Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Gets me every time....

When the Remastered Robotech series came out, I was really on the fence about getting it. I have the original DVDs, and those are what I remember as a kid, so it was all I needed.

I eventually bought the remastered series a few years ago to replace my aging original DVDs. They did leave a lot of the original footage that was cut out for the American release so I decided to keep the original DVDs for the original editing.

I never compared them side by side, though. Holy cow, that remastering makes the show look completely different. I'm guessing they used the ADV Macross remaster as the base for Robotech Remastered, but seeing the larger viewing area more saturated colors and TONS less grain was worth the purchase.

Even if I didn't know it at the time, or even notice it till today....

This seems way more threatening than it is....

If I'm going to make Sunday my "eat something nice day" I should probably get something cheap for Sunday meals. Pizza can be expensive, but if I stretch it out....

...oh...oh, my!

Tonight's Episode of Night Gallery is "Tell David."

One of the characters has a "Map Machine" to give directions to a lost traveler. It's neat to see what "Mapquest" would have been like with 1971 sensibilities.

The machine still uses pages, like an atlas, it just scrolls. To look up roads, you have to find the name in table, like in old atlases, then dial in the grid. The directions are miniature incandecent lights, but honestly, that's likely just "It's 1971, and the prop guy has to use what he has."

Funky 1971 Mapquest. :D

I've always wanted emerald green hair, but my skin color is just too dark for it....

One day someone will call in and say "I'm getting a 50099 error code on my Nintendo DS browser" only to look on in horror as the Nintendo DS browser actually still does work and the last person who knew how to fix this has left Nintendo some time ago.

TAKE THAT NOA! 😆

Who am I kidding, I'm the only one still checking to see if this works....

Okay, after all the work I did to hack my two 3DS systems, I start the Nintendo DS app to finally check that everything is finalized and done, and this comes up.

For a split second, my heart stopped thinking I broke something.

It's an April Fool's joke....

The "Geared Down" diet. Costs me about $175 a week, has a few more calories than I'd like, but stays inside my blood sugar requirements.

At least I know some good steak/pork/chicken seasonings to vary it up....

Goodnight...

Listen, I love snow as much as the next person, but....really? REALLY?

The main problem I had with 3DS streaming was I couldn't move my games BACK to the old 3DS to stream and had to buy them all over again (thankfully, I ended up only re-purchasing mostly cheapie virtual console games). But that's no longer an issue....

I couldn't get the Linux version of the capture software to work, but I did manage to get the Windows version to work just fine.

My final 3DS downloads. The only new games were Liberation Maiden and Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies. The rest are redownloads of old games I'd since removed.

Myst for 3DS was such a hack job.

Been a while, hasn't it, Personal Trainer: Walking?

I like to think that, if I could find clothing that was as flattering as I get in Second Life (and had a body as flattering as in Second Life), I'd have at least some sense of style.

Had a couple of folks ask me why my couch was so far away from my TV, and I started asking myself the same thing.

Squinched the couch a good three feet closer, and then realized the reason I did it was the big open space behind the sofa.

But now I had a place for that 3x3 shelf I didn't really need to balance that space out....

This looks so wrong. And yet strangely arousing.

And now all the Wii U content I've bought has been redownloaded, reinstalled, and archived.

The eShop may be locking down, but it's not going away. I mean, I just redownloaded all my old Wii purchases, and as long as Nintendo uses the same backend infrastructure for their shops, I doubt they'll go away.

But securing your purchases is always a good idea. Just in case.

I worked at NOA for the entire life of the Wii U and I've never seen this error...

Just gotta let Yoshi's Woolly World finish up and let the backlog of old Virtual Console games download before continuing...

This Week's Meals (4/4): Spaghetti all’Assassina

According to Pasta Grammar, this doesn't mean "Assasin's Spaghetti" as much as it means "Killer Spaghetti." AND HO BOY DOES THIS LIVE UP TO THE NAME. This is the best spaghetti dish I've ever had.

What's neat about this dish is that you don't boil the spaghetti in water. You saute it in the sauce itself, making for an incredibly powerful tomato taste. Because of that, the pasta isn't like boiled spaghetti, but has this kind of al-dente chew to it and even a crispyness to some strands. But not "raw pasta" crispyness, but a "cooked" crispyness to it.

This is absolutely fantastic.

# Spaghetti all’Assassina

Pasta Grammar

1.125 cup pure tomato purée (avoid anything with added salt or flavor)
10.0 tbsp tomato paste
Salt (to taste)
4.0 tbsp olive oil (plus some extra for drizzling)
2.0 cloves garlic
Red chili pepper flakes (to taste)
7.0 oz spaghetti
3.0 cups water

1 - Fill a saucepan with the water.
2 - Add about 1/10th of tomato purée (save the rest for later) and the tomato paste and bring to a simmer.
3 - Salt the broth to taste.
4 - In a large, cast iron skillet, add the olive oil and a pinch of chili pepper flakes or fresh chili peppers to taste.
5 - Peel the garlic cloves. Add one whole into the pan; dice the other and add this as well.
6 - Heat the pan over high heat until the garlic sizzles.
7 - When it does, pour in the remaining tomato purée and quickly spread it to cover the pan evenly.
8 - Lay the spaghetti down in the center of the pan, and press it out as much as possible into a thin, even layer. The goal is to try and have as much of the spaghetti as possible in contact with the tomato sauce.
9 - Let the tomato sauce completely thicken and begin to burn (a little bit). The pasta touching the pan needs to acquire a some crispy caramelization.
10 - When it does, use a spatula to gently flip it so that the other side can crisp up a little bit as well. Remember that it’s actually the residue of the tomato sauce that’s “burning” so try to ensure that the pasta has an even coating of it. Completely dry pasta won’t crisp.
11 - When both sides are slightly burnt, add one ladleful of hot tomato broth into the pan. Let the liquid completely boil off; you’ll be left with more tomato residue.
12 - Once again, let the pasta sit untouched until the side touching the pan has gotten a little crispy again.
13 - At this point the spaghetti will have softened slightly. Stir the pasta around, flatten it down again, and add another ladle of broth.
14 - This process repeats until the pasta is cooked al dente to your taste. Add broth, let the liquid cook off, leave the pasta alone to crisp a little bit, stir it together, flatten it out, repeat.
15 - Once the pasta has cooked to your liking, let it crisp up at the end as much as you like. Serve immediately, topped with a drizzle of olive oil.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking