Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Gotta say, hearing the music AND seeing the game presented this way was very VERY nostalgic....

Thoughts Before Bed

I created this Second Life Avatar almost ten years ago. I felt lost in Second Life, very much a ghost of my former self, and to take back that world, I fed into it. If I felt like a ghost, I would BE a ghost.

I haven't put on that avatar in a long time, mainly because in the last few years, I've not felt lost, not felt like I was haunting, didn't feel like a shell of my former self. And in fact, the new brunette avvie you see feels more like me now than I felt then.

But today I put it on, not because I felt lost, but because I wanted to explore, and she was always the avatar I used to "haunt the grid" and explore. And for once...she felt...like a happy avatar. Not haunting, not sad, not lost. Just an explorer who happened to be a ghost.

Her original purpose is gone, but maybe there's new purpose for her now.

#secondlife

This Week's Meals: Pueblo Barbecued Pork Roast

I gotta admit, as I cooked this, I became more and more skeptical of what I was going to end up with. And what I ended up with wasn't bad at all! Why was I skeptical? One of the ingredients for this pork roast is...chocolate.

Native Americans used chocolate very differently from how the rest of us in that it was usually used as a bittering flavor instead of a candy, and as I was cooking this, I figured it may actually be TOO bitter.

In the end, it ended up pretty good. The chocolate-bitter taste is there...a little more than I'd like, but not unpleasant. A little salt cut that bitterness a little while bringing out the pork flavor.

It's a messy dish to cook, but a good one. I'd make it again.

# Pueblo Barbecued Pork Roast

Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking

0.25 cup lard
1.5 cups onions (chopped)
3.0 cloves garlic (minced)
4.0 whole dried juniper berries (crushed)
0.5 tsp corriander seed (crushed)
1.0 whole bay leaf
4.0 large tomatoes (quartered) (seeded)
1.25 cups water
0.6666666666666666 cups cider vinegar
0.3333333333333333 cup honey
1.0 tbsp ground chili
1.0 whole dried New Mexican red chili (crushed)
2.0 tsp salt
1.0 ounce unsweetened chocolate (grated)
5.0 pound pork rib roast

1 - Heat lard in a large heavy saucepan and saute onions over medium heat until soft.
2 - Add garlic, juniper berries, coriander seed, and bay leaf and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes longer.
3 - Add tomatoes, water, vinegar, honey, ground chili, crushed chili, and salt. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
4 - Add chocolate and simmer, uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes, until the sauce is fairly thick.
5 - Preheat the oven to 350° F.
6 - Place roast, fat side up, in a roasting pan and baste generously with sauce.
7 - Roast for about 3 hours, or until a meat thermometer inserted In the thickest part of roast (away from the bone) registers 175° F. Baste occasionally with sauce and pan drippings during roasting.
8 - Allow roast to sit for 10 minutes in a warm place before carving.
9 - Slice and spoon additional sauce over each serving.

14 servings at ~400 calories per serving.
Calories 391
Total Fat 20g
Total Carbohydrate 11g
Protien 33g

Normally serves 6 to 8

#cooking #thisweeksmeals

A nice big VR theater screen is quickly becoming my favorite way to watch TV and movies.

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: West Virginia Pizza Rolls

How can something this easy be so tasty? I love it when something that isn't all that fancy pants cooks up into fancy pants.
I was expecting something like a savory jelly roll, but instead it's more of a really soft Hot Pocket. I'm sure this could be rearranged to make something like ham and cheese rolls or maybe full on pizza rolls.

The instructions call for frozen bread roll dough, but I wasn't able to find it at the two grocery stores in town. Instead I went with croissant sheets and re-kneaded them into rolls. Worked just as well.

Funny story: I made six scones and rolls, and really only needed five. Oh, darn. Guess I know what's for dinner.

# West Virginia Pepperoni Rolls
Southern Living
18.0 rolls

48.0 ounces frozen dinner rolls
4.0 ounces pepperoni slices
8.0 oz thinly sliced mozzerella
4.0 tbsp salted butter (melted)
0.5 tsp garlic powder
0.5 tsp dried oregano
0.125 tsp salt

1 - Preheat oven to 400°F.
2 - Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3 - Working in batches as needed, pat or roll each dough ball on a large piece of wax or parchment paper into a 4 1/4- to 4 1/2-inch round. (Try not to flour dough surface; it could keep dough from sealing.)
4 - Place 2 pepperoni slices in middle of each dough round.
5 - Tear cheese into pieces, and arrange evenly over pepperoni.
6 - Roll up dough jellyroll style; pinch ends and seams well to seal.
7 - Arrange dough, seam side down, 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
8 - Brush half of the butter evenly over rolls.
9 - Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
10 - Stir together garlic powder, oregano, salt, and remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small bowl until combined. Immediately brush butter mixture evenly over warm rolls.

Makes 18 rolls at 37.5g carbs per roll:
Calories 292
Total Fat 11g
Total Carbohydrate 37g
Protein 3g
Normally yields 12 rolls

#thisweeksmeals #baking #cooking

This Week's Bread: Authentic British Scones.

This time I used a cookie cutter and re-folded the dough to try and get six total. Next time I make these I'll use a smaller size for better consistency.

FINALLY all caught up on my To-Do-s since coming back from Texas. Friday is a chores day (mostly groceries), but I'm now ready to hit the ground running Saturday (which is the beginning of my "work week," thank you for that Nintendo).

Spent a lot of today installing a companion to "The Archive" with another similarly named drive. :)

That's a helluva breakfast.

Or maybe I just forgot to remove a joke entry from last night.

A lot of these Sensitive Content filters really look like aliens staring at you REAL close.

Ah, well, let's check the To-Do list now that I've spent some time away from home and...oh, wow....

St George, Mesquite and Las Vegas. Area 51 is out there beyond that.

One for the road. There was a minor panic as, after I went through security, I couldn't find my phone. Thankfully it was still in the bathroom when I checked again. WHEW.

Day Ten: I swear, one day, I'm going to find the right kind of hydroponics to grow a quality black diamond watermelon in Seattle.

Tis a dream I have.

Today's incoming thunderstorm. I knew it was coming, so I decided to take pics when I could of the developing clouds.

I miss a good storm. We don't get thunder boomers like this in the Pacific Northwest.

Lighting in the sky: https://youtu.be/SRX71Wm6uP0?si=mB4Px987lxG2JRPU
In the storm: https://youtu.be/2WC5E8qRhtI?si=coY9sZkXvW4iiK8u

...look what they did to my boy... :(

My sister and I, and a good number of kids, grew up playing on this street.

Had a dinner guest join me for barbecue....

There are a few things I don't miss about home....

Wind is picking up ahead of the storms. I have half a mind to drive out there and drive back under them....

Where I am now.