Such a slacker~ (RL, cooking, FFXI, WoW)
I used to post every day, but lately I haven't been feeling like it. I'm going to chalk it up to being sick and hope that things go back to normal next week.
RL: Speaking of sick! After a full week (seven whole days!) of being sick, I finally feel mostly better. Yay!
Cooking: I finally tried repeating the yummy sauce from last month (pancetta, garlic, olive oil, crushed tomatoes), but (probably for multiple reasons) it was a bust. I thought maybe it didn't taste so great yesterday because my nose was still stuffy, but today my head is fine and it still tastes meh at best. Suspected list of what went wrong:
1) Too much oil. Not remembering exactly how much we used, I just poured a couple glubs in. Glub glub! It looked like too much, but it had looked like too much the night it worked right, so...
2) Too much pancetta, by far. We had used two packages the night it worked, so I bought and used two this time, even though I have no idea how large the original packs were. The pan was overly full, nothing browned as it should even though I increased (more than doubled) the pre-simmering time.
3) Cheap pancetta? I know everyone loves Trader Joe's, but I seem to get the worst quality stuff there. The sauce was swimming in bright orange grease. I poured it off and soaked it off with papertowels as much as I could, but still...
4) Garlic was too bitter/sharp tasting. It didn't burn, but I think it didn't brown enough (even though I cooked it in the oil so long). I think the pan was just too full...
5) Seemed like the ratio of "stuff" (oil/garlic/pancetta) to tomatoes was way off, like 1:2.
I had intended to try to "cut" this stuff with another can of tomatoes, but since I don't leave the house on the weekends I heated it up 1:1 with a jarred sauce. That improved it (as did picking out as much of the garlic as I could).
All in all: Blah. Still, I got three meals out of it so far with enough left for at least one more.
FFXI: I can't believe how many dry wipe boards full of FFXI stuff I had. Most of them are down/cleaned now, ready to be stored. Just one left up because it'd be a pain to reach behind my computer and assorted desk clutter to get it off (plus it's right in front of me when I'm at the computer, so I'd need something else in the spot).
It kind of funny (in a sad way) how crazy people are going about the +100% XP rings that are going to become available (to ten people per server per week...). I'm sitting here just shaking my head: Dudes, you realize I can get that whenever I want on WoW just by (get this) not XPing? Even by being logged out?
On the other side of the coin, a guild person was complaining because it could take him a couple weeks to make top level in some craft. I had to snicker, since I'm used to it taking months (if not more than a year) to reach the top level... (Wait, or is that the same side of the coin? I'm so bad with money!)
WoW: 75.6. Man, do I hate XPing. While it is less painful in WoW than it is in FFXI, I still dislike it so much. Just pushing for 77 so I can fly, then I'm never XPing again. :P Maybe I'll be able to hit 77 next weekend, but I don't know.
Hm, I have a bunch of screenshots to edit, but none of what I wanted to post about. Boo! My new most favorite thing ever in WoW: The herd of horses running around in Grizzly Hills. :D :D :D I can't believe I didn't find them until I was about to leave the zone I stayed to do one last quest where I had to throw bombs at them to scare them.... It was the coolest, the very coolest thing ever to stand there and watch them running around like a real herd. And realistic colors, too! :D :D :D So pretty! Yay horses! Wish we could get them as mounts on the Horde side.
I'm getting a little worried about what will happen when I hit 80. I don't want my whole WoW life to be about doing instances and raiding, and as I hate XPing I really don't want to level another character, so... what's that leave? Crafting isn't the distraction on WoW that it is in FFXI. :/
RP: Yay RP! My character is getting so worldly~ :P (He's a DK who doesn't remember a single thing about pre-DK life.) Last night a young couple came to sit by him, so he asked them a ton of stuff about love. Amusingly, it ended up with the guy from the couple depending Haken to another DK, calling him a "good man". As Haken would still be a DK under Arthas if he had a choice and would kill the whole lot of them if he were able, it made me snicker a whole lot.
RL: Speaking of sick! After a full week (seven whole days!) of being sick, I finally feel mostly better. Yay!
Cooking: I finally tried repeating the yummy sauce from last month (pancetta, garlic, olive oil, crushed tomatoes), but (probably for multiple reasons) it was a bust. I thought maybe it didn't taste so great yesterday because my nose was still stuffy, but today my head is fine and it still tastes meh at best. Suspected list of what went wrong:
1) Too much oil. Not remembering exactly how much we used, I just poured a couple glubs in. Glub glub! It looked like too much, but it had looked like too much the night it worked right, so...
2) Too much pancetta, by far. We had used two packages the night it worked, so I bought and used two this time, even though I have no idea how large the original packs were. The pan was overly full, nothing browned as it should even though I increased (more than doubled) the pre-simmering time.
3) Cheap pancetta? I know everyone loves Trader Joe's, but I seem to get the worst quality stuff there. The sauce was swimming in bright orange grease. I poured it off and soaked it off with papertowels as much as I could, but still...
4) Garlic was too bitter/sharp tasting. It didn't burn, but I think it didn't brown enough (even though I cooked it in the oil so long). I think the pan was just too full...
5) Seemed like the ratio of "stuff" (oil/garlic/pancetta) to tomatoes was way off, like 1:2.
I had intended to try to "cut" this stuff with another can of tomatoes, but since I don't leave the house on the weekends I heated it up 1:1 with a jarred sauce. That improved it (as did picking out as much of the garlic as I could).
All in all: Blah. Still, I got three meals out of it so far with enough left for at least one more.
FFXI: I can't believe how many dry wipe boards full of FFXI stuff I had. Most of them are down/cleaned now, ready to be stored. Just one left up because it'd be a pain to reach behind my computer and assorted desk clutter to get it off (plus it's right in front of me when I'm at the computer, so I'd need something else in the spot).
It kind of funny (in a sad way) how crazy people are going about the +100% XP rings that are going to become available (to ten people per server per week...). I'm sitting here just shaking my head: Dudes, you realize I can get that whenever I want on WoW just by (get this) not XPing? Even by being logged out?
On the other side of the coin, a guild person was complaining because it could take him a couple weeks to make top level in some craft. I had to snicker, since I'm used to it taking months (if not more than a year) to reach the top level... (Wait, or is that the same side of the coin? I'm so bad with money!)
WoW: 75.6. Man, do I hate XPing. While it is less painful in WoW than it is in FFXI, I still dislike it so much. Just pushing for 77 so I can fly, then I'm never XPing again. :P Maybe I'll be able to hit 77 next weekend, but I don't know.
Hm, I have a bunch of screenshots to edit, but none of what I wanted to post about. Boo! My new most favorite thing ever in WoW: The herd of horses running around in Grizzly Hills. :D :D :D I can't believe I didn't find them until I was about to leave the zone I stayed to do one last quest where I had to throw bombs at them to scare them.... It was the coolest, the very coolest thing ever to stand there and watch them running around like a real herd. And realistic colors, too! :D :D :D So pretty! Yay horses! Wish we could get them as mounts on the Horde side.
I'm getting a little worried about what will happen when I hit 80. I don't want my whole WoW life to be about doing instances and raiding, and as I hate XPing I really don't want to level another character, so... what's that leave? Crafting isn't the distraction on WoW that it is in FFXI. :/
RP: Yay RP! My character is getting so worldly~ :P (He's a DK who doesn't remember a single thing about pre-DK life.) Last night a young couple came to sit by him, so he asked them a ton of stuff about love. Amusingly, it ended up with the guy from the couple depending Haken to another DK, calling him a "good man". As Haken would still be a DK under Arthas if he had a choice and would kill the whole lot of them if he were able, it made me snicker a whole lot.