Getting to Know You ... December Edition

[Pezler the Polychromatic]

2 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Wednesday, December 27th: 

 

What is something significant that you want to do in life that you have not yet done? 

What is something very small that you want to do... just because? (Can be as simple as "eat an entire block of cheese in a sitting"). Quest: Go do that very small thing. Today. 

Right now I need to clean up my paint station. Working on it now.

[Dai-Mongar]

Well, I kind of did the thing. We ended up having a bottle each. Whoo wild night in the Mongar household! 

[NebulousMissy]

4 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Wednesday, December 27th: 

 

What is something significant that you want to do in life that you have not yet done? 

What is something very small that you want to do... just because? (Can be as simple as "eat an entire block of cheese in a sitting"). Quest: Go do that very small thing. Today. 

 

I want to get a publishable novel written and actually published. Not just small unconnected stories, not just commissions, not posted under a pseudonym, not just ghostwriting stuff. An actual novel under my actual name.

 

As for small things? I should take pics of the new computer I finally got running! So you can all see its Imperial Red evilness.

[Glitterwolf]

5 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Wednesday, December 27th: 

 

What is something significant that you want to do in life that you have not yet done? 

What is something very small that you want to do... just because? (Can be as simple as "eat an entire block of cheese in a sitting"). Quest: Go do that very small thing. Today. 

 

Become so filthy rich that I can actually buy the rainforest, then put an enormous wall around it and an army to protect it from all of humanity.

 

Rearrange my paints and relabel the ones which labels are faded.

Will do that today!

[Ash Adler]

6 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Wednesday, December 27th: 

 

What is something significant that you want to do in life that you have not yet done? 

What is something very small that you want to do... just because? (Can be as simple as "eat an entire block of cheese in a sitting"). Quest: Go do that very small thing. Today. 

Something significant that I haven't done yet: For as long as I can remember having any opinions about calisthenic-related stuff (i.e. from back when I didn't even know that term and just thought of them as cool things that athletic people could do ), the three movements that always stood out to me as being remarkably awesome displays of physical prowess were one-armed pull ups, freestanding handstand push ups, and standing front flips.  When I started to really get into working out some years ago, I did a bit of research into building towards doing those as a long-term goal.  I've made enough progress that I feel confident about actually having the potential to do them (as opposed to when I'd started out as someone who couldn't do a single regular pull up and who got dizzy from trying to do a simple tucked tripod headstand with my knees resting on my elbows ), though there's still a long way to go.

 

Something very small that I want to do: After making my xmas gift minis, I felt bad about not having done anything for basing them, so I've been scouring the internet for tips and tutorials on basing.  Today, I will go out and buy some materials to start doing that.

[Rahz]

9 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Wednesday, December 27th: 

 

What is something significant that you want to do in life that you have not yet done? 

What is something very small that you want to do... just because? (Can be as simple as "eat an entire block of cheese in a sitting"). Quest: Go do that very small thing. Today. 

Significant: finish my degree...  maybe one day...  

Minor: cross the Equator.  I've traveled the Norther Hemisphere very extensively but have yet to go South.  

[Evilhalfling]

9 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Wednesday, December 27th: 

 

What is something significant that you want to do in life that you have not yet done? 

What is something very small that you want to do... just because? (Can be as simple as "eat an entire block of cheese in a sitting"). Quest: Go do that very small thing. Today. 

 

1.  Write a novel I want to share/publish. 

 

2.  take my end of year pictures of everything painted.  TWO big projects are still unfinished - my secret sophie diorama and Kingdom Death phoenix.  the diorama may be possible to finish in the 3 painting days I have let this year, I won't even be close on the bird. 

 

[Zink]

On 12/24/2017 at 11:23 PM, Cyradis said:

Monday, December 25th: 

 

What are you going to do today, or have done already this day, to make other people happy? 

 

Went to the city to visit friends on Christmas EVe and Christmas day even though I was sick and would rather have stayed home and visited my mother. It was fun but I'm still not sure it was worth dragging me and a couple sick kids around.

 

On 12/26/2017 at 12:12 AM, Cyradis said:

Tuesday, December 26th:

Did you give or receive any prank gifts this year? 

 

ALSO! Does anyone want to take over as Questioner for me, come the new year? 

 

 

I don't do pranks. Most of the people I know don't take being pranked well and it can escalate in to nastiness easily. But I have a story of my one great prank from a very long time ago. Somehow my dad and I ended up in possession of a red knitted bikini while I was still in high school. My brother had just finished university and gotten engaged. He brought his fiance home for Christmas. Dad had the idea that we needed to give the fiance the bikini but maybe it was best if she didn't think it was from us. My handwriting is almost identical to my brother's so we wrote a romantic Christmas card and suck it to the present. Christmas Eve the whole family is together and we're opening presents. She reads the card and thought it was sweet then she opened the present. She's a red head and she was so embarrassed she looked like she'd explode. She tore into my brother about how could he give her something like that in front of people she barely knew. He was denying everything but she didn't believe because it was his hand writing.

 

9 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Wednesday, December 27th: 

 

What is something significant that you want to do in life that you have not yet done? 

What is something very small that you want to do... just because? (Can be as simple as "eat an entire block of cheese in a sitting"). Quest: Go do that very small thing. Today. 

 

I've been lucky enough to do a lot of things that I really wanted to. Still lots on the list mostly travelling. I've got simple wants and needs and for the most part they're fulfilled although newer and nicer wouldn't be bad. For small thing I want to spend a bunch of time playing with my kids while they're off school. They want to do video games with me and I want to do boardgames and hobby stuff with them.

[aku-chan]

10 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Wednesday, December 27th: 

 

What is something significant that you want to do in life that you have not yet done? 

What is something very small that you want to do... just because? (Can be as simple as "eat an entire block of cheese in a sitting"). Quest: Go do that very small thing. Today. 

 

Significant - I'd like to travel a bit more, see a rainforest before they're all gone.

 

Small - I'd like to start painting one of the minis I got for Christmas.

 

Quest - *Brushes all half-done minis off the painting table* Okey Dokey!

[Inarah]

11 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Wednesday, December 27th: 

 

What is something significant that you want to do in life that you have not yet done? 

What is something very small that you want to do... just because? (Can be as simple as "eat an entire block of cheese in a sitting"). Quest: Go do that very small thing. Today. 

 

I would like to experience some of the great historic sites in the middle east and egypt. And maybe some in asia. I may be able to fit in one of those grand adventures in my remaining lifetime.

 

Today... I walked. Two steps to pick up clothes and two steps back without an assistive device.  

[Dr.Bedlam]

Live long enough to see [political content redacted] and sanity return to the land.

[Cyradis]

Thursday, December 28th: 

 

If you had to eat a single meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? Describe in detail so that we may all drool a bit. 

[Glitterwolf]

2 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Thursday, December 28th: 

 

If you had to eat a single meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? Describe in detail so that we may all drool a bit. 

 

One single meal would become tiresome anyway.

So to cheat a little and have some diversity ....

 

Indonesian Rice Table.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijsttafel

 

[Ash Adler]

6 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Thursday, December 28th: 

 

If you had to eat a single meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? Describe in detail so that we may all drool a bit. 

Oh, I'll have some fun answering this one

 

Usually, I prefer to stick with fairly simple meals, because I'm eating home-cooked stuff 95+% of the time and prefer to put the effort into the eating rather than the cooking.  For that matter, even when I do happen to go out, I still tend to stick to simple things so that I have a better idea of what's actually in the food.  That said, one thing that I used to make an exception to all of that for was the Turkish dish "iskender".  Imagine a large plate, covered with a layer of chopped up pita bread.  On top of that, add a layer of lamb, cooked to the point where it's soft enough to almost come apart on its own, cut into bite-sized pieces.  Then, slather the whole thing with a concoction of spiced tomato sauce, yogurt, and melted butter.  The combination is a masterwork of decadent delight, well capable of being a complete meal by itself.

 

I don't eat this anymore, since my body would react poorly to parts of it (mainly the pita pieces).

 

When I went to Mexico for the first time (around 2008 or 2009, I think), I'd thought that I didn't like avocados.  As it turns out, I just hadn't had good avocados before, because I enjoyed eating them quite a bit while I was there and have since made them a common addition to my meals (an immersion blender makes for some very easy creamy guacamole, and they're a simple way to add some body to a salad or other light veggie item).  One of my favorite Mexican dishes that got me into liking avocados was "chilaquiles".  Imagine a large plate once again, except now it's covered with a layer of chopped up tortilla.  On top of that, add strips of pulled chicken.  Then, dress it all with a topping of green salsa, shredded cheese, avocado slices, and some jalapeno pepper rings.  It doesn't have quite the fatty heaviness of iskender, but it maintains a lot of the core feel of it while adding a lovely punch of spice.

 

I don't eat this anymore either, for the same reason (tortilla being the main culprit this time).

 

However, I'd enjoyed both of these so much that, after I'd shifted around to following a grain-free diet because of how much it improved my quality of life, I kept it in mind to try developing some variant based on the combination of those two dishes that I could still eat without problems.  Thus do I present you with the following:

 

Once again, start by imagining a large plate.  This time, there's a layer of pieces of something that looks similar to pita bread, except it's a bit thicker and has more of a toasted tan look despite still being soft, with a very neutral earthy flavor that has just a hint of a little sweetness to it.  Before it was cut into pieces, this was an oven-baked flatbread made from yucca dough.  On top of it, there are bite-sized cuts of lean beef, cooked such that they're soft and fairly dripping with juicy goodness.  All of this is further topped with a two-part sauce mixture.  First, there's vibrant red salsa made with diced tomato, garlic, oregano, and basil.  Joining it in harmony is a deep green cream containing avocado, garlic, finely diced Thai chili peppers, onion, and lime juice.  It all pulls together in a way that leaves every mouthful balancing spiciness with enough touches of sweet and sour tang to enhance the flavor, yet that's all just a garnish underscoring the fulfilling richness of the meat and bread.

 

And, of course, since the question was for a meal rather than for a single dish, there would have to also be a dessert course of orange chocolate heresy cake (this is a thick-bodied, almost brownie-consistency cake with dark chocolate, ripe plantain, and orange).

[TaleSpinner]

 

I can't even...the horror!!!