I had a crew of four other people last night, we did 70 houses in 7 hours. 44 of those houses were adjacent to each other but they all had two or three car garages so I'm counting them.
At any rate, we kicked ass and I made sure they knew what a good job they did.
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In short, I made thick white edible goo.
Yum?
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Yeah, maybe it was just that the recipe called for a "formal" bechamel, but spending 35 minutes to make a sauce that acts as a conduit for other sauces seems like a lot or work for mac and cheese. It was 20 minutes to get the roux to the right color, then another 15 minutes after adding the milk. And you have to pay attention the whole time to make sure it comes out smooth.
I'm sure it makes amazing mac and cheese, but it just seems like there are easier ways.
For example, our "standard" lasagna is just ground beef, Trader Joe's bolognese, two pounds of mozzarella, a pound of ricotta, some parmesan, and the noodles. It's really easy, and comes out "very good".
This newfangled one was wilted spinach, minced basil, two pounds of ricotta, 9 ounces of mozzarella, some parmesan, homemade tomato sauce (about 90 minutes), homemade bechemel (about 35 minutes), and the noodles. It was over two hours of intensive labor for a lasagna that was "fine".
If it's not "way better than usual", it's not worth the massive increase in effort.
The second one sounds better to me.
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Interviewee...can you please answer one question for me? Please? No, not an answer to a specific question that's burning a hole in my brain, just give me an answer to any one of the questions I've asked you...
Me: Gives scenario.
Candidate: Dead silent for 2 minutes, then "I don't know."
Repeat this pattern for the next three scenarios/questions.
I'm not sure how the other remaining interviews could be worse than this, but I'm feeling negative enough that I'm sure they'll show me something new.
Interviewee...can you please answer one question for me? Please? No, not an answer to a specific question that's burning a hole in my brain, just give me an answer to any one of the questions I've asked you...
Me: Gives scenario.
Candidate: Dead silent for 2 minutes, then "I don't know."
Repeat this pattern for the next three scenarios/questions.
I'm not sure how the other remaining interviews could be worse than this, but I'm feeling negative enough that I'm sure they'll show me something new.
I'm that person that applies for jobs he has no business applying for.
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Holy s&$%, it's like Masterchef up in here.
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My description of 2020.
"Every day is the same, you put one foot in front of the other and then get ready to dodge the pianos falling from the sky".
*folks discussing making sauces and amount of time spent making them, home made lasagna, pasta, and other things*
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...sauce stuff...
So... my major influences in cooking are Asian (primarily Chinese and Indian, with some Japanese and a touch of Vietnamese). On top of that are the "standards": Roasts, stews, spaghetti and meatballs, and light wine and garlic sauces for shellfish and pasta.
Throughout that repertoire there is no room for thick, heavy sauces. And because the kids have grown up on those cuisines, they don't particularly care for them. GothBard's Alfredo is the best I've ever had anywhere, including high-end Italian restaurants. But she only makes it once every 3-4 years because the kids won't eat it; it's too "heavy".
So in my mind it's:
(1) Make the sauce according to its original recipe to taste it in its purest form.
(2) Decide whether it fits into your repertoire.
(3) Customize the sauce to make it your own.
Bechamel dismally fails criterion #2, so there's no reason to bother with #3.
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Getting ready for the first of three substantial snow storms (6+ inches of snow each) in the next 6 days.
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Getting ready for the first of three substantial snow storms (6+ inches of snow each) in the next 6 days.
And this is where Cap single-handedly lowers the number of employees in his company in very short order, and his boss just rolls his eyes and starts calling people at random in the Madison area..."Surely there's *somebody* around here..."
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The boss is active on Facebook so there is no shortage of fodder for me to toss in the ditch on my way to the next job.
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I don’t punch up my lasagna with fancy sauces - that’s too much work for too little difference.
When I want to elevate my lasagna I focus on the quality of meat and cheese. Some good quality sausage filling, fresh (preferably made that day) mozzarella, and artisanal ricotta will make an immediately noticeable difference without having to stand over a sauce for 20 minutes.
Edit: Admittedly, it helps living in NY, where there’s a mom-and-pop Italian deli on every corner that sells all that stuff.
Hiya
Speaking of ideas that look great on paper but are a nightmare to actually execute: Cursed items.
There are a few, such as the Cloak of Immolation or the Stone of Weight where the moment the PC picks it up or puts it on, it's obvious that it's a cursed item. But something like the Ring of Clumsiness is a constant bookkeeping nightmare for the GM ("OK, was that a DEX-based roll? Subtract 2 and...", "Oh, yeah, their AC is 2 lower so since I'm swinging at them I have to call out a number two higher than I actually roll", "Was that an arcane cast? I need to roll spell failure without them noticing..."
So I like sneaking in cursed items on occasion, but hoo, boy, I really prefer the ones where the effects are immediately obvious.
Cursed items are stupid, I never use them.
Speaking of ideas that look great on paper but are a nightmare to actually execute: Cursed items.
There are a few, such as the Cloak of Immolation or the Stone of Weight where the moment the PC picks it up or puts it on, it's obvious that it's a cursed item. But something like the Ring of Clumsiness is a constant bookkeeping nightmare for the GM ("OK, was that a DEX-based roll? Subtract 2 and...", "Oh, yeah, their AC is 2 lower so since I'm swinging at them I have to call out a number two higher than I actually roll", "Was that an arcane cast? I need to roll spell failure without them noticing..."
So I like sneaking in cursed items on occasion, but hoo, boy, I really prefer the ones where the effects are immediately obvious.
In that specific DEX-based case, you should be able to clue them in that something is amiss on their next initiative check.
The last time I had a cursed item in play that was similar (-4 to DEX-based rolls in this case), this conversation happened:
Ok team, time for Acrobatics checks to maintain your footing!
Player 1: Made a 16.
Player 2: Made a 12.
Player 3: I rolled badly. Only hit a 37.
Players 1, 2, and 4: Shut up, Dave! (apologies to anyone named Dave)
Player 4: Also a 16.
So players 1 and 3, you succeed.
And now you wait for them to realize that 1 and 4 both made the same DC. In my case I then described it as the item throwing them off-balance.
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One thing I did this year was embrace doing different things, on account that the world might collapse into chaos at any time so why not.
So, these are the different RPGs I've tried, or tried to get other people to try this year.
Rifts
TMNT - After the Bomb
Dead Reign - The Zombie Apocalypse
Nightbane
Tales From The Loop/Things From The Flood
Ork! The Roleplaying Game
Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition
Bunnies and Burrows (the Frog God Games version).
I also got the 3.5 Eberron campaign setting.
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...sauce stuff...So... my major influences in cooking are Asian (primarily Chinese and Indian, with some Japanese and a touch of Vietnamese). On top of that are the "standards": Roasts, stews, spaghetti and meatballs, and light wine and garlic sauces for shellfish and pasta.
Throughout that repertoire there is no room for thick, heavy sauces. And because the kids have grown up on those cuisines, they don't particularly care for them. GothBard's Alfredo is the best I've ever had anywhere, including high-end Italian restaurants. But she only makes it once every 3-4 years because the kids won't eat it; it's too "heavy".
So in my mind it's:
(1) Make the sauce according to its original recipe to taste it in its purest form.
(2) Decide whether it fits into your repertoire.
(3) Customize the sauce to make it your own.Bechamel dismally fails criterion #2, so there's no reason to bother with #3.
When its safe to travel for pleasure again I am coming to visit and I demand Gothbards Alfredo or I will cause a riot ;)
Talking about all this food, I should totaly get back to the farmers market when the lockdown ends because now I crave horse sausage.
Yum-yum.
Considering that every horse I've met wants to kill me you'd think I'd be all in on carving on up, but I must I don't think I could stomach eating one.
Americans consider horses pets, much like cats and dogs. So the prohibition against eating them is very much the one against eating pets.
Speaking of poor communication skills, in the mail today we received a present for Impus Minor from Younger Uncle. Who did not communicate with us at all that he'd bought anything, so Impus Minor already has one.
I'm going to try to return the one *I* bought for credit, but jeez...
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Impus Major: Which is a better song to represent 2020? The March of the Tin Foil Hats by Neil Patrick Johannson, or Down with the Sickness by Disturbed?
NobodysHome: Obviously Tin Foil Hats. If we didn't have so many tin foil hats out there, we wouldn't have nearly as much issue with the sickness...
Hey, NH, can you send your tax guy's contact info to my gmail, please?
I have a choir friend in Albany whose tax guy is retiring, and she's looking for someone solid and trustworthy.
Hey, NH, can you send your tax guy's contact info to my gmail, please?
I have a choir friend in Albany whose tax guy is retiring, and she's looking for someone solid and trustworthy.
Done.
Done.Hey, NH, can you send your tax guy's contact info to my gmail, please?
I have a choir friend in Albany whose tax guy is retiring, and she's looking for someone solid and trustworthy.
Thank you.
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Bechamel dismally fails criterion #2, so there's no reason to bother with #3.
How will you make chipped beef without it?
Trying a new recipe tonight: miso-glazed grilled eggplant and green beans over buckwheat soba.
CY, how did TMNT/Rifts go? For fun in a TMNT game, throw in the fighting styles from Ninjas and Superspies!
NH, on Cursed Items:
Per the SRD these items can be ID'd by exceeding the DC to ID by 10. I have a buddy that plays in 2 of my games, and always plays an arcane full caster as well as maxing out that PC's Spellcraft and Knowledge: Arcana. Unless I drop cursed items on the PCs early in the game, his ability to ID these items by RAW before they're even an issue makes them moot. In short, I agree with CY and rarely have them in my game.
Oh, I'd been playing both for years.
They're both pretty confusing to play if you use the rules literally, they're both mostly vessels for a really intricate character creation and skill system.
Everything else is secondary, even combat is secondary in experience gained compared to skill checks.
Exactly! Or other cream-based gravies? They're mostly variants of bechamel.Bechamel dismally fails criterion #2, so there's no reason to bother with #3.How will you make chipped beef without it?
Biscuits and gravy
Fried chicken gravy on mashed potatoesTurkey gravy on dressing
The basics!
Exactly! Or other cream-based gravies? They're mostly variants of bechamel.Bechamel dismally fails criterion #2, so there's no reason to bother with #3.How will you make chipped beef without it?
I'll politely disagree, and use CrystalSeas' convenient list:
(1) Chipped beef: Don't eat it nor make it, because I have sense.(2) Fried chicken gravy: I've never served gravy with fried chicken, and I can't imagine doing do. Seems overwhelming. And when I make gravy for my roast chicken, I use the chicken drippings rather than milk, so it's technically a veloute, not a bechamel.
(3) Biscuits and gravy: Yes, it's a bechamel. But I don't care for it, and I've never made it. I even had an honest-to-goodness Southerner (Shiro's from Kentucky) make up a batch of homemade biscuits and gravy from scratch for me and GothBard. GothBard was in Heaven. I didn't care for it. Too heavy.
(4) Turkey gravy: Again, a veloute, not a bechamel.
EDIT: You're dealing with a home-grown Californian. We typically don't do cream gravies or heavy sauces. There are a handful of exceptions (most Californians like biscuits and gravy, and then there's cheese sauce for broccoli and mac and cheese), but for the most part we're a veloute crowd.
Americans consider horses pets, much like cats and dogs. So the prohibition against eating them is very much the one against eating pets.
Silly Americans!
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That would be great music if they cut out the vocal :(
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Americans consider horses pets, much like cats and dogs. So the prohibition against eating them is very much the one against eating pets.
I don't consider humans to be pets, so I guess it is ok to eat them. ~makes a face~ But too many artificial ingredients in them to make them tasty.
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