Thanksgiving in the Adirondacks

Today (Thanksgiving day) Lena and I walked 9 miles. It was super pretty and nice although a bit cold and gray. I’m putting up a few pictures here just so I can brag more easily to other people about it. I will post more later; including video and GPS tracking data. (yes I’m a giant nerd)

Posted in Life (other than code)

Eggnog

I made a very successful batch of eggnog last night. I was really happy with it and it seems a lot of other people were too (there were many complements).

I based my recipe on the recipe at: http://256.com/gray/recipes/eggnog/. However I’ve made some significant changes I think so I’m gonna describe my recipe here.

Ingredients:

Eggs	8
Sugar	1 1/8 Cup
Spiced Rum	1 Cup
Whole Milk	2 Cups
Heavy Cream	3 Cups

Instructions:

1. Separate egg whites from yokes into 2 bowls.
2. Add half the sugar (1/2 cup) and then beat egg whites until they make soft mounds. Or beat the eggs and then add the sugar if you prefer.
3. Add half the sugar (1/2 cup + 1/8 cup) and then beat egg yokes or just mix them if you prefer.
4. Gently fold the yokes into the whites again. The direction is important. Add the yokes to the whites.
5. Fold the rum slowly into the eggs. Don’t stir too much as it can make the egg collapse.
6. Fold the milk in.
7. Fold half the cream (1 1/2 cup) into the mix.
8. Whip the other half of the cream so it makes soft mounds.
9. Fold the whipped cream into the mix.
10. Serve in small-ish mugs or glasses with a dash of nutmeg (fresh ground if possible) on top.

Notes:

The rum I used this year is Sailor Jerry Rum (92 proof). Last year I used Captain Morgan (70 proof), but I think the Sailor Jerry is better. Also there is only 1 cup of rum so the increased proof doesn’t increase the alcohol content of the result very much.

Other recipes for eggnog I have seen say to beat the egg whites and cream to make peaks but I think it’s easier and produces better results to just go for mounds because it mixes better with the other ingredients.

Posted in Cooking

Userfriendly is suddenly quite serious

So one of the web comics I read is suddenly really serious. It’s usually a very flipant and humorous, but it is current doing a story arc about, of all things, cancer. It really surprised me. I actually like it. It’s well written and feels heartfelt. Also it’s not nearly as tech/geek oriented as the comic usually is.

If you want to look at it you can start here: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20091021

The first few strips after this point are cancer humor with I like because it’s really black, but then it just gets serious.

Posted in Humor, Life (other than code)

Running The Shadows of Yesterday

So I ran a session of The Shadows of Yesterday tonight (using the Solar System rule book). It was tricky. I really haven’t gotten the knack for it yet. But overall the session was a success; my players agreed to play another session.

I need to learn the rules better (I think I’m gonna read the rule book cover to cover again). But more specifically I think I need to get better at handling “Extended Combat” (aka Bringing Down the Pain). It’s a really clunky rule in some ways. I love the idea of it, but it doesn’t run naturally for me. I need practice I think.

Also I need to call for fewer rolls. I asked for too many this session. And I think it made the system feel more crunch heavy (rule heavy, dice heavy) than it really is.

But regardless the session did go fairly well for my second session using this system. So I’m happy and relieved.

Posted in Table Top Gaming