Author: Erik

A Neufchatel Hope

Erik

We start on the original trilogy with this Tatooine-orange pumpkin cheesecake which uses neufchatel cheese in place of cream cheese.

A Neuchatel Hope

 

 

 

Crust

Ingredients

  • 6 oz. butter
  • 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch of salt

Melt the butter.

Mix the crumbs, almond meal, cinnamon, and salt. Add butter and mix thoroughly.

Spread the mixture in a buttered pie pan an pat out evenly.

Bake at 350 F / 175 C for 10 minutes or until the crust is set

Filling

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 1 pound neufchatel cheese
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup roasted pumpkin puree

You can use canned pumpkin or roast your own. To roast, split a pumpkin into two halves from top to bottom and scoop out the seeds. Lay both halves inner side down in a broad shallow pan with just enough water to cover the bottom and roast at 400 F / 200 C for 1-2 hours or until the flesh of the pumpkin comes away from the skin easily. Roasted pumpkin freezes well and what you don’t use for this cheesecake you can save for the future.

Mix brown sugar and spices in a small bowl.

Beat the neufchatel cheese in a large bowl until smooth.  Add the sugar mixture and beat until well mixed.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat well, scraping the sides of the bowl well after each addition.

Add the pumpkin and beat well.

Put a pan of water in the oven to moisten the air while the cheesecake cooks.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake at 350 F / 175 C for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 325 F / 160 C for another 10 minutes.

Let the cheesecake sit until well cooled.

 

Image by Eppu Jensen

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

 

Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Episode IV

Erik

Our Star Wars rewatch dives into the original trilogy with Episode IV – A New Hope.

1. Best Fight

Eppu: Escaping the Death Star, Han and Luke at Millennium Falcon’s guns face off four T.I.E. fighters.

Erik: Han’s running battle with stormtroopers in the corridors of the Death Star. It gives you a real sense of Han’s fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants character.

2. Best Line

Erik: “Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?” Obi-Wan shutting up Han.

"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"Eppu: It’s a tie between “That’s no moon. It’s a space station,” so memorably delivered by Alec Guinness, and “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” by Leia, said from her Death Star cell to Luke who was about to rescue her.

3. Best Minor Character

Eppu: Lt. Pol Treidum, the Imperial gantry officer who almost discovers Luke and Han in their stormtrooper disguises (he’s the one who says “TK-421, why aren’t you at your post? TK-421, do you copy?”). He’s such an efficient problem-solver that any operation should be glad to have him. What does he get for his troubles? Whacked on his head by Chewbacca; poor thing.

Erik: Aunt Beru. She’s the one who really understands Luke and who gets why he doesn’t want to stay on Tatooine and be a moisture farmer.

4. Best Reveal

Erik: Luke can still hear Obi-Wan even when Obi-Wan is gone. Episode IV is tantalizingly vague about just what the Force is and what it can do, but when Luke hears Obi-Wan’s voice, it’s clear that there is something real and powerful to this “ancient religion.”

Eppu: Ben Kenobi = Obi-Wan Kenobi. Such nostalgia.

5. Best Save

Eppu: At the end, during the rebels’ last attack run on the death Star, Han blasts Vader’s T.I.E. fighter so that Luke can take his shot.

Erik: When Leia grabs a gun and blasts open an escape route from the detention block. Just because she’s a princess who needs rescuing doesn’t mean she won’t step up and get blasting once she gets a chance.

6. Best Visual

151203DSMFErik: The Millennium Falcon being tractored into the Death Star docking bay. You really feel just how massive the Death Star is.

Eppu: The first four rebel X-wings in a line pivoting and diving down towards the surface of the Death Star trench to start their attack run. A clumsy and slow special effect by today’s standards, but nostalgia!

Extra: Best Nostalgia moment

Eppu: The beginning scroll with John Williams’s theme! Also, Vader’s looooong ship pursuing Leia’s in the very beginning.

Erik: Han on the radio trying to cover for their jailbreak. It’s just as funny today as the first time I saw the movie.

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Images: “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” via Little Pink Stormtrooper on reddit. Millennium Falcon and Death Star via st-v-sw.net. “We’re all fine here now” via mama loves tech

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

Fantasy Religions: Interacting With the Divine

Erik1 Comment

151130sacrificeIn the previous installment in the fantasy religions series, we looked at how people following traditional religious customs often perceive the divine around them in physical, tangible forms. Today we turn to the question: how do you interact with such divine forces?

There’s an old joke that says a young man went to his priest one day and declared: “I’m an atheist! I don’t believe in god!” And the priest replied: “Do you think He cares?”

It’s a good joke, but in the doctrines of Christianity, as in the other modern monotheisms, Judaism and Islam, belief matters a great deal. Believing in a god and a certain set of ideas about that god and humanity’s relationship to him/her/it is what defines membership in the religions we are most familiar with in the modern west. Not that everyone is in lockstep about their beliefs: modern religions can have enormous debates about what to believe, but belief is still at the center.

In most traditional religions, belief is a non-issue. As we saw before, peoples following traditional religions see the divine presence in the physical world in a literal, not metaphysical way. To an ancient Gaul, Belenus was not just the god of the sun, the sun itself was Belenus. To say to an ancient Gaul: “I don’t believe in Belenus” would be like saying: “I don’t believe in the sun.” Their response would probably not be: “Do you think he cares?” but: “Well, what do you think is shining on you, idiot?” There were no professions of belief in traditional religions, no creeds or catechisms, no inquisitions or doctrinal schisms.

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Revenge of the Crisp

Erik

Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but this apple crisp is best enjoyed warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Revenge of the Crisp

Ingredients

  • 5 apples (I recommend Cortlands, but any variety you like will do)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup oatmeal
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter

Butter a baking dish

Core, peel, and dice the apples

Toss the apple pieces with the spices and salt, then place in the dish

Combine the flour, oatmeal, and sugar; cut the butter into the mixture until it forms fine crumbs

Spread the butter crumb mixture over the apples

Bake at 350 F / 175 C for 40 mintues

 

Image by Eppu Jensen

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Episode III

Erik

The rewatch continues with Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

1. Best Fight

Eppu: The first part of the Obi-Wan vs. Anakin fight on Mustafa. The second part (after they leave the facility and fight outside) doesn’t work for me; it’s too prolonged.

Erik: Yoda vs. Darth Sidious in the Senate chamber.  Ian MacDiarmid’s performance as Palpatine is nicely subtle and nuanced. As Sidious, he chews the scenery up one side and down the other and it’s glorious.

2. Best Line

Erik: Palpatine: “Good is a point of view.” One of the most chilling hints we get in this movie that the difference between the Jedi and the Sith is not so great as we might have thought.

Jedimaster Tumblr Another Happy LandingEppu: “Another happy landing.” Obi-Wan after crash landing the droid cruiser that “kidnapped” Palpatine was kept on. Ewan McGregor’s delivery retains just a little of a young man’s cockiness that he’s not supposed to have as a Jedi master.

3. Best Minor Character

Eppu: Well, there weren’t that many minor characters (with lines) in this movie. It’ll have to be Senator Organa.

151126CodyErik: Commander Cody. He has a nice bantering relationship with Obi-Wan, before the whole Order 66 thing happens.

4. Best Reveal

Erik: When the clones start attack the Jedi. We knew it was going to happen, but it’s still shocking how easily they switch sides.

Eppu: Palpatine so callously trading Dooku in for a younger apprentice. The expression on Dooku’s face was of such shock, there’s no way he saw it coming, which means Palpatine’s successfully played him for years if not decades. This man clearly would sacrifice anything and anyone to get where he wants, in case anyone was still wondering.

5. Best Save

Eppu: Again, Obi-Wan and Anakin crash landing the droid cruiser that “kidnapped” Palpatine was kept on. How epic is that!

Erik: When Yoda kills the clones who were coming to Order-66 him. You don’t get to be head of the Jedi council by collecting box tops.

6. Best Visual

151126templeErik: Anakin/Vader entering the Jedi temple with clone troops behind him. One of the few times that Hayden Christensen actually managed to be as menacing as the character was supposed to be.

Eppu: In the very beginning, two one-man fighters rotate around a cruiser and reveal a huge space battle over Coruscant. Of course, there’s no sound in space, but the hand-waved-let’s-pretend-there-is sound design worked so seamlessly with the visual that I’m willing to forgive it – just this once.

Extra: Best Foreshadowing

Eppu: Visibly pregnant Padmé in a completely black outfit after Obi-Wan left Coruscant to go after Grievous and Anakin came to see her. Easy to miss its significance, because Padmé has worn navy blue or other dark-colored dresses before. Of course we know what her fate’s going to be, but it’s a nice reflection of the future in a visual form.

Erik: Palpatine in the chair on the droid command ship, ready to sacrifice one apprentice in order to gain another. Comparing this scene with its echo in Return of the Jedi says so much about the difference between Anakin and Luke.

Images: Another happy landing via The Jedi Master. Commander Cody via Jedi Temple Archives. Attack on Jedi Temple via Wookiepedia

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

Serpent Mound

Erik

Serpent Mound, located in Ohio in the United States, is an enormous earthwork built on a grassy plateau above Ohio Brush Creek. It is one of many large earthworks in North America, but it is unusual in representing an image when seen from above. This image has been interpreted as a snake swallowing an egg.

151123Serpent
Serpent Mound, photograph by Eric Ewing via Wikimedia

The date of construction is uncertain, but recent research suggests that Serpent Mound was created in the last few centuries CE when the river valleys west of the central Appalachian Mountains were occupied by a people known to modern archaeologists as the Adena culture. We have no way of knowing what they called themselves. The Adena were a sophisticated culture at the center of a trade network stretching north beyond the Great Lakes south to the Gulf of Mexico. One of the distinctive features of their culture was the construction of large earthworks, many of which served funerary purposes, but may also have marked ceremonial centers or areas for gathering and trade.

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Attack of the Scones

Erik

For the second of our Star Wars rewatches, I made cranberry scones—great with a little blackberry jam.

Attack of the Scones

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 9 tablespoons cold butter
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk
  • splash of vanilla

Soak cranberries in juice or water for an hour to plump

Cut the dry ingredients into the butter until it forms fine crumbs

Add the egg and wet ingredients and mix just to combine

Turn out on a floured surface and knead briefly

Shape into a circle 1 inch thick and cut into wedges

Bake at 450 F / 230 C for 10 minutes

 

Image by Eppu Jensen

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Episode II

Erik

The rewatch continues with Episode II—Attack of the Clones.

1. Best Fight

Eppu: Obi-Wan and Jango Fett on Kamino. It’s cool to have an encounter where a bounty hunter uses their wits and gear to successfully counter the skills of a Jedi, and takes advantage of the various structures on the landing platform (and the sides of the buildings!) during the fight.

151119JediErik: The Jedi vs. the battle droids in the Geonosian arena. The first time we’ve ever gotten to see Jedi in mass combat.

2. Best Line

Erik: “Life seems so much simpler when you’re fixing things.” Anakin in the Lars homestead garage on Tatooine. This line sums up so much about Anakin’s arc as a tragic hero. He wants to fix the world, and the dark side seems like the simplest way of doing it.

Eppu: “Jar-Jar, I don’t wish to hold you up. I’m sure you have a great deal to do.” Amidala’s the only one anywhere, ever, to tell Jar-Jar to shut up!

3. Best Minor Character

Eppu: Taun We on Kamino because of her(?) picture perfect professionalism.

Erik: Lama Su, prime minister of Kamino. Both the animation and the voice work are just a little unnerving without ever being overtly threatening. Excellently done.

4. Best Reveal

Erik: The strains of the “Imperial March” sliding into the soundtrack as the clones assemble. Just a few notes can say so much.

Eppu: This is a little meta, but: Christopher Lee in the movie!

5. Best Save

Jeditemplearchives Padme Geonosis Pillar

Eppu: Padmé climbing on top of the pillar in the Geonosis arena prior to some aggressive negotiations. That’s a tough senator!

Erik: Yoda and the clone troops landing in the Geonosian arena in the nick of time.

6. Best Visual

Star Wars Approaching Coruscant

Erik: Senator Amidala’s ship approaching Coruscant at the beginning of the movie. Such a gorgeous ship and planet.

Eppu: Agreed so much!

Extra: Best Foot in Mouth

Eppu: “So have you. Grown more beautiful, I mean. Well, f-for a senator, I mean.” Anakin to Padmé in response to her comment “My goodness, you’ve grown.” Fortunately Anakin’s manner improves after, otherwise we might not have had the romance that gave us Luke and Leia.

Erik: “Meesa acecpt this with mooie mooie humility and, uh…” Jar-Jar Binks, Destroyer of the Galactic Republic

Images: Jedi vs. droids via StarWars.com. Padmé on Geonosis via JediTempleArchives.com. Coruscant via StarWars.com

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

The “Sheer Dumb Luck” Table

Erik

150910rpg

Sometimes the tools you use the most are the simplest ones. This is one of the simplest things in my arsenal when I run a role-playing game, but I use it all the time.

Your players will often ask you questions that you didn’t think of ahead of time. Is the guard wearing gloves? Are there any pine cones lying around? Does this planet have any beryllium deposits near the surface?

Of course, if it matters to the adventure whether or not the guard is wearing gloves, then you have your answer and you go with it, but often either yes or no will do, you just have to pick one. It can be exhausting to always be having to decide, so you can just flip a coin, but not everything in the world is a fifty-fifty chance. If you’ve already established that it’s a cold night, the chances that the guard is wearing gloves are pretty high.

That’s where the table comes in, which, in honor of my favorite Harry Potter character, I have dubbed: The “Sheer Dumb Luck” table.

150922luck

Simply pick the descriptor on the list that sounds right for whatever your players asked and roll 3d6. Is the guard wearing gloves? Very likely. Are there any pine cones? Somewhat likely. Any beryllium? Virtually impossible. If you roll equal to or under the number given, the answer is yes. If higher, no.

  • 4–Virtually impossible
  • 6–Very unlikely
  • 8–Unlikely
  • 10–Fifty/fifty
  • 11–Somewhat likely
  • 12–Likely
  • 14–Very likely
  • 15–Virtually certain

And the best thing about this table: sometimes, once you’ve rolled, you realize that the opposite answer is actually better. One way or another, you’ve answered the question and the adventure can keep rolling.

Like everything, it’s a tool, not a rule. Not everyone likes to leave as much up to chance in an adventure as I do. Use it if it helps, ignore it if it doesn’t.

Images: Books and dice by Erik Jensen; “Five points…” via rosereturns.tumblr.com

Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.

Travel: Some Basics

Erik

151116caravanWhether it’s carrying the One Ring to Mount Doom or sailing the Azure Sea, travel is an important part of a lot of fantasy stories and games. For those of us more accustomed to traveling by car, train, bus, and plane than by foot, horse, oxcart, or galleon, this poses a lot of practical problems. How far can your characters travel in a day? How long will it take them to get from point A to point B? And what do they need in order to make the journey successfully?

This is the introduction to a History for Writers series that looks at the evidence of history to help provide practical answers to your questions about travel in the pre-modern world. We’ll look at a few basic issues today. In future installments we’ll examine specific modes of travel, terrains, and problems.

Note that what we’re discussing here is based on real-world history, so it applies only to the extent that your world resembles historical conditions. If your characters travel by foot, horse, and sail, much of the information here will be directly applicable. If they have teleportation and magic carpets, adjust accordingly.

Here are a few basic issues that apply to just about any kind of travel in a pre-industrial world:

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