Saturday Casual Gaming 246: Pocket Forest

In Which I Slide and Match Three

I like me some mobile games - especially when they're free! Pocket Forest is an offering from developer Battle Mango and available on the Google Play Store.

But it's far more complicated than it first appears!

Pocket Forest has a lot going for it. It's a match-3 game, which I love, but it's also a sliding tiles game, which means that in order to match three of the same image (dirt, grass, water; fox, tree, droplet, and up), you have to slide rows and columns until images match up. Oh, and you have limited moves with which to slide! Thankfully, tapping the groups of three or more doesn't take a move from your pool.

Now, as if that wasn't enough to keep track of just in the gameplay, tiles can interact! If you match 3 water tiles of the same level, they'll water the tiles around them! Dirt tiles will become grass tiles (which is annoying if you're trying to get more animal tiles!), tree or plant tiles (but not grass tiles) bear fruit that will automatically be fed to any directly adjacent animals, netting you extra points! I have only played the first zone and haven't filled the Bestiary yet, and I'm already addicted.

Oh, I didn't mention the Bestiary?

Yeah, there's a Bestiary!

A fairly extensive Bestiary, too!

I'm pretty sure the above image is from an older build of the game, but! It shows basically what happens.

You play your level until you run out of moves (and by the way, tiles will auto-merge if they're next to each other at the end of a level, so you can use that to your advantage!), and at the top, you'll see three stars. Each star fills as you gain points, and they represent the potential rarity of animals you'll encounter as a reward. My first animal was a sweet little fox, and one of the cool aspects of this sticker-style collection is that you get to pet the animals.

Ever wanted to pet a brown bear?

Now you can! And without getting mauled, no less!

Now, you can only pet them once, sadly... until you find a duplicate! I have my little lizard 100% petted, and it gave me a bonus!

Actually, pretty much everything nets you bonuses in this game, so if you're having a hard time in real life and you just need a win, however, small, you can almost certainly squeak one out while playing this game for less than 10 minutes. Bonuses are usually buffs for in-game (like a button which places animals on all dirt tiles available, a button to water every tile at once, and a button to plant one tree anywhere on a grassy tile), but sometimes you'll get tickets!

There are two types of tickets - normal tickets and golden tickets! I haven't had much luck with the one Golden Ticket I got - it just gave me more boosters (and once you hit 50+ of the same booster, getting more boosters is not that thrilling), but I know it can get you other things, like new skins for your tiles!

I actually wound up getting rewarded with a Cactus skin for my plants, so now my foxes eat cactus fruits when it rains! I got that as a level bonus for collecting a certain amount of animals :)

Battle Mango did a great job on this game, and it's cute and fun, so if you're looking for a feel-good game, definitely check out Pocket Forest!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Filmic Friday 246: Dolemite Is My Name

In Which I Learn Some Black History

You may have guessed it by now, but I'm from an area that is... lacking in racial diversity. I had maybe three black classmates growing up. You may also be able to infer from that that I am quite lacking in exposure to black culture, which is true. My first exposure to Blaxploitation was Shaft, which I'm told is a pretty good jumping off point, but let's be honest, most Blaxploitation movies that got famous were probably commissioned by white people. Kinda like Porgy and Bess is a black opera mostly created by a white guy (George Gershwin). And most Jazz and Blues these days seems to be proliferated by a bunch of burnt-out white people with boozy voices :| We may have a Blues Festival locally that drives me nuts every year.

So yeah, I haven't been that exposed to black cinema before now. I mean, I saw GET OUT, and it was brilliant, but! GET OUT was made by a famous black person and mainstreamed in the 21st Century. What about the movies made by renegade filmmakers in the 1970s?

What about the most famous filmmaker?

What about Rudy Ray Moore?

Ah, you may ask, if you're as white as me, but who was Rudy Ray Moore?

Well, I'll just let Eddie Murphy and Netflix tell you:

The blackest movie I'd ever seen,
it blew my white mind from the small tv screen!

If you've ever wondered where rhyming rap came from, it's attributed to Dolemite/Rudy Ray Moore.

Rudy Ray Moore was a man who brute-forced his way to success. That's not to say he wasn't talented! As a singer, he was good. As a comedian, he was hilarious. As an actor... well... there's where things got complicated, because unless he was telling his ridiculously blue stories live on stage, Rudy Ray Moore had a hard time being in character, as evidenced by my viewing of the actual Dolemite movie referenced in the Netflix/Eddie Murphy coproduction of Dolemite Is My Name.

But he was, as he said, a BAD mother.... uh... oh yeah, I don't curse on here.
This is going to be harder than I thought.
...
Rudy Ray Moore was dapper as heck.

Equal parts biopic and comedy, Dolemite Is My Name is a love letter to Rudy Ray Moore and his renegade Black movies. Rudy knew what the people wanted to see (sex, violence, themselves on a screen), and he knew what he wanted to make (a movie where he was the king of all things), but he lacked... well... funding. And knowledge of how to actually go about making a movie. Thankfully, the movie explains how this guy went from selling records from the trunk of his aunt's car (I'm willing to bet it wasn't his car, at least not at first) to selling out theaters across the country, because I'm honestly in awe of him and couldn't do it justice.

This guy was essentially the Old School YouTube of his day.

He was the Angry Video Game Nerd before Video Games and Nerds.

He was a king of social commentary making his presence known through whatever means he had available.

He was 100% unmarketable towards white conservatives.

And he was, most importantly, 100% uncensored and NOT FOR CHILDREN (though, like with all things adult, children found and loved Rudy Ray Moore's comedy albums, lol).

This movie tells the story of Rudy's slow rise from forgotten singer to memorable comedian (including him buying - not stealing, but buying - jokes from homeless guys) to unforgettable filmmaker, and it has one of the most incredible casts I've ever seen in a movie.

Look at these outrageous, amazing, fantastic people!
My only regret is that I don't think I see the most spot-on casting decision in this movie represented here...

I loved this movie. I loved every moment of every scene, and it did not feel like I'd just sat through nearly two hours of film. It felt like forty minutes. If there are cut scenes, they'll probably still be awesome. It really feels like the movie was a labor of love.

It also feels like we, sadly, missed two very important opportunities.

First: D'Urville Martin is played by Wesley Snipes who, if I recall right, was Moore's first choice to play Moore himself in a biopic. This is sad, but! I love Snipes as a frustrated auteur who... then went on to make a Dolemite ripoff when Dolemite took off despite his certainty that it would flop from incompetence.  Snipes is incredible.

Second: It feels like Eddie made this movie with the idea that his brother, the infamous and incredible Charlie Murphy, would play the lead. It's hard not to choke up seeing the In Memoriam card at the end. Charlie would have made an insanely good Rudy Ray Moore, and it breaks my heart that we never got to see that. I'm sure it breaks Eddie's heart too. That sucks.

But Eddie is still insanely good as Rudy Ray Moore. He actually brings way, way more life to the role in the filming scenes, because Rudy was maybe not the best actor, but when Eddie is on, he's 100% on, and he's positively electric here. It gives me hope that we're going to get an Eddie Murphy Renaissance over the next five to ten years :)

Now, if you're like me, and relatively sheltered (most black music was forbidden to me on the grounds that my mother didn't like it - no jazz, no rap, no R&B, no hip hop... and now I love them all), this movie may come as somewhat of a culture shock at first. Sit tight. Let the movie move you. Let yourself acclimate. Even start it over a couple of times if you don't understand at first what you're hearing. This is one time where I'll actively advocate against subtitles for those not hearing impaired, because the movie is so intensely visual and the audio is extremely important as well. You need to see. You need to hear. If you can do both at once, you begin to understand, and that is so important.

Watching this movie gave me a suddenly ravenous appetite for black cinema. From Blaxploitation to the Lincoln Motion Picture Co catalog of Noble Johnson (look him up - he played the Nubian in the 1932 Mummy and was pals with Lon Cheney Jr!), I want it all. I want Blacula, The Human Tornado, and The Realization of a Negro's Ambition. I want the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all.

And I want more Snoop Dogg as a DJ making fun of Rudy Ray Moore.

Seriously, him playing Roj is frickin hilarious!

As a final note, if you're wondering what I was talking about with "impeccable casting"...

Here on the left is the real Jerry Jones, writer and actor on the original Dolemite

And here is Keegan-Michael Key as Jerry Jones in Dolemite Is My Name

So with that, I demand you go watch this movie at least once, preferably twice!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Thursday Art Walk 246: Sketching Along

In Which I Done Did Drawings

It's snowing.

It's 33℉ (~0.5℃), so cloudy it's nearly too dark to see, and it's spitting snow.

I am not ready for winter. My fluffy Star Wars jim jams are on. My soft sweatshirt is on. My slipper socks are on. My blanket fort and my blanket nest are well-stocked with fluffy coverings and I have my shawl wrapped around Dedbert to keep him warm (Dedbert is my cute green owl son). Yet still, I am unprepared.

My cat refuses all attempts at cuddling, as that would mean leaving one of the many blanket nests we've set up for her in the living room, which she refuses to entertain if food is not involved.

What I'm saying is that it's the perfect day to stay inside if you can, curl up with cocoa, and sketch random stuff you see.

"Coffee, Cardinal, and Cat"; pencil and ink study on legal size printer paper; 2019

I'll be doing more art as the day progresses, but that's what I've taken a picture of so far, so there you go!

Also, the wrinkles are because my cat decided that the papers were the right place to stand while waiting for me to arrange her new blanket tent. Which she proceeded to fall asleep on top of. :| Cats.

Such a sleepy baby she didn't even notice the flash...

I have many things to do, and a limited window in which to do them, so that's all from me :)

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Wednesdaymania 246: AEW Full Gear

In Which I Watched A Pay Per View!

I'm going to make this blog basically just my reactions to the matches for Full Gear, so if you're looking for a blow-by-blow, I'm afraid I just don't have that!

My partner, my Wrestling Friendos and I settled in and watched both the preshow and Full Gear together. These are my thoughts as I watched these great programs:

THE PRESHOW:

Excalibur, Taz, and I believe Goldenboy were on commentary, knocking it out of the park.

Match 0: Bea Priestly vs Britt Baker DMD

• Britt's strikes are yikes - she's not much of a striker
• Bea's stomps are terrifying, especially in contrast to Britt's 2000s Impact Knockout strikes...
• Darby Allin was seated in the crowd and looked... uh... intrigued.
• Britt gave a decent showing but was completely outclassed by Bea Priestly, yet Britt still won.
• After the match, Brandi Rhodes (in her new classy voodoo queen getup) and Awesome Kong (the Weave Hunter) show up to beat down Bea Priestly and neither my partner nor I are down with Kong bringing an honest-to-God knife to the ring, which she uses to cut a lock of Bea's hair to add to her hair belt.
• Are we really doing a scalping gimmick in 2019-2020?
• Or is this going into creepy magic territory?

At this point, JR came down to join the commentary desk because... I guess they only had a single match on the preshow? Okay...

THE SHOW PROPER:

Match 1: Young Bucks vs Proud and Powerful Santana and Ortiz

• Rock and Roll Express heckled Santana and Ortiz from the crowd
• We were all a bit distracted by the sheer volume of smoke that was appearing, despite the minimal (so far) pyro.
• The match began with blows, which was pretty fun
• RIP the guy in the front row who wound up getting kicked in the face by Ortiz when he went over the guard rail
• Ooh, they really enforced all of the Tag rules here - ref has to see you tag in!
• Ortiz and Santana performed possibly the most insane and indescribable submission I've ever seen on both of the Bucks!
• The stream started to falter here, so we kept losing image (though not always sound...)
• We came back to the Bucks in the crowd with Rock and Roll Express
• The Bucks came back like a house of fire with a shocking five suplexes in a row it was incredible!
• Lost connection again, then lost it entirely until we came back to learn (with minimal replay) that Santana and Ortiz had won.
• Sammy Guevara came down to heckle the Elite with his streaming nonsense
• Rock and Roll came to the Bucks' aid, somehow managing to dive more in three minutes than the Bucks had during the whole match.
• Wow.
• Absolutely watch this match if you get the chance.

My only concern is that the Elite have such bad records. I mean... Jericho and his guys are alright, but... I kinda showed up to AEW for the ELITE part of ALL ELITE WRESTLING, and it's not all that fun to have to wait for the single match where one of their guys wins in a Pay Per View. Especially if you're going to charge us fifty bucks here in the states. We cannot afford to pay that much money every 8-12 weeks just to watch our favorites lose, lose, lose.

Match 2: PAC vs Hangman Adam Page

• "COWBOY SH*T" and "HE'S A F**KING HORSE" signs in the crowd killed me
• This is an intensely violent match. In retrospect, it's even more violent than MOX/Omega...
• Both of these wrestlers are amazing
• PAC tried to crush Page's skull
• It was a gorgeous, agonizing match and I absolutely cannot describe it so if you can find this match, absolutely watch it. This was my pick for Match of the Night.
• YES! Chalk one up for the Hangman!!!

The Arena then blacked out after the match had concluded and everyone was backstage. At first I was confused, then spotlights shown on a lone man sitting in a folding chair on the ramp.

Ah.

It's Shawn Spears!

Match 3: Shawn Spears with Tully Blanchard vs Joey Janela

• This card was pretty wrestling-heavy and chatting-light, which I like.
• Also Joey Janela's weird, somersault entrance is hilarious and cracks me up every time.
• Joey spends this match taking a ton of punishment, including having his hair literally tied to the ring, which was great!
• I'm... not really feeling the "Joey Janela - Technical Wrestler" thing. I feel like he works best as a nutbar.
• Tully using Shawn to spike Joey was amazing.
• Shawn Spears wins.

One of the few backstage segments happens and we learn that Kip Sabian has stolen Joey Ryan's ex-wife, Penelope Ford!

Match 4: Private Party vs Lucha Bros vs SCU

• From the first entrance, we knew this match was going to be amazing
• And it did, though it was a bit messy (as multi-man tag matches tend to be)
• Fenix is a god of wrestling
• SCU managed to win, but only just barely
• Everyone looked strong
• well... until the Lucha Bros utterly punked out SCU after the bell.
• Arena lights went out, and when they came back, there was another, thinner Pentagon Jr in the ring!
• Mirror spot, where Penta looked pretty stoked to have a double until...
• New Penta beat down Real Penta!
• New Penta was secretly Christopher Daniels, back from his injury!
• Wonderful.

Match 5: RIHO vs Emi Sakura

• I wish they'd been able to add more to the history behind this match during Dynamite
• Student vs Teacher is always fantastic!
• Emi's emoting is awesome
• RIHO makes a fantastic ragdoll
• there's an apron spot that made my spine hurt
• JR cannot remember their names. He cannot remember "Emi", which sounds like a white person name, and he cannot remember "Riho", which is literally two simple syllables. It's distracting. He does the same thing with Sammy Guevara because he can't pronounce "Give Ara" (which isn't necessarily the correct pronunciation, but most of the time it's acceptable...)
• I enjoy the way the match feels like it's in actual slow-motion at times, but then a spot will happen that feels like time speeds up to 3x or something!
• RIHO wins, of course, but Emi was clearly the more experienced wrestler.

Main Event: Cody vs Jericho

• Can... can I just say that all of this feels like it's too soon? Cody forsaking any future attempts at the championship, Jericho being himself... it feels like something we should be getting halfway through next year, not right now.
• That being said, this is a spectacular match... if one that made me (temporarily) regret paying so much money to watch it. I get too emotionally involved. That's why I screamed at Bully Ray at the Lewiston ROH show last year...
• Dean Malenko, Arn Anderson, Keiji Mutoh (the Great Muta) are the judges.
• Cody rose through the floor to ALL PYRO EVERYTHING
• MJF is here
• Cody's mom is in the crowd and has a jacket with "MOM" embroidered on it awwwwwww
• Jericho has Hager and his stupid scarf.
• "WALLS OF CHOLESTEROL" sign lol
• "He is the grandson of a plumber, he is the father of a husky"..."From Undesirable to Undeniable" are both part of Cody's ring intro
• Oh boy, this match both wowed and infuriated me.
• Jericho's stupid weight belt was a constant distraction, and I should've known from the start what he'd do with it.
• Jericho tried to mess with Dean Malenko, who gives him nothing (which is the opposite of what they used to do - they had some unbelievable matches!)
• Cody targeting Jericho's stupid elbow was great!
• Cody faceplanting on the ring and having his face seem to explode into blood, however, was terrifying.
• Blood everywhere. Hager gave Jericho a steel chair, which Jericho uses to take a seat in the ring.
• Hager attacked Cody outside, which... uh... you'd think the Judges would have something to say about it, but as we'll see soon, they were an utterly pointless addition to this match, which ticks me off.
• Joey Janela had a safer match than this
• Cody is having a Joey Janela match.
• We GOT A BICYCLE kick from Cody
• Jericho tried to get into Mama Rhodes' face and got slapped for his trouble, then Cody speared him and Mom beat him some more.
• Aubrey finally had enough of Jericho and Hager's garbage and ejected Hager, who attacked MJF.
• The crowd was electric for the Crossroads and then Cody's Bionic Elbow
• Jericho whipped Cody with the weight belt, which Aubrey also yanked away.
• After some brutal (if a bit tubby) Lion Tamers, MJF... threw in a towel that literally never existed in this match until this moment.
• This is stupid.
• It's not a good finish.
• It destroys any momentum the Elite have gained.
• MJF also turns on Cody (way too early in my opinion)
• A fan threw their beer all over MJF, because of course they did.
• There was no payoff to the judges.
• It feels like they forgot 80% of this match.
• And it's not a short match.
• Meh. It's the first time a main event has left me cold.

I want to say this, however, that in the days since Full Gear, I have to stand by every ounce of my disappointment in this match. It feels like a tower of blocks that they tried to knock over in a spectacular fashion but only half-managed. It's messy. It's unsatisfying. And worst of all, it doesn't really leave any room for intrigue or development.

Because if anyone says they're surprised by MJF's betrayal, they're either lying or... maybe not that smart.

And it's just not satisfying to have someone the crowd us so behind suddenly... removed from the picture.

Because Cody has nowhere left to go.

And, to be honest, if he's going to step 100% into his XVP position, then his first move should be to fire MJF for assaulting talent (him). Because MJF wasn't booked to wrestle. He just beat an executive up.

So... it's messy and makes no sense.

I don't care that Cody lost, really. It's how and when.

And the lack of relevance for the judges in the context of the Pay Per View is infuriating. They were pointless. They were superfluous, and that's the worst thing you can have in a match.

But there's still one more match!

LIGHTS OUT MATCH: MOX vs Kenny Omega

• Mox entering through the crowd is fantastic, and the match started like a rocket
• "Unsanctioned, huh? Time for some ****ing garbage!" - Mox
• "At least it wasn't Dippindots!" - JR on Kenny hitting Mox with a beer in the crowd after they brawl into the stadium.
• Omega stomping Mox into the garbage was great!
• Mox brought in his barbed wire bat and began bloodying Kenny up, grinding the wire into Kenny's back.
• NOT THE FACE, JON - DON'T BARB UP HIS FACE!
• I felt quite ill when Mox raked up and down Kenny's arm with the barbed wire, so good for you guys, that was nasty (even though it didn't start to bleed)
• Kenny sought a table, set it up, then grabbed his barbed wire broom.
• Mox dumped a trash can on kenny and got CLEANED for his troubles. There was blood.
• Never did like CZW
• Owie owie ow
• The mousetrap board was scary at first, but when you realize they aren't the kind with the spike, they're way less frightful and way funnier.
• Oh man, I hated that screwdriver
• And the broken glass.
• I don't care if it's actually that beet sugar glass they use on cakes, it looked nasty.
• Kenny was VICIOUS, jamming the glass into Mox's mouth, then V Trigger, then slam onto glass, followed by two more V Triggers
• NO STABBING PLZ
• NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE
• Kenny Stabbed Mox in the Forehead (it was actually scraping, but I was freaking out when I wrote these notes)
• Kenny then called on the Elite to retrieve a two-layer barbed wire mattress made of pipes. It's... kinda crummy looking, tbh, but Kenny isn't well-versed in the making of barbed wire surfaces on which to suplex opponents.
• Kenny ended up being the one Suplexed onto the Bed Of Pain
• The Set Spot, where they wound up inside the Plexiglass logo in the metal bulkhead, was awesome
• Kenny liked that. More of that.
• Piece of table chucked at Mox
• Paradigm Shift. Kickout.
• Mox peeled the ring apart like an onion, thankfully ditching the blade he'd used to cut the ties on the apron.
• Top Rope 450 CRASH to ring boards
• Paradigm Shift onto wood. Mox won!
• Yikes.

That was, overall a pretty decent PPV, but... I'm not really keen on the "Only One Elite Guy And/Or Team Can Win Per Pay Per View" thing they've got going (SCU and Page, tonight). I also have already voiced my opinions on the Jericho/Cody thing.

It feels too soon.

It feels incomplete.

It also feels like Omega/Mox should've been earlier on the card, but it's a good thing it wasn't because that crowd might have rioted if they'd been left with Cody being betrayed.

Overall, I'm still conflicted on this PPV, and I'm hoping there's at least some payoff for the Judges tonight. Because if not, that was stupid. They shouldn't have three ex-wrestlers of such incredible pedigree outside the ring and then serve no purpose.

Ugh.

Anyway, I'm going to watch Dynamite tonight (I hope), and see if we get any answers or if this is just going to be the worst part of the NWO and an end to consequences. If it is, I'm not going to be able to deal with it.

I hated the NWO.

We're already living in a country dominated by worthless a-holes with money. I don't exactly watch wrestling to show me the same things I see on the news - dumpster fires and dicks. I kinda watch wrestling for good wrestling and good storytelling. And adding elements that do nothing and mean nothing is NOT GOOD STORYTELLING.

So I'm still a little bitter.

And I'm hoping I'm not after tonight's show.

Also, I'd love to have a Darby Allin match tonight...

That's all from me for today!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday 246

In Which It's Heckin Cold

Guesssssssssssss what.

It's 33℉ (~0.6℃), wet, and there's a layer of sleet on the ground.

It's only November 12, and it's already winter.

BOOOO. I do not like this.

I'm going to have to make myself an egg sandwich in order to feel better about this :(

Anywho, it's been a heck of a week since last Tuesday. I:

• Finished my pumpkin!
• Watched AEW Full Gear
• Snuggled with my cat
• Walked a whole bunch
• Ate good noodles and pretty okay chili (it was from Wendy's and we meddled with it)
• Wrote about 500 words in one sitting for a new story
• Decided to try to make "rat soup"... but not out of rats, thanks.

I am excited for the rest of my writing, and I'm eager to try making a few things this week, but I'm not at all excited for the foggy gross weather we're having today. Cold, wet, and nasty. That's November outside the Blanket Fort.

Thankfully, I'm in my fluffy pants and a thick blanket, so... I'm not actually cold lol.

Here's my plans for the next seven days!

• Tomorrow I'll tell you all about Full Gear!
• Thursday I'll make some more art
• Friday will be about Dolemite Is My Name because I can't hold off on talking about that movie
• Saturday may be tricky because I'm still looking for a new game to play
• Sunday will be about something delicious because I'm hungry and I like to make food.
• Next Monday I'll start work on something new - if you guys don't suggest anything, I have an idea or two...
• Next Tuesday I'll blather at you about life, the weather, and what will happen next week on the blog!

That's the next seven days look like from here!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday 246: I Made A Thing!

In Which I Finish Another Pumpkin!

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I feel like I've been on fire lately for crochet :)

Here are all of the bean stitch rows finished!

I ended up having to tear out the final stitches about a dozen times because I literally cannot figure out the tension so that it's not too spaced-out! Regardless, I eventually reduced down from 30 to 24 to 18 to 12 to 6 stitches and ended up with a finished pumpkin!

And then I jammed a stick in it.
Apparently, they used hot glue and rolled up felt in the original pattern.
I had neither, so a stick it was.

After I got the stick in place, I began to use the very, very long tail I had left over to slowly section off the pumpkin so it wasn't just a blob with a stick in it.

Here's one view of the finished pumpkin!

Here's another!

I wish I had been able to take better pictures of this project, but it's a gray and gross day, so better pictures will have to wait :| Such is life.

So that's another gourd finished! Are there any requests for the next project? Any suggestions for future attempts at this pattern?

Because that's all for me, today!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Survival Sunday 245: Missing the Point of Vegan Noodz

In Which I Make Vegans Very Unhappy - Sorry!

Let me begin by saying this: I love vegans. I love vegan food. I love the tenets upon which veganism as a cultural movement are based. I am not, however, a vegan myself. I enjoy too many animal-based products and legitimately cannot afford to enjoy a 100% plant-based diet without being 100% miserable and living entirely off of tinned veggies, which... aren't ideal.

So when we wound up with the Samurai Ramen - a 0 animal ramen with no garlic or onion or msg (the last three of which I actually quite like) - I was a bit skeptical.

Because for me, garlic and onion are nearly my lifeblood.

And generally, "healthy" ramen is pretty bland even with the addition of either garlic or onion.

But it did look pretty amazing...

So we decided that the best way to round out this wonderfully well-intentioned noodle concoction was to add both deli chicken and egg.

Which is pretty morbid when you think about it...

Deli chicken breast, which I sliced up and soaked in the egg

I enjoy the occasional vegan ramen, to be certain - they're usually beautifully put-together with some really fascinating soup bases and flavor combinations. However, I was... incredibly hungry the day we made this, and I find these ramens to be usually a little hard to fill me up. So I decided that the animal proteins would serve as filler here. Delicious, delicious filler.

The noodles were thin and only lightly salted, and the soup base
was liquid, so I couldn't open it ahead of time to check how it smelled.

I was very, very excited to try this ramen, so I started up a pot to boil on the stove with about 1.5 cups of water for each sheaf of noodles (3 cups total). Meanwhile I grabbed a small knife and sliced the chicken into thin strips and cracked a pair of eggs into a bowl with them. Then I broke the yolks and got everything mixed together. At this point, my partner decided that the "no garlic/onions" thing was not for us, so in went some garlic powder and a little curry powder as well. I loooooooooove curry, so I was all for that.

No joke, I actually kind of wanted to just... dig into this as it was.
And I'm paranoid about raw eggs.

So here's the thing about adding eggs into ramen while it cooks: The water immediately clouds as the proteins in the eggs meld into the boiling water, and the noodles become coated. This means that every bite is filled with eggy goodness!

Though it does look a bit... nightmarish.

I really liked how the boiling action changes the texture of the chicken lunchmeat! Like with ham or roast beef, boiling the precooked chicken breast toughens it and makes it stand up better against the smooth slickness of the noodles.

I mean, look at this... it's gorgeous!

The soup base was very flavorful - almost intensely so. It had a lot of soy sauce flavor and was filled with umami. I may have to cry bull on the "no MSG" thing, since MSG comes from soy sauce (and mushrooms, and other umami foods). That's like saying there's "no vitamins" in orange juice...

Regardless, it's a really good ramen even on its own, but making it a ramen egg drop soup makes it even better! Since there were so many ingredients, we only wound up with maybe a half cup of liquid out of three cups of water! I cannot believe how good it was, too. Warm, rich, and incredibly satisfying, if you can get your hands on some Samurai Ramen, then you absolutely should.

So thank you, Umai Crate. That was awesome!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC