Talk About Tuesday 8

79° doesn't sound hot until it's over 50% humidity with still air and the only things you can hear are exhausted crows, frisky cicadas, and the usual backing-up tones from the local quarry and train yards. It feels like I only ever notice the industrial sounds on still, quiet, miserable days like this. I woke up and it seemed like it was closer to 89° with 500% humidity in my room. No AC upstairs here. Someday I will have that kind of luxury, but today? Nope.

Regardless, I need a topic to discuss. Let's see... I've complained about family like a miserable wretch, talked about money, and ... hold on. Ugh. I'm listening to a playlist of video game music and something from one of the newer Spyro games popped up from before the remakes and after they dumped my boy, Stewart Copeland. What is this generic fantasy bullshit?! Ugh. It'd be fine for a modern RPG or something like that, but this is NOT SPYRO! Where's the whimsey? It sounds like he's tracking a serial killer in 1940s Manhattan, not floating around trying to go through rings and rescue frozen dragons.

Ugh.

I'm old.

Anywho, that's not what I really wanted to talk about. No, what I want to talk about are ideas.

Ideas aren't always easy to come by, but when you're a creative person, they're your bread & butter (or gluten free bread and butter substitute, in some cases. Both are good). How do you know when an idea is good or bad?

The easiest barometer for the relative goodness or badness of an idea is this: does it make me excited? If your idea excites you, it's probably a good idea on the surface. Okay, but what if it's still a bad idea? Well, learn more about what you'll need to do to make that idea real. If it's an activity like Skydiving, you go to skydiving school. If it's an idea like something you're going to write or draw, go look up examples of it! In my case, I basically wound up thinking up a new version of an older book. Unfortunately, then I read the older book.

The older book sucked. It was hard to believe how much money both it and the, frankly, boring movie based on it made.

My book will probably not make that much money. I'm ok with that.

It's basically going to be Chuck-Tingle-level farce, but with infinitely less butt pounding. Uh. If you're not 18, don't look him up.

You might not wanna look him up at all, but if you've been following the Welcome To Nightvale podcast you've probably encountered him...

I'm sorry.

But I'm not, because the idea of writing really schlocky horror is super appealing right now.

Summer horror books aren't usually the best ones, and I'm not aiming for pure literature - this is a beach book all the way.

And how many horror stories are from the perspective of a beleaguered grocery store clerk?

I haven't really found any. The closest I've gotten is Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix. That's a good book, too, so you should absolutely check it out.

I think I'll include a passage from the project for you guys, since you've been so patient with me on Tuesdays so far :) (Warning for some strong language. If you've worked retail, you've probably thought it...)

*****

What did it matter to Andy what had happened to Jolene Meachum's frigging yacht? He'd never own one. No one he'd know as another human being would own one. So it had disappeared into the ocean. Who cared? No one was on board, no one was hurt, and it wasn't leaving a visible trail of gas on the water, so who really gave a fuck? But of course, she was still whining about how horrid it was to have to use the ferry to get from her Summer Home to the mainland and annoy cashiers at the local grocery store instead of running complex maneuvers out on the water to trade goods with local fishermen.

Andy didn't give a single flying fuck. He didn't care that her "business" dealings with the lobstermen were interrupted by the hatefully temporary loss of an overpriced watercraft. The business dealings were probably illegal and probably involved hard drugs anyway. That's mostly what went on on the water, if the fishermen who stumbled into the store with bad teeth and itchy arms were any indicator.

*****

I don't know if that's intriguing to you, guys, but it is to me. Can't tell you the name of the project until I've written more. :)

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Fiber Monday 8

The humidity finally broke today - we're in the upper 40% - lower 50% range now!

This means that I got to sit around and listen to video game music without sweat pooling under my eyes while I crocheted.

Today, we hit 53.5" (that's about 136cm for you metric folks). I'm not done. I'm gonna try to make at least 60" or 5' (152.4cm). Why? Because I like even numbers and multiples of ten. They soothe me.

Here's our progress:

The window was open and the wind blew the shade & curtains around so it's harder to get clear photos. Sorry!

The metal tape measures have been returned to their proper places, leaving me with my floppy measuring tape. Fun times.

If you're following along with the scarf progress, you're probably wondering if there are practical reasons for letting it get so long.

I'm sure there are.

I mean, I guess having a five-foot-long scarf that you can double up and tuck into your coat would be pretty useful, and this sucker's thick! So thicc, in fact, that I'm pretty sure that it'll keep out the worst cold the Northeast can toss at you. I'm not going to say that this claim is a fact, though. It's nearly August - I doubt I'll need to test it.

Still, I am not sure how to finish this scarf off, to be honest. I'm thinking fringe, but I'm not sure if it'll be matching or complementary...

We'll see :)

Go Enjoy Something
or Enjoy Making Something ;)

FC

Survival Sunday 7

Guys.

It's hot.

It's so hot here. And humid.

But the S/O and I were craving some pierogi last week (which was actually a pretty nice week, even if it was still humid af).

So here we are, me sitting in a hot, humid room, my hair refusing to dry, running out of water, and about to teach you about the joys of making pierogi and kielbasa.

I should mention also that I've only had a cup of coffee today (my usual nonsense, not actually coffee). This is going to be hard, hungry work.

It's not actually that hard, guys, I'm being a butt.

So: Pierogi & Kielbasa for people who don't cook.

Let's get our ingredients together:

• 1 package kielbasa or summer sausage (any sausage you like works, guys, seriously)
• 1 box frozen pierogi (I'm not going to make pierogi by hand. I am fail at pasta)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• cooking spray
• onion (optional - we didn't have one)
• cooking oil (if you have the onion. You won't need it otherwise)

Whatever floats your boat as far as pierogies go. These were cheap and good.

We, uh, we chucked the packaging before I started taking photos. Oops.

Now that you have your ingredients together, get a pot and put some water in it. You will need enough to cover however many pierogi you're making but not so much that it'll boil over when you're cooking them. Eyeball it - you can always add or remove water with a ladle if necessary. Also, don't put the 'rogis in yet! They need to stay frozen if you're boiling them like I did.

You set that water up to start boiling, and then you get your pan out.

Spray your pan to keep your sausage from sticking, then set it down but don't turn it on yet! It's time to prepare your kielbasa (or whatever. Veggie sausage would be delicious, too, trust me).

Gentlemen. Clench.

To prepare the sausage, find where it curves inward like a banana. Cut a series of slices along that side so that it can relax in the pan - don't go all the way through! You only want to go 25% to 50% of the way through the sausage.

When your kielbasa are slitted, check your water. You want to keep an eye on that at all times, anyway, but this is a good time to check.

If you're using onion, chop it into bits you find tasty-looking, then add oil to your pan and cook the onions. Cooking the onions and sausage together gets the onions sausagey and the sausage oniony and that's a good thing. Unfortunately, we had no onion, so I cannot show you how bomb that really is! I find that starting the kielbasa before the pierogi makes the kielbasa much crispier on the outside and hotter on the inside. Hot sausage is good sausage.

You want to keep your heat on the lower end with the sausage. Medium is your friend. We're warming and crisping these guys, not burning them!

They will not look that appetizing at first!

The longer they sit in the pan, the nicer they'll crisp.

The waiting will not be easy.

I should also mention that we cooked this meal on two separate nights.

So if things look weird in some of the photos, that's why.

When your water boils, add your pierogi and watch them. They don't have to reboil. You're trying to get them hot all the way through, so obey the package. Mrs. T wants you to have good pierogi. Listen to her.

I love pierogi so much!

They're amazing pasta pockets full of potato and cheese. What could be better?

When both the pierogi and kielbasa look done to you (and really, guys, everything's basically pre-cooked. This is a warming-up-dinner, to be honest) take them off the heat and plate them. Getting the pierogi out is the hard part - they're squishy and uncooperative. I use a slotted spoon most of the time, but we were being lazy and just used tongs :)

Don't use tongs. They take forever and it's like trying to lift jellyfish with oiled chopsticks...

Okay - now eat! Traditionally, my family likes to eat pierogi & kielbasa naked, but I'm a mustard-lover, so grab some of that and get down with your spicy brown or honey self.

And now - a photostream of our meals over the course of two nights presented without further comment:

See that last pic? There's a lovely, lovely char on that little guy!

This meal is fantastic for if you just need to throw something together. It doesn't take too long, you only use two pans (and if you wanted to fry the pierogi, you'd only need one pan - unf), and it's amazing.

As for today's spice, let's talk about Cinnamon!

Cinnamon is made from ground up bark. It's the most vegan spice on earth that way (I kid - I love vegan food). It can be used in any kind of dish - spicy, savory, sweet... the list goes on!  One of my favorite ways to use it as a kid was to add some to a little sugar and dump it on toast with peanut butter. It's a great dessert/breakfast. Also, it's great in applesauce. And I sometimes use it in weirder recipes like chili.

Oh guys.

When I show you how to make chili, you're either going to love me to death

or you're gonna kill me :P

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Casual Gaming Saturday 7

Game: NGU IDLE

Created by: Somethingggg (aka 4G)

Platform: PC (Kongregate)

Do you like RPGs? How about Idle games? Do you like to watch numbers increase rapidly? Do you hate clicking things too much?

NGU’s got you covered.

This game is another low-graphics game. The graphics consist mainly of text boxes, rapidly filling bars, and very simple images of gear you find and combine.

There’s also not a whole lot to say about this game besides the fact that it’s really fun, hilarious (if you bother reading the story), and freakishly addictive.

I’ve been playing on-and-off all week. I’ve been playing it when I can’t sleep because I’ll melt if I do, when I’m waiting for the kettle to heat up, when I’m taking breaks from working on projects, and when I’m between interactions on Pokefarm.

NGU IDLE is broken down into Features as you start out, each of the later-game features locked away behind a humorously described blank-box (H*ckin’ Locked being one of my favorites, since I didn’t censor it, it came that way). You start with nothing and no personality and are propelled through the game on base instinct and 4G’s snarky texts. Slowly, you’ll gain energy, which can be spent on Basic Training (attacks and defense, for instance).

Now your HP bar will start to fill. When it’s high enough, go ahead and start fighting your way through bosses. These will give you EXP to spend on random stuff and things in the EXP shop. There’s also AP, but those are exactly what they say they are: Arbitrary Points. They’re given at random, and the devices they’re spent on are of… varying usefulness.

All of this is handled with just the right amount of snark and pun-based humor. I’m fighting a Gorgonzola right now. As in a Gorgon made of cheese.

Actually, this whole dungeon I’m fighting through is full of cheese. Which I really should have seen coming…

This game is weird, guys. It’s weird and fun and no-stress.

Though the literal Money Pit can be a pain in the butt, since it eats every coin in your inventory, but it’s not guaranteed that you’ll get anything out of it.

Then again, there are no stores that take gold, so you may as well throw it into a semi-sentient hole. Even if it does sometimes just belch in your face afterwards…

One last thing – the upgrade systems can be a bit arcane, but it’s pretty fun to experiment. Also I love that the second actual sword you get has Link’s combat noises as the description.

All in all, this is a fun game that rewards you for playing it with snark, literally arbitrary rewards, and a great developer/creator who just wants to have fun!

If you want to play it on Kongregate, click here.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Filmic Friday 7

Movie: Rampage

Format: DVD/BluRay

We did not have movie night this past week, since the awesome friends whose house we have movie night at were at an awesome film festival. Fear not, however, because Wrestling-Friendo had us over that Wednesday. His internet was the dead so we wound up watching a movie he and his lady had picked up.

That movie was Rampage.

Guys. Rampage is hilarious.

The Rock is the least believable primatologist on the planet. Somehow, he’s even less believable than Tara Reid as an “archaeolologist, haaaanh?!” (if you don’t get that reference, do not worry. You’re not missing out). Basically, the movie reads like the creators saw King Kong and the trailer for Jurassic World and thought “Why don’t we make a movie where a monkey fights dinosaurs!” But they had no money so they had to use the license for the Rampage games.

But that makes the movie better.

Now, you’re probably wondering what the story for Rampage is. So am I, to be honest, because there wasn’t much of a plot. The Rock is taking care of George the blond gorilla who is basically like Koko’s shithead brother and who loves to flip people off like a McMahon…

See how he holds his hand? Vince McMahon does that. George is the secret McMahon son!

George gets a facefull of gas from a piece of debris from a cool explosion at the beginning of the movie (it was an evil science space station of doom, but we get to see a sweet mutant rat design that the rest of the movie could’ve really used). George goes bananas.

Created by RapidFireSlowMotion on imgur

The movie is made up of three different groups: The Rock & co going after George to make him a good ape again, Jeffrey Dean Morgan stroking his pearl-handled pistol and being a smarmy douchebag who I can’t help but absolutely adore, and some boring evil scientist siblings. The only good thing about the third part is…

SPOILER ALERT

EAT THE COOKIE

The best part was that it was terrible slow-mo cg, so you could see that it was matted and greenscreened horribly.

For the most part, though, the cg is pretty good. George is fluffy and expressive, and he’s literally the only character with any sort of pathos.

I still didn’t really care when he died.

You may be wondering why I’m not talking about the other two – Ralph the wolf and the Alligator. That’s because the wolf and the gator are barely in the movie. There’s a quick scene near the beginning where the wolf huffs the evil gas and the gator eats the canister, but they’re over with in seconds. The gator doesn’t show up again until the third act. Ralph has much more screen time, but it’s just about as useless as a screen door in a submarine, though infinitely less stressful. I mean, he’s eating a bus full of people at one point and I didn’t care.

"Of course the wolf can fly" = a stupid line when you're about to get EATEN, Dwayne...

Why did we not get more time with such an awesome creature design?! Look at the Murdergator!!!

How do you make me not care about Ralph?! I had the damn three wolf moon shirt as a kid! (RIP three wolf moon shirt) Wolves were my favorite animals for a while!

But that’s just it:

I didn’t care about anyone or anything in this movie.

That hasn’t happened in years. I cared what happened to Captain America in the Reb Brown movie (mostly because it was hilarious). I cared what happened to Robert Zdar in Pocket Ninjas (because he looked so happy!). I cared about Jaws in Moonraker (again, so happy!).

I didn’t care about the Rock’s character (who, of course, turned out to also be ex-special-forces… big surprise), or George, or Ralph, or any of the scientist characters. I liked JDM’s character, but that’s because he can do anything, from what I’ve seen, and make it worth seeing. But he’s basically just a plot device like everyone else.

The only character besides JDM who I gave a single crap about was the scientist lady from the beginning. She did not deserve to die.

RIP blond scientist lady. Google image search had no idea what I was looking for.

I guess that’s just the way it is with this movie. It doesn’t care about any of the people, so you shouldn’t either.

Don’t miss it, though! If you need some mindless explosions and a gorilla with a crude sense of humor, you should watch Rampage! Those explosions are awesome.

A Gorilla’s Middle Finger/10

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Here's a bonus JDM for the heck of it:

Again, most pics were found on Google

also here:

http://www.thelastthingisee.com/2018/04/rampage-2018-movie-review.html

Thursday Art Walk 7

It is so humid that I haven't slept well in days. I woke up at nearly 11AM and just now finished the art for today. My cat has nibbled me several times so far and I cannot find her favorite toy. I am doomed to forever be chased by her puffy tail and grumpy chirps. Doomed, I say!

"Hilltop Tree"; permanent marker & ink; 2018

Posting via mobile sucks, btw. I would never do it but ruining back up to my laptop will bring the wrath of kitty, so... I guess this is how I live now lol...

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Wednesdaymania 7

I use a lot of wrestling terminology (sometimes incorrectly, I'm sure), but I'm sure some of you guys aren't fluent in Carnie or wrestling-ese, so I think that from now on, I'm going to be making a list of wrestling terms I come across and putting them in a public place for everyone to read. I'm also sure that better bloggers have done something similar with a Wrestling-to-English dictionary or something like that.

Still, I'd feel better if I had a document that both you guys and I could refer back to when I bring up weird terms like "Shakespear" or "Kizzash" or stuff like that. I'll probably start working on the document itself tonight and post it as its own separate page. Then I'll link to it at the end of every Wednesdaymania. Eventually, I'll figure out how to link from a particular word to its entry in the post/document.

You can tell that I'm not much of a planner...

But what is Carnie, anyway?

Carnie, it would seem (from an outsider's perspective) is a language not entirely unlike Cockney Rhyming Slang - a language derived from English for the purposes of holding conversation in a particular group without unwanted listeners understanding you. In this case, the conversationalists are the guys you see at the fairgrounds operating rides and staring at you like you're the scum of the earth even though you're a paying customer. They're Carnies. The language is Carnie.

If you've seen that one episode of the Simpsons, you've already had a glimpse into what Carnie basically sounds like.

That's Homer as a "pigeon" - someone the Carnies can take money from.

Wrestling Carnie, meanwhile, is its own beast. You've still got derogatory ways to refer to people - fans are Marks (another way of saying that they're "marked" as people they can take money from), amorous fans are Rats or Ring Rats or Rizzats (girls they can get anything from sex to laundry done from) - but there's also a lot of stranger words.

The weirdest words I've encountered barely count as Carnie, in my mind. They're just normal words that the wrestlers have added "izz/iz" to. Kizzash = money, Rizzat = rat/ring rat, Mizark = mark. Do not look Mizark up unless you want to see that time in the 90s that WWE decided it'd be funny to use frigging black-face in a segment making fun of the Nation of Domination stable (another wrestling term), including wrestler and legit world's strongest man Mark Henry...

What the heck.

I'll expose you now so you don't get shocked later. Sorry.

Billy Gunn (Godfather), HHH (the Rock), Chyna, Road Dogg (D'Lo Brown), Jason Sensation (Owen Hart), X-Pac (Mark Henry). Vince McMahon OK'd this idea. They still show it on their site and seem proud of it. Never forget. Never forgive.

Wrestling is weird. Here's the actual members of the Nation of Domination before I get really upset with myself for giving more airtime to this awful idea.

The Godfather aka Kama aka Papa Shango

The Rock hamming it up at an In-Your-House PPV

D'Lo kicking butt. He's a CPA.

Owen Hart is the only member of the Nation's core who has died so far. I'll probably make myself talk about that some day.

Mark Henry was legit the World's Strongest Man once. He could lift 145kg (~320lb). Badass. Nice Guy.

Basically, though, Wrestling Carnie exists so that wrestlers can express their feelings on things without the public understanding. Except that if you've got half a brain, it's not too hard to figure out that when Hulk Hogan is telling his son to watch out for "blizzacks" in prison, he's being super racist.

Hogan's maybe not the brightest bulb...

Anyway, moving on!

Yeah, Wrestling can be a junk-heap of crazy, but we still love it. Besides, the majority of the Nation could outwork the majority of DX (with the exception of X-Pac when he was more or less sober) 75% of the time at least...

Now, Go Enjoy Something!

Preferably not something racist, though...

Stick with NXT this week, guys. Or Sunday Night Heat. That's pretty fun (though... uh... keep in mind that Mrs. Yamaguchi-san is actually 17 and that hopefully nothing weird happened for realsies...)

Maybe just stick with NXT or New Japan this week kids...

FC

Half-Assed Photo/Gif Bibliography:

Most of these photos were found in pretty random places on Google. The Gifs were found the same way.

I didn't, obviously, take any of these pictures myself. I'd have been very, very little at the time. Also, my parents hated wrestling.

My Searches were:

• Simpsons Carny Pigeon
• DX Blackface
• Nation of Domination Godfather
• Nation of Domination Rock
• Nation of Domination D'Lo Brown
• Nation of Domination Owen Hart
• Nation of Domination Mark Henry

Talk About Tuesday 7

If you've been following my blog for a while, you may have noticed a new feature on the sidebar. That's my KoFi button, and I'm pleased to announce that I'm accepting "coffees" to support the blog! I don't like ads. You don't like ads. No one likes ads. With the KoFi account, I don't have to dirty up my blog with stupid, pointless ads.

Basically, the button says it all: you can send me three bucks, which is equivalent to a coffee (hence the name), via PayPal.

I'm not asking for it, though. I just wanted to show you guys that, if you've got a blog, or a Tumblr, or anything like that, you can pop one of these buttons on your site and get paid for doing the things you love!

And that's what I'd like to talk about today - people getting paid for their work, no matter what their work is.

I first encountered the "Buy me a coffee!" button on a Tumblr for someone who did fantastic fan-art, fan fiction, and cosplay; then I started seeing it everywhere. I'd say I see it about as often as Patreon. Now, Patreon takes a small percentage of the money people give you, but that's to help run the site and keep things moving smoothly. KoFi says they don't take the money you're given; which raises the question of how they make a profit (every business exists to make a profit). They do that through subscriptions - they have a gold tier program with extra benefits which pays for the site.

I believe that every single creative person deserves to be paid for their hard work. To that end I can only advise that if you're doing something, find a way to get paid!

On a related note: I'm thinking of opening an Etsy shop or something like that. If I do, I'll put the link in a sidebar. I'd be selling things like whatever I'm making on Fiber Mondays or prints of some of my art. I don't know how long it'll be before I can make that happen, but we'll see, eh?

Go Enjoy Something (and hopefully get paid for it!)

FC

Fiber Monday 7

We are much closer to finishing the scarf now - we're at 42" long!

I still suck at centering photos, guys. Sorry!

The 42 is hidden under the brake button, but it's real, guys.

Now that we are in the endgame for this scarf, I have to wonder: Fringe or no fringe? We'll figure this out in the next couple of weeks. I don't see the scarf needing much more length :)

That's all for this Monday, guys!

Go Make Something!
FC

Survival Sunday 6

So, this past week gave me one of the best mornings I've had in a long time. I got to wake up peacefully, have my coffee, and even make breakfast, all on my own schedule - no one was hurrying me along. Of course, that's a unicorn of a morning, so I had to record it for you guys in photo form... also, I just wanted eggs. I really, really wanted eggs.

There are vegan substitutes for eggs, so if that's your bag, go for it! I'm not a vegan, though I love a lot of vegan food, so this breakfast may not be your thing. And then I went and "ruined it" at the end, apparently. Because I wanted a breakfast that 7-year-old me demanded daily.

Behold, internet: Strangled Eggs and instant mocha

You'll need:

• 1 packet instant hot chocolate mix
• 1 spoonful of instant coffee
• Hot water (don't let it boil!)
• Some half-and-half creamer (optional)
• As many eggs as you want to eat (I used 2)
• Cooking spray
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Pure Evil (according to the internet) (also optional)

Step 1: Assemble your ingredients (leave half-and-half in the fridge until you need it - it could go bad, especially if you're taking pictures like me...)

I just used what brands I had on hand. And yes, that's a Frugal Gourmet pepper mill. It's my mom's.

Step 2: Assemble your instant mocha powders in your favorite mug and start your kettle heating. You don't want the water to boil. If, like me, you do not have an electric kettle, put some water in a nice teakettle on the stove and get it hot. You can see the steel spout of ours peeking out of the right side of the photo above.

I like to do cocoa first...

and instant coffee on top!

Step 3: Crack your eggs into a bowl. Everyone cracks eggs differently. I can't take pictures and crack at the same time, since I'm using my cellphone and I only have two hands and very poor coordination. Make sure you don't leave shell bits floating around in the eggs, because it is no fun to bite down on something unexpectedly... crunchy.

And lo, the breakfast stared back...

Now might also be a good time to check on any "kitchen helpers" you may have and make sure they haven't wandered outside to terrorize the neighbor's chickens...

This butthead did just that yesterday. For over 3 hours. What a tool. I love her.

Step 4: Time to scramble those eggs. Er. Strangle. No, it's really just scrambling. My siblings and I just called them strangled eggs as kids. Basically, just deflate the yolks by poking them a few times with a fork, then use the fork to mix the eggs together. I use a rapid folding motion to do this, but you may find a different way to make it work for you!

"You'll put your eye out!"

Whip it. Whip it good.

Step 5: Now we season. You should add salt first, from what I hear, but... it doesn't really matter if you're only adding salt & pepper and maybe a splash of half-and-half for sinful creaminess and then whipping again...

adding pepper

pepper added

adding salt (I used iodized, you can use any kind you like)

I find the half-and-half makes the eggs a little easier to maneuver and taste a little better.

Eggs & seasonings all whipped together and... ah, the kettle has begun to steam!

Step 6: Add hot water to the instant mocha.

Add the water slowly - you don't want to splash or overfill

My S/O says this is already overfilled. Sorry Z.

Store-brand creamer is absolutely good. I love this kind.

Even though the carton was extremely full, I'm proud to have not spilled on the counter!

Step 7: Now that your coffee mix is done, set it aside. This next part takes no time at all. It's time to spray up your non-stick pan with cooking spray. Yes, even thought it's already non-stick. The spray makes it much easier to toss the eggs around.

I'm a late riser. Also, yes, generic spray is 100% ok. It works just like the rest of the sprays out there.

ALWAYS follow the instructions on the can. I couldn't photo and spray, so this is an after-photo.

Step 8: Keep your heat on the low end of the spectrum. You don't want to burn the eggs. Burned eggs are nasty and do not make for a happy morning (or evening - we do this for dinner sometimes around here...)

This is too high. I learned that because when I added the eggs, I had no time to take a pic...

Step 9: Add your eggs and pretty much immediately start mixing them around with a non-metal spatula or whatever you're using. Don't use anything that will scratch the pan's finish. You don't want that stuff inside you.

This took maybe 15 seconds.

Step 10: Plate it up! Your eggs are done!

Why yes, that IS a Muses of Modern Science mug. Carl Sagan is holding a pot leaf.

And here's where I make an enemy of the internet. The only thing that separates Strangled eggs from Scrambled eggs is what you put on top:

Yes. That's ketchup. Fight me. Actually, please don't.

Oh yeah. Ketchup. Breakfast of champions, baby! Usually, I'd have this with toast, but we were pretty much out of bread, and I just wanted to eat at this point. I lugged my breakfast into the living room to plop on the couch and watch some YouTube (ProJared is playing Illusion of Gaia right now!) with my awesome Adventure notebook.

That's a piano stool I'm using as a table. That notebook looks like the Atari cartridge for Adventure!

That's all from me for now, except to give you the SPICE OF THE WEEK!

AKA: MY MOUTH BURNS OH GOD

Cayenne pepper is not for the faint of heart. Do not use this if you are allergic to nightshades in general or peppers specifically. This is basically dried heat in a bottle. Why is it only a 1 oz container? Because if you used the whole thing you'd strip the lining off your stomach, probably. You don't need too much at a time. I use it in chilies and spicy Mexican or Thai foods. Do not use this if you cannot take heat. It is hot. 30k-50k scovilles hot. That's hotter than Tabasco and Chipotle, but not quite as hot as Thai peppers or Birds Eye chillis.

Basically, this is hot. Don't say I didn't warn you. But it's also tasty as heck. Smoky, sweet, and blasting heat. Aw yeah.

Alright, folks,

Go Enjoy Something! Or Make Something! Or Make Something and then Enjoy it!

FC