Recipe #4: Gringo Feijoada

If I haven't mentioned it before, I went to Brazil for two years. Among the cultural things I learned to love was their incredible cuisine. It is incredible how simple ingredients like beans and rice can make absolutely delicious meals in Bahia, Brazil. The ingredients are sometimes hard to find here in the States, but the following recipe is one that I invented that, while very American, at least does the flavorfulness of Brazilian lunches justice.

Gringo Feijoada

"Uma delícia não-brasileira!"

 Ingredients

• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• ¼–½ onion, diced
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can Bean-with-Bacon soup OR canned pinto beans
• 2 all-beef hot dogs, sliced
• 4 slices bacon, cut into pieces and cooked
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 2 tbsp. (or more) cilantro

Directions

1. Sauté the onions and garlic until sautéed.
2. Add can of black beans (with juice) and can of bean with bacon soup to pot. Add ½ bean-with-bacon soup can of water.
3. Add hot dog slices and bacon, then stir in spices except cilantro. I also added Brazilian spices, but I'm sure you won't have access to those. :(
4. After awhile, when you're ready to eat, throw in the cilantro.
5. Eat over Brazilian rice (see below) with Frank's Red Sauce and cuzcuz*, farinha†, or farofa‡. It's also good with beef on the side, or chicken, or a fried egg. 

YIELD: Like 3 or 4 servings.
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Directions for Brazilian Rice

1. Sauté some onions and garlic until sautéed.
2. Add a cup of rice, and stir around until the rice turns an opaque white color.
3. Put in two cups of water, and salt/spices to taste.
4. Bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer for 10-12 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
6. Fluff with a fork, eat beneath Feijoada (see above).

YIELD: About 4 or 5 servings. Eat the extra serving with chicken or something if you want.

Washes down well with...  Guaraná (Brazilian soda), Sprite, or exotic fruit juice/punch like mango.
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*Not actual couscous, it's made from corn. Try your nearest Latino store and look for Flocão brand.
† Mandioca or cassava flour. Probably easier to find than cuzcuz.
‡ Farinha that's been sautéed with bacon and onions. It's a Brazilian thing. Don't worry about it if you've never tried it.

Game Review: Cave Story+

Abelhawk's Game Review of

Cave Story+

  
 Platform: PC (Steam), Wii

Genre: Sci-fi, Post-apocalyptic

Style: Platformer, Adventure, Shooter

Price: Cheap ($10)

URL: http://www.cavestory.org/

Customized!

My custom mousepad came in the mail today! Now I can get rid of that old nondescript one. I love customizing things, especially with art from my favorite computer games. Can anyone guess which game this one is from?

For the answer, see Abelhawk's Top 5 - Computer Games #2.

Now I just need to wait for the potent "new rubber" smell to air out of it.

Corridor Class Pictures Set #2

Six down, ten to go! Remember, Attack = †, Defense = ♜, Magic = ☆, and Magic Defense = ☯.
To see the first set, click here.

Data Month Stats

Well, I stuck to it for a month straight... keeping a notebook in my pocket and jotting down whenever one of these things happened. This somehow made February both last very long and be over very soon. Now I have a boatload of statistics of my life! I was hoping to be able to organize it so it's more impressive, with charts and graphs and things, but maybe I'll do that some other day. For now, I'm just really tired of taking down stats, so I'll just barf all the data onto this post. For the record, these data aren't that impressive. I probably would have calculated things a little differently if I did it again. For example, instead of "encounters" with people, I would just count how many people I encountered. I think that would have yielded better results. For now, here it all is plus some definitions for the odd stats in small print at the bottom. Enjoy!