benlehman

Posted for Mel.

You get your stuff together:
a can of tomatoes, sliced up into small pieces and drained of their juice.
1/2-1 pound of bucati or percatelli
2-4 strips of bacon, cut into square pieces
An onion
Red pepper pods
Salt
Three tablespoons of olive oil and butter (in any mixture.)
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan / Romano cheese

Throw the olive oil, butter, and onions in a skillet. Cook on low heat until onions are soft and golden brown. Turn heat to medium, add the bacon and cook until the bacon begins to give up its grease, but is not yet crispy: 2-5 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt, and torn up red pepper pods. Cook for 20-45 minutes, stirring only enough that it doesn't burn. It's better the longer you cook it.

Cook your pasta. While it's cooking, grate the cheese.

Add the hot pasta to a bowl. Quickly add the cheese, then the sauce, then toss rapidly so the cheese melts to the pasta and forms lovely stringy bits. Serve immediately with some sort of vegetable side (salad, broccoli, something like that) and bread.

Also for Mel.

Get your stuff together:
Olive Oil
Strawberries
Pepper
Salt
Chinese Black Vinegar (or any other heavy, dark, non-sweet vinegar)
Garlic
Maybe raw onion if you're not eating with Alexis.

Chop 1-2 cloves of garlic very finely. If you're not eating with Alexis, also chop a tiny amount of onion (as tiny as you can stand.) Add to a bowl with, I dunno, a cup and a half of olive oil?

Mince strawberries very finely. Add them to the bowl as you mince them. There should be enough that they mostly fill the bowl, but they're surrounded by olive oil and there's a bit of extra oil. Add more oil if you have to.

When you have enough strawberries, add a half pinch of salt and a slight whisper of pepper. Stir. Taste it. It needs vinegar! Add a very small amount of vinegar (one or two shots). Taste again, add more if needed. As soon as you can taste the flavor of the vinegar, at all, stop.

This goes well on salads which have cheese and nuts. My favorite is spinach, walnut, crumbled blue cheese, and this dressing.

I'm trying to get back into writing fiction, but I'm finding myself totally unable to put one word in front of another. Any thoughts from writers about simple warm-up exercises?

If you have written a game that is a direct bloodline descendant of Polaris (the way that Polaris is a descendant of Amber, Nobilis, Sorcerer, Wraith and Universalis), and it's for sale, I want to promote it. Contact me at taogames@gmail.com to work out the details.

Anna, I've got you covered.

The shortest full-group game of Polaris I've played is three sessions. The longest is five sessions.

I know some people have played longer games. If you've played, please post (or contact me) and tell me how long it took you to play to the end.

Thanks!