S'more Smooth Suribachi Stratagems

After four seven eight days* spent not typing anything (worthwhile), I felt that it was time to post something of good quality. While it hasn't been a stellar year so far in this blog, it's still alive (albeit barely), and so I figured it deserved a little something for holding out this long. Refusing to die off like a voice in the wind... it's worth something, and that something... would be words. (A six-year-old somewhere is asking: "What the hell kind of gift is that!?")

Words are a complex crop that I haven't cultivated in a while, and so it took a lot more effort than usual to get them ready for presentation. A lot. But with a careful eye to watch them grow, some time to help them adapt to being summoned on such short notice, and (hopefully,) people bored/curious enough to read them, I'm sure these words I've labored for ought to do the job.

* = The entirety of last month was not counted in this statistic. Hell, the majority of this year wasn't counted. Ignorance can be bliss sometimes.

This was me earlier today.

Now that I've typed this all out... let's see if today's words can form sentences that make sense (as opposed to this entry's ridiculous mish-mash of a title). Let's go and rock out the rest of this long (and hopefully engaging) spiel!

Cooking Off September

Happy September, everypony! I'm not feeling particularly inspired to do anything today, so instead of a decent entry, I'm going to share with you this amazing video I found this morning. (I apologize if this is old news, but hey - I live under a rock.)

The idea is that by using an ordinary plastic water bottle, you're actually able to separate an egg yolk from the whites. A very low-tech solution that yields a high-quality result...



WAT. Seriously, this is a simple and insane trick. I'm going to go try this now and see just how amazing this game-changer is. *grabs some eggs and a water bottle* Allez cuisine!

Start The Day Off Right!

Heh. I find it weird how yesterday's image of the weather still seems accurate. It's been mostly cloudy, but as I was driving around, I did see the sun break out a few times. Maybe meteorologists can actually do their jobs. I 'unno. *shrugs*

Today's the second day of my "Thirty Thousand Trial," and I'm just typing and typing away so that I can get my thousand words for today's entry. While things may seem a tad forced for the next month or so, it doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it. After all, I miss this - the whole "writing a whole bunch of things" deal I do (or used to do). It flexes my brain matter and may end up getting me a new idea or so.

But enough on that - let's talk about other things. Like... food!

Okonomiyaki Time

Hungry? I sure hope so, because I got for you today a savory and steamy blog. It's guaranteed to leave you salivating - and at the very least, curious. So, sit back, relax, and if you're inspired to follow along after you're done reading, more power to you!

And before you ask: not that kind of steamy, you perverts!

Resolution Absolution

Today's a lovely Friday, and as it's the end of the start of the new year, I think it's time I deliver something so large and outrageous it'll take you a good while to read and digest.

I guarantee a great entry today and awesome things to boot - this post took almost a week to make, so consider this a late Christmas present or a belated "Happy New Year" greeting of some kind.

Much, much better than fireworks.

So without further ado, kick off the new year for us, Nyan Cat!

Josh Blanco and the Curry Desert

Less talk; more rolling!





CURRENT MUSIC:
Masayuki Tanaka - "Katamari on the Rocks (Main Theme)"
Katamari Fortissimo Damacy

When I think of the Katamari games, this song instantly pops up in mind. Possessing a tempo suitable for speed-working and a bunch of silliness to counteract the seriousness of work, this song's just perfect for your crunch times - whether it be writing a term paper due in two days that you just started, cleaning up after all the guests who just wrecked your store with a 45 minute time limit, or rolling up a katamari for your father to blow up into the moon and a bunch of broken constellations because "We broke it."

There's a reason why this is on here, and it's not just because of me having to work all hard on a time crunch or anything.


Matt Uelmen - "Mountains of Thunder"
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Soundtrack

Starting back up in World of Warcraft let me re-immerse myself in the music that helped make me love this game. As I've probably stated before, the two things that pull me into a game are the story and the music. WoW already has plenty of lore within its game history, and as for the music, it possesses that in spades.

"Mountains of Thunder" contains music heard predominantly in the Northrend zone known as the Storm Peaks. As the name would suggest, it is a cold and desolate mountainous area, and navigating to the key parts of this area requires that you be licensed to fly in Northrend. The music emulates the chilly, lonely wind one would encounter when trekking an arctic and majestic territory such as the Storm Peaks. Maybe that's why I like this place so much - back when Wrath of the Lich King was the latest expansion, I would farm all across Northrend, but a majority of my farming was spent here because of the music.



"It is not your fault. It is Our fault for believing in you."
- The King of All Cosmos
(Katamari Damacy)

Leave it to the King of All Cosmos to degrade your work, even when you tried oh-so-hard.





Evening, everybody! Welcome to today's not-so-silly entry, where I hope you'll enjoy -

So much for a silent alarm...

...aw, frak me. Let me just deal with this for one sec-

- SYSLINK TERMINATED -

Lunar Experimentation

As I sat here typing, I wondered... what is today? What is this blog? What... *points behind you* ...w-what the hell is that giant arachnid behind you!? I'll save you! *charges out of the camera's view, armed with his Nerf Vulcan*





CURRENT MUSIC:
Dali - "Moonlight Densetsu"
Sailor Moon & the Scouts: Lunarock

Yeah. You read that right. For those of you who wouldn't know (read: most guys and most girls who watched the dubbed version), this is the opening song used throughout most of Sailor Moon's run. Dali just happened to sing the one used for the first two seasons (because the song was a smash hit in Japan).

I'm currently working on finishing the first season, so it would make sense that this song would have some airtime on my laptop.


Hirokazu Tanaka - "Brinstar Depths"
Super Smash Bros. Melee Soundtrack

One of my favorite themes from the GameCube hit Super Smash Bros. Melee. Metroid fans probably know this one best as Kraid's original theme from the NES game (which I'm trying so very hard to beat - and sucking miserably at, by the way). There's a bit of loneliness and mystery infused in this song, which matches the desolate lair quite well, if I may say so.



"As for the future: your task is not to forsee it, but to enable it."
- Antoine de Saint Exupery

There is a point to this quote. Far too many people out there dream of a brighter future in their own personal worlds of (often self-created) misery. Only those who realize that they're in the rut they're in because of themselves can begin to climb up. They'll find their own way and ensure that they attain the happiness they want.

Spaghetti ng Pilipinas

---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

ALERT: CORRECTION (Alert Posted: FRI 16 SEP 2011 - 0216 hrs.)
There was an error with the recipe on this page. Originally, I listed that "Spaghetti ng Pilipinas" required "20 oz of tomato sauce" and "20 oz of banana ketchup." I actually meant to say "10-15 oz" for each of the two ingredients.

At the time I wrote this entry, I was cooking roughly two batches' worth of pasta. While I was careful in re-tuning the ingredients list so that it made the 4-6 servings I said it would make, I failed to correct the amount of sauce necessary. This has now been rectified so that the numbers are correct.

Thus said, I sincerely apologize for anyone who attempted to make this awesome dish only to find that their sauce seemed to be lacking meat and/or seemed too... runny. Then again, some of you like your sauce runny. o.O

---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

GOOOOD DAY, READERS! Josh here with a mountain of text and flavorful pictures, built so it'll last for years and years to come!





Music to Cook By
(Why I (don't) trust the shuffle option at times.)

Just to set the mood (sort of), I decided to list all the pieces of music I went through in order of when they were played. This list tracks everything from the very moment the knife in cooking started chopping up onions today... as well as how bad my ADD is.

Songs marked with an asterisk portray anything that didn't get fully played (i.e.: musical ADD kicked in. An asterisk by itself means I swapped playlists or songs after the song finished.

Alizée - "J'en ai marre!"
deadmau5 - "Cthulu Sleeps"
System of a Down - "Forest"
Incubus - "Take Me to Your Leader
Eiffel 65 - "Another Race"
Barenaked Ladies - "Be My Yoko Ono"
Incubus - "Idiot Box"
Evanescence - "Sweet Sacrifice"
*
Eun Ji Won - "Adios (f. Mr. Tyfoon)"
Journey - "I'm Cryin'"
Offspring - "Session"
Fatboy Slim - "Sunset (Bird of Prey)"
Acid Black Cherry - "SPELL MAGIC"
Halestorm - "Bad Romance (Lady Gaga Cover)"
*
Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
Killers - "For Reasons Unknown"
Gorillaz - "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (f. Snoop Dogg)"
Futuristic Sex Robotz - "Back in the Day"
Darude - "Let the Music Take Control"
All-American Rejects - "It Ends Tonight"
Daft Punk - "Television Rules the Nation"
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "If"
*
Bon Jovi - "You Give Love a Bad Name"
Van Halen - "Jump"
Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Journey - "Don't Stop Believin'"
Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
The Lonely Island - "I'm On a Boat (f. T-Pain)"
*
30 Seconds to Mars - "Closer to the Edge"
OneRepublic - "Come Home"
Lazlo Bane - "Sleep"
Hoobastank - "Lucky"
Queen - "Save Me"
Led Zeppelin - "Wearing and Tearing"
Flipsyde - "Friends"
Santana - "No One to Depend On"
Killers - "Why Do I Keep Counting?"
Atreyu - "My Fork in the Road (Your Knife in My Back) (Instrumental)"
Halestorm - "Better Sorry Than Safe (Live)"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Life Won't Wait"
Rihanna - "If It's Lovin' That You Want (Part 2)"
Lady Gaga - "Born This Way (Jost & Naff Remix)"
Atreyu - "Doomsday"
deadmau5 - "Overdraft"
Def Leppard - "Don't Shoot Shotgun"
Boston - "Stare Out Your Window"
Journey - "Wheel in the Sky"
Saliva - "Rest in Pieces"

And then I finished. But enough on my musical tastes - let's cook!



Spaghetti ng Pilipinas
("This ain't spaghetti. This is Army noodles with ketchup.")

Yesterday I made a beeline to the grocery store and nabbed me a bunch of ingredients. Today, their reasons for their purchase become quite clear: I am cooking. When most of my friends from work heard about this, they were confused. Normally, when I decide to pull off some crazy cooking project, it involves fried rice and a lot of man-hours spent cooking all of it. This time, however... I'm cooking pasta. And not just any pasta: Filipino-style spaghetti.

Today, as we stare at the kitchen I will be doing battle in, we're -

...h-hold on a second. *steps off-camera* Where the hell is my music? I have this eloquent speech about passionate cooking and you're not giving me backing music that fits the theme? The hell do I pay you fo-

*the music from Backdraft (and by extension, the theme song from the original Iron Chef) begins playing*

...better. *walks back on-camera* A-Anyway... *clears throat*

Today, as we stare at the kitchen I will be doing battle in, we're sure to encounter trial after trial of imperfections in this amazing quest to cook a large amount of spaghetti. And why are we allowing me to do this? For freedom! For justice! For shutting up all those people who keep complaining about how I don't do anything for people for no reason! And most importantly: for the knowledge of knowing if what is desired can be achieved!

I am not an Iron Chef, but I can sure as hell go above the traditional chef and their stone-rigid ways to create some good-ol' home cooking. I will triumph over this adversary that is hunger and its malicious partner named negativity. I will go over the top, point my spatula at the enemy, stare deep into their souls and yell:

Allez cuisine! *charges into the kitchen*

Josh Blanco's "Spaghetti ng Pilipinas"
("Spaghetti of the Philippines" roughly translated to Tagalog.)

Now, I'm slapping my name onto the recipe for a reason. Mind you, it's not so I can gain some credit or anything. (I technically can't - this is more of a cultural recipe.) It's because I took the most common form of Filipino-styled spaghetti and modified it - because I could. I'll slap on the traditional version onto this blog some other time. For now, however - it's MIIIINE.

EQUIPMENT:

• oven
• pot
• large sauce pan OR wok
• spatula
• that thing you use to serve cooked stringy noodles

MATS:
Traditionally, the classic Filipino-style of spaghetti requires the following (at least by majority rule - I looked up, like, 15 different variants):

• 16 oz package spaghetti-style noodles
• water
• salt
• 1/2 lb ground meat (any combination of ground beef and/or pork will do... and the leaner, the better - 85/15's the lowest you'll probably want to go)
• 4 hot dogs
• 1 can of Vienna Sausage
• 10-15 oz tomato sauce
• 10-15 oz banana ketchup (REQUIRED)
• 1 onion, chopped (white for a sweeter flavor; yellow for more kick)
• 1 head of garlic, minced
• 3-6 bay leaves (also REQUIRED; do NOT substitute!)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (I wasn't kidding when I said Filipino cuisine likes being sweet...)
• 1/2 cup green/red bell peppers, chopped (OPTIONAL)
• 1/2 cup carrots, shredded (OPTIONAL; if used, use sparingly)
• various herbs & spices (what you use and how much is up to you)
• olive oil (use enough to facilitate cooking and no more)

HOWEVER, since I'm just psychotic crazy creative enough to attempt to make my own style of pasta, I went my own route. Keep in mind that the above recipe generally serves 4-6 people. THIS is what I went for instead:

• spaghetti-style noodles
• water
• salt
• 1 lb ground meat (any combination of ground beef and/or pork will do... and the leaner, the better - 85/15's the lowest you'll probably want to go)
• 1/2 package kielbasa-style sausage
• 1/2 lb bacon (OPTIONAL; totally blaming Epic Meal Time for this one)
• 15-20 oz tomato sauce
• 15-20 oz banana ketchup (this CANNOT be substituted by any means)
• 1 chopped onion (white for a sweeter flavor; yellow for more kick)
• 1 head garlic, minced
• 6 bay leaves (also required; do NOT substitute!)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (I wasn't kidding when I said Filipino cuisine likes being sweet...)
• 2 tsp Sriracha hot sauce
• various herbs & spices (what you use and how much is up to you)
• olive oil (use enough to facilitate cooking and no more)

Since I'm kinda bringing this to work (as well as keeping plenty for myself and what not), I doubled the amount of things I threw in. What I used (keeping in mind the same 4-6 servings mindset) differs - I threw in more sauce, ketchup and meat. Muahahaha.

DIRECTIONS:
1.) Cook Noodles to Preference
Easy enough here - just follow the directions on the box. Adjust things as necessary (e.g. you're feeding people who prefer their noodles al dente).

2.) Sauté Garlic & Onions with Olive Oil
Just keep stirring... just keep stirring...! Just keep stirring, stirring, stirring!
What do we do? We stir, stir...

3.) Combine Ground Meat, (Bacon,) Bay Leaves, Remaining Veggies & 1 Cup Water;
Bring to a Boil and Allow to Simmer for 10+ Minutes, Stirring Occasionally
Do NOT be afraid to accidentally crush the bay leaves. If anything it helps infuse the flavor even more.

If you're asking why I said "ten plus," it's because some people like making spaghetti sauce all day (the longer the cook time, the more the flavors infuse). How much time you decide upon is up to you and your current circumstances.

While it's on high heat, it's important to stir. Don't you worry about the meat burning or "overcooking."

4.) Add in Tomato Sauce, Banana Ketchup and Herbs & Spices;
Bring to a Near-Boil and Allow to Simmer for 10+ Minutes
Alternate between what you're adding and stirring - maybe half of the sauce and half of the ketchup and some of the spice before you begin stirring, and when it's fully mixed in, add the rest.

As you mix the sauces in, you'll probably get a strong whiff of the spice. This is natural.

While you're stirring all of this in, don't be alarmed if you smell nothing but cooking meat infused with spice. This doesn't mean it's going to be super-spicy or anything. We'll deal with that later as it simmers.

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED~

5.) Add in Brown Sugar and All Remaining Meat;
Bring to a High Heat for 3 Minutes then Allow to Simmer for 5-10+ Minutes
Stir immediately after adding the brown sugar. Last thing you want to do is allow the sugar to clump up and have only pockets of sweetness.

See what happens when you let the sugar clump up? See how pretty it is?
DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN.

As you stir the sugar and meat it, you'll know if things are going well if the sauce begins to turn a reddish-brown. Keep stirring until you believe everything is mixed, and then let it go back to simmering mode.

...REEEEEEEEEED? Nah - just awesome.

6.) Mix Pasta & Sauce As You See Fit
This will depend upon personal preferences. Are you someone who likes being light on sauce and adds a little? Or are you like me and you drown your noodles with tons of meaty and saucy awesomeness?

Of course, just to warn you: this sauce is very potent when it comes to flavor. Even a little will flavor a lot of noodles.

7.) ENJOY!

Mmm...! Itadakimasu!

I'll be frank: it's been so long since I've had this kind of spaghetti - probably around two years - I literally began foodgasming between bites one and three. If you were cooking along as well, your nose was probably going the same way.

Now, a word of caution - depending on how much spice you used (and whether or not you used a hot and spicy variant of tomato sauce and/or banana ketchup), the sauce will hover somewhere on a two-way "Spicy/Sweet" scale. Something like...

0 (Super-Sweet and Super-Delicious... and to some: Super-Pansy)
1
2
3
4
5 (The PERFECT Sauce - the right amount of sweetness and kick)
6
7
8
9
10 (White-Hot Intensity of a Thousand Suns)
11 (Some Rocker Hacked This Scale)

As I held back on the spices here (and used regular banana ketchup as opposed to the spicy kinds that exist), my finished produced ended up rating at a 1.5 on the above scale. While that made it tasty to everyone who tried it, I don't think they got the full experience. *marks on a notepad: "MOAR SRIRACHA"*

Also, as said already, the sauce will be very rich - you probably won't need that much to flavor the noodles, but if you're like me and you just love drenching you noodles, then by all means: go for it! Do what you will! (Cheese optional.)





Well, I sure hope you enjoy this. I sure know that my friends at work will. And I most definitely know that I will!

Until the 'morrow! *leaves for work*

Thirteenth To-Do List

Good afternoon, readers! Welcome to an early edition of The White Knight Chronicles! It's an early edition because... *checks watch* ...it's not even moonrise yet!

I'm sure some of you are wondering why in God's name am I posting an entry this bloody early in the afternoon. Well, while yesterday had absolutely nothing in the schedule, I actually have quite a bit of tasks and other (semi-menial) tasks to perform today. As a treat, I'll let you in on the list, because I know some of you like me enough that you'll unwittingly stalk follow my every move bloody stalk me and not tell me.

Internet-Spammed Legos

So much talking; so little time! Let's get on it!

And yes, the title references the three main topics for tonight's entry.

Breakfast Bagel Crumble

Ahh, Wednesday. A fine day of the week if I do say so myself. Let us bask in this particular "hump day" by looking at something elaborate and refined: cooking. Quite jolly fun this entry will be today, chaps.^[1]

*sips tea and dons a monocle*

Genomic Breakdown of June 27

Mind you, I'm not talking about DNA analysis of a creature's genome sequence. Rather, as the title indicates, I'll be talking about things that I considered as "important" for the day.

Of course, my interpretation of "important" varies all over the place.





CURRENT MUSIC:
Daisuke Ishiwatari - "Bullet Dance (Noel's Theme)"
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Original Soundtrack

Apparently listening to music from fighting or strategy games puts me in the zone when it comes to tactical analysis. As a portion of this blog is dedicated to my current analysis of JOSH BLANCO vs. THE WORLD, it would only make sense for me to play something like this. Surprisingly, I could actually see this being used in a custom strategy game soundtrack.

Of course, the fact that Noel Vermillion is my best character in the BlazBlue games helps, too. =P





Good day, readers! Or is it good evening? I started typing this around 1400 hours, but as you can see by the posting time, it's clearly no longer daytime Ah, well... depending on what time you're reading this, welcome to today's entry on The White Knight Chronicles.

Today's entry will consist of a myriad of topics. While it could be argued that doing so qualifies this as a "non sequitur" entry, I say otherwise - I planned on talking about this stuff (most - if not all - of it in lengthy detail) instead of just ranting about the first thing that enters my head.





Pacific Media Expo - THE Last Good Thing in November*

I mentioned earlier this month that I'd talk about this convention, and now I deliver.

At the Los Angeles Airport Hilton from Friday, November 11 to Sunday, November 13, a fun and rather entertaining convention will unfold - Pacific Media Expo.

Now, for those of you who don't know (which is just about everyone who currently reads this), Pacific Media Expo is a convention that focuses on and promotes the Pacific Rim's entertainment industries to us Americans. Various things are showcased, such as music (bands and artists), movies (and not just K-Dramas), fashion designers, art, cuisine and - of course - (Japanese) animation. (To those of you who know of Anime Expo, think of that - except smaller, friendlier and not primarily focused on just Japanese anime.)

For the past three years I've gone to PMX and staffed as part of the security team. It's been a joyous experience each time, and when we begin the convention on November 11, I'll be doing the same thing again - watching over the con, peace-bonding weapon props, helping the attendees around places, making sure the hardly-rowdy crowds don't go berserk and swarm any guests of honor... that sort of thing.

Now, why does it seem like I'm attempting to advertise a seemingly-geeky convention to you all when a decent number of you aren't actual geeks of any kind (as far as the world knows of, at least)? Well, a few reasons.

One: It's a fun three-day weekend that showcases the Pacific Rim's varied entertainment industry to the people who already like this stuff and to the average American alike. More often than not we end making attendees out of travelers with loads of downtime or relatives of con-goers who end up curious as to what the hullabaloo is all about. With the exception of my first year at PMX (2008), I always make it a goal for me to drag invite someone who would normally never venture into a convention like this to come with me and help staff the security team. They end up having a great time and end up wanting to come back (which is great - every person helps!).

Two: COSPLAYERS. As I said before, PMX isn't focused on just Japanese anime. As such, people have cosplayed as things I wouldn't expect to see at other normal conventions. Case in point:

Yes, that's me with our current President. No, I'm not affiliated with any political party. 

Three: ...I've pretty much covered the basics, so I'll just hit you with a photo montage of shots I took in previous cons. Hehehe!

American animation, anyone? PMX previously had Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, creators of the famed Avatar: The Last Airbender series, as guests of honor.
As such, it's not uncommon to see an A:TLA cosplayer in PMX. Toph Bei Fong proves my point here.

Of course there has to be cosplayers from all walks of life - video games included.
Here we got an Engineer and a Soldier from Valve's famous Team Fortress 2.

Sadly, working in security means I have to keep on alert to make sure our attendees are safe.
Between this Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill games threatening to make every time "raping time..."

...a crazy schoolgirl name Sakura throwing a hadouken at Ryu...
(Yay, Street Fighter cosplay!)

...and G.I. Joe's infamous Cobra Commander trying to recruit more peons...

...I'm always busy.
That's me to the left, "subduing" someone... and yes, that's a plasma rifle from the Halo games.

I said cuisine was present. And yes, Pocky counts as cuisine - especially if there's an all-you-can-eat Pocky bar...

...presented in a room designed as a maid café.

That, or you could go outside for the most epic fusion food ever: the Kogi Truck!

So, if this segment has piqued your interest in checking out Pacific Media Expo 2011, follow this link to the site and learn some more! Hell, ask me stuff about it - or better yet, register to go! I promise you that you'll have a grand time.

* = "'THE Last Good Thing?' Josh, are you smoking? What about Thanksgiving?" I hear some of you ask. Well, as I work in retail, Thanksgiving always heralds Black Friday here in the U.S. and Canada. Not a fun day - especially if a friend decides to collect on a favor you owe them on that day.





Following the Footprints - The Life of a Cosplaying Genome Soldier

(Author's Note: If you took off "Cosplaying" from the title you'd be left with "Following the Footprints - The Life of a Genome Soldier" - which I think makes for a great mockumentary video title. Oh, and DIBS.)

After much deliberation on what I'd dress up as for PMX, I ultimately decided on an idea that I've always wanted to do after I discovered cosplaying:

"Huh? What was that noise?"

...the Genome Soldier (Arctic Warfare variant) from Metal Gear Solid. More details to come soon as I begin the process of getting this costume made!





JOSH BLANCO vs. THE WORLD - Turn 2: Folly or Feint?

(Author's Note: Remember that all moves reported here are from my perspective. Commentary is from my point of view and therefore might be represented differently than what someone else might say. Also, knowledge of algebraic notation is highly recommended to further understand the moves and tactics that'll follow.)

Barring a near-week-long "hiatus" (more like "lack of participation") from the World Team, they responded, and now gameplay looks like this:

(position after the World Team's surprising 2...a6?!)

1.e4 b5?
2.d4 a6?!

While any chess master will be wondering what the hell the World Team is thinking, I for one am actually concerned about this. From a strategic standpoint, most decent chess players will see the following:

- Black has zero central control and has hampered future advancement of their stronger pieces. While moving the a-file pawn like that prevents White's kingside bishop from either developing properly or pulling off 3.Bxb5, it does nothing to impede White's advancing pawns.

- White on the other hand now has direct control of the middle and is capable of developing the queenside bishop and queen at any given time.

Now, in terms of development it can easily be said that White has a major advantage. From my standpoint the best move I could make would be 3.d5, which prevents 3...c6, 3...c5 or 3...Nc6. Theoretically, the World Team could opt to play one of the first two maneuvers*, but if so, then the game would look something like 4.dxc6 dxc6, resulting in...

(after 3.d5 c6 4. dxc6 dxc6)

...a giant mess that ends up giving Black a bit of an advantage. White is now left with the quandary of a potential queen exchange. Accepting this (with 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 negates Black's right to castle, but at the same time hampers White's offensive capabilities by forcing them to develop on the kingside (assuming they want relative safety). Conversely, White may opt to keep their queen by evading diagonally (which gives Black tempo) or goading Black into making the exchange first by 5.Qd3.

* = Playing 3...Nc6? 4.dxc6 dxc6 puts Black materially behind and with doubled pawns on the c-file. Ostensibly it looks like a decent tradeoff (as Black now has domineering control of the queenside), but the negatives as explained above don't seem to be worth it...

Of course, Black could ignore those three moves and instead reply with 3...e6, finally beginning the fight for the center and threatening White's current reign. Advancing with 4.d6? gives Black a free pawn while 4.dxe6 ends up with 4...dxe6 (resulting in the potential queen exchange scenario described above) or 4...fxe6, taunting White to follow up with 5.Qh5+? g6 and lose tempo in the process.

(position after 5...g6 - White loses tempo)

3.e5 would seem more logical, but the resulting possibility of 3...d6 4.exd6 cxd6 allows Black to begin fighting for the center and to begin a potentially nasty counteroffensive.

I might go ahead and advance one of my pawns anyway, but my mind is screaming at me not to. I wonder what could result with my third move. Regardless of my choice, it would seem that I hold the upper hand in the game so far. Despite this, I have but one question that's haunting me at the moment: does the World Team not even give a damn about their detrimental predicament, or are they gambling on my recklessness and overconfidence to show up and force me to blunder?





Food - Of Melted British Heartiness

So I decided that my mini-project of the day would be to experiment on cooking something. After a half-hour of cycling through the recipes I had in Personal Trainer: Cooking and America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking (both games for the Nintendo DS), I settled on trying to make my own variant of Welsh rarebit. Common procedure is to melt a bunch of cheese (usually Cheddar) into a sauce, mix it with whatever blend of herbs and spices desired (typically a dash of pepper), put the mixture on partially-toasted bread, allow said bread to finish toasting and then top off the finished product with Worcestershire sauce and parsley.

I followed that general recipe, except I pre-buttered the bread, and tossed in some Monterey Jack and some Sriracha* into the cheese sauce. What resulted was a fugue of cheese flavor that felt... wow. I threw a pinch of flour into the sauce and the resulting cheese sauce was a tad grainy and yet creamy at the same time - perfect for spreading the concoction onto the partially-toasted bread! The Sriracha also provided a kick to my taste buds that magically didn't overwhelm the cheese or the Worcestershire sauce.

TL;DR: It was tasty.

The food connoisseur in me was heartily impressed - British cuisine has been known to be no-nonsense, heavy and tasty all at once. Examples can be seen with bangers and mash, fish and chips and - now added to my proven repertoire - Welsh rarebit.

If only I had taken pictures...

* = Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal could not have expressed my love for Sriracha any better...





Well, I certainly hope that you enjoyed reading this entry as much as I enjoyed writing it. I will see you all tomorrow with another post and another... farewell. *shrugs*

(Author's Note: Talk about last-second, eh?)