Mom's Guide to the Galaxy

The Quest (calendar) continues… part 4

I’m enjoying this so much, I’ve already ordered the 2022 Quest Calendar on Kickstarter. My adventure continues where part 3 left off.

Three tunnels branched in the cave. One smelled foul, perhaps their equivalent of a latrine, and another was littered with bones. I choose the tunnel with light from a distant fire, thinking if Fellmont was still alive, he’d be with the goblins. I surprised a goblin, but tripped and missed my shot. It managed to hit me with a sword, then ran off. I snuck further in until I saw a rope bridge, with a single goblin guarding it. I tried to sneak past, but he must have heard me, since he flung an axe my direction.

Further in, I found another band of goblins, noticing them first by the stench. We fought, two of them hit me before fleeing. I only hit one of those two, but killed their big friend, which I suppose scared them off. I paused to heal myself, figuring I was going to run into those guys – or their friends – again.

There were a surprising number of distinct rooms in those caves. I decided to minimize the number I actually entered, listening at the entrances or peeking in to see if they were lit. The stench from some was terrible. The goblins steal food and let it rot. It’s as absurd as leaving those dead horses and feeding people to the wolves.

The only excuse for tripping on that wire was the darkness in the caves. I avoided most of the falling boulders that it triggered. As luck would have it, I found Victor Fellmont in the next room, locked behind wood and bone bars. I failed to pick the lock, so I tried to force it open. No luck there either. I finally just picked up a rock and broke it.

The noise attracted the biggest goblin I had seen yet, along with his pets – another wolf and a bugbear. I got a lucky shot on the wolf, killing it instantly, then engaged directly with the bugbear. We both got some hits in, then Luc helped me finish him off, scurrying between his feet to distract him. His mace was too heavy for me, but the bugbear’s shield – presumably stolen from some deceased traveler – was perfect.

As long as I was looting the bodies, I decided to check the room too, finding a locked trunk. I searched for a key, then gave up and picked the lock. The bugbear had a decent stash of coins and a health potion that I tucked away. Then we snuck out of the caves, getting a good distance away before setting up camp for the night. Victor used a bit of magic to start our fire, and I took the opportunity to ask what had happened to him. It turns out he was apprenticed to the missing court wizard, Godwin the Great, and suspected him to be a traitor, so he set out to find him or related proof.

I was startled awake the next morning by giant bearfrogs attacking our camp. Luc and I took out most of them, but one rammed into me pretty hard before retreating into the water. I quickly packed up the camp, retracing the route back to West Haven. We did pause en route to cook a rabbit I caught, and never ran out of fresh water.

Altering a recipe

I’ve mentioned adapting recipes before, particularly in my post about Evolving Traditions, where I mentioned modifying Dad’s omelet recipe and Mom’s stuffed mushroom one. Those are tried and true recipes that I grew up with, and I know how they’re supposed to taste, much like switching from boiling to steaming artichokes. If I find a recipe in a cookbook or online, I usually try it as written first. There are, of course, exceptions, like the Coconut Almond Cranberry Chicken recipe I cooked this week.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with the original recipe. But one of the reasons I went looking for a recipe was a bag of fresh cranberries lingering in my fridge. So I was already replacing the dried cranberries with fresh cranberry sauce (2 cups of cranberries, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 brown sugar) made earlier in the day. (If you’ve never made your own cranberry sauce, the most important tip is to keep the lid most of the way on the pot – this reduces the bright red spots that splatter all over your stovetop as the cranberries pop.)

I prefer chicken thighs to breasts, and I enjoy eating the skin, which makes chopping it into bite-sized pieces… impractical. It’s hard to find boneless chicken still with the skin on. And it’s easier to cook large pieces of chicken in the oven than on the stove. The move to the oven, and a decent amount of liquid in the recipe, meant cooking in my cast iron Dutch oven.

I’m a fan of crispy skin, so I started by heating a small amount (maybe a tablespoon) of olive oil in the pan on the stove, then placing the chicken thighs facedown for a few minutes, just to brown them. Since I bought a family size pack of chicken, I did this in two waves, while preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Once all the thighs were lightly browned, I returned all of them to the pan in a ring, stacked on the chunks of red potatoes I added, and on each other, then topped them with chopped ginger and almonds, followed by the coconut milk and cranberries. The extra liquid in the cranberry sauce made up for the fact that I could only find 13.5 or 13.66 ounce cans, rather than the 15 ounce can the recipe calls for. I dashed the cinnamon on top of everything. (OK, I forgot the cinnamon and noticed the container on the counter as I was putting the pan into the oven.)

After 40 minutes, I increased the heat to 400 degrees, and left the chicken in for another 20 minutes. Spinach doesn’t need to be cooked very long, so I waited until I pulled the pan out of the oven to mix it in. This is the ideal time (I realized in hindsight) to shove the chicken into another dish and crisp up the skin for about 10 minutes in the oven, which will make it easier to stir the spinach into the liquid. The other option is to shift a couple pieces of chicken, stir in some spinach, then shift a couple other pieces. They both work… but crispy skin… yum.

Overall, the result was delicious. Among other things, the almonds stayed delightfully crunchy. The flavor is presumably fairly close to the original recipe, with a slightly different presentation.

The Quest (calendar) continues… part 3

I’ve certainly never had this problem before… some days, I’m tempted to flip ahead to see what’s coming on the calendar. I haven’t, but it is tempting. I’m also enjoying the daily writing exercise, though it varies how much there is to add. Anyways, the adventure picks up where part 2 left off.

Then I spotted a missing person poster, with a reward of thirty gold! I jumped on that offer, starting with a little reserach on the missing man, Victor Fellmont. It seems he disappeared a few days ago, soon after the court wizard went missing. There’s someone who frequents the inn I’m staying at that may have a lead on where he went.

Of course, it’s a dwarf, though more sober than the last one I tried talking to. He wanted five gold for information on Fellmont’s last known location. I tried to talk him down on the cost, in the interest of saving a life, but in the end, handed over the coins. He marked the spot on a map where his team abandoned the search when they were attacked by goblins.

I realize, as I’m heading into the unknown, both in terms of danger and territory, that I should leave some details about myself. If something happens to me, please deliver this journal to Wiel Leafwind, and inform her that it belonged to her sister, Faris. She’ll likely criticize my adventuring lifestyle, but our parents were traveling merchants – a trade she picked up – and they were murdered by bandits.

Before heading out, I stopped by Filly’s, thinking that rations and health potions would come in handy. A compass would be useful too, but I don’t have that much money to spare. I left West Haven following the dwarf’s map, which led me into a dense forest. The forest smelled so fresh after spending several days in town. Game and water were scarce, so I ate both meal rations. I probably should have bought more.

The next morning, I continued following the map, eventually finding – by the stench – a pair of dead horses. This is clearly where the dwarf was attacked by a handful of goblins. The saddle bags had been picked clean, but the goblins missed a hidden compartment with a bit of gold in one of the saddles.

Fwwwt! Fortunately, I found that before some goblins started launching arrows at me. I killed two of them easily, bounced an arrow off the third, but missed the fourth one entirely. I checked to see if they had anything useful, wondering if goblins even use maps. No maps, and their weapons were in such lousy condition, I’m surprised they could even fight with them. Oh wait… I guess they couldn’t.

They did leave a trail to follow. OK, it included a spiked pit trap that I narrowly avoided, but at least it’s a trail. A bit past that, I found their camp, outside a cave, and thought that maybe Fellmont was held inside. I decided to hide until they went to sleep, settling in for a meal and a bit of rest.

After resting, I snuck into the cave and found a pair of wolves chained up, apparently guarding a small room behind them. Poor things, I wished I had enough time to calm and release them. Instead I tossed a scrap of meat to them and slid past into the corpse-filled room. It seemed this was the usual source of food for those poor wolves. Happily, I didn’t find Fellmont among the corpses.

How to make the perfect omelet

Don’t let the picture fool you, I judge an omelet on its flavor. If I want food with a perfect appearance, I’ll get it from a restaurant. I generally chalk it up to luck if my omelet looks good too. I realize it’s more a matter of me being patient while cooking, but hey, let’s call it luck.

A one egg omelet, still in the non-stick pan

There are some differences, of course, if cooking multiple omelets; I’ll try to account for them. The most important part is the filling… if you just wanted to eat an egg, you could have fried, boiled, or poached it. You’ll want to pick two or three items that have complementary flavors. My default fillings are mushrooms and cheese, with a lot of variance as to what cheese I use. Costco sells any amazing Merlot cheese, and Swiss is a perennial favorite. (If you don’t like cheese, skip the cheese part! I had an amazing omelet without cheese the time we went to Philadelphia.)

If I’m cooking for just myself or one other person, I sauté any vegetables in the same pan that I’ll be cooking the omelet(s) in, starting with a tablespoon of melted butter. If I’m including garlic, I drop that in after I’ve flipped the (usually) mushrooms and turn off the burner. There’s a 50/50 chance that I’ll wash the knife and cutting board at this stage, forgetting that I need them to slice the cheese. If you’re only making one omelet, that single tablespoon of butter is all you’ll need, though make allowance for the pan you’re using. If I’m making omelets for more than two people, I’ll prepare the filling in a separate pan (if it’s something that needs cooking – leftovers work too), but I still mix each omelet individually.

While the vegetables are cooking, I crack an egg into a mixing bowl and add milk. As a general rule, a large egg is equivalent to about 1/4 cup of liquid, and I eyeball the milk at about half of that (so 1/8th cup, which is 2 tablespoons). If you want a two or three egg omelet, just adjust up with the same proportions. I dash a bit of salt and pepper in before I whisk the milk and egg together.

When the vegetables (if any) are cooked, I move them from the pan to another dish. This is the important part – the pan should still be hot, but not so hot that the egg bubbles when you add it to the pan. Pour the egg mix into the pan, make sure it spreads out, and turn the burner back on medium. (Yeah, sometimes I forget and wonder why my omelet isn’t ready yet.) If needed, rotate the pan until the top of the omelet is almost solid, then any meat (sandwich meat works great) to one half of the omelet, then the sautéed vegetables, followed by cheese (if desired).

Flip the half of the omelet you didn’t put anything on over the fillings. This is when you find out if your omelet will look perfect, or if it’s just going to taste perfect. If you didn’t include cheese, just give it a minute to finish cooking and move it to a plate. If you included cheese, turn the burner down to medium low… cheese takes a bit to melt, and you don’t want to burn the omelet in the process. At this point, the timing is going to vary based on the cheese… try to find that balance between compulsively checking it because you’re super hungry and you really want the cheese melted.

If you’re cooking multiple omelets, I’ve found about half a tablespoon of butter is the right amount for subsequent omelets. If you’re cooking in a non-stick pan, this is optional, but it’s partially for the flavor.

Just in case you jumped to the end as if this were a food blog, here’s the basic recipe: for each egg, 1/8 cup of milk, fillings of your choice. If any fillings are raw, cook them first and remove them from the pan. Cook the egg mix until it begins to solidify, add fillings (start with flattest, then vegetables, and top with cheese) to one side and flip the other side of the omelet to cover it.

The Quest (calendar) continues… part 2

My journal is filling up fairly quickly from my Quest calendar adventure, so I’ll periodically update the story. I added a new category called “Quest Calendar,” so there’s an easy way to find these specific posts. They’ll pick up where the previous post left off.

I limped away from the ladder and ran into two more rats. Ugly buggers. I killed one with Luc, my weasel’s, help, but the other bit me and ran off.

I followed a rail of blood downstream, almost walking into a pack of rats feeding on… something. Every so quietly, I turned around and snuck off, moving through a series of rooms. The first room had mice, I’m surprised they stuck around with those rats rampaging through. The second room had spider webs large enough to trap a rat. I didn’t stick around to see the spider! There was a rat in the third room, and I killed it as soon as it snarled at me.

Faris Leafwind Half-Elf Druid character sheet

And then I found the nest, with the ugliest mama rat I’ve ever seen. I hit it a couple times, and it got one good bite in at me before it died. I searched the disgusting room, filled with garbage and carcasses, for anything useful that might be lying about. The rat corpses had a weird purple slime on them, I made sure not to touch it. I did luck out and find some gold coins though. I headed back to the tavern for my hard-earned meal and a night’s rest, along with a desperately needed bath.

I woke up feeling well-rested and somehow improved as an adventurer, having survived my first solo adventure. I went down to the dining room and spent a bit of time talking to people. The elf I spoke with suggested I contact the head guard, Rufus, about working in the city – they’ve been having weird trouble lately. I assume the ginormous rats fall under that category. I tried talking to a dwarf, but he was drunk and passed out. Sadly, he didn’t even win the drinking contest, the half-orc outdrank him and then some.

I found a local job board and decided it was a good way to earn some cash and familiarize myself with the town. Why somebody named their baby hell beast “Fluffy,” I’ll never know, but I found the missing critter and took him home. Also, that was not quite what I expected from a sign that said “missing puppy.” Convincing spirits to stop haunting a house turned out to be easier than corralling Fluffy. And then I picked up a nighttime job protecting some deliveries. All in all, a good day’s haul.

Funny cat stories

I was asked recently why all of my kitten photos are of Zuko napping. Typically, if he’s not napping, I’m too busy stopping him from misbehaving to take a photo! But I have four cats, and the kitten is certainly not the only source of amusement.

About a week ago, I had just settled into bed with three of the cats when the fourth one, June, started howling from the living room. This wasn’t the normal “feed me” cry (or even her intent to use the litter box meowl), it was more of a “something is terribly wrong” anguished howl. Zuko perked up and jumped off the bed; I followed with a flashlight. As we reached the edge of the living room, June stopped howling and calmly walked to the sofa… and stood there, looking at the pillow that I had left in her normal spot. Well, yes, the rest of the sofa was available, but her spot wasn’t. I moved the pillow and went back to bed.

We have a projector and white screen rather than a TV. Zuko is the only cat who is consistently interested in what’s appearing on a screen, whether it’s my phone, computer, or the white screen. This isn’t normally a problem, but occasionally he’ll launch himself at the white screen… either grabbing at the handle, or actually attacking something onscreen. This is particularly awkward during my workouts… he’ll launch himself at the Centr.com trainer (usually Luke… I don’t know why) while I’m planking or otherwise not in a position to stop him. Oddly, when we’re watching a show, he’s fairly good about attacking the antagonist.

At night, Arwen likes sleeping under the covers. This isn’t a problem if I’m already awake enough to lift the covers for her… and otherwise, she’ll make sure to wake me up for it. In typical cat fashion, this usually means walking across my face in the middle of the night.

Diane is the most likely of the older cats to play with Zuko, and even that (at least, willingly) is infrequent. I was somewhat amused on a recent occasion when she jumped up on my bed mid-afternoon and started to play with him. A couple minutes later, he was gone and she was settled in his sun spot, so perhaps it wasn’t as friendly as it looked.

The cats are definitely not allowed on the counter, especially when food is being prepared. Arwen’s so unclear on this concept that she gets locked in my room as soon as we start preparing food. Zuko’s a bit better behaved, though he usually ends up in the room with her before food is served, sometimes just because he’s underfoot and we’re worried about tripping over him while carrying hot thigns. Diane and June are almost always well-behaved… but when Diane isn’t, despite being the largest cat in the house, she manages to jump on the counter silently. And she’s the only one who cares that she gets in trouble for it… she’ll slink off, hiding under the table, then rushing past us to go sit on the sofa with a guilty look on her face, curling up as if she had been resting on the sofa the whole time.

And that’s why I don’t usually have action shots of the cats.

I’m going on a Quest… with a day-to-day calendar.

Many months ago – last April, in fact – I supported a Kickstarter campaign for a 2021 day-by-day “Quest” calendar. It was advertised as a single-player role-playing game that takes place over the course of a year. Having thoroughly the random facts in my 2020 calendar, I thought it would be entertaining to have another daily calendar with an entirely different style to it.

The first couple weeks introduced the mechanics, along with a sample character and adventure. The third week introduced several characters to choose from, along with some bonus characters available on the Sundial Games website.

I had pulled out a blank journal to keep track of equipment, health, and what not for the first couple weeks, finding it easier than writing on the calendar page for Godwin, the Great (Half-Elf Wizard), but decided to print the Level 1 character sheet from their website for Faris Leafwind (Half-Elf Druid), which has ample space for tracking damage, equipment and such. Well, shoot, what am I going to do with that journal now? Ah, that’s what….

My adventures began that day in the tavern, when the innkeeper asked for help dealing with the alley rats. Silly me, I thought he was referring to the street urchins, but these were actual rats, larger than me, and quite aggressive. I tried to calm the beast down, but it bit me before scurrying away. Once it was gone, I took a quick look around the alley. There seemed to be a small bit of blood* on the barrel the rat had perched on, but nothing else stood out as odd.

There was a grate though… the rat could have come from there. Who locks a grate anyways? I was a bit rusty, but managed to pick the lock. As I climbed down, I was hit by an overwhelming stench. Sad to say, I lost my lunch on that ladder, and lost my grip as well.**

*I rolled poorly… the text for better rolls said this was definitely not blood.

**Let’s not even talk about that die roll.

I’m not sure where this adventure will go… that’s a mix of the calendar pages, my choices, and my dice rolls. Also, Faris’s background mentions her twin sister; I’ve decided to name her Wiel. Just in case it ever comes up.

Growing pumpkins in winter

Anybody who grows pumpkins knows that you can’t plant them outside until after the last chance of frost. Around here, that’s mid-May. You’re probably wondering why, in that case, I have pumpkins growing inside in January.

This story begins some time after Halloween, when I cleared our decorative (and uncarved) pumpkins from the front yard. Intent on harvesting the seeds – some to roast, and some to dry for planting – I carried the somewhat softened pumpkins to the backyard and shattered them. That is to say I picked them up and dropped them, sometimes forcefully, repeatedly until they were open enough to get to the seeds, then composted the shells.

Normally, I would have just washed the seeds and left them on a tray to dry. But when I tried that, Zuko started eating the seeds. So they ended up in a smaller container, smushed together… and some of them sprouted. When I showed Cassandra, she insisted “we” grow them.

I had small coir pots and seed starting pods left from previous years, so I set up about a dozen of the sprouted seeds in a couple trays. (Some unsprouted ones were saved for outside planting in the spring.) As they outgrew their original containers, I repurposed some of the packaging from NakedWines.com for the next phase and bought a bag of potting soil.

Several young pumpkin plants growing in a container

As they outgrew that packaging, I knew it was time to invest in a larger container that could sit in my bay window. I wanted something raised, so I wouldn’t have to bend down past the sewing desk. I bought this container (and some more dirt) with holiday money; it’s about waist high, and includes a shelf underneath for storing bits and pieces.

There are nine pumpkins plants growing in my bay window now, and all of them are clearly leaning towards the window, grabbing as much sun as they can. I’m hoping they continue growing slowly for the next few months – the window gets good sun, but is a little cooler than the rest of the room – until the entire container can be relocated outside. Pumpkin vines have a tendency to sprawl, and I want to make sure they have space to do that… outside.

Pear and Gorgonzola Waffles

Years ago, when gifted with multiple boxes of Harry & David pears, I went looking for pear recipes to avoid losing the wonderful pears to our slow rate of eating them. I found this recipe on a website called DailyBuzz, and the printout I have linked to Epicurious.

Having received a gift of pears recently, it came up in a Zoom call, and having saved the URL on the printed copy, I went looking… well, the DailyBuzz website is gone, and I can’t find the recipe on Epicurious… good thing I printed it!

Pear and Gorgonzola Waffles

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
6 tablespoons butter, melted & cooled
2 large eggs
1 ½-2 ripe pears, diced
¾ cup crumbled gorgonzola
Oil for waffle iron

If not being served immediately, preheat your oven to 250 degrees. I prefer to mix all the ingredients and then preheat the waffle iron; that will vary depending on your speed and the waffle iron.

Top half shows the batter, a brush with oil, a measuring cup on a sauced, and the waffle pan. Bottom half shows a pear & gorgonzola waffle with a fork.

Combine dry ingredients – flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt – in a large bowl.
Whisk wet ingredients – buttermilk, butter, and eggs – in a small bowl.
Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Fold in diced pears and gorgonzola.

After preheating the waffle iron, brush it lightly with oil and dump an appropriate amount of batter in. For a standard waffle iron, this will probably be ½ cup; a Belgian waffle iron may need a full cup. The Pampered Chef Waffle Puff Pan instructions call for ¾ cup, but does best with a cup of this recipe, probably because of the pear chunks.

Cook waffles according to manufacturer’s instructions until they’re browned and cooked through. For this particular recipe, that may be a couple minutes extra, as the pear chunks make them fall apart.

As you cook them, transfer to a rack in the preheated oven to keep warm and crisp. Continue until batter is gone – makes 6 waffles on the Pampered Chef Waffle Puff Pan, probably about 10 on a standard style waffle iron.

Also, for easy printing, here’s a PDF version of the recipe:

Pear and Gorgonzola Waffles Download

How to lose my business without really trying

The owner of a local dairy business, Jim Oberweis, who was the state senator for our area, ran for Congress against a first term incumbent, Representative Lauren Underwood. He declared victory the night of the election, knowing that a significant number of mail-in votes had not been counted yet. Ultimately, he lost by 5,374 votes.

That’s less than a two percent difference, so it wasn’t surprising when he opted to pay for a recount. Just a “discovery recount,” rather than a full one, but I suppose if he has the money to throw around and wants to waste it instead of using it to help people during a pandemic, it’s his choice. It was certainly within his legal rights as the losing candidate.

What’s beyond his rights as a losing candidate is his demand “seeking to void all 39,647 Kane County mail ballots, claiming they were not properly initialed by election judges.” (From this article: A day after Democrat Rep. Lauren Underwood sworn into second term, her GOP rival, Jim Oberweis seeks to overturn the election he lost – Chicago Sun-Times) The Chicago Tribune article on the subject explains “But Kane County uses electronic poll books to record election judges signatures, so they do not appear on the ballot.”

He wants to disenfranchise almost ten percent of the total votes (401,052 – from this website) in the race, based on a process that isn’t used in this county. You may recall I voted by mail for the first time this year. He wants to disenfranchise my vote, which was sent in and verified almost a month before Election day.

I have no sympathy for poor losers. And I can make my own milkshakes instead of supporting his business.