Two days ago, I downloaded the Words With Friends app to my iPad, after hearing from folks how fun the game is. I was immediately hooked. It's like Scrabble, but better since you didn't have to be in the same place to play. After starting up games with people I knew, I started to get impatient because by its nature, it's a slow-moving game. People played when they have time and/or the inclination to respond. Like an addict, I wanted more. I started to initiate games with random opponents matched by the system. I wanted more and more, and eventually I had 10 games going with people I didn't even know. They were slow-going, with some people dropping out all together, but it worked since each person's reply evened out to a steady stream of responses.
At some point last night, I had two games going with regular responses clocking in at average of 10 minutes apart. It was heady and exciting. In one game, we were evenly matched, chasing each other across the board all evening. I was having fun. But in my second game, little did I know, I was up against a ninja master. After having played a few games, I thought I had developed a strategy and felt more confident. I wouldn't have called myself an expert, but I felt I played a good game. However, this second opponent, let's call him BBB, he was a pro. He didn't play just for those double/triple letter and word tiles, placing words perpendicular off another word. He liked to stack his words, forming 2 letter words all across the board, bumping off those double/triple letter and word tiles like it was child's play, and then stacking them again to form 3-letter words and more. He never got a score below 15 points, and frequently averaged 25 points or more. I was getting schooled, but I was learning. I imitated his style, and was getting better though I trailed him the whole time. Then at one point, when I was behind by about 100 points, I scored a major coup and played a 76 point word. I did a little jig of joy, the student was catching up to the master. I was now 30 points behind and maybe had a shot to win.
Little did I know what was to come. The game was coming to a close. I was still about 40 points behind. If I played it right, maybe I could take this. I was feeling cocky. On the board was the word "del." I looked at my tiles. I could make the word "dreidel". It would be awesome, but I hesitated. Playing it would land the letter "D" close to a triple letter and next to a triple word tile, but I thought, it's so close to end. What could he really play that would be that bad? Oh, but oh, such folly. I played "dreidel". I scored 27 points. A nail-biting 5 minutes later, he countered with "judo". I was floored. Why, you ask, should such a small word open such a gigantic can of whoop-ass on me? "J" is worth 10 points. He placed on a triple letter tile. He placed the "O" on that triple word tile. When all was said and done, he made himself a 105 points. It was over.
I could've resigned from the game there and then. There was no way for me to win, but I played it out until the bitter end. When that little bell trilled to let me know BBB had won, he had 503 points, and I a meager 335.
I was beaten but not defeated. The grasshopper lives to play another day.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Osama is dead.
Last night, my nytimes iPad app popped up with a notice that President Obama would be making a statement. I didn't know about what, and checking the New York Times, they didn't say. I joked with the boy about how useless such an alert was, and waited to see what it would about. I probably should've turned on the TV, but I just continued bumming about the apartment. 15 minutes later, another alert popped with Osama bin Laden is dead. It was a shocking piece of news, and had us scrambling to get more information. I hurriedly checked in with various news sites, and the boy got Al Jazeera streaming on the computer. I IMed a bunch of people, and everyone was tuning into the news networks for more information, as did I. Nobody had much to tell, other than Osama is dead, and we waited for the president to speak.
As news spread, we could see more and more people gathering before the White House in celebration. Finally, the president took to the airwaves to address the nation. His speech, I felt, struck the right tone of respect, remembrance, and accomplishment. It was a solemn moment. Although the president was done speaking, we continued to watch the news, waiting for more information about what had actually happened, for the details of the mission to emerge. As we watched, the crowd before the White House continued to grow and become even more boisterous. I watched the impromptu festivities with mixed emotions.
When Saddam Hussein was finally captured and executed, the emotion that overtook me was a profound sense of sadness. I felt sorry for him, sorry for his people, and sorry for us, that it had come to capturing and eventually executing a sad, pathetic man whose life does not begin to compensate for the amount of suffering he caused. Similarly, as I absorbed the news of Osama's death, I felt overwhelmingly sad. As I watched the cheering, jubilant crowd before the White House, I felt such a sense of disconnect. I didn't know where the joy they displayed was coming from. 10 years of searching for Osama has resulted only in one man's death, and in that intervening time, so many other lives have been lost. From American citizens on that fateful day to soldiers of the US and their allies to innocent civilians of Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think it's clear that it was all worth it, and after all this, Osama's death changes little for our on-going campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Justice was served, but to what end?
A day of celebration indeed.
As news spread, we could see more and more people gathering before the White House in celebration. Finally, the president took to the airwaves to address the nation. His speech, I felt, struck the right tone of respect, remembrance, and accomplishment. It was a solemn moment. Although the president was done speaking, we continued to watch the news, waiting for more information about what had actually happened, for the details of the mission to emerge. As we watched, the crowd before the White House continued to grow and become even more boisterous. I watched the impromptu festivities with mixed emotions.
When Saddam Hussein was finally captured and executed, the emotion that overtook me was a profound sense of sadness. I felt sorry for him, sorry for his people, and sorry for us, that it had come to capturing and eventually executing a sad, pathetic man whose life does not begin to compensate for the amount of suffering he caused. Similarly, as I absorbed the news of Osama's death, I felt overwhelmingly sad. As I watched the cheering, jubilant crowd before the White House, I felt such a sense of disconnect. I didn't know where the joy they displayed was coming from. 10 years of searching for Osama has resulted only in one man's death, and in that intervening time, so many other lives have been lost. From American citizens on that fateful day to soldiers of the US and their allies to innocent civilians of Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think it's clear that it was all worth it, and after all this, Osama's death changes little for our on-going campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Justice was served, but to what end?
A day of celebration indeed.
Monday, March 28, 2011
eeeeh.
So I lost steam for this sucker pretty quickly, huh? I'm not too surprised about that. I mean, didn't I warn you at the very beginning that I've probably started about 100 blogs, posted 3 posts in each, and promptly abandoned them? Honestly, the truth is my life is just not that exciting. Oh well. I did warn you.
Anyway, to give a re-cap of what's happened in the intervening months: I survived vegetarianism! Sure, it was only one month, but to hear some of my friends, you would've thought I volunteered to amputate an arm. I suppose now is the time to yak about some lessons learned, but in keeping with my truth-telling streak, I'm going to come clean and say, I didn't learn much. I already eat a diet with a lot of vegetables, never having been one who needed meat at every meal. I often ate vegetarian meals just because I simply preferred it. The month-long vegetarianism experiment basically proved what I had already known about myself, which is it isn't that hard for me to be a vegetarian. However, I like meat and the way it can be prepared, and I don't see a need to deprive myself of it so I'm back to being an omnivore. I wasn't eating vegetarian for moral reasons, not even health reasons, so there wasn't anything compelling me to stay veggie. Ah, a lack of moral conviction. That's totally my tagline.
Another thing that happened to me was that I lost steam in the kitchen a bit. I was heavy into trying new recipes last year, baking and shit (wtf, I'm actually baking?), and when the new year broke, I was plain tuckered out. I spent some time at home with my parents, where I didn't venture much into the kitchen (my mother's domain), and when I finally I came back, I think I lost some of my mojo. However, it seems to be trickling back, spurred by looking at pictures of food and thinking, I want to eat that and I can totally make that. The latter is only sometimes true.
So here's something that I made recently: Grilled Salmon over Rice. I don't really cook fish much, and so surprisingly, this turned out quite edible unlike my previous attempt, which I will not think of again. I originally wanted to make tuna tataki, but the Asian market, that I drove 20 minutes to just get fresh fish, did not have any. I know. What in sashimi hell is going on? I would not be deterred. I wanted fish on rice, and daggumit, I will have it! So it was a quick ball-change to salmon, though it could not be raw since I didn't want to spend the money on sashimi grade fish. Grilled it was, and it was excellent. It's mixed with masago, layered with daikon sticks and radish sprouts (yes, I like my radish), and sprinkled with green onions. A gentle hand with soy sauce over it, and it made a light and delish Monday night dinner. All that was missing was miso soup, but it was already 10 PM and I just didn't have time to whip that out as well.
You like?
Anyway, to give a re-cap of what's happened in the intervening months: I survived vegetarianism! Sure, it was only one month, but to hear some of my friends, you would've thought I volunteered to amputate an arm. I suppose now is the time to yak about some lessons learned, but in keeping with my truth-telling streak, I'm going to come clean and say, I didn't learn much. I already eat a diet with a lot of vegetables, never having been one who needed meat at every meal. I often ate vegetarian meals just because I simply preferred it. The month-long vegetarianism experiment basically proved what I had already known about myself, which is it isn't that hard for me to be a vegetarian. However, I like meat and the way it can be prepared, and I don't see a need to deprive myself of it so I'm back to being an omnivore. I wasn't eating vegetarian for moral reasons, not even health reasons, so there wasn't anything compelling me to stay veggie. Ah, a lack of moral conviction. That's totally my tagline.
Another thing that happened to me was that I lost steam in the kitchen a bit. I was heavy into trying new recipes last year, baking and shit (wtf, I'm actually baking?), and when the new year broke, I was plain tuckered out. I spent some time at home with my parents, where I didn't venture much into the kitchen (my mother's domain), and when I finally I came back, I think I lost some of my mojo. However, it seems to be trickling back, spurred by looking at pictures of food and thinking, I want to eat that and I can totally make that. The latter is only sometimes true.
So here's something that I made recently: Grilled Salmon over Rice. I don't really cook fish much, and so surprisingly, this turned out quite edible unlike my previous attempt, which I will not think of again. I originally wanted to make tuna tataki, but the Asian market, that I drove 20 minutes to just get fresh fish, did not have any. I know. What in sashimi hell is going on? I would not be deterred. I wanted fish on rice, and daggumit, I will have it! So it was a quick ball-change to salmon, though it could not be raw since I didn't want to spend the money on sashimi grade fish. Grilled it was, and it was excellent. It's mixed with masago, layered with daikon sticks and radish sprouts (yes, I like my radish), and sprinkled with green onions. A gentle hand with soy sauce over it, and it made a light and delish Monday night dinner. All that was missing was miso soup, but it was already 10 PM and I just didn't have time to whip that out as well.
You like?
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Of Drinks and Things
Day 20 of vegetarianism. Okay, now I'm starting to get cravings. I seriously want some pho. And smoked salmon. And sushi. And salami. Lamb. A freaking burger. I blamed Jason Segal from "How I Met Your Mother." I was watching a re-run of the show the other day, and boy, does that man know how to make burger eating look good. I was convinced and I'm not even all that into burgers. These cravings, they come and go, but they're not quite strong enough for me to break my vegetarian streak. They are, however, strong enough to make me really look forward to November 1. I'm still thinking about what to eat that day. It's going to be special.
In other news, I've had various other food thoughts knocking 'bout the old noggin this past week. Two of them are ideas I've been kicking back and forth for a while, which are 1) high tea and 2) fondue. Those, I'm sure, will happen sooner or later, but are on the back burner so keep your eyes and ears open for a future post, if I don't get lazy and abandon this blog in 2 weeks. I'm just saying, that's kinda how I operate.
Idea numero tres I hope to see come to fruition fairly soon. Lately, I've been flirting around the idea of making my own cocktails. I made a pretty smashing sangria a month or so ago and I've been thinking about infusing some vodka/Everclear so that I can make my own digestifs. I haven't made them yet because I need to cross state lines to purchase Everclear, and I just haven't had the opportunity to do so.
Anyway, I digress. For some reason lately, I've really been wanting some kind of cocktail that tastes of tea, specifically Earl Grey tea. I'm thinking I want to also add some ginger, either fresh or in the form of ginger beer, and maybe some pineapple juice. I really don't know since I've never made any sort of real cocktail on my own before, and suddenly I want to jump into something rather complex. It's rather ambitious and cocky of me.
I'll let you know if I pull it off.
p.s. After I drafted this post, I did some casual searching on the cocktail Dark and Stormy, which is essentially a mix of ginger beer and rum. So it appears ginger beer is super easy to make, which means I'm making ginger beer. Stay tuned because there's apparently a danger of explosion.
In other news, I've had various other food thoughts knocking 'bout the old noggin this past week. Two of them are ideas I've been kicking back and forth for a while, which are 1) high tea and 2) fondue. Those, I'm sure, will happen sooner or later, but are on the back burner so keep your eyes and ears open for a future post, if I don't get lazy and abandon this blog in 2 weeks. I'm just saying, that's kinda how I operate.
Idea numero tres I hope to see come to fruition fairly soon. Lately, I've been flirting around the idea of making my own cocktails. I made a pretty smashing sangria a month or so ago and I've been thinking about infusing some vodka/Everclear so that I can make my own digestifs. I haven't made them yet because I need to cross state lines to purchase Everclear, and I just haven't had the opportunity to do so.
Anyway, I digress. For some reason lately, I've really been wanting some kind of cocktail that tastes of tea, specifically Earl Grey tea. I'm thinking I want to also add some ginger, either fresh or in the form of ginger beer, and maybe some pineapple juice. I really don't know since I've never made any sort of real cocktail on my own before, and suddenly I want to jump into something rather complex. It's rather ambitious and cocky of me.
I'll let you know if I pull it off.
p.s. After I drafted this post, I did some casual searching on the cocktail Dark and Stormy, which is essentially a mix of ginger beer and rum. So it appears ginger beer is super easy to make, which means I'm making ginger beer. Stay tuned because there's apparently a danger of explosion.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Cheater, Cheater
Day 14 of vegetarianism. Invoked the cheat meal on Saturday. I had dinner with some friends at a Chinese restaurant that was more suited to family style sharing, and it just made simpler to eat along with everyone else. And so it was that I ate some pig ears, beef soup, and pork dumplings.
Let's assess my feelings! Well, the food was delicious, as it always is at this spot. Did the meat taste so so sweet, like I was dying of thirst and precious water touched my lips? Not really. I have to say, in this vegetarian diet, I haven't missed meat all that much. I miss specific preparations of meat, like pho, but I have no particular craving for it at every meal. What I have experienced is more frequent pangs of hunger, and I do suspect that it is due to a drop of protein in my meals. I'm sure my body will eventually adjust, but it wouldn't hurt to bump up the veggie protein quotient in my meals and add more pulses, egg, tofu, etc. to my meals.
In other news, I made beet "ravioli" last week. I cheated and used gyoza skins because I've never made pasta from scratch before and didn't want to embark on such a project with a limited amount of time (I had to be somewhere after dinner). I added some chopped parsley because I'm not a fan of butter sauces without a little green or garlic to cut the straight up butter taste. I also accidentally (on purpose?) turned this into a browned butter sauce by cooking the butter longer but hey, it still turned out alright!
Final verdict: prett-ay tast-ay! The beet ravioli at least, although I will use less nutmeg next time. The butter sauce tasted good too, but I'm generally not a fan of butter as a sauce so next time I will probably use olive oil and maybe some garlic. What doesn't taste good with garlic? (Yes, I used the good butter. Kerrygold, baby!) I will also stir in more goat cheese v. ricotta because I think the beets need that flavor contrast.
I also included a picture of my hand after handling the beets. I always get a kick out of how beet juice turns skin an awesome shade of purpley-pink. I tried to take a picture of my hand that didn't make it look like I had a dinner-plate-sized palm and this was the best I could do. I guess a salad-plate-sized palm isn't too bad.
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