Are_Euclidding_Me [e/em/eir]

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  • 8 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: May 1st, 2023
  • Are_Euclidding_Me [e/em/eir]@hexbear.nettochat@hexbear.net•let's struggle: 'recommended work orders' for newcomers to a continuity are nonsensical.English
    3·
    1 day ago

    I can’t agree. Sure, release order is how I’d almost always choose to engage with a series, but that’s because I don’t trust hardly anyone to tell me which order to experience stuff in!

    If I do trust someone who’s well-versed in a series and they tell me to experience works in a certain order, yeah, I’d do that. But everything is so subjective, you really have to trust the person who is telling you which order you should engage with the works in the series, and on the internet, that trust is hard to build.

    But still, I definitely think there are frequently arguments for skipping a certain title in a series, or reading a series in some order other than publication order. Not every work in a series is going to be as easy to get into as every other, and often earlier entries are clunkier than later ones.

    For some concreteness:

    In The Elder Scrolls, I started with Oblivion (IV) and I’m glad I did. I went back to Morrowind (III) later and I think I enjoyed it more because I sort of knew what an Elder Scrolls title is like.

    I played Pathologic 2 before Pathologic 1 and would never suggest anyone start with Pathologic 1.

    The first Dark Souls game I beat is Dark Souls 3, after bouncing off Dark Souls 1 pretty hard.

    We’ve been watching the Predator movies recently, and I’d suggest skipping the original Predator and jumping straight to Predator 2, unless you really like Arnold Schwarzenegger or you’re really, really into the series. The original Predator is just boring, in a way the later ones aren’t. (It’s also, arguably, the best of them in terms of cinematography, themes, the overall craft, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a large contingent of people who hate the Predator movies other than the first. Which kind of complicates my argument, but I stand by it!)

    I’m sure there are other relevant examples, but I sure can’t think of them at the moment!

  • Are_Euclidding_Me [e/em/eir]@hexbear.nettofood@hexbear.net•What is _your_ recipe? [preferrably vegan]English
    3·
    4 days ago

    I made tofu scramble pies a few months ago! They were incredible, although definitely a bit of work.

    For the pie crust, I did a standard short crust pastry situation using vegan butter and vegetable shortening for the fat.

    For the tofu scramble I usually start by cooking some (vegan) sausage, we really like the Lightlife GimmeLean, but whatever is easy and cheap will work. I bet soyrizo would be incredible, we just can’t find any where we live currently. Then once the sausage is cooked (usually in patties, whatever, it’ll get crumbled into the rest of the scramble in awhile), remove it from the pan and set aside.

    Then in the same pan, saute an onion, a bell pepper, and a spicy pepper of some sort, usually a poblano or jalapeno, whatever looks good at the store. Then once the veggies are pretty soft, but definitely before they begin to brown, crumble in a (pressed) block of firm or extra firm tofu. Add nooch (nutritional yeast), turmeric for color, and whatever other seasonings and things you’d think you’d like, as well as salt and pepper, of course. We usually do oregano, cumin, (dried) parsley and a touch of brown mustard. Then when you’re happy with how cooked the veggies and tofu are, crumble in the sausage, and also a can of beans, we usually do pinto, but it doesn’t matter.

    You want to let the scramble cool to room temperature before filling the pies so you don’t melt the fat before it goes in the oven.

    Then once the scramble is cooled, make the pies and toss them in the oven at like 400 fahrenheit for like an hour, or until the pastry is cooked. I’ve never had the filling overcook doing this, but if you’re worried, just slightly undercook your scramble.

    Then, finally, you’re going to want some gravy to top the pies, because the tofu scramble is (purposefully) fairly dry. For a gravy, I’ll start with a roux (cook together oil and flour), then I add milk, we usually use almond, but whatever you have on hand is fine. You want to season your gravy pretty well, if you have extra sausage that was too much for the scramble, adding some to the gravy is nice. Otherwise, you’re going to want to get some umami flavor from wherever you can. We buy this mushroom stir-fry sauce from an Asian market and I find that it really improves a gravy. You also want your gravy to be heavily peppered. If you think you’ve added enough black pepper, toss another shake in, just to be safe.

    And then yeah, the pies come out of the oven, you let them cool for a couple of minutes, then spoon or pour the gravy on top, and they are so very good!!!

    It’s not an easy meal, really, but it is extremely, extremely delicious! And the tofu scramble part is a full meal by itself that’s actually quite easy. It’s just the added complication of pastry and gravy that makes stuff difficult. But it’s so, so good that I find it’s worth it!