pokemusical with, but it does mean I'm probably going to fail a number of my New Year resolutions I've been procrastinating on. Ah well, there's always next year!

Daily Haiku - November 6th, 2014

Gaming in large groups
Invariably leads to
Unbridled chaos.

----

One of my friends set up a Moishe House recently, and one of the ongoing events he's set up is a game night. The first time I went I brought a ton of games with me but only some of them saw play as we had so many people the evening festivities leaned more towards party games like Telephone Pictionary and Mafia.

Because of this the second time I went I didn't bring the games, only to be greeting with disappointment and demands that I bring them next time. Which brings us to last night.

I show up with a handful of games in tow and we end up never playing them because, you guessed it, there were too many people. But at least I got to play telephone Pictionary again. :P

Daily Haiku - November 5th, 2014

I am the cheetah
Stalking cardio machines
Waiting for my chance.

----

I arrived at the gym this morning only to find every elliptical machine already taken, the fear of every time-crunched gym rat. I did my weight training first, with one eye always on the prize, ready to carelessly fling my barbells to the side and gun it for the first open slot. Thankfully the cardio gods looked upon me favorably this day and I managed to get in before I had to run home for work. #firstworldproblems

What I'm Cooking - Moroccan Pot Roast

With Fall upon us I figured it was time I could start cooking hearty, hot meals again and was fortune enough to stumble across this pot roast recipe on Serious Eats. While it wasn't perfect, I think with a couple of changes it'll be a lot better then next time I make it.

Right off the back, I'm excluding the couscous that was originally paired with this recipe. Instead, try this Herby couscous with citrus & pomegranate dressing that I found last year. Pomegranates are only in seasons for a short while so best use them while you got them!

Secondly, I'm adding more carrots because this recipe was woefully lacking in the vegetable department, though there wasn't much room for anything in the crock pot besides the meat itself.

And one last note before we jump into the recipe itself. This recipe requires a Moroccan spice blend, ras-el-hanout, that will require access to a Whole Foods or equivalent high end grocery store to find. I went to four different stores first as there wasn't a Whole Foods nearby and struck out on all of them.

Thankfully, not only did Whole Foods have it, but they sold it in a generously small amount (about 3 tablespoons for $3) so I didn't have to blow a ton of money on a giant bottle that I might never use again.



Moroccan Pot Roast With Dried Cherry Couscous

1 ½	tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3	pound boneless beef chuck roast
	Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1	medium onion, quartered
3	large carrots, peeled and cut into big chunks
1	stalk of celery, cut into large chunks
1	cup beef stock or low-sodium beef broth
1	(14.5-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2	tablespoons fresh juice from 1 lemon
1	tablespoon ras-el-hanout
2	teaspoons sweet paprika
1	tablespoon chopped fresh mint
3	medium cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1	whole lemon, pierced several times with a fork
4	sprigs of fresh thyme
2	bay leaves

LET'S MAKE SOME MEAT:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325°F and adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position.

2. Season your pot roast with salt and pepper and then add the oil to your Dutch oven over high heat until nearly smoking. Add the roast and brown for about 4 minutes on each side.

3. While this is happening, combine your lemon juice, ras-el-hanout, paprika, mint, garlic, 1 ¼ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of black pepper in a blender and puree until smooth.

4. Once the roast is browned remove it from the Dutch oven and set it aside on a plate. Add the beef stock, tomatoes, and ras-el-hanout and scrape all those delicious brown bits off the bottom of the pan before adding the roast back into the pan. Then add the onion, carrots, celery, lemon, thyme, and bay leaves. Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven to cook for about 2.5 hours, removing the lid during the last 30 minutes of the cooking time.

5. Remove the bay leaves, thyme springs, and the whole lemon and then dig in.

I will say there wasn't a ton of sauce, but it was flavorful enough that I didn't really need more. And I think this would also go well with egg noodles if you prefer that over couscous.

Daily Haiku - November 3rd, 2014

Ovation Awards
Drunken choreographer
Friends filming it all

----

While my theatre did not come up as big as I had hoped in the awards ceremony, it was still an enjoyable evening. It was your standard mix of humor, failed humor, touching speeches, boring speeches, strange choices for guest presenters, and the unexpectedly drunk woman mentioned above.

I thought for sure was going to face-plant before she got to the stage but she made it there in one piece and proceed to ramble on somewhat incoherently until well after the pianist tried to play her off.

Also, good Lord, people, do not make the backdrop of your stage a wall of super reflective silver circles and then blast said backdrop with bright lights. If I want to go blind I'll spend time outside. :P

Halloween Success!

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I ain't gonna lie, I'm pretty proud of my costume this year and everyone really loved it. I kind of regret now not having gone somewhere public to show it off. Ah well, next year! :P

Daily Haiku - October 31st, 2014

Blue screen photo shoot
Has me squating, legs on fire.
Just call me Steel Quads

Daily Haiku - October 28th, 2014

Yaoi musical
Far-flung future based on Poe
That was really weird.

---

So yeaaaaaah...that was a weird musical. Having never read The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Alan Poe, upon which this musical of the same name is based, I had no idea what to expect going in.

Nor was I familiar with the anime sub-genre, Yaoi, which is "a Japanese genre of fictional media focusing on homoerotic romantic or sexual relationships between male characters, aimed at a female audience and usually created by female authors."

The story was fairly interesting, but it got a little cheesy/melodramatic for my taste at points, and some of the songs were stylistically counter to the rest of the show. That said, I really enjoyed the score, most of the songs, and would be interested to see this again at some point after it's been workshopped some more and trimmed down a bit.

An exhausting but fullfilling weekend.

Man, what didn't I do this weekend?

Friday night I went out to a screening of my friends' web series, Freeloaders (sadly not available online), which I helped fund ages ago and which turned out really well. I've gone to a couple web series screenings now and I've yet to dislike any of the ones my various friends have created. Clearly I have very good taste in people.

I swear this isn't a porno shoot. Yet.

Early Saturday morning I drove down to Inglewood to take part in my second YouTube video shoot, which was a much more enjoyable than the first a few months back. Unlike my first experience, which had me sitting around doing nothing for the better part of eight hours, we jumped straight into shooting and continued doing so for almost the full eight hours. We did two different scenes, the first of which I was very happy with, in part because I got to look like this for part of it:

Getting that grey out of my hair involved washing it with hand soap in the bathroom sink, but it was totally worth it. When the video eventually goes up I'll be sure to post it here.

My Saturday evening was actually quadruple booked--a play and three different birthdays--but I was so exhausted from the shoot I just went home and laid about until I fell asleep.

Sunday I went out to the Bills backer bar in Pasadena and got to stay for the entire game, which was a stomping of the poor New York Jets. Then I went home and played some multiplayer Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth with my friend Brian before he came over in person to draft magic and then play the expansion for Lords of Waterdeep I just purchased. It's the first time I've bought an expansion for a game I don't own, but I'm going to remedy that shortly by using the money I got from the Youtube shoot to buy my own copy of the base game. :D

And finally, during our evening of board gaming I made and ate an entire pepperoni pan pizza. It was delicious, and I've got enough dough to make another one tomorrow. I was planning to do it tonight, buy my friend scored me a ticket to an industry only reading of a new musical, Masque of the Red Death, by Wendy Pini. If you're not familiar with that name, she is one of the two people, along with her husband, behind Elfquest, which is the graphic novel series that got me into comic books as a kid. I'm totally stoked to see the reading tonight.

So yeah, a good weekend was had by all.

Daily Haiku - October 27th, 2014

Bread never rises
Neither time, nor heat, nor threats
Forever flat, I.

---

That's not entirely accurate, in truth. I have managed to finagle my various doughs into rising, usually through pre-heating the oven to warm, turning it off and then letting the dough sit inside. But even then the dough never grows as much as it should. Still, that entire pan pizza I ate last night was DELICIOUS.

Daily Haiku - October 24, 2014

Alice in wonder
Landing in dreams and looking
Glassy-eyed wakeful.

-----

Finished Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. On to 1984!

Halloween 2015

It's a mere eight days until Halloween and already I've got a carved pumpkin and made headway into this year's costume. I still need to make something with pumpkin in it, likely bread or ice cream, but I'd say I'm still off to an excellent start.

After last year's success with the last-minute Bob Ross costume I wanted to come up with another semi-obscure but still recognizable character. Sadly that didn't pan out but I think I've chosen a solid alternative. More than once I've been told I resemble Bill Hader so I decided I would try my hand at Stefon this year. Stefon is a character Bill played on SNL for about five years as part of the Weekend Update with Seth Meyers.



The costume itself isn't complex with only three elements to it--a wig, shirt, and rings. However, the shirt is very specific in it's style and hard to duplicate. The shirt is an Ed Hardy, which I haven't been able to find anywhere online. That's probably for the best as similar shirts run over $100 a pop. It's a long sleeved t-shirt (oxymoron?) where the arms are a different style from the body of the shirt.

Thankfully I found a normal Ed Hardy t-shirt in the right color on Ebay for about $15 and some solid red long sleeved shirts at a thrift store that I can wear underneath. I haven't decided if I'll try to manually modify the arms to match the style on Stefon's shirt or just leave it as is. We'll see.

The wig was ordered from Amazon this morning, so the only piece left to obtain are the rings for my fingers which I can find at one of those trendy, young people knicknack stores. And then it's on to watching clips from SNL to mimic the way Stefon talks. Oh, and I should probably find some Halloween parties to go to. :D

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Daily Haiku - October 23rd, 2014

Halloween beckons
The hunt for costumes begins
They'll call me Stefon.

What I'm Reading - Classic American Lit

...and some English as well, for good measure.

In an attempt to kick-start my New Year Resolution to read 12 classic works of literature I stopped by my local library and picked up Fahrenheit 451, The Catcher in the Rye, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and 1984.

I tore through Fahrenheit 451, started 1984 but then switched over to Alice. Fahrenheit 451 was very well written with language that just seemed to flow and it's short length made for a nice, brief read. Alice has been very much the same, but with a much more lighthearted air to it. It's clearly geared towards children but it has been a lot of fun to read.

Catcher will be the last to get read and frankly, I'm not particularly looking forward to it. I vaguely recall reading it in high school and don't remember being particularly interested, but then again there wasn't much school related that got me jumping as a teenager. :D

Daily Haiku - Ocotber 19th, 2014

Fifth day, sans caffeine
Yawns erupt with no warning
Time to take a nap

Daily Haiku - October 18th, 2014

Cold wind rises up
Blankets added to the bed
Autumn has arrived.

Daily Haiku - October 17th, 2014

Rising with the sun
Oven on and batter set
Baked goods namaste.

---

My friend Annie's birthday is tomorrow and I was too lazy to make them last night, so I got up early to make a double batch of the Spicy Ginger Brown Butter Blondies that everyone loves so much.

Theatre News: 'Scenes From a Marriage'

During our weekly company meeting, one of our Co-Artistic Directors recapped his most recent visit to New York, which involved seeing a number of plays including 'Scenes From a Marriage'. The premise as he described it sounded utterly fascinating to me. It's the story of a married couple portrayed at three different points in their relationship--when things are going great, when things start unraveling, and the fallout.

What makes this so interesting is that each time period is played by a different set of actors simultaneously to each other in adjoining mini-stages. The audience will see all three pieces, but in different orders, and because they are performed next to each other, dialogue from each set will occasionally drift over to the others. And that's just in the first act.

In the second act, the separate stages are combined into a single set where all three couples perform on stage together, sometimes speaking at the same time as their counterparts. Again, this sounds amazing and I wish I was in New York to check it out.

Here's a link to a New York Time's review that goes more in-depth about the entire production: A Marriage in Trouble, in Triplicate.

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Daily Haiku - October 13th, 2014

The needle plunges
Piercing skin and muscle both
Medicine at work.
---
I got my annual flu shot today and as usual my entire upper arm was sore within an hour, and will likely continue that way through tomorrow. Such is the (minor) price we pay for the miracle of immunization.

Daily Haiku - October 9th, 2014

My shirt's soaked in sweat
Knees aching on the walk home
I have no regrets.
---
If you've sampled the chocolate grand marnier mousse cake from Porto's bakery, then you will understand my willingness to do penance at the gym.

"Thin layers of chocolate mousse and chiffon cake soaked with Grand Marnier syrup & a touch of orange marmalade. Finished with Belgian chocolate ganache."

AFI 100: The Graduate (#17)

This was a real disappointment for me. Coming in at number 17 on AFI's 100 Greatest American Films of All Time, I was expecting a lot from this film, but it turns out this was very much a product of the time in which it was created and I don't think it translated very well to my current day sensibilities.

Pretty much everyone in the film is unlikeable, either for the entire duration or starting about halfway in, and it's rare when any of their actions appear to have sensible motivation(s), if any, behind them. The ending of the film is the perfect example of this, wherein characters do completely inane things that resolve in ways that they shouldn't and still nobody seems particularly happy with the outcome. I was barely halfway through the film when I started eying the DVD player to see how much more of this I had to bear.

Afterwards I went to my roommate Jeff, who had done his graduate work in film, and asked him what made this film so great. Surprisingly, he wasn't particularly enamoured with the film either, and could only note that he thought the film had introduced the concept of the montage and that in part was why it was so well received. I haven't actually been able to verify that, and frankly, I don't have any interest in doing so.

However, during a phone conversation with my father later that week, he pointed out that the film paralleled what people were feeling and doing at the time. The film was released in 1967, as the United States was knee deep in the Vietnam war. The country was divided on what should be done and there was a lot of confusion and bad decisions being made. He said a lot of Americans could identify with the lead, Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman), and his inability to figure out what to do with their lives.

While this certainly gave me a bit more perspective on the film, it wasn't enough to make up for the time I lost watching it, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

Hard Reset

I honestly should have done this like a month ago, but better late than never. I finally got back to the gym to this week, bought groceries so I wouldn't be eating out all the time, and am making a concerted effort to get shit done at work. I've started watching AFI films again, and will hopefully get back to tap dancing this weekend after missing it the last two weeks.

The job hunt is officially under way though it's slow going so far, but hopefully something will turn up sooner rather than later. I briefly shaved my goatee and then upon realizing this was a terrible mistake decided to start growing it back in. By tomorrow I will have hopefully finished A Short History of Nearly Everything, at which point I'll have to decide on what to read next (I'm thinking philosophy or possibly government).

Our current production opened about a week-and-a-half ago and I have to say that it's my favorite of the four I've been here for. We'll find out next Monday whether or not the show will be extended for another week or two. And while I'd love to have more people come and see it I'm actually rooting against the extension as it will allow me to audition and possibly partake in another Hollywood Fringe Festival production. *fingers crossed*

Hmmm....what else? The first baby in my SoCal group was born the other day, and his parents named him Xander, after a character in the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They are nerds, and proud of it. :D

Oh, and I finally managed to sell the old Tuna Boat ('99 Buick Regal) and got a grand out of it, no less. So that's one less hassle to deal with.

As part of the reset I should hopefully start posting regularly again. I've gotten through a few more games, watched a few more movies, and stumbled across a lot more music (most of it of the musical theatre variety). I hope everyone out there is having as splendid a time as I am having.

Ta ta, for now!

Mister Rogers was a smart guy.

"Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now."

― Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

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What I'm Reading: A Short History of Nearly Everything

Normally I'd wait to finish a book before passing it along, but I haven't been finding a lot of time to read lately and this book is too good for you to have to wait around for me to finish.

I remember hearing about A Short History Of Nearly Everything (ASHNE) when it first came out, but since my reading habits lean towards science fiction and fantasy I never got around to reading it. But after bailing of War & Peace, I thought I should replace it with something made a of a bit more substance, and so, voila!

ASHNE, written by Bill Bryson, is exactly what it's name suggests--a history of nearly everything, from a scientific standpoint, starting from before the Big Bang up to today, or so I assume as I'm only about a fourth of the way through the book.

He's explained the birth and growth of the various sciences like physics, geology, astronomy, and chemistry, throwing about names left and right and delving into their stories and discoveries in a way that makes me wish he had written my college text books. Had they been this engaging perhaps I might have done slightly better in my classes.

While I'm not yet done with the book, what I've read so far has been excellent so if you're in-between books at the moment, I highly suggest you stop by your local library and grab a copy. I'm averaging about a chapter a day when I have time, so you could easily mosey through this in about a month.

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What I'm Listening To: The Wailin' Jennys

The birthday party was a success and it was a fairly relaxing affair for me as I decided to forgo making Bahn Mi for nine and a half pounds of pulled pork. Much less work for me and it was all eaten by the time the night was over. The downside is I have no recipe to share with you today so instead I thought I'd share some music.

My one foray into the world of bluegrass/country is Nickel Creek, a trio that I discovered years ago through an episode of A Prairie Home Companion. I decided to listen to them at work on Spotify the other day and my coworker asked who they were. I mentioned they were bluegrass and she instantly suggested I check out The Wailin' Jennys.

The Wailin' Jennys are a female trio from Canada who have been playing together since 2002 and have released four albums during that time. And they've apparently also been on A Prairie Home Companion, so perhaps I need to go back and start listening to old episodes for more music recommendations.

Anyways, I really like their work. It tends to be soft, delicate harmonies over simple acoustics and it really is lovely music.

What I'm Cooking: LOTS.

It's been a busy week in the kitchen, but when you've got the urge you've got to splurge*!

I totally just thought up that turn of phrase. I don't want to brag, but I think I might be this generation's oratorical Michelangelo.

Anywho...

My first meal of the week included an old favorite, Ratatouille, a new citrus-y couscous dish, and a take on the classic Saltimbocca, with chicken instead of veal. Everything was delicious and I highly recommend you try all three.

Super Simple Chicken Saltimbocca:

Boneless chicken breast
Prosciutto
Fontina, shredded
Sage, minced or whole

1. Take a chicken breast and cut it in half horizontally.
2. Sprinkle on some fontina and sage (if minced).
3. Cover with one or more pieces of prosciutto.
4. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the chicken breast and then hammer flat.
5. Remove plastic wrap and place chicken breast prosciutto-side down in a lightly oil skillet over med to med-hi heat.
6. Cook on each side for about three minutes.

And voila! A beautiful, delicious, and easy dish is yours. The flavors work wonderfully together and the fontina and prosciutto circumvent the need to use any extra salt. And if you want to be fancy, you can use a toothpick to attach a whole sage leaf on top of the prosciutto and cook it that way.

Sunday night I had a few friends over and finally put my roommates new crockpot to work by trying out this Serious Eats recipe for Slow Cooked Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork. It was really good, but it made a ton of food and I've been slowly grazing through the remains over the last couple of days.

And while that was enough to make a meal in and of itself, I decided to pair it with some baked beans and cole slaw. Sadly the cole slaw wasn't impressive enough to share here.

Finally, this Saturday is our annual tri-birthday party for myself and two friends, and I'll be going back to one of my old standby recipes, Bahn Mi, for the main dish and I'll probably add in a double serving of the couscous for good measure.

I discovered the Bahn Mi years ago through the Cooking Light magazine and it was one of my favorite dishes for a long time, but sadly my stomach no longer agrees with it so I only rarely make it for potlucks any more. I'll put up the recipe next week once I have photos to go with it.

*does not pertain to murder or other illegal and/or illicit acts.

In the meantime...

I did a ton of cooking this week and I'll make a shortlist of all the recipes later today, but in the meantime here's a little corgi gif to get your day off to a great start.

What I'm Playing: Atomic Zombie Smasher (#41)

Atomic Zombie Smasher is a real-time strategy (RTS) game wherein you are attempting to survive the zombie apocalypse by reaching a certain point threshold before the zombies do. Each turn in the game covers a month which brings with it more zombie outbreaks, new resources, and a randomized parameter to keep things spicy.

The game starts with a single outbreak, depicted by a pink diamond with a number in it over one of various territories on your map. The map below shows a game that's been in progress for a while, evident my the massive amount of zombie outbreaks.

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Grey areas are either contested or haven't been infected yet, black areas are territories that you've already evacuated but didn't cleanse of the zombie scourge, pink areas are overrun by the zombies, and the tan areas are safe zones in which you have completely eradicated the zombies.

The numbers in the pink diamonds, which range from 1 to 4, reflect the severity of the zombie infestation and the difficulty in attempting to evacuate and/or cleanse a specific territory. Once a territory caps out at 4, any further outbreaks there will instead increase the severity in nearby infected territories. You let too many territories cap out and you will quickly fall under an avalanche of ever increasing infestations.

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Once you have selected a territory to deal with in for that particular month the games zooms in to a top down view of the actual town in question, as seen above. As long as the territory is not a level 4 outbreak, there will be civilians in need of rescuing, represented by the little yellow squares. The pink squares are the zombie hordes hoping to eat the yellow squares.

At a minimum, every evacuation attempt will provide you with a helicopter to airlift people off the map. But this isn't a particularly quick process, so as you clear territories and gain points for doing so, the game unlocks more resources for you to use. These can includes such things as artillery, infantry (whose line of sight is depicted by the green cross in the image above), blockades, snipers, and a variety of explosives. And as you use these resources they gain experience, which further expand upon their abilities as the game progresses.

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To successfully complete a level you need to rescue a set minimum amount of survivors. To secure the area from further infestation you have to wipe every zombie off the map in the time allotted. If you haven't done so by the time the sun sets, the town is enveloped in zombies and the only thing you can do is to try and rescue any remaining survivors.

Of course, not all your resources will be available each month so you need to choose wisely which territories you wish deal with in a given month. And as mentioned earlier, the game also throws in a bit of a curve ball by changing the parameters each month. These can includes things such as a slower helicopter, faster ZED (the game's name for the zombies), and a shorter daytime.

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At the end of each mission you get points for how well you did and then it zooms back to the larger map. Here you gain 20 points for every territory you have successfully liberated (tan colored) so far, and the ZED gain points for each territory they still infest, equal to 10 times the threat level (e.g., a level 1 would score 10 points and a level 4 would score 40 points).

The default settings have you each racing to 6000 points, and let me tell, it is NOT easy. I've lost far more games than I've won, but I still keep coming back for more. The individual levels only take a couple of minutes and you can redo them as many times as you like until you get it right, so it's a good game for when you only have 10 minutes to kill.

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The game also comes with a light but amusingly weird storyline depicted via static cut scenes in between months. And there's much more depth to the aspects I've already discussed. If RTS's are your thing, I think this is a nice "lite" version for when you're not in the mood or don't have the time to commit an hour or more.

It's currently selling for $9.99 on Steam, but if you wait for one of their sales I'm sure you'll find it for less.

Final Judgement: BUY IT.


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War & Peace

To start my New Year Resolution to Read 10 Classic Pieces of Literature I figured I'd go big and work my way down, which meant War and Peace was at the top of the list.

I'm about fifty pages into a thirteen hundred page book and I'm beginning to think I've made a horrible mistake. :P

That's not to suggest that the book is bad, but it's not very interesting either, and the sheer quantity of names being thrown my way aren't helping either.



But then a little bird told me there was a musical version and had me listen to the opening number. It was HILARIOUS. And because I am a decent and generous person I am sharing it with you, my friend.



I'm currently going through the soundtrack on Spotify, and while I'm not very far in, this is still my favorite number. It's a shame it only covers a very small portion of the novel, otherwise I'd consider flying out to New York and watching the production as an alternate to reading the book. :D

What I'm Cooking: Good Eats Meatloaf

Ah yes, Alton Brown. I don't know why I didn't watch his show more often when I had access to cable. Entertaining, funny, and educational! Sadly, a quick check on Netflix shows they don't have anything streaming and only have the first season on DVD. And Food Network only has a handful of episodes up for viewing. Thankfully they DO have all the recipes up, so it's not a total loss!

This brings up to this week's recipe, Meatloaf, an apology to my taste buds for the previous disaster of a soup. Let's get started, shall we?

Good Eats Meatloaf

Meatloaf
6	ounces garlic-flavored croutons
½	teaspoon ground black pepper
½	teaspoons cayenne pepper
1	teaspoon chili powder
1	teaspoon dried thyme
½	onion roughly chopped
1	carrot, peeled and broken
3	cloves of garlic
½	red bell pepper
18	ounces ground chuck
18	ounces ground sirloin
1 ½	teaspoons kosher salt
1	egg
Glaze
½	cup ketchup
1	teaspoon ground cumin
	Dash of Worcestershire sauce
	Dash of hot pepper sauce
1	tablespoon honey

MAKING THE DELICIOUS MEAT BRICK:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. In your food processor combine the croutons (which I only found in 5oz bags), black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and thyme. Pulse it until the whole things is fine crumbs, and then dump it into a larger bowl.



3. Put the onion, carrot, garlic, and red pepper into the food processor and pulse that until it's finely chopped, but don't go to the point where it's pureed--that'll will prevent the meatloaf from keeping it's shape. Add this in with the bread crumb mixture.



4. Last is the meat. If you've purchased pre-ground meat or had the meat department grind it for you, you can go ahead and toss that in with the crumbs and vegetables now. However, if you're like me (and Alton Brown), you're grinding your meat at home with your food processor because you like being fancy like that. This takes a little more prep time but I think it's much better than prepackaged ground meat.

To keep it from gumming up the processor, you'll need to cube up your meat beforehand and place it on a flat surface in your freezer for about 30-45 minutes. That'll give the meat a bit more structure and allow the blades to pass through cleanly. Just remember to also process it in small batches.

5. Once everything is in one bowl, toss in the kosher salt, add the egg, and then combine thoroughly, but make sure you aren't squeezing the meat.

6. Pack this mixture in tightly to a 10-inch loaf pan (I used a 9-inch and it worked just fine) and then invert the pan onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. A good knock or two should work it loose and you'll have a lovely looking meatloaf like the one below.



7. If you have a temperature probe you can stick it in at an angle and set it for 155 degrees. If not, just stick in the oven for about 45 minutes and you'll be fine.

MAKING THE GLAZE:

1. Combine the ketchup, cumin, sauces, and honey and mix well. Brush the glaze onto the meatloaf after it's been cooking for about 10 minutes.



And, voila! A delicious well-rounded meal is yours!

While I've warmed a bit to the flavor of the glaze, I think I might go a different direction than cumin next time. I would also consider replace the carrot for more onion as the carrots would occasionally overwhelm the other flavors in the meatloaf.

Lastly, if you DO choose to grind your own meat, make sure you give it time to come back to room temperature afterwards. My meatloaf tended to crumble and I suspect that was in part due to the meat being so cold that it didn't bind properly.

Other than that though I would definitely make this again!

Yeah, this is getting shared.

What I'm Playing: Bastion (#42)

Bastion is 2-D action role-playing game using an isometric viewpoint (a mouthful, I know), most notable for its gorgeous hand-painted imagery, and the deep, soft-spoken narrator that accompanies the player throughout the entire game. The game was released back in 2011 by independent developer Supergiant Games.

[Click on image for larger picture]

The game begins with your character, "the Kid", waking up on a small chunk of rock floating alone in the sky. As you get up and begin to move about the ground rises up before you from the abyss below. It's a beautiful mechanic and pairs wonderfully with the rest of the game's aesthetics.

Very quickly you discover the world has gone to ruin and it's up to you to discover why and how, and see if you can't make things right. Your base of operations is a place called the Bastion, where you meet the narrator, who tells you that you need to seek out a number of crystal shards to get the Bastion up and running again. This is turn will allow everything to be restored to what it once was. Of course, it's not as easy as all that.

[Click on image for larger picture]

During your hunt for the crystal shards you'll run across a variety of weapons and special abilities that you'll be able to mix and match to best fit the challenges you'll face. And the challenges will be as varied as your arsenal.

The story is quite excellent as well, paired with a beautiful soundtrack. Honestly, everything about this game is a work of art, and it shows the time and effort the creators put into it. While my goal was only to play four hours, I ended up going through the entire game, which last about 15 hours. Of course, I wasn't able to unlock all the weapons and abilities, but the game allows you to replay on a harder mode, keeping all the items and experience you gained in the first play-through.

[Click on image for larger picture]

Since it's been out for a while, you'll probably find it going on sale every now and then, and when it does I would recommend picking it up. Again, it's an absolutely beautiful game--the artwork, the music, the voice-work, everything.

Final Judgement: BUY IT.


Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

I wrote you a letter.

It's eleven pages, hand written on a yellow writing pad. It's filled with hindsight, self-recrimination, apologies, hope for a second chance, and the love that I still hold for you. I don't expect you'll ever see it, but that was never really the point of writing it.

It seems unlikely I'll ever get the chance to say what I want to you in person, or if I did that it would really make any difference. The letter, and this blog post, are really just my attempt at some sort of closure on a wound that refuses to heal.

I think I've managed to mostly behave myself thus far, excluding the occasional self-indulgent poem or two, so I hope you'll forgive this final post on the matter.

I love you.

I miss you.

And I hope someday I'll become the man that you deserve.

Goodbye.

Games, Meat Frames & Automobiles

Yes, the title's a bit of a stretch, but shut up. Trains, Planes & Automobiles was awesome.

Anywho...so yesterday was a super busy but super productive day. It started off with finally buying a new used car, specifically the 2013 Hyundai Elentra you see pictured above this. While the Tuna Boat ('99 Buick Regal) is still functioning, its headlights are broken, it continues to overheat in traffic, and is just generally old and noisy. And so I decided it was time to see how the other half lives and got a car from this millenium.

I'm enjoying it so far, though it is not without it's flaws. The front windshield cuts off much lower than the Buick, leaving me to scrunch down at intersections to see the stoplights. And the steering wheel was shrunk to help make the cabin look bigger, so my habit of driving with a hand at five o'clock now has my fingers crammed in on top of each other. Still, overall it's a vast improvement (MP3 jack! USB port!) and I look forward to my first road trip, possible as soon as this weekend.

After the car purchase was resolved (many hours and miles driven later) I managed to finish off another one of my Steam games, Bastion, AND cook the previously mentioned meatloaf, AND get a night of gaming in with my friends. All were quite good, though I think I want to tinker with the seasoning on the meatloaf. But I'll get into the game and food in later posts.

What I'm Cooking: Disappointment

Technically, it was Farmhouse Vegetable Barley Soup from the November 2011 issue of Cooks' Illustrated, but title is still accurate. This is the second dish I've made which featured leeks as a primary ingredient and my first foray into turnips and both left a bad taste in my mouth (somewhat literally). The recipe isn't terrible but I realized last night that I was having to force myself to eat it, and life is too short to eat unappetizing fare, so it's getting tossed. That said, if you're a fan of said vegetables, here's someone else's review.

Normally I wouldn't even post about it, but it's the opening salvo into my New Year resolution to cook something every two weeks so I wanted to make a note of it.

But as it was a failure in my eyes, I'm going to go ahead and cook something non-Cooks' Illustrated next week, specifically Alton Brown's meatloaf.

It's hard to screw up meatloaf. :D

Well, that was unexpected.

My old boss at the studio called me today out of the blue because one of the lawyers who used to work at the studio with us called him about a position he wants me to interview for at his current company. As curve balls go, it's certainly the most flattering one I can recall having tossed my way. The problem with this is that I'm only eight months into a new job, and I'm incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of jumping ship again so soon, assuming the job was actually offered to me.

I don't recall if I mentioned this before, but I've already come to the conclusion that my current job isn't the one for me. While I enjoy the work and LOVE the people, the constantly fluctuating schedule has turned out to be far more frustrating that I thought it would be. The current plan was to stay with the job through the end of the 2014 season, which ends in October, and then start looking for another job.

Ideally, I'd love to keep working in the Arts, but my previous searches over the years seem to suggest that 9-5s are fairly uncommon. In fact, having looked just now I found another job that sounds fantastic but again requires a lot of evenings and weekends. I suppose that's the price one must usually pay to work in theatre. And if that's not for me, so be it. I love theatre and it's always going to be a part of my life, but maybe my contributions are meant to come from other avenues (e.g., performing or volunteering).

But who knows. It's possible I'm getting way ahead of myself. The first step now is to gather more information and sage advice. Thankfully I'm surrounded by really smart people who also happen to dispense really great advice. :D

Corgi in the snow

What I'm Listening To: Freelance Whales

Continuing the unexpected whale theme, I offer up Freelance Whales. I swear their style sounds familiar but I cannot for the life of me place it. But they have an eclectic song compilation and it's quite likely you'll find something within that suits your fancy.

What I'm Listening To: Noah and the Whale

Noah and the Whale is another band I stumbled across via Spotify's recommendation system. Seriously, if you don't already own Spotify you should go get it. It's free and a great way to discover new music and listen to the stuff you already like. And for $9.99 a month you can take it on the go (the free version for your mobile phone will only let you use the radio feature), which is so much better than blindly looking for a local radio station on road trips.

Anyways, Noah and the Whale. My first impression upon listen to their entire discography was that about half their songs remind me very strongly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They do mellow rock quite well, though I'm not sure if that's an accurate description of their genre. Whatever it is, I enjoy it. They have a nice mix of upbeat and melancholy songs, so you should be able to find anything for your mood.

'L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.' - A good example of the Tom Petty flavor they carry


'5 Years Time'


'Lifetime'

What I'm Playing: The Walking Dead (#43)

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

The first game I've scratched off my play list is actually one I just bought. The Walking Dead is an episodic adventure game series (5 episodes in all released bi-monthly) based on the comic book of the same name.

They're produced by a company called Telltale Games that has been doing an excellent job of resurrecting the adventure game genre. Back in 2006 they revived Sam & Max as an episodic series and then followed that up with The Walking Dead in 2012. In 2013 they came out with The Walking Dead: Season 2 and The Wolf Among Us, the latter based off an excellent comic book series called Fables. These games will undoubtedly be on next year's play list.

But I digress.



While The Walking Dead is based on the comic book series, the story arc is completely new and unrelated. You play as Lee Everett, a university professor, who ends up rescuing a young girl named Clementine, left alone after the zombies struck. The game revolves around you trying to take care of your new ward while surviving the zombie apocalypse, often by making a LOT of hard choices which drastically alter the path of the story.

You'll meet a ton of characters along the way with whom you can strike up alliances, or just their faces if they get too uppity for your liking. And since this is a zombie game after all, you can expect a sizable chunk to meet their grizzly fate while in your company. MWA HA HAH HA HA!



I sat down on Tuesday to play an hour or two and ended up playing seven, which got me through the first two episodes including a number of do-overs where I went back to see what would happen if I made different dialogue choices. The game is fantastic and I'm glad I waited so long to pick up it because it means I can play through all five episodes without having to wait for weeks to find out what happens next.

As the game has been out for some time now you can usually find it on sale somewhere for cheap. I think I picked it up off of Steam for like seven dollars. I highly recommend you keep an eye out for it and do the same.

Final Judgement: BUY IT.


Image Sources: [1], [2], [3]

2014 New Year Resolutions

First up on the "exciting things to discuss" menu are my New Year Resolutions. My record with these have always been spotty, so as extra motivation this year I'm upping the ante by literally upping the ante.

I'm going to post a video to Facebook and allow my friends to bet on whether or not I will succeed a each of my ten resolutions. If they bet that I succeed and I do, then I will donate $25 to a charity of their choice. If they bet that I fail and I do, I will donate $50 to a charity of their choice.

So worst case scenario, I fail every metric and donate $500 to charity. Best case scenario, I succeed at everything and become a more well-rounded individual (hopefully) AND I dontate $250 to charity. BAM!

So without further ado, I present to you my 2014 New Year Resolutions:

1. Perform 20 hours of volunteer service.


2. Take at least 4 more months (16 classes) of tap lessons AND either an additional 2 months (8 classes) of tap or ballroom lesson.


3. Read 12 classic works of literature.


4. Go to the gym for at least two uninterrupted 3-month blocks, 3 days a week.


5. Visit four new places outside of Los Angeles.


6. Play at least 4 hours of every computer game I own (~42 games).


7. Watch every movie in the AFI Top 100 Films of All Time. (~68 left).


8. Go to 10 live musical events (ideally at 10 different locations).


9. Be on budget for at least 5 months.


10. Cook something new every two weeks.

BONUS: Finish at least one of my two music videos (Touch My Brownies or Joe's House of Raccoon).

Starting the New Year right.

Happy New Year, everyone! There are lots of exciting things to discuss, but first things first. Here is your first corgi fix of the New Year!