Red stroganoff

Ingredients:
4 8oz rib-eye steaks, seasoned with salt and black pepper
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 cups small button mushrooms
2 cups sliced onion
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dry sherry
1.5 cups low-sodium beff broth
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
1) Saute steaks in oil over medium-high heat about four minutes per side for rare (or to desired doneness). Remove and keep warm.

2) Add mushrooms to pan and saute three minutes. Stir in onion and cook three minutes more. Stir in garlic and tomato paste and cook one minute. Sprinkle with flour; cook one minute.

3) Deglaze the pan with sherry, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add broth and Worcestershire; simmer until thickened, three minutes.

4) Off heat, stir in sour cream. Pour sauce over the steaks, then garnish with parsley. Serve with asparagus.

Roasted Asparagus
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. shredded Parmesan
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2) Toss asparagus with oil, salt and pepper, place on a baking sheet and roast 7 minutes.
3) Sprinkle asparagus with Parmesan and lemon juice before serving.

Stovetop Bulgogi
The secret to browning the meat while stir-frying is to let the excess marinade drip back into the bowl before cooking it over high heat.

To Whisk:
3 Tbsp. each rice vinegar, soy sauce, and brown sugar
1 Tbsp. each minced fresh ginger and garlic
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 lb sirloin steak, trimmed, thinly sliced

To Heat: 2 Tbsp. canola oil

1) Whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and cornstarch together in a bowl. Add the steak strips and toss to coat; set aside 20 minutes, tossing frequently with tongs.

2) Heat canola oil in a nonstick skillet over high. Remove the steak from the bowl and let the excess marinade drip back down (I hold it above the bowl with tongs.) Stir fry the steak in small batches (2-3 total), 2-3 minutes per batch, until the steak is browned on all sides. Transfer to a large plate as pieces finish.

3) Serve with rice.

Makes 6 servings
191 kcl
12g total fat (3g sat)
37mg cholesterol
235mg sodium
7g carb
0g fiber
14g protein

Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist :) 3 hour carve time.

Edit: Proof I carved this!

Anna, you should also protest Google+ with me, because my inability to post earlier meant I was unable to share this all-important news item: 10 Pictures of David Tennant Looking Fine as Hell

On Tuesday, August 2nd, celebrity geek Wil Wheaton was trolled on Google+ by a number of jokesters pretending to be spambots. "cooooool . i like this post :)))) i circle u if u too", they proclaimed en masse, drowning out regular conversation and causing many users to report them as spammers. I joked on the thread with another confused geek that the Cybermen were invading.

As of Thursday, August 4th, several of the spammers (+Duane Bekaert, for example) still have active accounts on the site. My account, however, has been banned...for using my nickname.

This exact incident highlights the reason that Google+'s "real name" policy is absurd - and even worse, ineffective. Western-style first and last names did not deter /b from raiding Wil Wheaton. They simply invented real-sounding names and went to town. As any number of facebook cyberbullying incidents show, a true wanker doesn't care about the rules -- hell, in the real world, bullies beat you up using their "real world" ID by doing it with their own two fists! If Google+ really wanted to keep the assholes out, they would instead enforce their existing policies on bullying, hate speech, impersonation, and yes, spamming.

So am I upset that my account was banned? Well, that's an interesting question. I had considered the possibility since the day it became clear that Google was actually moving forward with "real" name enforcement. It was my choice to take the risk and use my nick, which I knew would probably ping as fake. It is also well within Google's rights to choose whom they will allow to use their services. Still, as logical as the situation is on the face of it, when I actually logged in to confront that nasty little message -- it twigged me.

"Your name violates the community standards", it cheerfully announced. My name -- the one I use with family, best friends, lovers -- that name had been deemed unacceptable by some faceless, anonymous party.

I think this pretty much summed up my reaction.

There is something viscerally upsetting about realizing that you don't have control over something as simple as your name - just one attribute out of many, but so important in the way we interact. I like the fact that my nickname is unusual, and I like the intimacy it provides to share it with a chosen few. I like the separation it gives me from my work "space". When I leave the office at the end of the day I say goodbye to my work name and hello to my play name, and both of those names are still fundamentally ME. I don't feel less 'authentic' because I have multiple names -- I feel organized. And it allows me to explore the parts of myself that I can't afford to show at work: my sexual orientation, my politics, my religious views, all of which are more important than what's on my driver's license. In the world of Web 2.0, in the world of Facebook, we've forgotten that not everyone is the same 24 hours a day - and that is part of being human.

So if it helps to understand why I've been fighting so hard -- why I spent hours writing out complaints, why I refuse to just provide ID or give up -- let me reframe it. I petition Google, not because I would for some reason die without their services, but because I feel Google is the only company positioned to take a stand. The Facebook real-name paradigm is poised to take over as the dominant mode of communication on the internet, and I cannot express in words how much I dread it. If we lose the ability to determine who WE are, how WE want to present ourselves to our fellow man - we lose just that much more of what makes us unique.

( NO.Collapse )

TWO THINGS CAN PLAY CHESS AND NOT BE THE SAME THING!

Jesus this happens every time I leave the internet alone for six months or so.

( YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO VIEW THE SHIT OUT OF THIS CAUSE GODDAMNCollapse )

ROO IS A BADASS FUCKING FANARTIST SHIT YEAH.

So I finally tried to read A Song of Ice and Fire again, because I couldn't remember why I disliked it. At first, I thought maybe it had been the writing style - Martin's prose is very matter-of-fact, Song of Roland style fantasy that tells, rather than shows character emotions.

Then I got to the second half of it, and I remembered.

MAYBE IT WAS BECAUSE WHAT FEW CHARACTER ARCS I REMOTELY CARED ABOUT ALL TAKE A LEFT TURN INTO SUPER-DRAMA-LAND (including at least one Life-for-a-Life Trade Gone Wrong that comes out of freaking nowhere). I don't mind drama if it adds to a character's development, but this all just feels piled on to be Shocking. I can't believe I stayed up late just to read bad fanfic level angst.

Do not want.

Screenplay madlibs - let's play along!

Plagued by his own demons, Walter Black was once a successful toy executive and family man who now suffers from depression. No matter what he tries, Walter can't seem to get himself back on track...until a beaver hand puppet enters his life.

(Yes, this is an actual movie.)

( SpoilerCollapse ) have an "arrangement"

an arrangement

arrangement

Also fuck it Destiel is canon

SHH JUST COME