Homemade Dressing (a cooking post)

This post is random I know but I figured I would share my joy of cooking with my readers. This is the Salad Dressing I make at home for salads to accompany dinner.

Please not that this is not an exact recipe the contents change daily and I am ever improving on the taste.

What you will need
1 Shallot
Sea Salt Grinder
4 Seasons Pepper Grinder
Gulden's Spicy Brown Mustard (Or Yellow whichever you prefer)
Honey
Balsamic Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive oil

What you need to do
Dice and chop half of the shallot or the whole shallot depending your preference to it. Once chopped place into a small measuring cup. From this step grind the salt and pepper on top perferably one to two grinds for each. Pour in 1 to 2 teaspoons of the Gulden's mustard. Pour in about 1 to 1 and a half teaspoons of honey. Drizzle in Balsamic Vinegar, then drizzle and whisk in extra virgin olive oil. This should make about 1/3 cup of dressing (at least that is what my measuring cup told me) pour dressing over the salad and mix to coat the salad. Enjoy.

If you want to kick it up a bit chop in some garlic with the shallots. Please remember that this recipe changes practically daily. Please give this dressing a try and tell me what you think.

I am slightly underwhelmed

The hype for a movie produced by Michael Bay is always the same, people will rant and rave no matter what. When I see Michael Bay attached to any project I usually cringe at the thought and see it when it comes out on DVD. But when I saw it wasn't directed by Michael Bay I was more optimistic. The director of this film is best known for his work on Disturbia and Eagle Eye, having never seen either of these films I am not sure how he truely fairs as a director.

I am Number Four is a movie based off a book by the same name. The story in the beginning of the movie is slightly confusing due to the the jumpy scene transitions and lack of lighting. Both of these issues rear their ugly head a lot in this film. We follow a boy known only as John Smith. Maybe it is due to my lack of reading the book, or maybe it was the writer of the screen play condensing everything down. But the story was very very jumpy in spots and smooth in others. I didn't understand anything until after Tim Olyphant told John about his powers. I do however understand how hard it is convert something that is meant to be complex into the span of 90 minutes and keep it intelligible.

The lighting was an issue for me in this movie, it was always going from very dark and hard to make out the characters to very bright with only a few scenes that were in between. This movie does however have some merits for it do not get me wrong. The acting was good, not OMG BEST ACTING EVER, but good. The dialog while choppy in some spots was still fairly decent and understandable. On a scale from one to ten, I give I am Number Four a six. If you are looking to kill to hours go ahead and see it, but do what I did and go see it for free with the Optimum Triple Play Reward (Free Movie Tuesday)

Clash at Merc Mouth

The night time is a perfect time to go out, have some beers and catch a movie. Or if you are these two, kill some dope that pissed off the wrong people. Welcome to this week's FCFF a time in my blog where I pit two fictional characters in fight to see who would come out on top. The way I judge these is based on my knowledge of the characters and how they would fair in one on one combat. This week the fight is going to be long; rough; bloody; awkwardly funny and brutal.

 

RIDDICK VS WADE WILSON (A.K.A DEADPOOL)

 

BIO: Richard B. Riddick known to everyone else as just Riddick, a Furyan a sub-sect of the human race. Born and bred fighters, Furyans are tough, brutal and extremely hard to kill. Riddick however is the last of his race and is known as the Alpha Furyan basically making him the strongest because he is the last. Unlike the rest of the Furyan race, Riddick has eyes that can see in pitch black darkness. This ability is known only as eyeshine, which as the story Riddick tells is an operation he got from a guy in Butcher Bay (A prison planet) for 20 Menthol Kools. The only drawback to the eyeshine ability is that he cannot switch it off which makes his eyes highly sensitive to light, hence why he wears welding glasses at all times. Due to his Furyan DNA Riddick gains these abilities, heightened speed, reflexes, senses and immense stamina, along with his fast healing and a high pain threshold and the ability to convert pain and anger into energy for his attacks. Along with those abilities he is also highly trained in both hand to hand combat and weapons of various types.

 

Bio: Wade Wilson, Deadpool A.K.A The Merc with the mouth. A mercenary who prides himself on breaking the fourth wall, killing a target without thought rhyme or reason and always being the smartass comic relief. Do not let his wise cracking style fool you; Deadpool is one hell of a fighter and crazy to boot. Wade has genetically enhanced DNA from the Weapon X project during his time with Alpha Flight in Canada. His DNA was given some of Wolverine's giving Wade the mutant power of Regeneration despite his lack of actually being a mutant. Before the gene splicing however Wade was a cancer patient, the regeneration does not cure Wade of the cancer but instead amplifies it, kills it, re-grows it in a never ending cycle which takes a mental toll on Wade and turns him crazy. Crazy to the point where he talks to the yellow thought blocks in head, refers to knowing he is in a comic book and generally views the world in a skewed way. Trained in martial arts and sword fighting and multiple firearms Deadpool is a close range to long distant fighter and with his Regeneration he does not fear death giving him an advantage over many fighters mutant and human alike. His crazy randomness has saved him on many occasions having once beaten the formidable Taskmaster in a fight beating Taskmaster's power to perfectly mimic a fighting style and then predict the next moves as if he had been using the style his entire life. Deadpool is not one to be messed with lightly, he can and will stick a grenade into your mouth and watch it blow up just for shits and giggles.

 

THE FIGHT

 

This fight is going to be long and drawn out with neither combatant giving the other a chance to breathe. Deadpool is at a slight disadvantage with his constant rambling and wise cracking. Which would give Riddick the chance to get angrier during the fight and get stronger (like fighting a leaner less green hulk). But in the long run even these formidable combatants will tire and become less hard hitting. The fight I see ending with Deadpool coming out on top but close to a draw. I give the slight with Deadpool because break him, cut off limbs, shoot him in the head he will come back for more. Even fatigued his regeneration gives him a enough strength to finish the fight. It is a close fight but in the end The Merc With the Mouth gets the last laugh

This weeks FCFF needs your help

Okay so one of the fighters in this weeks Fiction Character Fiction Fight will be Riddick and I can not come up with a character badass enough to fight him. I was originally going to put Dean Winchester in the fight but figured it would be a no contest.

So I have narrowed down my Choices to these, please comment and tell me who you think should Fight Riddick

1. Dean Winchester
2. Deadpool
3. Sincestro
4. Cloud Striffe
5. Darth Bane

Cast your vote and thanks for reading.

First Impressions Last Forever....or was it Diamonds

Disgaea Hour of Darkness, was remade from it's original platform to the DS. That is the game I am currently playing. At first glance of this Strategy J-RPG you don't really think much of it. It seems odd that you are playing these anime style characters and the story at first seems out place. But as you go a long and you get to work with the main characters you begin to feel more connected to them.

Your main characters are Laharl, Etna and Flonne. They are easily the most likable characters in the game. As I played this game, the story and character development especially between Laharl and Flonne. I found myself smiling as I read the dialog between them and it is rare that a game can do that (at least for me). Etna and Flonne have become my favorite characters in the game so far. Their polar opposite personalities have the potential to make them great friends.

For my first impression of the game, I am really really enjoying it. I haven't enjoyed an RPG this much since Final Fantasy IX. If you can find a copy go out and buy this game it is a lot of fun.

The Rise of the pre-cybermen?

With the latest spectacle of Watson at Jeopardy, it seems not just TV game shows are getting the AI treatment. Hasbro entertainment has unveiled the first dice and paper-moneyless Monopoly game titled Monopoly Live. In an attempt to revitalize the dieing board-game genre, Monopoly has been revamped with an infrared watchtower which stands at ten inches tall and dominates the center of the board. The tower monitors player moves, rolls the dice, tells you instructions and corrects you if you make a mistake. The all seeing eye tower of monopoly live will take the element of subtle cheating out of the game. Tell me honestly that you never once cheated at a game of monopoly.

Monopoly live is meant to appeal to younger kids who are so enthralled with digital downloads and apps. Hasbro has also announced a board-game version of Angry Birds is in the works.

Lets face it, technology is vastly out classing and outmatching the archaic old school. With a generation who is so used to instant gratification, things like boardgames will be a thing of distant memory. AI taking over game-shows and now boardgames, what is next robotic vacuum cleaners.......wait we have that already (Roomba lol)

To my readers (Updates, Blog News and Questions)

Updates: Well I have been busy busy busy for the blog here trying to find interesting things to talk about. Still looking for regular work, which is a drag.

News: The post Shameless English Vs American is currently the most popular post on the site with 88 views. Thank you all for constantly reading it. We are not even two months into 2011 and we are close to beating the amount of posts posted last year in 2010. Fictional Character Fiction Fight will become a regular weekly segment here on the blog. Another TV Show Comparison will be up soon because you all seem to enjoy that the most.

Questions to my readers:

I recently downloaded Audicity again and was thinking of creating a new podcast, would you guys listen to it, if I posted the RSS feed here on the site?

Should the Podcast be solo (meaning just me talking for an set amount of time each week)? Or should there be a co-host like my old Podcast?