Recommended Game — Card Hunter

by A.J. Coltrane

Recommended Game — Card Hunter

It’s a lot of things. It’s a free-to-play browser based game. It’s a CCG (collectible card game) like Magic the Gathering, only it’s also a tactical turn-based high fantasy game with an old-school D&D flair to it.

Confused yet?

You control a party of three characters. The characters can be one of three archetypes – either fighter, wizard, or priest. I’m running with one of each, but if you wanted to you could have three wizards, or two fighters and a priest, or whatever else you wanted. Like almost every other rpg, the characters fight monsters to gain experience and better gear and become more powerful over time.

The monsters you fight live in modules (a themed adventure featuring 4-6 encounters, each on a different map), much like they can in D&D. When you defeat all the maps (“complete the module”) the characters gain the experience and gear mentioned above. Phat “loot”!

The loot is where the CCG elements come into play. Every piece of equipment that your characters can wear is represented by 3-6 cards. As an example, here’s a card that might be associated with a crummy low-level weapon:

If a character has that card in his hand he could hit an enemy one square away and do 3 damage. In this case up to two enemies could be targeted, as indicated on the card text.

Here’s a much better card that would be associated with an weapon that was either rarer or higher level:

That card is way better, it does six damage instead of three, and it pumps up the effect of any other Chop that you play. That’s more like it!

So, every weapon is the game is a mixture of up to six different cards, some strong, some weak, and some that even might harm the user.

Each character’s deck (the cards that he has available to play) is the aggregate of the cards that are associated with the equipment that he’s wearing. Get a better sword? Great, now he can do more damage. Better armor? Now he can withstand more punishment.

The game is now out of Beta, the release date is September 12. If you like CCGs, or tactical turn-based games, or some flavor of D&D, or loot based games like Diablo or Borderlands.. I’d strongly recommend giving Card Hunter a try.

Hopefully this trailer will make all of that a little more clear. (The whole thing is intentionally somewhat tongue-in-cheek.)

It got this glowing review from Tycho at PAX 2012: “My favorite game of PAX 2012 was Card Hunter. There is no pause between the question and the answer. Card Hunter now, Card Hunter forever.”

(That’s a big deal.)

Link to the Card Hunter home page for more info and to sign up to play.

Farfalle with Cherry Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Since it is tomato season and I am currently pulling more tomatoes than I can eat, I needed to do something creative with them that allows me to highlight their sweetness without completely overpowering the flavor. I also wanted something that was easy and I could pull most of the ingredients from the garden or what I usually have on hand. Here is what I came up with:

The Software
8 oz. pasta, preferably farfalle
8 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved
1 oz. goat cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup dry vermouth
1/3 cup sweet onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
5 basil leaves, chiffonade
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup pasta water, reserved
Salt and pepper

The Recipe
Cook the pasta until al dente, reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water when done. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add the vermouth and cook for 1 minute. Add the cream and cook until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Add the pasta and goat cheese and toss until the pasta is coated and the cheese is melted, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are warmed through, about 3-4 minutes. If the sauce is too thick at this point, add a bit of the pasta water to thin it out (There shouldn’t be big puddles of it in the pot, you are really just creating enough sauce to coat everything). Check seasonings, remove from heat, add the basil and serve.

Notes
The recipe should serve 4 easily but can be easily scaled. I used Sun Gold tomatoes since that is what I had in the garden, but just about any tomato would work – just cut them small enough to be one bite. Some chives would also be a nice finish to this if you don’t have any basil and this could also work with the addition of some hot pepper flakes – just add them in when you put the vermouth in. If you don’t have vermouth, you can use any white wine that you would like.

EarthBox Update — August 25, 2013

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

Both zucchini plants dropped below the Vickie Mendoza Diagonal this week. The fruits have been molding on the vine, or in the case in the patty pans, falling off before they’re fully grown. I’d give the zucchini a “season grade” of “C” or “C-“, more on that in another post.

I cut out about 15% of the basil today as well — I figure it’s got a maximum of about three weeks before it’s done for the year. For the remaining tomatoes and peppers it’s now a race to ripen before the first frost.

Today was a good day for tomatoes. Pictured below is about six pounds, bringing the total for the week to ten pounds of them:

The Sun Golds “before”:

And “after”. I thinned out the leaves, especially in the interior, at least partly so I could see the fruits:

Continue reading “EarthBox Update — August 25, 2013” →

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Berrynice Wheat

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Hey another current beer review, I must be slipping. As we enter into the waning days of summer, we still are treated to nice, warm, sunny days in the Northwest and, on those occasions, I want something light and refreshing. Populuxe recently re-released their raspberry wheat, called Berrynice Wheat in their taproom. The beer clocks in at about 5% ABV.

The beer is reddish/amber in color with distinct notes of raspberry on the nose and wheat hidden among the fruit. Berrynice starts out with a distinct wheat kick before quickly moving over to the realm of raspberry – slightly tart with just a hint of mild sweetness, reminding me of a hard candy, with a fruit finish that lingers for a long while, like raspberry syrup on an ice cream sundae. It is an obvious fruit beer without being overpoweringly so, with nice balance and enough wheat character to keep the beer interesting and keep it from being one dimensional. The raspberry becomes more subdued the further into the beer you get, bringing out more of the wheat flavor and making for a very refreshing beer, especially on a warm day.

Populuxe Brewing’s Berrynice Wheat fades out with a warm 3 dog days of summer out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben's Brews Cream Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I personally think that anything new that Reuben’s puts on tap is worth trying at least once. Usually the beers are somewhere in the very good to outstanding range, so there is very little disappointment. At the beginning of August, they debuted a few new beers in their lineup, one of which is their Cream Ale. The beer comes in at 17 IBU and 5 % ABV.

The beer pours very pale yellow, almost transparently so. Note of cream and grain with hints of what smell like English yeast permeate the nose. The beer builds slowly – it starts out with pleasantly mild yeast and a slight dryness before moving into a slightly fruity realm with some light sweetness before exploding into a long, slightly sweet, mild caramel finish. The finish was unexpected and was much less pronounced on a separate occasion where I had the beer. The second time there was more of a dry, yeast finish with very mild notes of the caramel. The caramel was also more restrained the further I made it into the pint on the first go around. The beer was a little more fizzy than I would have liked (personal preference, l like cream ale on nitro – hint to Mike and Adam), but it was a very enjoyable beer, crisp and refreshing, a nice beer if you are looking for something not terribly hoppy and perfect to be sipping on a warm summer day, especially if you are looking to have a couple.

Reuben’s Brews Cream Ale delivers with a strong 4 milkmen out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Cream Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Reuben’s Brews Cream Ale delivers with a strong 4 milkmen out of 5.

Repeating the Triple Crown

By Blaidd Drwg

Miguel Cabrera currently leads the American League in batting average (by a lot) and RBI (by a handful) and is second in HR (by a few), so I think it is safe to talk about the possibility of Miggy repeating his Triple Crown feat of 2012. The triple crown has been completed only 16 times in 125+ years of baseball and only 2 players have done it twice – Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams. It got me thinking, how close has anyone actually gotten to completing back to back Triple Crowns? Thanks to baseball-reference.com, I can take a look:

Player	Triple Crown Year	Next Season	Next Season AVG	Next Season HR	Next Season RBI	AVG Behind(Ahead)	HR Behind(Ahead)	RBI Behind(Ahead)
Cabrera	2012	2013	1	2	1	(.027)	5	(5)
Yastrzemski	1967	1968	1	7	8	(.011)	19	35
F Robinson	1966	1967	2	4	3	.015	14	27
Mantle	1956	1957	2	3	6	.023	8	20
Williams	1947	1948	1	6	3	(.014)	14	28
Williams	1942	1946	2	2	2	.011	6	4
Medwick	1937	1938	4	6	1	.020	15	(6)
Gehrig	1934	1935	6	3	2	.020	6	51
Foxx	1933	1934	7	2	4	.029	5	35
Klein	1933	1934	*	5	*	.051	15	55
Hornsby	1925	1926	*	7	6	.036	10	27
Hornsby	1922	1923	1	5	*	(.013)	24	42
Cobb	1909	1910	2	2	2	.001	2	29
Lajoie	1901	1902	1	9	*	(.002)	9	56
O’Neill	1887	1888	1	9	4	(.014)	8	5
Hines	1878	1879	1	5	5	(.009)	7	10

A couple of notes about the chart:

Next season refers to the season following their Triple Crown.
Next season AVG, HR, RBI refers to their league rank in each category in the season following their Triple Crown. An * means they were not in the top 10 in that category.
AVG, HR, RBI Behind (Ahead) refers to how far behind the leader they were in the season following the Triple Crown in each category. If the number is in (), it is how far ahead of the 2^nd position they were in that category.
Cabrera’s ranks are through August 18^th.
Ted Williams did not play in 1943 due to military service (or 1944 or 1945, which is why I used 1946).

It is interesting that no player has really come close to repeating the Triple Crown. Ty Cobb would be the one who was probably the closest, but he was a distant 2^nd in the RBI race, so it really wasn’t all that close. You could make the argument that Ted Williams was closer, but it wouldn’t technically be back to back because of the 3 year gap. I wasn’t surprised to find that BA was the category that the player was most likely to lead the league in the next season, but it was a bit surprising to find that no triple crown player lead the league in HR the next season. I have a feeling that for most of these guys, their Triple Crown season represented their career year, which would go a long way to explaining that.

Can Miggy do it? It will be a fun ride over the next month and a half to find out.

Beer of the Week: Kassik Brewing Moose Point Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Raise your hand if you knew there was a brewery in Kenai, Alaska. Raise your hand if you know where Kenai, Alaska is. Well, there is a brewery there called Kassik Brewing and they produce some pretty tasty beers, which happen to be available in Seattle. A little about Kassik from their website:

Kassik’s Brewery is housed in a small warehouse, nestled in a clearing in the woods, adjacent to the Kassik’s home in Nikiski. Frank’s passion for brewing began when his wife Debara, bought him a home brew kit for Christmas. Frank was hooked and soon became a proficient home brewer. They built a 36 X 50 shop in hopes to someday have a brewery. In May of 2005 Kassik’s purchased a used seven barrel system, and then remodeled their building to accommodate the equipment with the help of family and friends. The brewery opened Memorial Weekend 2006 with their first brew Beaver Tail Blonde, their Moose Point Porter was on tap a few weeks later.

I cracked open a 22 oz. bottle of their Moose Point Porter, which ran about $5 and happens to be their flagship beer. It is available at most good bottle shops and the occasional mega mart (I believe I have seen their beers in Fred Meyer).

The description from their website:

ABV 5.2% – Silver 2011 World Beer Championship

A delightfully deceiving signature brew!

Moose Point Porter has a dark and heavy appearance with a surprisingly light and clean finish.

The beer pours on the dark side for a porter with light malt and hints of roast and chocolate hidden on the nose. The initial sip is slightly hoppy (and surprisingly so) with notes of caramel and toffee yielding to a slightly sweet but long finish. As you make it further into the beer, light notes of vanilla and sassafras start to appear, reminding me of a root beer or a cream soda. For being a dark beer, it is surprisingly approachable without any dominating flavor profile, making it a complex and well integrated beer.

Kassik Brewery’s Moose Point Porter saunters in with a strong 3 Alces alces out of 5.

Yesterday's EarthBox "Harvest"

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

I think I’m staying away from the word “harvest” for the same reason that I avoid the word “pizza” when making flatbreads — everybody has preconceived ideas as to what those words mean..

Anyhows, here’s yesterday’s colorful “harvest”.

(L-R) Tomatillo, Lemon Cucumber, Sweet Tequila Pepper, (large) Siletz Tomato, (medium) Glacier Tomato, (small) Sun Gold Tomato

The Tequila peppers got grilled and turned pale. Kind of a letdown. The tomatillos are going to become a green salsa really soon.

Bonus boy cat pic:

Yesterday’s EarthBox “Harvest”

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

I think I’m staying away from the word “harvest” for the same reason that I avoid the word “pizza” when making flatbreads — everybody has preconceived ideas as to what those words mean..

Anyhows, here’s yesterday’s colorful “harvest”.

The Tequila peppers got grilled and turned pale. Kind of a letdown. The tomatillos are going to become a green salsa really soon.

Bonus boy cat pic: