Onigiri

  I got to level 20 today. And I've run Shadowfang Keep twice now. I'm not gonna lie, it's way more challenging than I remember. However the necessity of our classes' crowd control spells is refreshing. The last time I ran anything in WoW while I was still subscribed, we would just faceroll through the dungeon like it was nothing. It became boring. People were always in a rush to get them finished, and you just stood around waiting for the Dungeon Finder to queue you in. Even though it's convenient, it negates a lot of the mmorpg values in that you have to go out and do things, lol. Challenging things, and earn your way up with skill and patience so that when you finally achieve it, it means something. Instead, they made everything easy to achieve and implemented the 'achievement' mechanism that XBox Live has so it gave people a false sense of accomplishment over mostly trivial things.

ANYWAY ... it's great to have to pay attention and work together again. I had to sheep and pay attention to my focus target. And keep him cc'd. And decurse! haha I haven't had to decurse in so long. ^_^

Today also I worked some more on my commission piece. These are special because
1. I've never made one before
2. It's a super detailed piece
3. I have to make two

I was working on them for a few hours today, took a break and then experimented with more shapes so it'd look right. I'll have them done by tomorrow. Never again, haha.

I feel so fancy sitting here. Rot made me a screwdriver. What an influence he is! lol.

Also today I went ahead and attempted to make some onigiri - or rice balls. It was fun! Messy, but fun.

It was definitely tricky at the start. I saw a tutorial on youtube a long time ago on how to make em, and they seemed simple enough but phew! If you don't have it down right, you end up with a huge mess XD. When making these, water is your best friend!

That bowl has salted water in it. The white stuff is all the rice that fell off my hands when I'd wet them again.

Man... I wish I had recorded it. Basically you have to keep your hands wet with salted water so that the rice sticks even more. You take a little ball of rice in the palm of your hand and dig a little hole that you stuff with whatever you want in it. I chose salmon. Not a lot though, or you're gonna have a bad time. Then take some more rice, a little more than what you already have in your hand, and cup it over the stuffed rice. Immediately start molding it together or you're gonna have a bad time. The shit will spill and stick everywhere. Sprinkle water, and keep your hands kinda wet.
If the rice is still warm, it'll fall apart easier, so let it cool off first before doing much. I learned this the hard way.

Wrapping them with nori was... interesting lol. I didn't know wtf I was doing so I just did it however, and as long as it wrapped it all, it worked for me. haha

Again, water. Water, water, water.
The nori is dry and flakey when it's in the package. It becomes soft and flexible, almost rubbery, when it's saturated. The rice sticks to it as soon as they touch so keep a neat work space, lol, and wrap that shit!

 They're so yummy! I had one as soon as I finished and they're really good. The nori really gives a lot of flavor. And they're great snacks! I was able to make 8 with 3 cups of rice, and I also have some left-over salmon for sandwiches and such.
Later it occurred to me that they would be so much better with avocado. Next time!
Rot and Josh didn't seem interested in trying them. Oh well. That just means more for me! ^_^

This week I may be back in Little Tokyo. DnD guy asked when we could go again, and it just so happens we have the same day off, so woohoo! More Ramen and boba for meeeee! ^_^ His equally nerdy bff just moved here from Virginia (I think?) and it calls for LT time. I'm excited, should be great fun ^_^


Also, for anyone that's interested in the server I play WoW on *ahem xp black os user who's name shall not be mentioned* http://www.emeralddream.com/guide/windows go there and do what it says. It's about 5 gigs. Super easy.