What/where is Tamriel? Tamriel is on a planet called Nirn. It is the world where The Elder Scrolls games take place. I've only played two of the five (six, counting the MMO) games. Oblivion and Skyrim.
In Oblivion, there's an unmarked campsite way, high up in the mountains called Dive Rock. It's one of the highest points you can get to in the game, and you get to fight a large, semi-invisible Frost Troll called the Uderfrykte Matron. I say it's a Frost Troll since you find her in the snow-covered mountains. But in Oblivion there are very few special trolls, they're all just called trolls.
Anyway, it's very hard to get to Dive Rock, and you find out about it from finding a dead person at the bottom of the mountain. The dead body is north of Aerin's Camp and Dive Rock is located northwest from the dead body. But it's very tricky to get to from there, even on a horse. But I found an easier way to find it.
If you have the Wizard's Tower plugin, then once you reach the wooden bridge leading you to the tower, just turn the other way and you can run along the mountaintops until you see the marker on your compass (it will be a landmark icon). Once you reach Dive Rock, you will find a tent, a fire and a sack with some stuff in it. You'll also find a diary telling you what the author was doing there. You can choose to go find the troll and kill it or just leave it. If you go kill it, you will find the Frostwyrm Bow inside it (along with Svejna). You'll also likely run across her dead husband in the same area, where you can loot him (except for the fur helmet on the ground)
Be aware though, this is a pretty tough troll at any level. Besides being semi-invisible and hard to see, she's also fast, though clumsy if she tries to run uphill. She's still weak to fire spells, and she can't climb very well, so your best bet is to use ranged fire magic on her from the side of the mountain. That should kill her before she can reach you. You can also peg her with fire arrows, if you have them, or a fire-enchanted bow if you have one. Just try not to let it get close, that's where it's dangerous, just like any other troll.
You can also walk towards the edge of the camp a certain way, until you get a message popped up on your screen. Then you'll have several new map markers of dungeons you can visit and loot. You can also fast travel to the camp after you find it and use it for yourself. You won't have to clear out any bandits here, none ever spawn there like at regular campsites.
Anyway, that was all I wanted to muse about. I was going to put this in my Wordpress Tamriel blog, but Wordpress is acting up and won't take me to the posting page.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Will-o-Wisp
So, what are they? In Oblivion, they're a floating ball of yellow glowy light. Kill them and they drop something called glow dust, which can be used in alchemy formulas. You also need glow dust during the main quest if you get your Daedric artifact from Azura. You have to approach her shrine either at six in the morning or six in the evening and offer her up some glow dust.
Wisps are classified as ethereal undead, so normal weapons won't even scratch them. Silver, Daedric or normal weapons with an enchantment will hurt them. Also the Ancient Akaviri katana or a permanent bound weapon will also hurt them. Normally, bound weapons are conjured with a spell and disappear after a fixed amount of time, but due to a game glitch, if you damage them, repair them and then drop them and wait for the timer to expire (or use a dispel spell), and you'll have a pretty powerful, weightless weapon. They look like Daedric weapons and are, in fact, slightly weaker versions of them, but they're still some of the strongest weapons in the game for low-level characters. And you can get one, along with a piece of bound armor, at one of three different rune stones. Now, whether you get a blade or a blunt weapon is totally up to whether you're more proficient in said blade or blunt skill and tie goes to the blunt.
Also, destruction spells such as fire, frost or lightning will hurt the wisps. I generally try to use touch spells, as I hit my target more often if they're in touch range. However, the wisp uses some pretty devastating touch spells of its own, which absorbs health from you and damages your intelligence and willpower.
So, some advice:
I play on a fairly low setting anyway. Why? Because I play a game for its story content, not to see how tough I can make it on myself. So, if you normally like to play on higher settings, try lowering it if the wisps are killing you. Then just crank it back up. I'd almost recommend the "Kill" command in the console if you play on a computer, but that's just not fair.
I generally like to play a sneak-thief type character who wears light armor. If you have a pair of light boots enchanted with water walking, use them to run out onto the water. Then you can see the ripples as the wisp chases you after it goes invisible. The Silt Runner's boots are good for this. They're a pair of Mithril boots enchanted with water walking. There's some heavy boots that do the same for heavy armor wearers, but I can't remember the name of them. Anyway, they're found in random loot or on bandit ringleaders. I got my latest pair from Kurdan gro Dragol, the usurer who tricks you into his 'hunting' game. You can also enchant your own if you have a water walking spell, a pair of boots and a filled soul gem. The size of the soul gem doesn't matter, as the enchantment is constant.
Next, obtain an enchanted sword of some kind. Something with fire, frost or lightning will work best. Or else use a mage staff. Or your own destruction magic. Or a combination of destruction magic/enchanted weapon. As with the boots, you can enchant your own weapon, to be sure you have the enchantment you want.
Now, as a sneak-type, when I reach lvl 10, when these nasties start showing up, I'll sneak through dungeons/caves/ruins where I'm sure I'll encounter them. I'll carry an enchanted (or bound) bow and enchanted arrows. If I can find an arrow with soul trap and some empty common soul gems, all the better. I can snipe-shoot them and use their souls to recharge the bow. Arrow of Voltage and Arrow of the Dynamo will both come with a five second soul trap on them IF you have Shivering Isles installed. Otherwise, if you want a weapon with soul trap and you haven't found one, then enchant it yourself. I'd recommend using a grand soul gem filled with a grand soul for enchanted weapons. Or else go on with the main quest and start closing Oblivion gates to get the sigil stones. If you're at level 17 or higher, you'll get the strongest enchantment from those.
The best way to get the enchantment you want is to save your game just before you grab it, and then check it when it's put in your inventory. If it's an enchantment you don't want, reload your save and try again. The stone is always random, so you might get a different one.
Or if you're on the computer, add in a mod that lets you choose which stone you want. It's called Sigil Stone Selector and it works on almost all of the gates, except the one at Kvatch, the one that you help Burd close at Bruma, the one you get at the Cheydinhal gate when you do The Wayward Knight and the Great Gate at Bruma. On all other gates, you can choose your sigil stone. It's made my game much easier, and if you want to call me a cheater, go ahead. It's much easier to choose my stone rather than to reload a save a dozen times before getting a stone I like. Personally, I like to enchant my weapons, armor, clothing and jewelry with sigil stones even though you only get one enchantment. It's still a very strong enchantment.
Okay, I got off the subject of the wisp, but that's okay. This strip is called Musings for a reason. I never just muse over one thing per post, I always muse over many things. The wisp is not invulnerable, but it is tough. Try using sneak-bow sniper attacks on it to get it in one shot. I've even done that out in the open world along the road, as long as you don't get too close (where it spots you) and you know your limits with the bow.
Yeah, I do play heavy armor-hitters and just carry some primrose leaves and alkanet flowers to munch once I'm done with the wisp. That will restore your willpower and intelligence each time. Still, backing away when you see it about to use its magic will help a lot (it changes color and you hear a gurgling sound when it's happening. Then rush in and whack away again before it can heal itself too much. Better yet, it'll chase you anyway, so just keep backing away and whack at it when it gets in range.
Personally, the unicorn in Harcane Grove is probably the toughest thing out there, if you decide to kill it for Hircine's quest. I personally like to catch it and ride it around sometimes. Anywho, I just felt like rambling about the wisps, cause I watched a video of one who was showing us how to kill them, and they were so dumb that they had no idea where the unmarked road was that would have led them straight to Azura's shrine. So they were trying to force Prior Maborel's paint horse to go up the side of the mountain when it clearly couldn't. Poor horse. Its owner was dead and its new owner was abusing it.
Wisps are classified as ethereal undead, so normal weapons won't even scratch them. Silver, Daedric or normal weapons with an enchantment will hurt them. Also the Ancient Akaviri katana or a permanent bound weapon will also hurt them. Normally, bound weapons are conjured with a spell and disappear after a fixed amount of time, but due to a game glitch, if you damage them, repair them and then drop them and wait for the timer to expire (or use a dispel spell), and you'll have a pretty powerful, weightless weapon. They look like Daedric weapons and are, in fact, slightly weaker versions of them, but they're still some of the strongest weapons in the game for low-level characters. And you can get one, along with a piece of bound armor, at one of three different rune stones. Now, whether you get a blade or a blunt weapon is totally up to whether you're more proficient in said blade or blunt skill and tie goes to the blunt.
Also, destruction spells such as fire, frost or lightning will hurt the wisps. I generally try to use touch spells, as I hit my target more often if they're in touch range. However, the wisp uses some pretty devastating touch spells of its own, which absorbs health from you and damages your intelligence and willpower.
So, some advice:
I play on a fairly low setting anyway. Why? Because I play a game for its story content, not to see how tough I can make it on myself. So, if you normally like to play on higher settings, try lowering it if the wisps are killing you. Then just crank it back up. I'd almost recommend the "Kill" command in the console if you play on a computer, but that's just not fair.
I generally like to play a sneak-thief type character who wears light armor. If you have a pair of light boots enchanted with water walking, use them to run out onto the water. Then you can see the ripples as the wisp chases you after it goes invisible. The Silt Runner's boots are good for this. They're a pair of Mithril boots enchanted with water walking. There's some heavy boots that do the same for heavy armor wearers, but I can't remember the name of them. Anyway, they're found in random loot or on bandit ringleaders. I got my latest pair from Kurdan gro Dragol, the usurer who tricks you into his 'hunting' game. You can also enchant your own if you have a water walking spell, a pair of boots and a filled soul gem. The size of the soul gem doesn't matter, as the enchantment is constant.
Next, obtain an enchanted sword of some kind. Something with fire, frost or lightning will work best. Or else use a mage staff. Or your own destruction magic. Or a combination of destruction magic/enchanted weapon. As with the boots, you can enchant your own weapon, to be sure you have the enchantment you want.
Now, as a sneak-type, when I reach lvl 10, when these nasties start showing up, I'll sneak through dungeons/caves/ruins where I'm sure I'll encounter them. I'll carry an enchanted (or bound) bow and enchanted arrows. If I can find an arrow with soul trap and some empty common soul gems, all the better. I can snipe-shoot them and use their souls to recharge the bow. Arrow of Voltage and Arrow of the Dynamo will both come with a five second soul trap on them IF you have Shivering Isles installed. Otherwise, if you want a weapon with soul trap and you haven't found one, then enchant it yourself. I'd recommend using a grand soul gem filled with a grand soul for enchanted weapons. Or else go on with the main quest and start closing Oblivion gates to get the sigil stones. If you're at level 17 or higher, you'll get the strongest enchantment from those.
The best way to get the enchantment you want is to save your game just before you grab it, and then check it when it's put in your inventory. If it's an enchantment you don't want, reload your save and try again. The stone is always random, so you might get a different one.
Or if you're on the computer, add in a mod that lets you choose which stone you want. It's called Sigil Stone Selector and it works on almost all of the gates, except the one at Kvatch, the one that you help Burd close at Bruma, the one you get at the Cheydinhal gate when you do The Wayward Knight and the Great Gate at Bruma. On all other gates, you can choose your sigil stone. It's made my game much easier, and if you want to call me a cheater, go ahead. It's much easier to choose my stone rather than to reload a save a dozen times before getting a stone I like. Personally, I like to enchant my weapons, armor, clothing and jewelry with sigil stones even though you only get one enchantment. It's still a very strong enchantment.
Okay, I got off the subject of the wisp, but that's okay. This strip is called Musings for a reason. I never just muse over one thing per post, I always muse over many things. The wisp is not invulnerable, but it is tough. Try using sneak-bow sniper attacks on it to get it in one shot. I've even done that out in the open world along the road, as long as you don't get too close (where it spots you) and you know your limits with the bow.
Yeah, I do play heavy armor-hitters and just carry some primrose leaves and alkanet flowers to munch once I'm done with the wisp. That will restore your willpower and intelligence each time. Still, backing away when you see it about to use its magic will help a lot (it changes color and you hear a gurgling sound when it's happening. Then rush in and whack away again before it can heal itself too much. Better yet, it'll chase you anyway, so just keep backing away and whack at it when it gets in range.
Personally, the unicorn in Harcane Grove is probably the toughest thing out there, if you decide to kill it for Hircine's quest. I personally like to catch it and ride it around sometimes. Anywho, I just felt like rambling about the wisps, cause I watched a video of one who was showing us how to kill them, and they were so dumb that they had no idea where the unmarked road was that would have led them straight to Azura's shrine. So they were trying to force Prior Maborel's paint horse to go up the side of the mountain when it clearly couldn't. Poor horse. Its owner was dead and its new owner was abusing it.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Random thoughts
We have them all the time. We'll just be sitting and doing our thing, which may be reading, blogging, surfing the inet, crafting, whatever. Then it hits you. Random thought which has nothing to do with what you're doing. I crochet all the time and think about things totally unrelated to crocheting. When is the husband going to get up? Is the cat hungry? Does the cat want out?
Of course, I also tend to think about the crochet at times too. "What else is this pattern good for? Can I make an afghan out of these squares? Can I make a potholder out of this stitch pattern? Of course then I have to try and see. I think I'm going to get a dish towel out of the double knit Hoover baby blanket. I cast on far fewer stitches than called for to practice the technique. It would make a good doll blanket as well, but I can use a dish towel/rag too. I'm also using acrylic, so it will do good for a scrubber.
While working on a diagonal potholder, the technique would also make a nice bag. Just put handles on it and make it taller. The squares I do would make good tote bags too, just sew them together and put in handles. Actually, the squares are small enough to make nearly anything out of. It's just sc around, make three in each corner, then cut and change color. Use two different colors. Kind of a sc Around the World. I think they're about four inches square, so pretty small. They may even make good slippers too. I'll have to make a dozen and put them together and see what they look like. It would be like the Granny Square Slippers that I've made plenty of. You just sew six squares together (or crochet them together). Put four together for the sole, one for the instep and one for the heel. Looks great and you can make them in any color combination. The problem with granny squares is the holes. So these sc squares might make an even more cozy slipper.
The thermal stitch would make a good thick sweater or wrap or even afghan. There's so much you can do with just one pattern that there is no way to make everything you think about. It's fun to think about it though. Of course, you would need much patience to make a thermal stitch blanket, unless you made it in squares. Row upon row, hundreds of thousands of nothing but sc. Hmmm, sounds like a chevron too.
Of course, I also tend to think about the crochet at times too. "What else is this pattern good for? Can I make an afghan out of these squares? Can I make a potholder out of this stitch pattern? Of course then I have to try and see. I think I'm going to get a dish towel out of the double knit Hoover baby blanket. I cast on far fewer stitches than called for to practice the technique. It would make a good doll blanket as well, but I can use a dish towel/rag too. I'm also using acrylic, so it will do good for a scrubber.
While working on a diagonal potholder, the technique would also make a nice bag. Just put handles on it and make it taller. The squares I do would make good tote bags too, just sew them together and put in handles. Actually, the squares are small enough to make nearly anything out of. It's just sc around, make three in each corner, then cut and change color. Use two different colors. Kind of a sc Around the World. I think they're about four inches square, so pretty small. They may even make good slippers too. I'll have to make a dozen and put them together and see what they look like. It would be like the Granny Square Slippers that I've made plenty of. You just sew six squares together (or crochet them together). Put four together for the sole, one for the instep and one for the heel. Looks great and you can make them in any color combination. The problem with granny squares is the holes. So these sc squares might make an even more cozy slipper.
The thermal stitch would make a good thick sweater or wrap or even afghan. There's so much you can do with just one pattern that there is no way to make everything you think about. It's fun to think about it though. Of course, you would need much patience to make a thermal stitch blanket, unless you made it in squares. Row upon row, hundreds of thousands of nothing but sc. Hmmm, sounds like a chevron too.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Yummy and easy cookie dough
A very easy, plain cookie dough
2 sticks butter (and I mean butter, not margarine), softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2-3/4 cups self-rising flour
***************************
In a large bowl, cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour in about three batches, combining well after each. This can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered container and baked as needed.
To bake: Roll out small balls of chilled dough and flatten slightly. Place about two inches apart on baking sheet and bake in preheated 350F oven for about seven minutes or until edges are slightly browned.
You can also add a large bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips for chocolate chip cookies. Add after flour has been added.
You can also sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of plain cookies for a cinnamon sugar cookie.
This is a plain cookie dough, use your imagination.
2 sticks butter (and I mean butter, not margarine), softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2-3/4 cups self-rising flour
***************************
In a large bowl, cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour in about three batches, combining well after each. This can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered container and baked as needed.
To bake: Roll out small balls of chilled dough and flatten slightly. Place about two inches apart on baking sheet and bake in preheated 350F oven for about seven minutes or until edges are slightly browned.
You can also add a large bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips for chocolate chip cookies. Add after flour has been added.
You can also sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of plain cookies for a cinnamon sugar cookie.
This is a plain cookie dough, use your imagination.
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Not a good summer
So, it's Father's Day, and I go to town to look for some cat wormer. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is until I stumbled in a parking lot and went crashing down to the pavement.
My phone was dead, I was alone, people were in church and no one saw me fall. My left hand hit the ground. Hard. Then it went straight out in front of me as I fell, and my right knee hit the ground. Hard.
I heard something crack when I went down. I pulled myself up and had to support my left arm. It was broken, but not broken in two, I could tell that much. It was broken close to my shoulder. I finally pulled myself up and got in my Trailblazer and drove myself home. I'm in pain, but I've been in pain before.
I got home. Got myself out of the Trailblazer and into the house with the groceries I did get. Hollered for the husband since he was still asleep. Got the ice cream in the freezer with his help. Whimpered and told him I'd messed my arm up bad. I took an old scarf and made a makeshift sling. It helped. As long as I didn't move my arm, it didn't hurt
He took me to the After Hours clinic first. Should have just gone to the emergency room since that's where they sent us anyway after x-raying me. They did give me a proper sling at least, which helped.
Emergency room nurse was a sweetheart. She apologized when she had to scrub the palm of my left hand and my knee and the other assorted dings I got with povidine-iodine. I didn't feel it when she scrubbed my knee, but I sure did when she scrubbed my left palm. I think I tore the top layer of skin off of it. Had a huge strawberry on my right knee.
X-rays showed it was broken in a place where they couldn't put a cast. Near the ball in the big arm bone. So I was put in a shoulder immobilizer.
The sweet old nurse recommended sleeping in a recliner as she had experience from having shoulder surgery. I found out she was right. Couldn't lie in a bed in any position. Been sleeping in the recliner since. The husband, sweetheart that he is, has been sleeping on the sofa.
The arm is much better. I've switched back to the sling now, but I know it isn't healed yet. I can lift my arm more than I could right after it happened. I've been taking a bath about once a week to avoid stressing the injury. Husband had to help me a few times to put my shirt on. Forwent underclothes and wore elastic waist trousers, shorts or skirts. No bra.just a shirt and bottoms. Or a dress I could pull over my head.
I've been able to pull my own shirts on for the last couple of weeks, so that's a win. The arm aches a bit all day long and first thing on waking, but once I get sat up and moving around, that pain goes away. Only took the prescription pain pills at night since they made me sleepy (which helped me sleep at night). I take extra strength acetaminophen if the pain is too much.
I know the shoulder isn't the only thing messed up. My elbow hurts too, and my wrist. I know I messed them up too. Haven't been to the doctor since getting home from the emergency room. No insurance, very little money. But there's really nothing the doctor can do that hadn't already been done. He'd have prescribed PT, which I also can't afford. Will just have to live with any consequences. I've been really careful not to do anything to aggravate the injury. At least the bone has stopped shifting around. It did that for about three weeks while it healed up. Didn't hurt, just felt really funny.
Well, that's about it. Just whining in my own blog here, rather than whining for real about it. That won't make it heal any faster. I'll just keep muscle rub handy since that helps the soreness all up and down that arm. I think I messed my hand up too. My thumb and the outside of my hand under the pinky, most especially, are very sore and I had a black mark all up the outside of my thumb for awhile.
Ah well, maybe I'll whine some more later, I think I'm done for now.
My phone was dead, I was alone, people were in church and no one saw me fall. My left hand hit the ground. Hard. Then it went straight out in front of me as I fell, and my right knee hit the ground. Hard.
I heard something crack when I went down. I pulled myself up and had to support my left arm. It was broken, but not broken in two, I could tell that much. It was broken close to my shoulder. I finally pulled myself up and got in my Trailblazer and drove myself home. I'm in pain, but I've been in pain before.
I got home. Got myself out of the Trailblazer and into the house with the groceries I did get. Hollered for the husband since he was still asleep. Got the ice cream in the freezer with his help. Whimpered and told him I'd messed my arm up bad. I took an old scarf and made a makeshift sling. It helped. As long as I didn't move my arm, it didn't hurt
He took me to the After Hours clinic first. Should have just gone to the emergency room since that's where they sent us anyway after x-raying me. They did give me a proper sling at least, which helped.
Emergency room nurse was a sweetheart. She apologized when she had to scrub the palm of my left hand and my knee and the other assorted dings I got with povidine-iodine. I didn't feel it when she scrubbed my knee, but I sure did when she scrubbed my left palm. I think I tore the top layer of skin off of it. Had a huge strawberry on my right knee.
X-rays showed it was broken in a place where they couldn't put a cast. Near the ball in the big arm bone. So I was put in a shoulder immobilizer.
The sweet old nurse recommended sleeping in a recliner as she had experience from having shoulder surgery. I found out she was right. Couldn't lie in a bed in any position. Been sleeping in the recliner since. The husband, sweetheart that he is, has been sleeping on the sofa.
The arm is much better. I've switched back to the sling now, but I know it isn't healed yet. I can lift my arm more than I could right after it happened. I've been taking a bath about once a week to avoid stressing the injury. Husband had to help me a few times to put my shirt on. Forwent underclothes and wore elastic waist trousers, shorts or skirts. No bra.just a shirt and bottoms. Or a dress I could pull over my head.
I've been able to pull my own shirts on for the last couple of weeks, so that's a win. The arm aches a bit all day long and first thing on waking, but once I get sat up and moving around, that pain goes away. Only took the prescription pain pills at night since they made me sleepy (which helped me sleep at night). I take extra strength acetaminophen if the pain is too much.
I know the shoulder isn't the only thing messed up. My elbow hurts too, and my wrist. I know I messed them up too. Haven't been to the doctor since getting home from the emergency room. No insurance, very little money. But there's really nothing the doctor can do that hadn't already been done. He'd have prescribed PT, which I also can't afford. Will just have to live with any consequences. I've been really careful not to do anything to aggravate the injury. At least the bone has stopped shifting around. It did that for about three weeks while it healed up. Didn't hurt, just felt really funny.
Well, that's about it. Just whining in my own blog here, rather than whining for real about it. That won't make it heal any faster. I'll just keep muscle rub handy since that helps the soreness all up and down that arm. I think I messed my hand up too. My thumb and the outside of my hand under the pinky, most especially, are very sore and I had a black mark all up the outside of my thumb for awhile.
Ah well, maybe I'll whine some more later, I think I'm done for now.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Yum
I mentioned in my last post how the same thing can be good. Well it can also be boring. Take food. You eat the same things all the time and they become less appealing. They're not less good, just you become tired of them. Most of the time there isn't much choice if you're on a limited budget, like me. But sometimes you just want to fix something different.
Last night, I did. My son in law sent me a recipe for a healthy Mexican lasagna. Now, I had a lot of the stuff needed, but I couldn't go out and get ground turkey, canned green chilies, bell peppers and fat free refried beans. So I improvised.
I used lean ground beef for the turkey. The husband can't eat poultry of any kind anyway, so regardless, I would have to use ground beef. I didn't have any bell peppers, so I used a whole fresh jalapeno, which added a nice bit of spice. You can take out the seeds and membranes for less heat, I left them in because I only used one. I didn't have any Southwest Seasoning, so I looked it up and I had most of what was supposed to be in it, so I just sprinkled some of this n that in it.
I also fried the tortillas till they were almost crispy. I know from experience that using them out of the package will have them disintegrating into the sauce. Plus it added body to the finished dish
So, what did I substitute for the refried beans? Creamy New Orleans style red beans that I had in the cupboard. They were almost as thick and creamy as refried beans.
So while I didn't make it as healthy as it was supposed to be, it was absolutely delicious. Smear some of the beans on a tortilla and layer half the tortillas in the bottom of the dish, then top with half the meat mixture and half the cheese. Repeat layers, except for cheese, then bake until nice and bubbly. Add rest of cheese and bake a couple more minutes to melt it. Truthfully, the red beans didn't taste that different from refried beans. The casserole was absolutely delicious.
My husband made some salsa up the next day to have with the leftovers. Yummy!
I have no idea what the color codes were supposed to be, such as the two blue containers worth of shredded cheese. I assume that it was something to do with portion control in some diet plan, as it tells you how many red, yellow, blue, whatever that the dish was worth. You know, sort of like a points system. Whatever, I just enjoyed the concoction that I came up with and would make it again if I had the ingredients. Perhaps we can pick up an ingredient or two when we're shopping and I can make it again when I get all the stuff together. I think I prefer using the jalapeno over the sweet bell peppers. After all, most Mexican dishes do have some spice to them.
My husband said it reminded him of enchiladas.
Last night, I did. My son in law sent me a recipe for a healthy Mexican lasagna. Now, I had a lot of the stuff needed, but I couldn't go out and get ground turkey, canned green chilies, bell peppers and fat free refried beans. So I improvised.
I used lean ground beef for the turkey. The husband can't eat poultry of any kind anyway, so regardless, I would have to use ground beef. I didn't have any bell peppers, so I used a whole fresh jalapeno, which added a nice bit of spice. You can take out the seeds and membranes for less heat, I left them in because I only used one. I didn't have any Southwest Seasoning, so I looked it up and I had most of what was supposed to be in it, so I just sprinkled some of this n that in it.
I also fried the tortillas till they were almost crispy. I know from experience that using them out of the package will have them disintegrating into the sauce. Plus it added body to the finished dish
So, what did I substitute for the refried beans? Creamy New Orleans style red beans that I had in the cupboard. They were almost as thick and creamy as refried beans.
So while I didn't make it as healthy as it was supposed to be, it was absolutely delicious. Smear some of the beans on a tortilla and layer half the tortillas in the bottom of the dish, then top with half the meat mixture and half the cheese. Repeat layers, except for cheese, then bake until nice and bubbly. Add rest of cheese and bake a couple more minutes to melt it. Truthfully, the red beans didn't taste that different from refried beans. The casserole was absolutely delicious.
My husband made some salsa up the next day to have with the leftovers. Yummy!
I have no idea what the color codes were supposed to be, such as the two blue containers worth of shredded cheese. I assume that it was something to do with portion control in some diet plan, as it tells you how many red, yellow, blue, whatever that the dish was worth. You know, sort of like a points system. Whatever, I just enjoyed the concoction that I came up with and would make it again if I had the ingredients. Perhaps we can pick up an ingredient or two when we're shopping and I can make it again when I get all the stuff together. I think I prefer using the jalapeno over the sweet bell peppers. After all, most Mexican dishes do have some spice to them.
My husband said it reminded him of enchiladas.
Hello there
Haven't posted in this thing for a long time, so I thought I'd dust it off.
Not much has happened, you know how it goes. Years go by and it's the same old thing. Not that the same old thing is bad, on the contrary, it can be good.
I've been through several computers, and this latest one is great. It plays my games very well, though my vid card started giving me fits. A few weeks ago, when I would start playing Oblivion, the card would inexplicably fail just a few minutes into the game and I would have to hard-restart my computer. After that, it would play fine.
Then last week the card would fail every time I tried to play a graphic-intensive game like Oblivion or Star Trek Online. I allowed my son in law to access my computer from his computer (via LogMeIn), and he installed a program on it called Afterburner, which is a graphics card monitor and over/underclocking tool. It monitors the speed of the card, as well as the temperature. Using that tool, we narrowed the problem down to the card overheating and shutting down. We tried underclocking it and turning the fan speed up, but nothing we tried would work. Then my son came by after work and pulled the card and opened the fan. That was when the problem was found. The fan on my card had a broken blade.
Thankfully they were able to find another fan for it in Gregg's pile of computer parts, so I didn't have to replace the card, as it was practically brand new (it's just a few months old). Now it's working great again and I'm keeping Afterburner and I run it to keep a close check on the card while I'm playing games. I also underclocked it about 20%, which keeps the temp of the card within acceptable limits, even when I'm playing in the afternoon, since we haven't started running the A/C yet. Yeah, the temp was still in acceptable limits with the card not underclocked, but underclocking brought the temp down about nine or ten degrees and there is no loss of performance that I can tell when playing. My son moved the slider back up when he saw I'd underclocked it, but instead of fussing about it, I just waited till he left and put it back where I wanted it. Perhaps I'll return it to its normal setting when we start running the air, but I'm a bit jumpy about the card getting too hot again right now.
Speaking of which, I've gotten back into Dragon Age. Rozz, a casteless Dwarf file that was one I completed the game with, wanted me to redo his file. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I messed up in the way I did the DLC. So, I'm running Rozz again. I believe he's already made some different dialogue choices so far. I've just gotten him out of Lothering and into camp for the first time. So, next time I play he'll have a lot of catching up to do with the companions he's acquired. I'm still not sure what he's going to do regarding Morrigan and her ritual, nor if he's going to romance Leliana this time around. Perhaps he wanted to romance Morrigan and I stubbornly wouldn't allow it. We'll have to see. He may decide to do Morrigan's ritual (whether he romances her or not) and execute Loghain this time around as well. Not sure whether he'll still get Alistair to marry Anora or put him on the throne by himself. We'll see. I don't want to overanalyze his motives for wanting a second run, I'll just try to listen to him whenever he has choices to make.
Also regarding Dragon Age, I want to do as my friend did a year or so ago and make a file of every possible Origin. Rozz is my Dwarf Commoner origin. I may be redoing Olivia as my Human Mage Origin or I may run her brother Taeon through instead. We'll see. I may do both for a male-female perspective. Hell, I may just do male-female on all of them. Yes, I know, that's a huge undertaking, but since this computer plays the game much better than any other computer I ever played it on, this goal is not so unreachable. The game plays as it should instead of everything going in slow motion. I mean it, it used to take me an hour or more to get through the Wilds and this time I was through in no time, and I did it as I always did it by doing every possible quest I could find, from the Chasind Trail to the last wishes of the dead priest. Yes, I never open the box, I take it to his widow in Redcliffe. Perhaps one of my other files will open the box and take what's inside, but I haven't done it yet in any file, completed or deleted. Perhaps it's time to explore different things since I'll be running so many files. It's just hard for me not to want to fulfill the last wish of a dead man, even though he was stupid to go into the Wilds alone. His son was even more stupid for following him. But I get a pretty decent sword out of it, and a nice assortment of other stuff from the Chasind Trail.
So I bet you're asking who Taeon is. He's Olivia's brother in the Amell Origin (after all, we learned in DAII that there were Amell children and not just one child [and they were all mage children and taken to the Circle], so we can make all the siblings we want). I actually made him up to use in a fanfic that I and that same friend started working on. I've never completed the game with him though and actually deleted him. But he's persistent and wants to be created. So does Peteir, a Dalish rogue I created as another character in the same story. This story incorporated both DAO and DAII, but now we're redoing it again to incorporate Inquisition. We started this last night and added in a new character. He's the twin brother of Daveth, who dies during the Joining. Since we really wished Daveth could have survived to become a Warden we decided to honor him by creating a twin brother for him, and so Damien was born. Well, we don't know much about Daveth, except that he used to live at the edge of the Wilds and had an abusive father he ran away from. Just because he doesn't tell you whether he has any other family doesn't mean he didn't have any, so we took creative license to bring Daveth back to life (sort of) in the form of Damien. I just hope I can do him justice. He may have been a thief and cutpurse, but he had a very sensible philosophy about the Joining when Jory was in a panic. This supposed 'knight' from Highever just about wet his armor anytime things got just a little bit dangerous. At first he about wet himself in joy at winning a tourney to become a Warden recruit, and then when he found out that wasn't the end of it, that there was the secret Joining next, he wasn't so eager. Then when they found a wounded soldier in the Wilds who said their scouting band was attacked, he wanted to turn back. At the Joining, when he found out the blood they collected was now part of a cocktail they had to drink, he wanted to back out, even though he was warned that he couldn't back out.
Daveth, on the other hand, was very sensible and courageous. While Jory was whining that he'd left his heavily-pregnant wife to do this (why did he leave his pregnant wife?), and moaned about the Wardens sacrificing them, Daveth stated "I'd sacrifice a lot more if it would end the Blight." and "Maybe you'll die. Maybe we'll all die. If no one stops the Darkspawn we'll die for sure."
Then Daveth willingly swallows the vile blood concoction and it kills him (that's why the Joining is secret and dangerous). Jory panics and draws his blade on Duncan when it's his turn. Now most of the time my Wardens don't care one way or another that Jory died at Duncan's hand when he could have easily just disarmed him and poured the stuff in his mouth. But then, would you want a Warden who whined every time he perceived danger? Yeah, Jory could have survived the blood. But then again, there were also other options. Such as pretending to make him a Warden and then giving him a menial job with them later (under guard of course to keep him from running off and exposing their secret). Others thought he shouldn't have been killed and still others thought he deserved it. It's up to your Warden how s/he felt about that.
So, now you know why we wanted to honor Daveth. Sure, we could have headcanoned that he survived and helped at the battle, but we figured this was better. And we're having fun with it. An untainted, exact copy of Daveth.
Not much has happened, you know how it goes. Years go by and it's the same old thing. Not that the same old thing is bad, on the contrary, it can be good.
I've been through several computers, and this latest one is great. It plays my games very well, though my vid card started giving me fits. A few weeks ago, when I would start playing Oblivion, the card would inexplicably fail just a few minutes into the game and I would have to hard-restart my computer. After that, it would play fine.
Then last week the card would fail every time I tried to play a graphic-intensive game like Oblivion or Star Trek Online. I allowed my son in law to access my computer from his computer (via LogMeIn), and he installed a program on it called Afterburner, which is a graphics card monitor and over/underclocking tool. It monitors the speed of the card, as well as the temperature. Using that tool, we narrowed the problem down to the card overheating and shutting down. We tried underclocking it and turning the fan speed up, but nothing we tried would work. Then my son came by after work and pulled the card and opened the fan. That was when the problem was found. The fan on my card had a broken blade.
Thankfully they were able to find another fan for it in Gregg's pile of computer parts, so I didn't have to replace the card, as it was practically brand new (it's just a few months old). Now it's working great again and I'm keeping Afterburner and I run it to keep a close check on the card while I'm playing games. I also underclocked it about 20%, which keeps the temp of the card within acceptable limits, even when I'm playing in the afternoon, since we haven't started running the A/C yet. Yeah, the temp was still in acceptable limits with the card not underclocked, but underclocking brought the temp down about nine or ten degrees and there is no loss of performance that I can tell when playing. My son moved the slider back up when he saw I'd underclocked it, but instead of fussing about it, I just waited till he left and put it back where I wanted it. Perhaps I'll return it to its normal setting when we start running the air, but I'm a bit jumpy about the card getting too hot again right now.
Speaking of which, I've gotten back into Dragon Age. Rozz, a casteless Dwarf file that was one I completed the game with, wanted me to redo his file. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I messed up in the way I did the DLC. So, I'm running Rozz again. I believe he's already made some different dialogue choices so far. I've just gotten him out of Lothering and into camp for the first time. So, next time I play he'll have a lot of catching up to do with the companions he's acquired. I'm still not sure what he's going to do regarding Morrigan and her ritual, nor if he's going to romance Leliana this time around. Perhaps he wanted to romance Morrigan and I stubbornly wouldn't allow it. We'll have to see. He may decide to do Morrigan's ritual (whether he romances her or not) and execute Loghain this time around as well. Not sure whether he'll still get Alistair to marry Anora or put him on the throne by himself. We'll see. I don't want to overanalyze his motives for wanting a second run, I'll just try to listen to him whenever he has choices to make.
Also regarding Dragon Age, I want to do as my friend did a year or so ago and make a file of every possible Origin. Rozz is my Dwarf Commoner origin. I may be redoing Olivia as my Human Mage Origin or I may run her brother Taeon through instead. We'll see. I may do both for a male-female perspective. Hell, I may just do male-female on all of them. Yes, I know, that's a huge undertaking, but since this computer plays the game much better than any other computer I ever played it on, this goal is not so unreachable. The game plays as it should instead of everything going in slow motion. I mean it, it used to take me an hour or more to get through the Wilds and this time I was through in no time, and I did it as I always did it by doing every possible quest I could find, from the Chasind Trail to the last wishes of the dead priest. Yes, I never open the box, I take it to his widow in Redcliffe. Perhaps one of my other files will open the box and take what's inside, but I haven't done it yet in any file, completed or deleted. Perhaps it's time to explore different things since I'll be running so many files. It's just hard for me not to want to fulfill the last wish of a dead man, even though he was stupid to go into the Wilds alone. His son was even more stupid for following him. But I get a pretty decent sword out of it, and a nice assortment of other stuff from the Chasind Trail.
So I bet you're asking who Taeon is. He's Olivia's brother in the Amell Origin (after all, we learned in DAII that there were Amell children and not just one child [and they were all mage children and taken to the Circle], so we can make all the siblings we want). I actually made him up to use in a fanfic that I and that same friend started working on. I've never completed the game with him though and actually deleted him. But he's persistent and wants to be created. So does Peteir, a Dalish rogue I created as another character in the same story. This story incorporated both DAO and DAII, but now we're redoing it again to incorporate Inquisition. We started this last night and added in a new character. He's the twin brother of Daveth, who dies during the Joining. Since we really wished Daveth could have survived to become a Warden we decided to honor him by creating a twin brother for him, and so Damien was born. Well, we don't know much about Daveth, except that he used to live at the edge of the Wilds and had an abusive father he ran away from. Just because he doesn't tell you whether he has any other family doesn't mean he didn't have any, so we took creative license to bring Daveth back to life (sort of) in the form of Damien. I just hope I can do him justice. He may have been a thief and cutpurse, but he had a very sensible philosophy about the Joining when Jory was in a panic. This supposed 'knight' from Highever just about wet his armor anytime things got just a little bit dangerous. At first he about wet himself in joy at winning a tourney to become a Warden recruit, and then when he found out that wasn't the end of it, that there was the secret Joining next, he wasn't so eager. Then when they found a wounded soldier in the Wilds who said their scouting band was attacked, he wanted to turn back. At the Joining, when he found out the blood they collected was now part of a cocktail they had to drink, he wanted to back out, even though he was warned that he couldn't back out.
Daveth, on the other hand, was very sensible and courageous. While Jory was whining that he'd left his heavily-pregnant wife to do this (why did he leave his pregnant wife?), and moaned about the Wardens sacrificing them, Daveth stated "I'd sacrifice a lot more if it would end the Blight." and "Maybe you'll die. Maybe we'll all die. If no one stops the Darkspawn we'll die for sure."
Then Daveth willingly swallows the vile blood concoction and it kills him (that's why the Joining is secret and dangerous). Jory panics and draws his blade on Duncan when it's his turn. Now most of the time my Wardens don't care one way or another that Jory died at Duncan's hand when he could have easily just disarmed him and poured the stuff in his mouth. But then, would you want a Warden who whined every time he perceived danger? Yeah, Jory could have survived the blood. But then again, there were also other options. Such as pretending to make him a Warden and then giving him a menial job with them later (under guard of course to keep him from running off and exposing their secret). Others thought he shouldn't have been killed and still others thought he deserved it. It's up to your Warden how s/he felt about that.
So, now you know why we wanted to honor Daveth. Sure, we could have headcanoned that he survived and helped at the battle, but we figured this was better. And we're having fun with it. An untainted, exact copy of Daveth.
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