Happy Chinese New Year!!!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

Year of the Horse.

Useless Food News:
I took today off and I made these Mahjong cakes for my grandparents.  You can't see it well, but it's pink cake on the bottom glued to a white cake top with strawberry icing.  Then I wrote the Green Dragon, Red Dragon, and White Dragon symbols on them.  This pic doesn't look as good as the real thing.

Mahjong Dragon Cakes.

Sports Jacket

Dressed up today for a big meeting.  I even wore my "+2 Sports Jacket of Meetings".  It generates an AT Field that prevents drowsiness and too many actions from being assigned to me.  It's also wrinkle proof.

When I got home, I noticed my normal shoes became "+5 Shoes of Smelliness"!  Time for some new Sneaker Tamers.

Useless Idol News:
Lonely Avocado subbed some performances from this year's AKB48 Kouhaku.  Check out "Yuuwaku no Garter" centered by Kashiwagi and flanked by Milky and Dasu (probably NSFW).

Subaru X Attack on Titan

Dinner today -> Beef with Chinese Greens
Mixed up some sliced beef with Chinese greens (Gai Lan) tonight.

Poured it over rice.  There were no chow mein noodles left at SuperStore :(

Useless Anime/Japan News:
The new Subaru commercial in Japan is themed with Attack on Titan.  The titans are rendered pretty well.  Overall, a cool commercial.  Commercials like this would never fly over here.

Pickled Radish

Dinner today -> Sashimi and BBQ Pork.
Sliced up the last of the salmon for sashimi and reheated some BBQ pork with some pickled radish.  Filling meal.  The pickled radish clears the palette between the fish and pork.

Dinner.

Useless Idol News:
The 4 day AKB48 Request Hour Best 200-101 concert and Unit Matsuri concert ended this weekend.  Out of it came a couple big announcements:
1) Oshima Yuko will graduate at the AKB48 National Stadium concert on March 29th/30th.
2) A big 48group shuffle concert will occur on Feb 24.  Assumption is members from all groups will be shuffled to from new teams.

Got a package from HMV Japan with more AKB stuff today: AKB48 Calendar, Limited AKB48 Album, and 2 more Kasai CDs.

AKB Stuff.

Also got this nice poster of Kashiwagi and Kojima.  Too bad it was folded.

Album Poster.

Pulled these photos from my stuff.  I scored Sasshi, Yuko, and Kojiharu from the AKB album CDs.

New AKB Photos.

Weekend Report: DQ Treats

Food this weekend ->
8 person Rideau Restaurant outing on Friday for lunch.  I thought it was going to be a meat overload, but I was glad Jim ordered the Shanhai Bok Choi with Chinese Mushrooms.

Rideau Food: Before...

After a few minutes we destroyed the dishes :)

...After.

Saturday morning, Susanna and I went to Dairy Queen to take advantage of the Customer Appreciation Day.  It was 50% off everything in the freezers except the Orange Bars.  I bought 1 box of Dilly Bars, 1 box of Buster Bars, and 1 Peanutbutter Fudge Pizza.

DQ Treats.

The Pizza is good, but I find it abit salty.  Maybe it's just me.

Peanutbutter Fudge Pizza.

Salmon was on sale at The Superstore.  I got a nice filet, skinned it, and made some salmon rolls and salmon skin rolls.

Salmon Rolls and Salmon Skin Rolls.

Useless Idol Info:
Picked up a package on Friday.  It was from CD Japan.  I wasn't expecting this because I had changed my shipping from EMS to SAL.  The new AKB48 album was only released on Tuesday and I got it Friday.  That's some super fast SAL shipping.
I got AKB48 Albums, Kasai Tomomi 3rd Single, and Weekly Playboy featuring Yuko and Kawaei.

CD Japan Shipment.

Useless Transformers Info:
Picked up some Botshot Launchers from The Superstore.  They were only $6.44 each.  I got an extra Bumblebee by accident.  Forgot I already had him.

Botshots Launchers.

Useless Gaming News:
Gaming night at Gordon's on Friday.  Ben and I arrived early to play some Magic and Zombicide.  We played a board from Zombicide 1, and we beat it fairly easily.  Probably because we were using 6 survivors instead of the minimum 4.  The maps on Zombicide 2 are way harder.

Zombicide.

When Brian and Paul arrived, we played Galaxy Trucker.  The object is to build a ship to transport people/cargo and survive to the end of the race.  I like this game alot.  I think it's lots of fun because of the randomness and random chaos.  Totally my type of game. 
I didn't realize it at the time, but Ben and I figured out that we screwed up the rule of putting the viewed pieces back into the middle of the table.  Most of us were putting pieces back beside us.  That probably helped Brian alot when building his ship for the last round with all the pieces around him.

Galaxy Trucker.

After, we played another long game of DDD (Dark, Darker, Darkest) using suggested house rules.  We beat the game but I find this game not very fun at all.  It's pretty much a 1 player game because you have to do actions according to the group (for us mainly what Brian wanted to do).  We also played the turn order wrong and the house rules made it easy.  I'm pretty sure I won't play this game ever again, and I regret backing this game on Kickstarter.  The game sucks if you're expected to lose and you can't win without using house rules.  Maybe because I'm comparing this game to Zombicide, but Zombicide just completely destroys this game is every aspect.

Happy Birthday Natalie!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE!!!

TF Valentine Cards

Useless Transformers News:
I found the Transformers Lenticular Valentine cards today at Target.  I didn't see the tattoo version though.  Still need to find those.

Transformers Lenticular Valentines.

Useless Toy News:
Also from Target, I picked up classic TMNT super articulated Rocksteady and Bebop!  Hoping for a Splinter or Krang to be made.

Bebop and Rocksteady.

Useless Idol News:
2 new commercials featuring Oshima Yuko and "Not Yet" (background song).

What does Yuko say in the business version or is she just making an annoyed sound?  LOL

DuckTales

Dinner today -> Garlic Chives with Liver and Beef.
Made a dish using garlic chives, chicken liver, and beef steak.  I couldn't decide whether to get pork liver or beef liver, so I got chicken liver.  I wanted it more meaty so I got a steak too.  Usually this dish doesn't have beef.

Garlic Chives with Chicken Liver and Beef.

In the end, it was really good.  Too bad I ate it with bread, because the sauce would have been awesome on rice.  Maybe tomorrow since I have leftovers.

Useless Gaming News:
Picked up DuckTales ~Remastered~ today for XBox360.  I remember renting this game and playing it alot on original Nintendo, way back in the day.

DuckTales.

Attack on Titan

Dinner today -> Turbot
Pan cooked a Turbot with some olive oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce.

Turbot.

Useless Anime News:
I finished watching the "Attack on Titan" anime.  The story is kind of out there, and it's really graphic on how the titans eat people (even to my standards).  The anime is good, but it can't be over.  There are still some big unresolved plots at the end.
The big issue I have with this anime is that the characters all like to talk to themselves alot.  The action is fast and cool, but inbetween the action are long monologs and flashbacks by the characters (ie there is 20 seconds left before the cannon is reloaded, but I will remember a 10 min flashback first), which really slows the story down.  The anime also likes to repeat the same info, to remind the viewer what happened/was said before.  It was annoying.
Overall, it's not a bad anime, but not one that I'm rushing to watch again.

Useless Poll News:
Don't forget to vote for Steve's TV in the poll!

Plasma TV or LED TV?

Dinner today -> Discount Fried Chicken
Went to Loblaws at 7:30pm and found some 50% discount chicken for dinner.  I'll save the wings for lunch tomorrow.

Discount Fried Chicken.

Useless DQ News:
On the way back home I saw the new billboard outside Dairy Queen by the Centrum.  It said this Saturday January 25 is Customer Appreciation Day.  It's be the same as last year, with cakes and other frozen treats for 50% off.  I'm not going to get a rectangular cake this year.  It wasn't that good.  I'll probably get some ice cream sandwiches or the circular ice cream bars.

Useless Poll News:
Steve needs to decide if he should get a new 50" Plasma TV or 55" LED TV.  Lets help him out by voting in the poll on the left-hand side!

Weekend Report: Triassic Terror Comeback Victory

Food this weekend ->
Made a trip to Comic Book Shoppe on Friday at lunchtime.  Took a different root so I could swing by Frank's Catering for some sandwiches.  I don't think I've ever gotten in during the week, but the sandwiches seemed to be put together abit sloppy.  Ed's sandwich had his tomatoes outside of the sandwich, while mine had the meat lopsided.  The weekend girls make the sandwiches nicer.  Probably because they aren't rushed.

Sloppy Franks Sandwich.

Made Mabu Tofu.  This time I used a package for the sauce instead making it myself from scratch.  It was OK, but I wouldn't get it again. 

Mabu Tofu.

The pack didn't make alot of sauce too, so when it was mixed with rice it wasn't as good.

Mabu Tofu on Rice.

I picked up alot of meatbuns this weekend too.  Ben, Susanna, and I first went to Green Space.  The buns there were OK (right).  I was expecting better quality and the BBQ bun's bread tasted under-cooked.  Afterwards, we went to Kowloon and got some better meat buns (left) and some spring rolls too.  I recommend the deep fried curry bun.  It's crispy, soft, and the green curry ground beef filling is not overpowering.

Meat Buns.

From Green Space, they had cooked lobster in green onion and ginger for only $7.99.  I picked up 1 package.  It was really good and well worth it.  Lots of tail pieces.

Lobster.

Useless Gaming News:
Gaming at Brian's house on Saturday night.  We tried Conquest of Planet Earth.  As expected, a good game by Fly Frog.  I'd like to try it again, but the harder co-op mode.
We then played 5 player Triassic Terror.  Paul pulled away with 27 points in the 1st scoring round.  Because of that, Brian and Ben kept killing his dinos.  I only scored 7 points in the 1st round.  Because of that, no one was targeting me (blue dinos) and I won the game by 2 points with 74 points.  I like this game alot.  It's simple yet strategic.  The random turn order and turn action can really change the tide of the game.

5-Player Triassic Terror.

Red Dragon Inn 4 was next.  It's a game where you have to out drink your opponents by surviving drinking games, gambling, and fortitude attacks.  I like the game.  I should have backed it on Kickstarter.  If they make a #5, I probably will.

5-Player Red Dragon Inn.

We finished the night by playing Machine of Death.  It's a storytelling game of how to assassinate your 4 targets using a random weapon and random characteristics.  Not really my type of game or the game for most of us.  It felt more like a forced English class where you have to makeup a short story on the spot.  I don't need to play this game again.

Radish Cake

Dinner today -> Radish Cake.
I got some radish cake from T&T on the weekend.  It's made with shredded daikon, so I think it should be called daikon cake?  Anyways, I sliced up the cake into thin sections and pan fried it for dinner.  This stuff is really good prepared this way because it's alittle roasted, crispy, and soft at the same time.  Too bad I can only buy radish cake around Chinese New Year.

Pan-fried Radish Cake.

I added a couple of marinated hard boiled eggs to my plate too.

Useless Idol News:
Kasai Tomomi's photobook will released March 17!  Yes!
This is her mini-live CD release event at Sunshine City mall in Tokyo.  I think it was the top floor of this mall where Gavin, Ben, and I had some good gyoza, from the gyoza theme park.

KFC + Congee

Lunch today -> Ox Head
Steve, Ed, and I went to Ox Head for some good vermicelli.  We all got the V17 Ox Head Special.  Really good and there is alot of meat.  I recommend it.

V17.

Dinner today -> KFC
It's been awhile since I had Kentucky Fried Chicken.  I used a coupon for a 14pc meal with fries and 2 salads.  I also added a medium gravy.  I took it to my parent's for dinner, and asked my mom to make congee to go with it.

KFC Dinner.

I added a raw egg (you can barely see the yolk) and some preserved egg into my congee.  I later added some ripped bits of the KFC skin into it too :)

KFC + Congee

Danny Choo posted an article why Christmas = KFC in Japan, but don't look at the last pic... I've warned you  x_x

Useless Idol News:
AKB's Rie and Mocchi are going to Taiwan for a handshake event right now.

Snowballs

Dinner today -> Tamago Gohan.
Made some fresh hot rice and topped it with a raw egg and some soy sauce.  Mix it together and eat.  Also made some salmon and potatoes as a side dish.

Salmon, Potatoes, and Egg Rice.

Ate some Snowballs that Susanna got for me from Syracuse.  It's good and different, from a regular Joe Louis or Twinkie. 

Snowballs.

Useless Idol News:
Wednesday is Sato Amina's graduation stage.  I think I want to watch it.
Today, Kasai Tomomi's 3rd single "Kietaikurai" was released. 

Kasai Tomomi.

My copies of the CDs won't ship until next week, when the new AKB48 album is released.
"Kietaikurai" from Kasai's Solo Christmas Live:

Christmas Break 2013 Report 4

Useless Anime Info:
Inaddition to the holiday food, I also stayed up one night for an all-nighter to watch anime.  I rewatched all of AKB0048 Season 1 and Season 2, finished Sword Art Online, and started abit of Soul Eater.  It was totally worth it.  A full day to myself with out people bugging me to do stuff.

AKB0048 Mayuyu.

Useless Gaming News:
I did get some board gaming in while being sick.  These were some of the highlights:
Tried out DDD (Dark, Darker, Darkest).  The game seems OK and we will need to try it again, but the instructions are horrible!  I'm still not sure if we played it right.

DDD

Ninjato was fun.  A fast Ninja worker placement game with a neat twist.

Ninjato.

Triassic Terror is also another new game that I found pretty fun.  It a game about dinosaurs, and everybody loves dinosaurs.

Triassic Terror.

Still, the best games I played over the break was "What's He Building In There?" and Zombicide 2.  What's he building in there is a worker placement and resource management game where you guild a doomsday machine and a escape vehicle. 
Zombicide 2 Map M02... What can I say... we got totally slaughtered.  We ran out of walkers, kept flipping Fatties, and triggered an Abomination!

Zombicide 2 Map 02.

Weekend Report: Re-organized Zombicide

Food this weekend -> Pizza.
I bought some Pillsbury pizza dough and made my own pizza.  Topped it with a little tomato sauce, blobs of Boursin cheese instead of shredded cheese, and some sliced sausage.  Turned out pretty good, but I burnt it abit by leaving it in the oven 8 mins too long.  I find the dough has a hint of crescent roll flavour too.

Pizza with Boursin Cheese and Sausage.

Useless Lego News:
I picked up some of the new Lego Movie lego.  Got just the 2 small packs from Walmart.

Lego Movie Lego.

Useless Gaming News:
I re-organized and combined all my Zombicide boardgames (Season 1, Mall, and Season 2) and parts (Zombie Boxes, Zombie Dogs, and Promo Heroes) into 1 Zombicide box and 1 storage kit.  I sorted all the board pieces into baggies, and sleeved all the cards into deck boxes.  All the zombies were sorted into storage boxes.  3 of these were for the basic walkers alone.

Re-organized and Combined Zombicide.

I also labelled all the bottom of the hero figures.  Hopefully I'll have enough space for when all the new promo heroes arrive.

Labelled Heroes.

Smokescreen

Dinner today -> Roast Beef
Made a small roast I bought and froze over Christmas.  Cooked it with some yellow mini potatoes, baby carrots, and garlic.

Roast Beef.

I came out about medium rare :)  I used Will's temperature fork to get it right.

Medium Rare Roast Beef.

Andrew and Jill gave me a plate of Christmas goodies today.  The gingerbread cookies were good, but the little cupcake thingy's are even better.  Thanks Jill.  Thanks Andrew.

Christmas Treats.

Useless Gaming News:
I got my Kickstarted game "Where art thou Romeo?" in the mail today.  It was suppose to show up before New Year's, but better late than never.

Where art thou Romeo? Game.

Useless Transformers News:
Also in the mail today was Masterpiece Smokescreen!

Masterpiece Smokescreen.