Dark Cloud 2.  I had played the original, but wasn't exactly a gigantic fan of it.  I hopped into Gamestop one day with some extra cash in my pocket, saw it sitting on the shelf, shrugged my shoulders, and walked to the counter with a game that was destined to become one of my favorite games of all time.

Fuck, I wish it were on the PSN store.

Bal Sagoth - Callisto Rising

I love these grandiose fucks.

*looks to see how old this topic is*

Fuck, I should have posted something here years ago, being that I'm a chef and all.  I guess I can fix that.

I've challenged myself to go vegetarian for a month, just to shake up a bit of a cooking rut I've been in lately.  But when I get home from a hard day of cooking, the last thing I want to do is hop in my own kitchen for an hour.  So on days off I cook basic shit in bulk that I can make a variety of different recipes with.  I decided I'd throw together a meatless version of a beloved food item:  chili.  Here it is.

NOTE:  If you follow this recipe, you will have a shit ton of chili.  Be prepared.

Three Bean Cruelty-Free Tongue Orgasm Chili o'Flame

1 can black beans, like 16 oz. or some shit
1 can pinto beans, same size
1 can chickpeas (or garbanzo beans, if you're an asshole), same size
1 little can of chipolte peppers in adobo sauce that you can find huddling in the Mexican section of the grocery store

1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper

Or three green ones if you're cheap, it's up to you.

1 red onion
1 yellow onion
4 tomatoes

A good two cups of stock/tomato sauce (you'll see, just keep going)

And..maybe a tablespoon of Worcestershire or soy sauce.  Since there's no meat, this will add a bit of umami to the dish.  Look it up.

Now then...spices.  I've seen grown men get in fights over what sorts of spices you should and shouldn't put in chili.  As far as I'm concerned, the only two you really need (besides salt, duh) are chili powder and cayenne pepper.  Everything else you add is just a matter of personal taste.  This is what seperates the kids from the adults:  adding your own flair.  Here's what I put, but this certainly isn't set in stone.

1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cayenne pepper (the chipotle peppers are pretty hot, don't go nuts here)
5 cloves garlic
2 tsp dried oregano
1 heaping Tbsp paprika (I fucking love paprika, but you could cut this back to 1.5 tsp easily)
2 tsp cumin
Salt to taste (maybe two teaspoons or so in my case, I'm not super big on salt)

Optional:

2 tsp cocoa (optional because some idiots are weirded out by cocoa that isn't in dessert form)

Other possibilities are cinnamon, thyme, coriander, cilantro, and so forth.  Go nuts.  Life is an adventure.

Step One:  Dice the hell out of those vegetables.

Step One and a Half:  Open those beans, then toss them in a colander and wash them REAL good.  You don't want canned bean juice up in your chili, brah.

Step Two:  Saute all of those vegetables (except the tomatoes!) in some olive oil over medium heat in the biggest pot you own.  There's a lot of them, so this will take some time!  Don't be tempted to crank the heat up.  It's just like making love:  move too fast and you'll potentially ruin the whole thing.  When you see the onions start to go translucent, you're good to go.

Step Three:  Toss in the tomatoes and chipotle peppers.  They will fall apart pretty quickly, and they're supposed to!

Step Four:  Add the washed beans!  You're getting there!

Step Five:  We need some liquid.  This would be an excellent use of any non-salted the fuck out of stock you have on hand, about two cups or so, maybe a little more.  If you're like I was and don't have any on hand, just grab some bland Prego and throw in there.  Not too much, we don't want this shit to taste like a pizza.  Let the peppers and onions do most of the talking.

Step Six:  Add the spices!  But remember to mince/chop/press/whatever your garlic, don't just throw the cloves in whole.  I grated mine with a cheese grater over the pot because I don't give a fuck.

Step Seven:  Wait at least 30 minutes!  This would be a good time to go find a container to put all this in.

Step Eight:  Serve hot!

Serve it in a bowl, over tortilla chips, over rice, over noodles, nestled tightly in a corn tortilla; all these things and more, in like fifteen minutes of actual effort.

Vegetarianism, bitches.

Nothing wrong with looking younger than you are.  You learn to appreciate it when you get in your 30s. :P

If I cover up my grey hair, I can easily pass for an early 20s jackoff college student.

This is absolutely true.  Skyrim was the most stable game they've ever released at launch.  Of course the first patch fucked it up quite a bit, but they're getting there. :P

This is true, but this overrating didn't happen until quite a while after Dark Cloud 2.  Which for a long time was my favorite game on the PS2, so even my jaded, skeptical ass is intrigued by the possibility of more.

Ah California Kush, the training wheels of marijuana usage.

Man, this game is a lot easier than DS1.  I died a good bit early on trying to get adjusted to parry timing, but it's been a cakewalk from the first boss on.

Sure wasn't expecting those exploding zombies, though.

Contra, without the Konami code.  I did it once, but I doubt I could get past the third stage these days.

Dream Theater - Space Dye Vest

Literally the only DT song I listen to.

It's great, but I will never play that game to completion again in my life.  Too damn long, man.

I just beat Lords of Shadow 2.  It does some things better than the original, and it definitely does some things worse, but overall I'd call it a pretty good sequel.

Back to Morrowind.  I've been playing that off and on for the past two or three weeks.  It's been a long time since I took a character through the main quest and both expansions, so that's what I'm aiming to do.  Mournhold sewers are making that damn unlikely to happen.

Pretty much the entirety of "The Doomstar Requiem".

I'm in the minority, but I think the Rincewind books are all the weakest.  Give me Granny Weatherwax any day.

I'm down with some porn, personally.