Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Eww....

#tearsofthekingdom

I dunno if it's because I'm entering week 4 of neck pain, but I'm feeling surly today.

Wao-os Shrine should be retitled "A Monument to Bullshit." I solved it in a few seconds. Knew exactly what it wanted. The next 25 minutes were having to fine tune motion controls to get the incredibly exact solution it wanted.

It made me, the gal who got hired at Nintendo in the Wii era, the last champion of motion controls, hate motion controls.

#tearsofthekingdom

I'm not putting this behind a spoiler tag, because I'm sure most everyone playing Tears of the Kingdom has run into this, but I'm really getting fed up with the "busywork" stuff.

Not really the quests or siude adventures or what not, but the "scouring." Trying to find the caves so I can get to the underground shrines, or looking for the tears in the geoglyphs with only "They're in the appropriate places" for a clue (they're not).

I don't mind exploring when it's productive, but I've taken to looking at guides for those, cause I'm tired of wasting time running up and down things for a long solution to something that's RIGHT THERE.

#tearsofthekingdom

@tuckerteague @hannahshouse2 - Growing up in Texas in the 90s and 2000s really taught me that you vote who you want in the primaries and who will do the less evil in the main election (which is hopefully your guy).

Sadly, I watched the dismantling of any progressivism during that time, and am seeing the same process happening on a national scale now simply because the Republicans are more on board with voting as a bloc.

That was the saltiest hamburger patty I've ever had.

@Mondobizarrro - 2nd Best Burger I've ever had (with 1st being the San Antonio-only chain "Burger Boy.")

Recipe: "Whataburger uses a 5 to 1 ratio of salt to pepper in its patties."
Jenn: "At one tsp salt per pound, for two pounds of ground meat at 5 to 1, that's 2 tsp salt and a half of pepper."

Jenn: ::puts in 5 tsp salt because she got fixated on 5 to 1::

@hannahshouse2 - Mandolins are super super scary devices....but they julienne so well.....

@hannahshouse2 - My issue was that I wanted to learn, but most cookbooks just assume you already know all the techniques. The difference between "fry something" and "saute something" and "simmer something" and I had no idea what any of that was.

My roomies taught me that, as well as a digital cookbook designed for families, which meant it was written for kids with adult supervision, and had videos and images of just how everything should look at every step. If you have a Nintendo DS/3DS I highly suggest Personal Trainer Cooking and America's Test Kitchen which helped me a ton.

I'm still completely devoted to cooking from instructions, with vey little deviation or innovation, but now, at least, if I want to make something quick, I have enough skills to make, say a nice omlette instead of just scrambled eggs, or a deli trio sandwich instead of boloney.

@hannahshouse2 - Glad to hear you're learning to cook! I never learned when I was younger because in our family cooking was "woman's work" and none of the women in my family would teach me ("Get yourself a good woman, and she'll cook for you.") She didn't know at the time that, me being trans, I was trying to be the good woman who wanted to cook!

I didn't really learn to cook until I was in my 40s when I had three foodie roomies who noticed I couldn't cook, and I they taught me REAL GOOD.

@hannahshouse2 - Honestly, I'm not sure...it's in the original recipe. I'm guessing it's a way to "steam" the tomato/apples with less empty space between the food and the dutch oven cover.

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Tamatar Shorba (Garden Tomato Soup)

Dunno if I'd make this again, and absolutely not on a budget. There's a lot of food that goes into this, but you end up wasting the bulk of it. This is less a soup and more a tomato/apple stock so you cook the heck out of the ingredients, then throw the bulk away once it's cooked out.

It's good, though. Really good. And now I know how to make something I order at Indian places. But this is definitely something for when money isn't as much of an issue.

# Tamatar Shorba (Garden Tomato Soup)

Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking

4.0 tbsp unsalted butter
8.0 whole tomatoes (cut into 8 slices)
1.0 whole apple (peeled) (cored) (cut into 8 slices)
2.0 whole red chilies
0.5 whole bay leaf
5.0 whole peppercorns
4.0 grams ginger root (peeled) (sliced)
0.5 tsp cumin seed
0.25 cup water
2.0 cups vegetable stock
2.0 tbsp flour
0.25 tsp sugar
1.0 tsp salt
0.5 cup cream
1.0 tbsp butter
2.0 tbsp cilantro

1 - Melt a quarter of the unsalted butter in a 3-quart/liter saucepan over moderate heat.
2 - Add the tomatoes, apple, hot chilies, bay leaf, peppercorns, ginger and cumin seeds and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
3 - Pour in the water, cover with a round of buttered parchment, and place the lid on the pan.
4 - Reduce the heat to low and gently cook 30 to 45 minutes or until the tomatoes are very soft and puply.
5 - Rub the tomato mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bow! with the stock and mix well.
6 - Melt the remaining unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat.
7 - Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes.
8 - Pour in the tomato-vegetable broth stirring as you pour, and bring to a simmer.
9 - Add the sugar and salt and continue to simmer for no more than 5 minutes.
10 - Before serving, add the cream and again heat (the soup will curdle if it is boiled).
11 - Place a dab of salted butter in each katori or warmed bowl, ladle in the hot soup and and garnish with a little circle of fresh cilantro.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

@socketwench @zx3 - it immediately revered back to me when it was sold to an out of state holding company.

@zx3 - "Of course I'll give you a waiver to run a night of cartoons without me. And all it will cost....IS YOUR SOUL."

Thoughts Before Bed

Spent the day finally running a evening internet stream I'd had ready since September. It was always meant to be an emergency backup plan for when our usual presenter is out so the wait wasn't unexpected.

But I forgot how fun it is to put on a little "evening of programming" for folks who seemed to really enjoy it, especially when it's something you're sitting on for a while thinking "Oh, man, will they love it? Or not?"

Already planning the next one, which will be a little more mainstream to how the show usually goes (bad movies to riff, versus a night of cartoons). A pretty rare one, too with a good story behind the making-of it. :)

So. Getting to the Wind Temple. Jumping into the voids. Climbing up buildings with no supports. Having stuff unexpectedly popping you into the air. When the player has a severe fear of falling.

Gonna double up on my heart medication AND keep a stack of clean pants over here. Just in case.

YIKES.