Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Just me and my Eldritch Horror bestie taking in the view.

#tearsofthekingdom

Okay, this made me laugh....

#tearsofthekingdom

Taaargehhtiiiiiiing Assssssteroiiiiiiid.....

#tearsofthekingdom

Someone pissed off a developer....

#tearsofthekingdom

...did I just hear thunder?

It's Paya! ❤

#tearsofthekingdom

Da-nana-na-nah!

#tearsofthekingdom

Busy day today. Dermatologist appointment and blood draw 1sent me into Bellevue, So I made a day of it. Grabbed some sushi at Sushi Me (Kura was closed, which is sad, but probably saved me some money).

I needed to find some pork belly for a meal I'm cooking for this week, so I hit Asian Family Market and bought as many of my groceries as I could there. I'm surprised at how affordable it was. I tend not to buy groceries I can get elsewhere at Asian markets cause they're more expensive. Not so much here.

Normally, on this "scaled back" unemployment diet, I pick up Oranges, Bananas and Apple. I actully don't like apples. Don't hate them, just not really a fan. So I picked up some Korean Chamoe cause it was about the size of an apple, and it's a melon, which are my favorite types of fruits. We'll see how that goes.

Also finally picked up some Ramune, which I've never had before, and I've decided it's main gimmick is "Being hard to drink." :)

Came home, napped, and played a few hours of Tears of the Kingdom.

I don't talk much about my days anymore, mainly because since the layoff (and to a lesser extent, the pandemic) nothing is happening. Not a lot going on outside Tears of the Kingdom, and before that, there was just not a lot going on AT ALL. Wake up, watch TV, cook food, eat food, go to sleep.

Today was probably the busiest I've been since 2020.

So I think the struan bread is as good as it's gonna get, and that's fine by me. I think next week will be sweet corn bread. :)

# Struan Bread

Lea & Jay
2.0 loaves

5.0 cups unbleached bread flour
0.25 cup coarse cornmeal
0.25 cup rolled oats
3.0 tbsp oat bran
0.25 cup water (rice)
0.25 cup brown rice
0.25 cup brown sugar
2.5 tsp salt
2.0 tbsp instant yeast
1.5 tbsp honey
1.5 cups water (dough)
0.5 cup buttermilk
sesame seeds
1.0 whole egg

1 - Boil the brown rice in water until fully cooked.
2 - Combine all of the ingredients (except the egg and the sesame seeds) in a large mixing bowl.
3 - If using a mixer, use the dough hook attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.
4 - Let the dough rest for 5 minutes to fully hydrate the flour.
5 - Once again, mix on the slowest speed with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes more. The dough should be very tacky or slightly sticky.
6 - Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, then dust the top fo the dough with flour. Lightly knead the dough for 2-3 minutes, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking. The dough will still be soft and sticky but should hold together to for a soft, supple ball.
7 - With oiled hands, reach under on end of the dough, stretch it out, then fold it back onto itself. Do this from the back-end and then from each side. Flip the dough over and tuck it into a ball.
8 - Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Repeat this entire process two more times, completing all repetitions within 30 minutes.
9 - Place the dough into a greased loaf pans.
10 - Let the dough rise until increased to about 1 1/2 times its original size.
11 - Preheat the oven to 350° F (177°C).
12 - Crack an egg into a bowl and beat.
13 - Brush the top of the dough with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds
14 - Bake the loaves for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan. The bread is done when it has a rich golden color, the loaf sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom, and the internal temperature is about 185°F (85°C)
15 - Cool bread to room temperature before cutting into it.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Again, didn't play a lot today while I did other things, so only two competitions, and really they're the same quest....

#tearsofthekingdom

Got my first full outfit! The Twilight Princess outfit. Sadly, I don't think the Gerudo outfit is going to be available, so as soon as I get a chance to dye it, it's going Four Swords Adventures Purple. :)

#tearsofthekingdom

There's a growing problem I'm having with TOTK, and that's a serious lack of context clues. Usually Zelda is TOO liberal with the clues to solve puzzles, usually putting keywords in colors, or in Skyward Sword's case, even adding little jingles when words appear on your screen. TOTK has the red letters, for sure, but sometimes it just straight up won't tell you somethiong or will leave out clues for how to solve a puzzle.

For example, I was just at one of the skyview towers where the doors won't open. There's a Rito there and if you talk to him he says "Hey, I can't open the doors. Oh, by the way, there's a cave under here to get mushrooms!"

At first, I ignored the cave instructions because it sounded more like "This is a hint on where to get more mushrooms." Instead, I looked around the outside of the tower, didn't see anything obvious, I tried to peek into the tower, but I couldn't see anything. Going back to the Rito, he emphasized going down to the cave under the tower for mushrooms. Even just trying to open the doors shows Link try to open it with nothing happening.

So I went down there, cleared out the monsters, cleared out the rocks, and got the treasures...and...nothing else. I looked around and didn't see any obvious clues.

After a good while I was stumped. So I looked online (something I'm trying hard to avoid), and it turns out the door is blocked by sticks on either side of the door. The solution is to go down to the cave, and ascend up inside to the tower, and remove the sticks.

There's no context clues as to the door being blocked. The bird never says anything other than "it won't open for some reason." If he'd said "it feels like it's blocked" that would have helped. If Link had attempted to open the door and the door opened a bit and were blocked, that's a good context clue (in the game, he pulls at the door, nothing happens). Just anything to help sell "it's blocked."

I've run into several of those now although managed to stumble into the solution after a while (or looked it up), but the context clues in TOTK are a serious weak point I'm running into.

#tearsofthekingdom

You're my new Thursday night thing.

(Oops, forgot to add the sesame seeds)

My friends. At long last. Comics are coming.

Well. There's a neuron that hasn't been touched since Elementary School: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Mixed-Up_Files_of_Mrs._Basil_E._Frankweiler

Thoughts Before Bed:
Today I learned you can have multiple Best Friends. They're called your Chosen Family. ❤

Didn't play much today, so there was just the one completion.

#tearsofthekingdom

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. This isn't even counting the first two I lost because I couldn't find a stable to board them at.

#tearsofthekingdom

I did my first public speaking in a good number of years today. And my first public speaking on Trans issues in a VERY VERY VERY long time.

I tend to be an overwhelming personality, and I worried that I was monopolizing the event, and at the same time, among much younger Trans and Non-Binary folks, worried that I would be a bit out of touch with the younger folks.

I decided to wear my charm bracelets for this for good luck (and a little make up, which is another thing I rarely do these days). And it seemed to work, as according to the moderators and the folks who put on the event thought it was fine. Also, I delightfully jingled like a fairy all evening, and I loved that. ❤

I actually have two charm bracelets. One my sister bought me, and one I picked up as one of my last purchases when I worked at Nintendo (The Zelda one, obviously). The charms are...

Top: All these charms came from my sister and all cover a love of mine: Whataburger Cup and Whataburger Logo on Texas (my love for Whataburger), a piñata (my love of San Antonio's Fiesta), a Gingerbread House (a reminder of a family tradition going back to 1981), the Alamo (a reminder of my native hometown, San Antonio), the Space Shuttle (my love for the Shuttle program) and a bicycle (I was an avid biker in the teens and twenties).

Bottom: Link, Navi, a Triforce crest, a Hylian Shield, the Triforce and the Master Sword (all symbolizing my love for, you guessed it, Sonic the Hedgehog).

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