Autumnal Geekquinox 2017

Yesterday Pete, with Ellen's sterling assistance, brought us yet another moutwatering, belly-bursting Geekquinox feast. "I can't break away!"...from the table, because I'm stuffed to the brink of drooling unconsciousness.

This is candied bacon, with brown sugar and a hint of heat. I've been somewhat skeptical regarding the candied bacon trend, but it works - this went down very smoothly.

I love seafood and I love bacon, so I wound up downing three or four of these delectable bacon-wrapped shrimp. Utterly heavenly.

The chili verde was my favourite dish; it was incredibly savoury, with generous chunks of tender pork. I may actually ask Pete for the recipe; I love this stuff so much that I'm motivated to try to cook it myself, since I can't very well ask Pete to come over and cook it for me once or twice a week.

A Facebook request from Sylvia, though she didn't know it, inspired Pete to create these remarkable prosciutto potato roses. Actually, maybe this was my favourite dish...no, the chili. But it's close.

I was too busy gulping down the main course to get a photo. For the record, it consisted of porchetta (very, very tender pork belly with some sort of incredible stuffing) bacon mashed potatoes (too delicious by half), grilled cabbage (surprisingly excellent), and green beans with...some kind of pork I can't remember. In lieu of dinner, here's a shot of dessert: ice cream with chocolate sauce, maple bacon and homemade toffee. The homemade toffee alone was delectable, but in combination with all this--exquisite.

Another incredible meal, another great evening with a group of dear friends. Thanks again, Pete and Ellen! As ever, I am amazed by your dedication and near-insane level of commitment to this event. 

Dustin the Renegade Tank Commander

Last night I dreamed that our Dungeons and Dragons group was trying out a different roleplaying game for a change of pace, one set in a world of Conan-like high fantasy but with World War II era military technology. So instead of each of us carrying a sword and shield or what have you, each character had his or her own Sherman tank - and the miniatures, as you can imagine, were wicked cool, with each of us standing in the turret of our respective tanks, overlooking the field of battle.

During this session of play, the evil Thulsa Doom was about to sacrifice a maiden strapped down to a stone (plastic, really) altar atop a green felt-covered hilltop. We moved our tanks into position, but Dustin fired his main cannon early, blowing up both Thulsa Doom and his comely captive. My character raced up the hill in his tank to survey the carnage, and aside from the dead Thulsa Doom, the dead princess and a bunch of dead snakes, I spotted a whole bunch of dismembered innocent bystanders, who were represented on the board by LEGO minifigures.

"Dustin!" I cried. Did you sneak in here earlier and kill all these innocent people?"

"They needed killin'," Dustin replied laconically.

Audrey shook her head while Jeff rolled his head around on his shoulders with a "WHOA! Nice going, dude!" Stephen, even though he wasn't the Gamemaster (who mysteriously never made an appearance), took on a GM-like mien and said "Okay, player versus player it is, then."

Somehow I'd become the de facto squadron commander, and I started to issue orders to destroy Dustin's tank. But before the battle could commence...I woke up.

D&D Just Got Real