That's What Jenni Said

I picked up Fate of the Elder Gods from the friendly staff at Greater Than Games during a gaming convention visit. I've played the game on four or five different occasions since then and absolutely loved it each time. Let's start with the artwork. It's beautiful! Great detail on the figures, the board is well-designed, and the Elder God cards are lovely. Even the artwork contained in the rule book demonstrates an investment in time and the application of creativity and skill.    The components (thick cards, dice, Elder sign tokens, and various plastic figures) are sturdy and made to last.  The rule book is easy to understand. The only issue our play team bumped up against was that per the rule book, the control actions are supposed to be done after  the basic actions, but in at least one case the instructions contradict themselves and indicate it should be done before the basic actions.  A minor issue all things considered and one it shou...

I'd been reading Ree Drummond's blog at thepioneerwoman.com for years before she breezed into Washington, D.C. one sunny afternoon on her book tour. My friend Danielle and I were delighted to stop by and meet her and when we did I picked up a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks . Jenni (left) and Danielle (right) with Ree (center). Several years have passed since then and while I've made a recipe or two from the book, I haven't really made her collection a focus of my menu. Recently that changed. My husband Christopher has been urging me to incorporate more comfort food into my menu planning and I guessed that Ree's recipes would be perfect along those lines. One afternoon I handed  The Pioneer Woman Cooks  to Christopher and asked him to tag a few recipes he'd like to see on our dinner table. He tagged 34. 😃😃😃 I've prepared about half of them over the past two months and nearly every one has been phenomenal, earning a family rating of 4/5 or 5/5 fork...

When it comes to cuisine, Marcella Hazan is my definitive guide for all things Italian, so it takes a pretty remarkable cookbook to earn a permanent space in my collection alongside her work. Domenica Machetti has written one of those cookbooks and it's titled The Glorious Pasta of Italy .  Comprised of 274 pages of well-researched and well-written recipes for making a variety of pasta, sauces, soups, and entrees, it has served as a valuable resource for exploring new flavors in my kitchen. I enjoyed Marchetti's fresh tomato sauce so much that I used it one summer recently as my basic recipe for transforming 125 pounds of farm fresh Roma tomatoes into canned pasta sauce for use all year long. The flavors remained bright and tangy even after canning. Another recipe I particularly enjoy is the orecchiette with creamy broccoli sauce. The ragu is rich and satisfying and because the broccoli is pureed it won over even the pickiest never-met-a-vegetable-I-liked eater in the family ...

Hey guys, I was featured on The Dice Tower's Board Game Breakfast today! (approx 20 minutes in)  Board Game Breakfast Aug 13, 2018

Saturday afternoon at GenCon I came across a demonstration of Shoot Cows getting started at the designer’s booth. The little cow cards looked interesting, so I volunteered to participate and within 5 minutes we all had the rules down. I picked up a copy for myself and vowed to play it within a week. Yesterday I did just that. My husband, myself, and our 13-year-old daughter gathered around our gaming table at lunchtime for a quick game. Opening the box and examining the cards, I found them to be of average thickness. Not impossible to bend, but thick enough to stand up to repeated usage. The artwork inside the box compliments what’s on the cover – a black and white cow palette that fits the game’s theme. I don’t often delve into step-by-step gameplay in my reviews (too complicated; read the rules) but as the rules and play for Shoot Cow are rather simple, it’s reasonable to given them some coverage. Two survivor cards are distributed to each player and put face up in front ...

A few years ago, thanks to a great mistake rate on airfare, I was able to hop over to Vietnam for a long weekend to explore the culinary wonders of Saigon. My first night in the city, I reserved a table at La Villa (14 NGO Quang Huy St, Thao Dien Ward, District 2). Because the French occupied Saigon from the late 1800s until the 1950s, there is a distinct French stamp on the local cuisine and La Villa is a fantastic example of it. Course after course of French food was paraded before me and I delighted in it. I spent the morning and afternoon of the next day taking Vietnamese cooking classes at the Saigon Culinary Arts Center (make reservations at http://vietnamsaigoncookingclass.com). For a very affordable rate (less than $50USD) I was treated to an educational tour of the local markets, an in-depth overview of typical Vietnamese cooking ingredients, lunch (that I made), and a recipe book. The class even includes escort from one's hotel. The te...

In 2014, I made a return trip to Turkey. My third visit to the country, I set out to explore more of the southwest area of Turkey. As always, I flew into Instanbul from the US and got in a lovely visit to the Turkish baths at Cemberlitas Hamam and made time for a quick visit to the spice market before making my way to the Anatolian peninsula. I started my adventure in Aphrodisias. It was once the capital of the Roman province of Caria and renowned for its sculptures. While the city was devastated by a 7th century earthquake, the quality of its marble buildings was so great that ruins remain today.  Once I'd had my fill of the ancient city, I departed for Pamukkale (ie the Cotton Castle). This is a phenomenal natural landscape, with limestone terraces hosting cascading pools.