So we did it.

Lobster Stuffed With Taco Cake

Our inspiration came from these two sites:

• Lobster Cake
• Candy Tacos - we used chopped maraschino cherries for the tomatoes

We gathered up all the necessary ingredients and went to work making our delicious masterpiece. Enjoy the photos!

Completed Candy Tacos

Funny story. The middle of the cake didn't cook through, but turns out, that left a great hole for the taco.

All the cake parts assembled

A redonkulous amount of frosting hides all sins. (Book of Cake 3:14)

Of course, he needed a fondant hat and Twizzler antennae.

A close-up of the taco in his claw. Delicioso!

"Excellent, Sir. Lobster stuffed with tacos."

Love my crazy cake? Please pass it on to a friend!

Nothing says love like losing your sanity! Valentine’s Day is on Monday and you’re still looking for a gift idea for your geek sweetie? Yikes! Let us give you a hand, but be forewarned, you may be paying some extra shipping to get it there in time.

Crochet Cthulhu from CthulhuChick

Elder gods know how to love! Check out CthulhuChick’s Etsy store, where she has tons of adorable little handmade Cthulhus, just waiting for homes.

There’s even a Cylon-thulhu and a Chef-thulhu. And a bonus: You can buy a gift certificate for a Custom Cthulhu and let your sweetie pick out the colors and style they like best.

CthulhuChick’s Etsy store

Marsbarn Dice Bags

Another great crafter for the geek community, Marsbarn sews up the sturdiest reversible dice bags you’ll ever see. I’ve had mine for several years now and it still looks good as new.

Again, custom orders are possible! If the geek that stole your heart is in need of a new dice bag, get a gift certificate and let them choose their own fabric to make a totally unique and awesome dice bag.

Marsbarn dice bags on Etsy

ThinkGeek

I was a customer (and drooler-over-things) long before I became their copywriter… and for good reason. We have fun stuff.

New this year is the 8-Bit Bouquet. If your sweetie hates flowers because they die so quickly, get these! No water, no death. All awesome.

Got a girl who is into jewelry? The Circuit Sweetheart Necklace or Anatomical Heart Necklace might be right up her alley.

…and finally, even though Darya of SummerTomato called it her BS of the Week, check out Le Whif, the inhalable chocolate. All the taste with barely any calories. Screw the heart-shaped Whitman’s box – get your chocoholic this instead.

Valentine’s Stuff at ThinkGeek

Amazon Wishlist

Don’t underestimate this one!  Folks will usually beef up their wishlist just before the Winter holidays and promptly forget about it until the next year. Why not snag them something that Santa forgot? You know they still want it.

For example, if’n you wanted to buy me a Valentine’s Day present (and possibly incur a raised eyebrow from DaveTheGame), my wishlist is right here.

Good luck with your last minute shopping, geek friends!

As I write these words, I’m recovering from a delightful Thanksgiving dinner. Rather than just succumb to a tryptophan-induced coma while watching “The Wiz,” I pulled myself up out of my club chair, poured myself another mug of apple cider, and sat down to do some typing. As I did so, I mused on the old saying ,”The shortest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Food has certainly played a part in many memorable times for me, and it seemed only fitting that it be the subject of an article.

Food and Romance

The nice thing about food and eating is that everyone does it. Your prospective first date may not be interested in bowling, movies, or your stamp collection, but it’s a pretty safe bet that they eat. You may not know what they eat, what they like to eat, or if they have any particular food allergies or hang-ups, but you should feel confident suggesting a meal as a prospective dating venue.

Once you’ve advanced past the first date situation, a home-cooked meal is an awesome way to put a personal touch on a romantic get-together. If you’re a control freak like me, you’ll want to do everything yourself, and this is a sure way to earn major bragging rights. On the other hand, there’s a lot to be said for hands-on, interactive meal preparation. Even I can let go enough to let someone stir something, toss a salad, or provide something to drink. Even if everything goes wrong, it’s likely to be memorable. Remember the “chasing lobsters” scene from Annie Hall? (Or for a festive holiday disaster, think of the Chinese restaurant scene from A Christmas Story.)

Food and Community

One of the coolest things about being part of an urban tribe (see my previous article) is that it gives you lots of extra hands for food prep. You can organize a potluck meal and get a taste of what your friends like to cook. You can combine this with a romantic angle for further possibilities. If you’re dating, a potluck meal can be a great way to introduce your friends to your romantic interest without anyone having to do too much cooking.

A group of people opens up a lot of other options, as well. The other night, some members of our urban tribe organized a shabu-shabu party. We brought over a few bottles of plum sake, and they provided the food. Along with the sirloin, vegetables, noodles, and potstickers, we had heaping side dishes of camaraderie and conversation.

Some restaurants are actually better if you go with a crowd. Here in Boston, we have the long-running Medieval Manor dinner theater. If the group you go with is too small, you may have to share tables with strangers. Luckily, our urban tribe is quite large, so we usually have tables or even whole sections of the restaurant to ourselves. Likewise, eating family-style at Maggiano’s isn’t the same without a family sized group.

Food and Holidays

I mentioned in my previous article how Thanksgiving and Christmas have become dual holidays for us; we celebrate with friends on the day of the actual holiday and with family on the weekend. It comes as no surprise that these events center around a meal. Thanksgiving is a natural of course, with the requisite turkey, stuffing, potatoes, etc. We do exchange presents on Christmas, but it’s also an awesome excuse to trot out my awesome ham recipe (thanks again, Alton). And Christmas would not be Christmas without my sister Janet’s holiday cookies, which she gives as gifts to everyone; or the walnut stuffed dates rolled in granulated sugar; or my stepdad trying to take credit for the meal’s excellence due to his carving skills; or my sister-in-law’s chocolate roll…

In other words, it wouldn’t be the same without the food.

Do You Fear the Kitchen?

When I first moved out of the house, my mom gave me a book that stood me in good stead. It was called “Where’s Mom Now that I Need Her?” I had already been cooking a little bit before I moved away, but this book was an invaluable resource, teaching the very basic cooking skills that I needed to know. When a girl in college asked me, “When are you going to cook dinner for me?” this was the book I reached for. (Remember I was still in denial about my sexuality at this point in my life. As a humorous addendum, I prepared the whole meal from scratch – pot roast, potatoes, vegetables, chocolate cake – and she never showed up. My roommate and I ate extremely well that evening and toasted the fickleness of women. No offense, ladies.)

The point is that, as the movie Ratatouille tried to teach us, anyone can cook. If I was able to take an incredibly basic cookbook, very little experience cooking, and a handful of kitchen implements, and make an excellent meal by early college age, then anyone else can do the same. With access to the web… you do have access, don’t you? Otherwise how are you reading this article?… you have access to a massive database of culinary expertise and tasty recipes. FoodTV.com alone can give you enough advice, instructions, and viewer feedback to keep you cooking for months, if not years, and never repeat the same meal.

As a starting chef, the most important thing to know is to follow the recipe and not to try to improvise. If a recipe calls for cake flour and you only have all-purpose flour, go to the store and buy cake flour. Until you understand the difference, it’s best to play it safe. My good buddy Alton Brown… okay, he’s not really my buddy; it just seems that way because of his conversational TV show style… is still widely available for viewing, and he can teach you plenty about the culinary craft, assuming you actually want to know the difference between all-purpose flour and cake flour.

What Are You Waiting For?

Whether you want to reach for a cookbook, a take-out menu, or the phone to make a reservation at a local restaurant, you should be reaching out romantically and using food as a point of leverage. Try something new. If you always cook at home, take a date to a restaurant neither of you have ever been to. If you always go out to eat, find a recipe, gather your ingredients and cookware, and dazzle your date with a culinary creation. And this counts even if you’re already married to your date; fresh new dining experience is a wonderful bit of time together. Trust me; food and romance go together like bread and butter.

Reminder: Our Black Friday Sale continues until Monday! Now’s the time to save up to $100 on our most popular online dating writing & coaching packages. Click here for more info.

Often, when my friends and I would go to a restaurant and I would order some mystical-sounding dish they’d never heard of before, they’d ask how on earth I knew about these dishes. “Oh,” I’d say with a lofty smile, “I like to research foreign cuisine so I can truly know a country,” and so on, until they all became suitably impressed with my Deep and Educated Personality.

It was either that, or tell them that I heard of them all through anime.

Watch enough anime set in modern Japan (or in Japanese-based fantasy realms) and chances are you’re eventually going to see characters sitting around and eating, preparing or talking about some wondrous delicacy that you’ve never seen or heard of. Ranma ½ was particularly noteworthy for doing this, seeing as several of the characters run their own restaurants, and the characters spent a lot of time eating, talking over food, etc. So for today, I thought I’d get our stomachs rumbling as I go through some popular food in anime and hopefully put some names to those weird brown skewers you’ve been pondering over.

RAMEN

What is it: A noodle broth that originated in China, ramen is usually topped with sliced pork, egg, seaweed, veggies, fish paste and other assorted items.

What does it look like: A really big bowl of soup with tons of veggies and bacon floating on top. Pay particular attention to the white and pink spiral fish cake. it’s very distinctive..

What anime does it appear in: What doesn’t it appear in? As per the title, it got some fame through Ranma ½, where Shampoo worked at her grandmother’s ramen delivery. But it is arguably Naruto and the titular character’s obsession with the dish that’s really made it famous.

OKONOMIYAKI

What is it: Sometimes described as Japanese pancake or Japanese pizza, okonomiyaki is a little bit of both. The base is made of batter mixed with shredded cabbage; this batter is then fried on a flat stove until it becomes pancake-like. It is then smothered, and I mean smothered, with meat, seafood, dried tuna (bonito) flakes, sweet sauce and mayonnaise. It is also the best thing mankind has ever created.

What does it look like: In anime, it usually appears as a sort of thick pancake with lots of “stuff” piled on top of it, smothered in thick dark sauce. Sometimes it appears as if two are stacked on top of each other; in other anime, they sometimes show the Hiroshima variant that has noodles on top as well.

What anime does it appear in: Again, we can thank Ranma ½ for bringing this food of the gods to our attention. Ukyo, one of Ranma’s fiancées, runs an okonomiyaki restaurant, and we get to see not only the food itself but also how it’s prepared, the spatulas used, etc.

ONIGIRI

What is it: A clump of steamed rice shaped in a triangular wedge and half covered with a slip of dried seaweed. Many might call this the “sandwich” of Japanese cuisine, in that it’s often eaten in similar situations (lunch, food on the go, etc) and can be eaten one handed. Most nigiri have something savory in the middle of the rice, like salmon or pickles. There is also a toasted variant.

What does it look like: In anime, it’s usually depicted as a vaguely triangular white “ball” with a large black or dark green square used to hold it (the seaweed).

What anime does it appear in: It made quite a few appearances in Sailor Moon, but it’s all over the place, especially in high school anime etc. It also made for a particularly heartbreaking scene in Spirited Away when Chihiro eats one after seeing the fate of her parents.

MOCHI

What is it: A very thick and gooey rice cake. The texture is not that far off from bubble gum, and it’s incredibly chewy and can take a while to get through. Mochi offers itself to a variety of different dishes and versions. One popular variant is to fill it with sweet red bean paste; another is to glaze it with a soy based syrup. One of the nicest deserts I ever had was actually mochi toasted over a flame.

What does it look like: Big white balls, mostly, about the size of a small fist.

What anime does it appear in: It sort of appears all over the place, with particular appearances in Fruits Basket and Pretear. You often see it in the background in many houses in anime set in modern Japan; this is because it is considered a traditional offering for the household shrine, particularly around New Year. Thus, it’s not uncommon to see several of this little white cakes stacked neatly before the shrine.

ODANGO

What is it: Very similar to mochi, odango is a dumpling made of rice flour and a somewhat chewy, moist texture. One of the most popular forms is kushi-dango, which consist of five small odango on a skewer and covered with a thick sweet sauce of sugar and soy.

What does it look like: Kushi-dango looks at first glance like a BBQ skewer of some sort, albeit without any veggies; instead, there are several small ball-shaped brown pieces on the skewer.

What anime does it appear in: Kushi-dango appears as a popular snack food in many different anime titles, usually as something the characters munch on absently while thinking to themselves etc. There’s also a somewhat famous reference to odango in Sailor Moon; Mamoru is amused by Usagi’s bun-headed hair style and nicknames her “dumpling head”… or in other words, “Odango atama”!

SUKIYAKI

What is it: Hot pot at its finest and a common dish at parties and get-togethers, sukiyaki is very simple: soak your choice of ingredients (such as beef, tofu, cabbage, mushroom, noodles etc) in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin in an open and shallow iron pot. Put said iron pot on table, and let everyone help themselves as the items cook to perfection.

What does it look like: The open iron pot is usually a dead giveaway for sukiyaki in anime. The broth inside the pot is brown, and one can usually pick out several kinds of mushrooms (some squat and acorn shaped, others long and noodle-like) and blocks of tofu.

What anime does it appear in: Mahoromatic and Loveless both feature scenes with a hot pot, and it crops up all over the place (I’d say Ranma ½ features it, but that’s unfair as I’m pretty sure Ranma ½ has shown almost every Japanese dish known to mankind at some point). It’s a favorite dish for scenes where friends (or new allies) are sitting down to dinner together.

TAKOYAKI

What is it: Small chunks of octopus are deep fried in thick batter and formed into perfectly round little dumplings. They are then smothered (that magic word again) with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakes. Arguably the second greatest thing mankind has ever created.

What does it look like: Small round orbs of a light tan or brown color, often half-covered with a rich brown sauce. Some people mistake anime takoyaki for donut holes, and to be fair, it’s an understandable mistake, given that they’re about the same size and shape, and the sauce topping can look like chocolate depending on the shading.

What anime does it appear in: Pretty Cure has several scenes of the heroines sampling takoyaki from one of their friend’s vending stall (imagine my difficulty in dubbing the scene for a non-takoyaki loving audience!) Also, although it doesn’t always show the dish itself, keep an eye out during festival scenes; there is almost always at least one takoyaki stall, usually with a cute cartoony octopus drawn on the front.

NIKUMAN

What is it: Another import from China, this is a steamed meat bun made from flour-based dough and filled with pork or other meat. It tends to have a slightly sweet taste to it which counterbalances the savory ingredients.

What does it look like: … my friend once commented that they looked like a breast, complete with nipple. Unfortunately, I can no longer unsee this. And now neither can you.

What anime does it appear in: Again, a common dish in lots of anime, with noteworthy appearances in, you guessed it, Ranma ½ as well as Card Captor Sakura, Saiyuki and tons of others.

There are plenty more dishes to cover, but frankly, writing this article has made me hungry, and I have to have stuff to cover for future editions, right? In the meantime…

What other Japanese dishes do you know about through anime, or can recognize as you watch? Anything anime introduced to you? What’s your favorite Japanese dish?

This is absolutely true for me. After high school, I did my four years of college and got a job. I was in no rush to get into a long-term relationship, and I really didn’t get into one for several years following my graduation. My social circle became comprised largely of friends I knew through RPGs, the furry fandom, and the bookstore I worked at. Now that I’m married, my husband and I do have very close relationships with our families, but for day-to-day support, we tend to turn to our friends. We are the very model of the urban tribes Watters talks about in his book.

Tribal Traditions

One of the most common threads of an urban tribe is that they tend to develop their own traditions. We absolutely have, and, as we come into the holiday season, many of our traditions come to the fore. A lot of our friends do not go home for the holidays, either because of financial burden, estrangement from their families, or work schedules. For my part, because my sister lives in the far western part of Massachusetts, my family tends to celebrate holidays only on the weekends. As a result, my family never celebrates Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Thursday, and we rarely celebrate Christmas on December 25.

This has given rise to what we refer to jokingly as our Orphan Holidays. We host our Orphans’ Thanksgiving dinner for our friends who have no other plans on the Thursday. We make a roast turkey (which is always incredibly moist, flavorful, and juicy… thank you, Alton Brown), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing (well… technically dressing…I never actually stuff the bird), Polish meatballs, cabbage rolls, cranberry sauce with walnuts, and gravy. We also provide soda, cider, and pies (usually apple, pumpkin, and mince). Our friends usually bring their own favorites or fill-in the gaps. We’ve had them bring salad, biscuits, wine, beer, other desserts, macaroni and cheese, sausages, and other treats. This guarantees that no Thanksgiving is like any other, because everyone puts their own stamp on it. It also gives my friends in place to be on the holiday rather than microwaving a frozen turkey dinner, an image I find heartbreaking. Besides, we can then bring the leftovers to my family Thanksgiving the following weekend.

Our Thanksgiving traditions don’t just consist of food (though that’s a big part of it obviously). We almost always throw in our DVD of “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”. Let’s face it; there aren’t that many movies about Thanksgiving. Other traditions include clearing the table and playing board games, or heading to the movies to see films that were released the previous Wednesday.

Tribe as Support Group

There’re some obvious advantages to deriving your support from a group of people who you’re not actually related to. Your family tragedies and dramas probably aren’t affecting them, so you’re more likely to get honest emotional support. As a recent and still painful example, I lost my mother this past September. I leaned more and harder on my friends than I did on my brother, sister, or stepfather. Why? Because my brother, sister, and stepfather were already going through what I was going through. My friends who knew and loved my mother were affected less keenly and less deeply for the most part (though my husband was hit just as hard as I was… he and my mom had a great relationship). I was able to take from them the support and strength I needed to get through this incredibly difficult time without putting extra pressure, burdens, or heaviness on my immediate family.

Another advantage to having a large support group of friends as your tribe is that many of them probably already share the same loves and interests that you do. I loved my mom, and I love Disney, but my mom did not love Disney. So when I wanted to see a Disney film, or visit a Disney theme park, my mom was not the first person I thought of. Of course she wasn’t; she was convinced that Walt Disney was a sadist who hated children because Snow White (the first film she ever saw in a cinema) scared the crap out of her. So I tended to turn to my friends when I wanted to go see a Disney flick or was in the mood to fire up a Disney DVD. And while both my mom and my dad had a strong understanding of D&D, neither of them were the sort of person who really wanted to play. Again, my tribe was invaluable while I was growing up for just these purposes.

If you have a tribe of your own, and I suspect many of you do whether you think of them as that or not, then you’d probably rather turn to your tribe then your family for dating advice and support as well. I never really discussed my dating life with my mom or dad, initially because I was in the closet, but later because what I thought of as an appropriate date and what they thought of as an appropriate date really didn’t seem to coincide. Now it is true that my mom’s taste in my boyfriends was far better than my own. She disliked the boyfriend who made my life rather hellish for six months from the moment she met him, and she liked my husband Steve right away. But I can’t imagine that I ever would have brought a guy home and asked her to evaluate him. That’s something you can kind of ask a friend or friends to do that family just isn’t appropriate for.

Tell Me of Your Own Tribe, Usul

If you think you have an urban tribe of your own, tell us about it. Mine is actually called the Jolly Otter, after my SCA household… big geek here, remember? Does your tribe have a name? Do you have tribal traditions? Do you keep in contact by phone, newsletter, Facebook accounts, or by some other method? Fly your tribal colors proudly, and let us all hear about it.

You’ve probably seen the #fit4gencon movement if you follow geeky folks on Twitter. We use it when we’re talking about our healthstyle – eating better, working out, etc.

But there were folks who felt left out.

They said, “I don’t/can’t go to GenCon, but I want to be a part of this super cool idea!”

Introducing…

The +5 CHA Community!

Check out our (very) new digs at plus5CHA, where we have our very own, 100% private members-only forum for geeks looking to get fit.

+5CHA is for you if…

• You’re looking for like-minded, geeky friends
• You want support in reaching your fitness or weight loss goals
• You’re a squishy geek looking to get less squishy
• You’re a scrawny geek looking to get buff
• You want to set goals with other geeks who go to the same conventions as you
• You’re an expert or professional in food/nutrition/exercise/etc and want to help out!

+5CHA is NOT for you if…

• You’re not interested in getting fit
• Your idea of a “geek forum” involves flaming, edition wars, or other idiocy. Our mods will have a zero tolerance policy for such posts. We want to keep a friendly and supportive atmosphere at all times, and besides, there are plenty of other places on the internet where you can “express your opinions” on hot topics.

Twitter

Choose your own hashtags when talking about your healthstyle and/or fitness goals or if you want to share a post on the forum with fellow members you know on Twitter.

• #fit4gencon - for those working on goals for GenCon 2011
• #plus5CHA - to connect with everyone in the +5 CHA community
• #fit4_____ - insert your con of choice!

E on Fear The Boot

Chris of Fear The Boot interviewed me at GenCon just after the Fit4GenCon event was over. (I was super nervous – I don’t generally do video! Eek!)  Should you want to check it out, you can watch it here.

We Want You!

A forum is only as good as its members, so we want you! Come on in and chat with us. Bring your geeky friends.

Also, if you’re experienced with phpbb either as a forum administrator or mod, I’d love to pick your brain. I’m new to forum administration and could use some pointers on how to make +5CHA the best geeky fitness forum on the web!

Sign up today for +5CHA!

As part of my healthstyle, I’ve been cooking a lot of meals at home using ingredients fresh from the farmers market.

And every time I tweet about something I’m cooking, I get responses like this:

• WHOA! How did you DO THAT?
• That looks AMAZING! I wish I could cook awesome things like that.
• I don’t think I could ever learn how to cook stuff that looks that delicious.
• That must have taken forever to make!

And every time I see these responses, I shake my head and laugh a little.

My Cooking Journey

The Early Years

I grew up in a house where there were approximately 10 different dishes on the menu and the main methods of preparing vegetables involved a pot of boiling water or the opening of a can.  In this environment, I learned how to cook a chicken in a crock pot, chicken breasts in the oven or on the grill, and chunks of chicken in a stir fry.  Vegetables were a side dish or a salad.

The College Years

I’d rather not remember this, but college was the time I learned that you could make Kraft Mac n’ Cheese in a hotpot without milk or butter, that one could survive for a week on a loaf of Wonder Bread, a jar of peanut butter, and a jar of jelly (provided you had stolen a knife from the dining hall), and that hot dogs + George Foreman = some kind of wonderful.

Post College, Pre-Healthstyle

For a long time, I rocked the ready-made meals. You know, the “Just Add Chicken!” kind of boxes you see in the middle of the supermarket. The bags of rice that came complete with tons of sodium and just enough green flecks to convince you it was a serving of broccoli. Or even better, the bags of pre-seasoned rice that can be microwaved in 90 seconds.

I bought lots of cookbooks, though.  I read a lot of cookbooks.  I watched a lot of Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Meals. (Don’t judge!)  But in the kitchen, I mostly stuck to the tried-and-true, the stuff I knew would taste good. Or at least, what I thought tasted good.

Healthstyle

We do the majority of our food shopping at the farmers market nowadays. (Except in winter, when sadly, we must cope with supermarket produce.)  After a first lap around the market to check out the week’s offerings, we stop by each booth and buy the things that look the most enticing. This includes foods that are new-to-me and foods that I’ve eaten, but never actually prepared myself. This also includes re-trying foods I think I don’t like.

Since DaveTheGame is vegetarian, we eat vegetarian at home. (I still eat meat when we’re eating out, maybe 1-3 meals a week.)  We have a big vegetarian cookbook, but I get a lot of recipes from the internet. When we get home from the farmers market, I check my favorite recipe sites and google for recipes that are elsewhere (like in newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc).

How The Heck Is This Like DMing, E?

Check it out!

Much like being stuck at your parents’ dinner table as a kid, before you’re a DM, you’re a player. You learned things about DMing from the DMs you’ve had. If you had great DMs, you learned great things. If you had less-than-great DMs, you learned from their shining moments as well as their fall-flat failures. If you had a horrible DM, you learned what not to do. Ever.

You stored this information in your brain in a file called Things To Remember When I Run A Game.

Depending on your gaming history, the “college years” of DMing probably happened anytime between age 10 and 50. This is when you first started DMing.  In your first games, you were excited to be doing it on your own, but tentative. You stole a lot of pre-made adventures and already-done ideas. You may have thought you were “making them your own” but looking back, you laugh about how in-the-box you were.

But as you improved your DMing skills, you learned more about the separate elements that come together to make a great encounter, and the great encounters that come together to make a great gaming session, and the great gaming sessions that come together to make a great campaign.

You no longer have to use adventure modules as written. You can raid them for the elements that would be great in your game and leave the rest. If you love the story and encounters, but it’s not the right level for your party, you can change the monsters to make it fit. You can see how your favorite recurring villain can sneak into this story, even if he wasn’t a part of the module.

This is just like learning to cook. Much of what we eat is prepared by following a recipe. Just like DMing from a module, I read things through a couple times, make sure I have all the ingredients, and then I go step-by-step from beginning to end.

Once I’ve mastered a recipe, I start thinking about variations I can do with it.  Much like a good DM can make every dungeon crawl unique and fun, a good cook can serve quesadillas 7 days a week and have them be unique and tasty! (These are our favorite quesadillas.)

Then there are the days when I have to invent something for dinner to use up the remnants of this week’s groceries. Half an onion, some leftover beans, some random veggies, a hunk of cheese.  These are the times when I have to pull from my library of taste knowledge to figure out .

It’s exactly the same as a good DM throwing together an appropriate encounter on the fly when their players turn left instead of right.  You know what monsters are in the area, you know how to create a balanced encounter using these types of monsters, and you know the “tastes” of your party.

Toss it all together at the last minute and you have a delicious time for all!

Don’t Knock It Till You Try It

If you’re a DM, you have the skills needed to be able to cook.  You’re just making excuses and in the meantime, your tastebuds and your waistline are suffering for it. Due to a medical condition, I lose weight slower than the average girl, but DaveTheGame has lost about 25 pounds since we started living together.  We’re eating better tasting meals, experiencing new vegetables and fruits, and supporting our local farmers, too.

Start small with some quick and easy recipes. It won’t be long before you’re designing epic level culinary campaigns!

Can you think of other ways that cooking and DMing are similar?

If you’re totally lost, you may want to go back and read these posts first:

• What Will You Look Like at GenCon 2010?
• Get Fit By Becoming A Food Geek (guest post by Darya of SummerTomato)
• E’s Journey To Food Geek and Fit4GenCon: Part 1
• Geeks Can Cook: Apple Pie Breakfast (#fit4gencon)
• E’s 2010 Goal Word (Not Resolution!)
• The First Rule of Salad Club
• The Salad Club Starter Kit
• E’s Healthstyle Progress Update #1
• The Continuing Saga of Salad Club
• Why I Love WeightWatchers But Would Never Go Back (guest post on SummerTomato)

Food Journaling

I’m still journaling everything I eat on Google Wave.  Funny story. When I first started working with Darya, I used to laugh at her food journal because it was always “amazing” this and “delicious” that. Now, I’m the one gushing about farm fresh eggs and goat cheese and asparagus.  The mere thought of the local farmers markets and orchard stores reopening is making me positively gleeful!

Meals

I still eat out more than I’d like, but I’m getting to the point now where other food just doesn’t taste as good as the stuff I make at home. I still eat homemade hot pockets for breakfast (it’s the only way I can do breakfast).  Probably the tastiest thing I’ve made recently was Asparagus & Goat Cheese Quesadillas. They tasted like Spring!  The next day, we made omelets with farm fresh eggs, goat cheese, and fresh cilantro. So good!

Eating at Work

The ThinkGeek Salad Club is still going strong. We even hired a new guy who has joined the club – woot! We’re all looking forward to the farmers markets re-opening so we can get some fresh local produce. I rarely go out with the lunch crowd now, because there’s not much better than my giant pile of fresh veggies. I miss the company, but my food is way yummier!  (Not to mention cheaper!)

I’ll still head out if the lunch option seems extra enticing (the last time I went out was for the local BBQ place – gotta indulge that 20% carnivore left in me!).

Working Out

I’ve been a little crappy with getting to the gym every day recently. Between traveling and being crazy busy, I made a lot of excuses to not go. And man, do I feel it when I’m on the weight circuit!   I’m going to kick my ass into going every single day this week – bug me on Twitter about it, okay?

The gym was closed for Easter, so I went to check out the walking/biking trail at the local park.  It was great – and it’s paved and well-maintained, which means I can bust out my rollerblades on the weekends!  I’m pretty excited about that. I know I look stupid rollerblading at my size, but it’s fun and burns calories like mad and I don’t care if I look stupid.

Reading

Darya suggested tons of books for me to read on my quest to becoming a food geek.

Already read:

• Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan
• The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler, M.D.
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
• In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
• Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy by Walter Willett, M.D.
• Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes (PARTIALLY READ – It’s tough!!)
• Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
  • Wow! You always think that you can’t be tricked into eating more than you want, but this book shows you exactly how you’re tricked into eating more every day. What’s cool is that he gives tips on how to trick yourself into eating less and losing weight without even trying.

Currently Reading:

• What To Eat by Marion Nestle
  • I’ve learned so much from this book. Nestle goes through every aisle of the supermarket, exposing all the crazy marketing tricks, health concerns, dangers, and politics surrounding every kind of food. I also recommend following Marion Nestle on Twitter and checking out her blog, Food Politics.

Coaching

I’m so happy to have Darya of SummerTomato as my healthstyle coach.  She’s always there when I have questions, she pops into my food journal on Google Wave to cheer me on or give me tips, and her regular progress reports help keep me on course!

Also, if you’re in the San Francisco area, Darya does in-person coaching where she takes you shopping and teaches you how to cook!  Seriously, if I could afford to fly the girl out here to the DC area, I would!  Everything she talks about eating sounds delicious.

Weigh-In

My weight loss has been slow, but regular.  Since January 1st, I have lost a total of 13 pounds.

After giving up several vials of blood for science over the past few months, I was diagnosed with PCOS, which explains why I’m having a hard time losing weight despite eating much healthier than I did while I was on WeightWatchers. (Female readers of the blog who’d like more details about my saga can feel free to write me. It’s a lovely tale involving birth control pills and the Mirena IUD.)

While some folks could be like “Screw it, I’m doomed,”  I’m not. Women with PCOS have a higher risk of getting diabetes, so getting my weight down is still very important, even if it takes me longer to do it.  Even if it takes me three GenCons to get down to my goal weight, that’s fine by me.  I’ll get there eventually!

How About You?

Are you getting #fit4gencon?  Tell me about it in the comments!

Also: Want a Google Wave invite? I got a bunch. Leave a comment and I’ll send the invite to that email address.

So, if you’re planning a video-game marathon, a geek gathering or just a regular old party, here’s a few tips to set it apart:

Eat Like Grown-Ups

At the party I attended, there were maybe 20 people, and most everyone brought some form of sustenance.  Yes, the standard chips and soda can be helpful (and don’t forget to make sure there’s plenty of ice!), but too much junk food and sugar will eventually make everyone feel crummy.  To keep up your stamina and even your spirits, mix in some veggies and “real food.” And cooking some of it at the venue ensures that it’s fresh, hot and mouth-watering.

Note: I didn’t take my own advice at this last party; I made homemade cinnamon rolls.  However, two of the biggest hits were twice-baked potatoes and a beef-and-veggie stew from a crock pot.  Much better than cold pizza, I assure you!

Have Structure

The WoW party I went to obviously had one common goal: to play WoW.  Beyond that, though, there weren’t any hard-and-fast plans, and there was a little bit of floundering about as people arrived.  Some people came up with mini-games to play.  One idea was a leveling contest; start a new character and compete to see who gets the farthest in one hour.  To be honest, I was skeptical about the idea, and chose to bake my cinnamon rolls at that time (ok, I’ll be honest: I also have no sense of direction and surely would have been in last place).

The leveling game turned out to be incredibly entertaining, even from a spectator standpoint.  There was hilarious trash-talking; everyone was engaged in some capacity. It was much better than essentially doing your own thing in a room with others.

Have Back-Up Entertainment Available

Even when the goal of a party is to do a certain task all day, there will inevitably be a slump.  People will get temporarily burned-out for an hour, maybe more.  When that happens, it’s a good idea to have something else to do.

An easy way to take a break is to have a formal dinner time, an actual meal instead of snacking.  At the party I attended, everyone seemed to get burned out at around the same time.  Some people played Rock Band; others went for walks outside.  It’s not a bad idea, either, to have a structured task at the end of the break, to get everyone back on track together.

Don’t Micro-Manage

It’s great to have the option of structure, but inevitably adjustments will need to be made.  People will be stuck in traffic and late; someone will have a different idea that everyone goes for; maybe people want to take a break AND have a meal.  A laid-back host makes everyone else more relaxed, and more fun is had.

When you’re planning a party, it’s great to think ahead, and the preparation will undoubtedly pay off.   When things get rolling, however, it’s time to back off and enjoy yourself.  After all, the host should be able to party as well!  And with a little bit of forethought, the next party you plan will run more smoothly, and you’ll be able to kick back and do just that.

And how about you?  Are there any party-planning tricks in your arsenal?  I’m always up for having a better time!

(If you missed the beginning of Salad Club, check it out here.)

Depending on the week, we have anywhere from 3-6 people in Salad Club. There are about 4 of us who are in every week, and the others pop in and out from week to week.

We have abandoned the Google Docs idea. It may work for your office, but we have a bunch of people who wait until Monday to check the doc and then go shopping, or who don’t check the doc at all. So… a-tweaking we will go!

On Monday morning, I’ve been going around and collecting $10 per Salad Club member and buying for 3-5 people all at once. It does cut down a bit on the variety, but it also cuts down on the amount of doubles and extras we have. When I return from Giant, I send a State of the Salad email to members letting them know what’s in the fridge and what we could possibly use that I couldn’t find.

Some of our members wait until Tuesday to contribute and bring things we can’t find at our local grocery store, like boiled eggs.  Some even wait until Wednesday and pick up a fresh box of greens.  We’ve got the flow going on fairly well.

We even got our own Salad Club fridge! You can see it front and center on our Kitchen Cam. (Which yes, you can use to stalk me when I’m making my salad. I’m usually doing it somewhere between 2 and 3 pm every weekday but Tuesday.)

What I love about Salad Club is the ability to make tons of different kinds of salads. Every day I can go for something a little different. Some days I go for all veggies, some days I have a craving for fruits and nuts on my greens, other days I want lots of tomatoes and cucumbers and some feta cheese. Check out my daily Salad Club photos on Twitter for some samples of the salads I’ve been making.

I’m also proud of DaveTheGame, who has started a Salad Club at his workplace. They’re still starting out (4 members), but they’re doing well so far! One of his coworkers even proclaimed:

“This is even better than the salad bar at Whole Foods!”

If that isn’t a glowing endorsement, I don’t know what is!