11.28.2007

Indulge Your Cravings As a Chocolatier




Chocolatier
If I got to choose one last thing to drink before my one last breath, it would be a Large Iced Whole Milk Caramel Latte with Whipped Cream and Caramel Drizzle on top. I am certain of it.

If I had the chance to choose one last dessert before my last breath, I would choose a Creme Brulee, as I personally find it to be the most perfect dessert, made with sugar, cream, and eggs, topped with burnt sugar. YUM. No regrets there.

But if I was asked to choose one last piece of chocolate or candy bar that I wanted to enjoy before my days came to an end....I might die before I had made the choice.

I love chocolate candy. There's no getting around it, or pretending like it isn't the truth. If I could jump in a huge vat of melted chocolate, I would dive in with no hesitation, slather it all over me, or do a cannonball to the bottom of the vat. I have no loyalties to any certain brands either. Hershey's, Lindt, Mars, Nestle, Russel Stovers, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, european brands, etc., you name it, if it contains chocolate, I love it. So it makes perfect sense to me that when I am looking for a little relaxation, I would choose to play a game that involves making and selling chocolates.

Does such a game exist? Of course!

Chocolatier, available at www.playfirst.com, is a casual PC game that I love in which the responsibility of the player is to apprentice for the famous Baumeister family in their chocolate confection business, learning new chocolate recipes, creating them in the factory, and then traveling the world selling your chocolates to the highest bidder.

While you are traveling to ports like Sydney, New York, Maharanja, and Accra, watch for the best prices on ingredients, haggle with vendors, meet other Baumeister family members and previous business acquaintances, and learn the family saga that originally tore this family apart. Perhaps your contributions will help bring them all together again along with a very successful chocolate business.

I love the games graphics. The story line is set in the 1880s and all ports of call, character dress, and manner of travel are reminiscient of that era. While originally playing the trial version, I spent nearly the entire free hour just looking at the artwork and testing out the mini matching game in between game tasks.

My only original dislike once I purchased the game, was its replay value. It seemed rather low to me, and still does to this day, although I can say I have played it multiple times since. It does have a long story line to begin with, so you won't be able to complete the entire game in one sitting anyway, unless you really have nothing better to do. It took me multiple plays to finish my first Chocolatier game, which was 10 years according to the storyline. Right around the time I was getting tired of replaying it, PlayFirst issued a Challenge Circle for online participants to play against each other, which was fun to participate in. There's always room for improvement in your profit margin and weekly sales. The game winners are those that have the highest weekly sales in the least amount of weeks. I came in 3rd place for the Challenge Circle.

Oh well, I knew I shouldn't have paid that price for cacao beans in Trinidad!


To read reviews of the above game, play trial versions, purchase full versions, or ask game related questions, please visit the game developers websites:
www.playfirst.com

For a player's prospective or free game downloads, check out
http://www.gamefairy.blogspot.com/.


HAPPY GAMING!!

11.24.2007

Drug Dealing December Dishwashers


December 2006.
Needed a new dishwasher. Old dishwasher didn't want to work.
Unless he feels like it.

Wants to work 8-2pm. What dishwasher works 8-2?? The restaurant doesn't open until 11am? No dishes stacking up till 12. You want to work 2 hours? At $8/hr??? Because you have to go pick up your kids from day care. You have kids???? Holy *%$%^. How are you paying for them? Don't you want extra hours? You just bought a big house? And you drive an SUV?

HOLD EVERYTHING!!! STOP THE PRESSES!!!

WTF is wrong with this picture?

So I go ask him. "You have a new house and a new SUV and kids in daycare and you only want a few hours on the schedule? What do you have another job or something?"

"I have my own business."

Oh.

"That's cool. What kind of business?"

"A good one."

"Is this the kind of business where I could park next to it and walk under a door sign with your business' name on it and go inside and shop around? Or is it more like, I could pull up to a stop sign on a corner, not need to get out of my car, and the sign above your head would say Fourth and Main Street?"

"Yeah, that second one."

Thanks for being honest. Now you have to leave.
And why try telling the rest of the staff that you're doing back to school or you got another job?

Just leave already.

11.22.2007

Thanksgiving, My Favorite Holiday


As far as holidays go, most people look forward to Christmas. Those that love the lore of the Easter Egg hunt, get happier in spring. Ghouls and Goblins have Halloween to lurk behind trees and on neighbors front porches. Committed and non-committed anquish over Valentine's Day. But as for me, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

Each year, while I was growing up, Thanksgiving meant a late night drive through central Pennsylvania. Arriving at my [Great] Grandma's house around 11pm the night before the holiday, greeting my Grandparents and getting a late night snack before snuggling into a warm bed with a feather pillow and lots of blankets tucked in around me was the usual tradition. Good night kisses all around.

The following morning, regardless of what time I awoke, my Grandparent's had already been up for hours. My Grandfather's duties were whatever my Grandmother told him to do. Usually that meant peeling onions and potatoes into a piece of newspaper, so that clean up was easy and my Grandma's kitchen remained tidy; taking the trash out, and keeping us kids out of her way. My Grandmother's duties were preparing a huge farm house kind of feast, to be ready promptly at noon, and to keep an eye on her pies in the pantry. No touching or sampling the various pies so neatly arranged on the Hoosier cabinet!

Family members would arrive through out the morning with a predictable pattern. After all the greetings were bestowed upon the relatives, the men headed for the living room, grumbling about the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade being on, and the kids camped in front of the tv. Talk would center around two things. The aroma of Grandma's cooking and football. The women relatives, meanwhile, never left the kitchen. They entrenched themselves into every chair and nook available in the kitchen to watch my Grandma cook. She never used a recipe, so the most anyone could do was watch for some hint, a secret, and special ingredient, that would perhaps shed light on her cooking ability. No such secrets ever exposed themselves to these women, however, because my Grandma just knew how to cook.

The meal would be ready at 12 noon sharp and always consist of family favorites: buttered baby lima beans, dried corn, stuffed pig stomach, candied yams, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, pickle/olive/relish tray. Sometimes noodles, fried oysters, baked corn, and stuffing would be added to the menu. No turkey on this table. My family is from a farming background. Not Pennsylvania Dutch as in Amish or Mennonite, definitely not, more like Pennsylvania German. Anyway, if you grew up in such a family, you know: Waste not, want not.


Sitting and talking around the table till close to 3pm, laughing and enjoying the time spent with family members. Listening to stories from the past year that we may have missed. Reminiscing with my Great Grandparents about how things used to be down on the farm, or when they had to walk to school, or their dating and early married years. Wonderful stories that I cherish to this day.

Then it was time for dessert. Don't look for any cake here! You won't find it. Your choices are mincemeat pie and pumpkin custard pie. Then if you were really lucky, and after all, this was Grandma's house, so chances are you are going to be lucky....chocolate pudding pie, cherry pie, apple pie, and/or lemon chess pie. Our family's favorite saying was "Just give me a sliver!" Which never worked, because you were going to get a minimum of 2 pieces of pie on your plate. Then much debate about the actual size of a sliver. LOL. Grandma never could understand why anyone would want a piece so small that it wouldn't stand up on a plate. Her version of slivers looked suspiciously to me like normal slices. And don't forget rich black coffee all around. Because that's what pie goes with, end of story.

My Great Grandparents are gone 6 years now. And so are family holidays, as we all spread out across the country and develop families and lives of our own. But this one holiday, still means more to me than any other holiday.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!



For a taste of our traditions, check with your local butcher....here's the recipe!


STUFFED PIG STOMACH (HOG MAW)

Stuffing a pig stomach with a sausage-potato-onion mix is a blend of the innovation and conviction against wastefulness that characterizes the Amish. This dish is also served in Eastern European countries, and in US Cajun cooking where it is known as Shodin.
The texture of the browned skin against the moist richness of sausage and cubed potatoes has made this combination survive the demise of family. Today, you may be able to find a pig stomach in the freezer of a pork butcher or ask them to special order it for you.


1 lg. well-cleaned pig stomach ("cleaned" means well washed with the inner membrane lining removed and discarded. A proper pork butcher should be able to do this for you.)


1 1/2 lbs. bulk sausage meat


6 med. potatoes, peeled and diced


1 sm. onion, chopped


1 rib of celery, chopped fine


1/4 c. fresh chopped parsley


1/2 tsp. Louisiana Hot Sauce


Saute the potatoes, onions, and celery until the potatoes are tender. Separate the sausage meat into small pieces and add to the vegetables. Cook only until the sausage loses its reddish color. Drain off the excess liquid. Add and mix the parsley and hot sauce.
Stuff the mixture loosely into the stomach and close all openings with small skewers or poultry needle laced with string. Place in a roast pan with 1/2 cup water. Cover this roast pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. After the first hour, prick the stomach with a sharp fork one time to relieve the pressures. Because the stomach shrinks considerable, you must not overstuff the stomach, to prevent it bursting. Makes 4-6 servings.