It's Fresh Blueberry Season!

So this past Saturday I made a trip to the farmer's market, I was a little late so I wandered from food stall to food stall. Turns out green tomatoes sell out really fast in this area. So I picked up some ripe red ones for a surprise dinner for my boyfriend after a long weekend of promoting his company's game. His flight was delayed but I didn't find out about that until after the tomatoes had roasted in the oven with garlic and butter.

The next day was an unexpected day off so I dedicated it to figuring out what to do with the 2 pints of blueberries I picked up. I discovered a recipe on allrecipes.com that seemed to be pretty polarizing. I read through it and thought, "I should give this a try."

The batter was very cake-like as the reviews had said, I added a cup extra of blue berries than was suggested.

Yay cookies! My roomie and I tested them. They were a little unexciting but interesting. Surely there was something that would save them. Lemon glaze? Honey glaze? Why not both?

That was exactly what they needed - added to the blueberry flavor and really helped take the cake/cookies to the next level.

So to those who might come across this and are having the problem of mouth-watering I need this in my life. Here are the recipes:

Cookies - Blueberry Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 pinch salt 1/2 cup butter 1 cup white sugar

2 eggs, beaten 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract 1/2 cup milk 2 cups fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheet.
2.	Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
3.	In a large bowl, cream butter or margarine with sugar. Beat in eggs and lemon flavoring. Mix in milk and flour mixture alternately in three parts, starting with the milk. Gently mix in blueberries.
4.	Drop batter by tablespoons onto prepared sheets 1 1/2 inches apart.
5.	Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Icing - Honey- Lemon Glaze INGREDIENTS: 1 Cup Icing (confectioner's) sugar 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest 1 tablespoon honey 1 tablespoon lemon juice (just squeeze the lemon you made the zest from) DIRECTIONS: 1. Combine all ingredients and mix well That's it, that's all it takes. So get out there and enjoy with some nice sweet tea.

Hiya!

Oh boy, I hate it when I spend awhile away from the blog. So, what has been up the last month and a half?

Gaming is continuing as usual. Current games are my World of Darkness: Werewolf the Forsaken as well as a game I am actually playing in Iron Kingdoms. I've also played a few games of Warmachine.

Reading: I have discovered the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. Really enjoing the series, though I really should get back to reading the Dresden Files.

Crochet: I had taken a break, but I will be back at geeky crochet crafts after I finish a promised hat.

Sewing: The latest project is one I'm really excited to finish. It's a dragon quilt! I'll share pics when I finally finish.

Painting: Slowly getting back into painting, I did a quick fun painting of Gatoman from Digimon.

Photography: Currently working on a photography series of abandoned houses.

Baking: Nothing really new to report here, but I have been coming up with designs.


In short, responsibilities have taken over but I am getting back to what I love and looking at continuing my education starting spring semester. Just gotta find the right university.
This blog will start broadening in topic based on realizations that the idea was to channel Nimrochill, my go to MMO character. A big part of this character is crafting, a big part of my life is crafting. So hopefully some fun stuff will be in store in the future.

Alice Maybe

Alice is a young high school student who really is more talented than anyone gives her credit for. The talent is hidden underneath angsty teenage werewolf anger. She is the newest change in my new Werewolf: The Forsaken campaign. I wanted to introduce them to a Cahalith since all the players do not know what it is a Cahalith does exactly. So this post is just a small tidbit into the life of the NPC with the unfortunate name Alice Maybe.

* * * * * * *

The teacher was droning on but Alice couldn't care less, her attention was on the texting between a group a few rows away from her. Her former friend Ashley was in that group of smirking texters and eventually a look would be thrown her direction with more smiling and tick tacking for fingers hitting the touch screens with long perfectly manicured fingernails. Alice held out her thin fingers, her nails weren't perfect but they weren't pretty like their nails were. Alice went more with the fierce black that stood boldly against her pale skin.

*Alice* There was a whisper, it wasn't human. Was that a weird thing to think? She looked over to the window beside her. Her reflection looked back at her but something else, something within the reflection. Was it Portia or something sinister? Portia was the ghost of a young woman who was trapped in the high school, like Alice. Unlike Alice, Portia was at least a hundred years old at this point and still stuck within these walls. That wasn't true, she's left before, Alice had let Portia possess her before, for research they both had decided.

Portia had the ability was much too sweet of a person to take them unwillingly, Alice had come to learn. Now it was much too dangerous to let Portia possess her as often as she had let her. She was something else now, she wasn't human. She had been assured it was a blessing from the moon goddess... no, mother.... Luna.

*Alice* she heard again, the voice gave her chills. Was this one of her dreams. She looked up to the sky, clearly day with no sign of the moon. This couldn't be another message from Luna. *Look at me!* the voice growled menacingly. Alice looked around the room, nobody else heard it. Was she going crazy? Had she already gone nuts and and am imagining all of this as she sits in a padded room somewhere? She did it on instinct, wasn't even aware that she knew how to do it but looked across. There was a flash of the spirit world but she couldn't see much. There was a menacing face taking up her entire view. She swallowed back a scream as the image disappeared. Laughter filled her ears as she was visibly shaken. That laughter was something she couldn't find the words to describe.

"Alice?" a different voice asked and she shivered, slowly turning her head in the direction of the voice. It was the teacher, the lecture had paused. "Are you alright? Do you need to go to the nurse?" he asked.

"Y-Yes," she said stumbling over her backpack as she got out of her desk. There was a chorus of laughter from the group of girls who tormented her. She felt a sort of relief with that laughter. That was normal. Then the unnatural laughing started again as she snatched up her bag and tried to calmly walk out of the room. When she cleared the room she bolted down the hall. She could go to Morrigan... or, what about those werewolves that helped her change? They helped her with that, the Ian guy was trying to help her with her dreams, what about this Spirit problem?

Iron Kingdoms - Contracts

Dahlia looked at the contract the dwarf accountant and written up for the mercenary group. The pay would be divided into shares, 1 share each per member of the party, 1 share for company expenses (fair), and 1 share to be awarded to the most outstanding of the job. There were also stipulations as to what would be to happen to the share if something unforseeable had happened to member signing the contract, such as death. She had to figure out what was to happen to her body and her funds should she die.

Dahlia signed then put her pen to the parchment before her:

I Dahlia Vrir of the house of Vrir of Ios, ask that if I should die that my body be returned to Ios or that a member of the Vrir family be notified to come collect my body and belongings. I will warn you now, the Vrir family is not the easiest to contact, but I have faith you will find a member.

If I should die, I ask that my funds go to my elder sister and that my leather bound notebook that I have spent many evenings writing in, be returned to the house of Vrir so that it's contents may help the house. I ask that you do not read the contents of the notebook. If it is easiest, the notebook can be sent to my sister, she will know what to do with it.

Currently my sister is located in eastern Llael. if for some reason you have to travel to deliver my body, I have included a secondary envelope. This is to be delivered to the Vrir that you have met with the seal unbroken.

Dahlia set the letter aside and wrote the secondary letter, asking for the safety of those who deliver her body if they had not been the ones to deliver the killing blow. She noted that a notebook should be in their possession and it is imperative that this notebook be asked for as it will help the Retribution's work.

When she finished penning the secondary letter she put it in a smaller envelope and sealed with with wax and the symbol for Scyrah pressed into the wax.

She slipped the envelope into the larger envelop with the response to the secondary clause of the contract. She sighed signing the contract and delivering it to the dwarf accountant. With that out of the way, the real work could begin.

Dlor'itati'usko = "Ritati" - Chiss Jedi

Might as well add some about my Chiss Jedi - "Ritati" for the Force and Destiny game. The game is set 15 years after Order 66.

Dlor'itati'usko "Ritati" - Chiss Jedi Knight

Strength: Bravery

Weakness: Anger

Story: Dlor'itati'usko joined the jedi when she was very young with her elder brother. It was his idea to join the order and he had always had a way of getting her to see things his way. She idolized him, he was brilliant, cunning, and talented. He wasn't quick to compliment her on her own skills but when he did she believed him. Both of them flourished in the Academy and were eventually split up when they each were given Jedi Masters.

Ritati, as she was now being called was a Padawan for Mylla a Falleen Jedi Master. Ritati worked hard under Mylla, the mantra being the sooner she becomes a Jedi Knight, the sooner she can see her brother again as he promised. She learned the art of hiding in the shadows and hiding herself from Force users and non-Force users alike.

Ritani and Mylla were sent on a covert ops mission, a few specially trained clones with them as well.
With her skills displayed on this mission and her ability to bring everyone home, she was promoted to Jedi Knight. It was the happiest day that was only going to be topped by reuniting with her brother.

She was quickly assigned to Mace Windu's secret project. She called her brother and was talking to him, as he was on his own mission. He congratulated her on her achievement and was very excited to see her again. He suddenly grew serious and looked off to the side then the line went dead. It wasn't long after that Obi-Wan's warning was transmitted. The group she was assigned to quickly left Coruscant.

The group decided to take shifts with the ship and Ritati chose to settle on the planet she last knew her brother to be on. Maridun, she spent those years that she was not on the ship searching for him. It was about her second shift on the reliquary that she finally accepted that he had died when Order 66 went off.

What was she to do now? She was in hiding, her people were rising in ranks with the Empire. Would she turn her back on the Jedi Knights she worked alongside and go home? She wanted to, oh did she want to, she imagined reuniting with her family, mourning over the loss of her brother with them, how grateful her mother would be to learn that for 10 years Ritati searched for her brother, how happy her father would be to finally have her home. She had learned her lesson and she had come home. It was tempting, to say the least.

Would she be able to stay true and honor the Jedi on her third shift with the reliquary?

Ambition: Expertise - Ritati must be the best in her field, there is no excuses to let someone best you at your own game. Her level of the best had always been her brother, now she must train because she does not know the level of skill outside or where her brother would be or where she should be by this point. She spent too long waiting around, it's time to do something.

Faith: Friends and Family - There is only one thing more important to her than those she considers to be her friends and that is her family. She will do anything for a friend or family member who needs help.

Dahlia Vrir - Iosan Mage Hunter

The following is just a snippit of my Iosan Mage Hunter for the Iron Kingdoms system.

Dahlia sat in the chair looking down, those that called her here were yet to arrive. Had she done something wrong? She had killed the warcaster, the mission had been completed. She could feel her blood trickle down her arm from the wound the caster had been able to give her before she sliced through his throat. After he fell the rest of his company didn't last long as the troops around her swarmed his company.

She was young for an Iosan but still had been able to prove her ability to her superiors, she had been accepted into the mage hunters and been trained from an early age. Maybe her family name had something to do with it. She had come from a long line of mage hunters, her father was a high ranking officer by now, and her sister had joined the company under Garryth, Blade of Retribution. The door opened and an officer came in. Dahlia stood up quickly. "At ease," he said, unrolling a parchment.

"Dahlia of the Vrir house, you are to report to Pellyth Hallyr in Ord. You are being moved to special operation," he looked up. "You have proven yourself capable of handling yourself in a one-on-one situation. Our spec. ops from some of the ships coming have been unable to contact the hunter we have stationed out there. You are to search for Bres Larisar and find what has become of him. That is the least important of your duties. You are to join with Pellyth Hallyr, he is part of the Seekers out there."

"The Seekers do the opposite of what we're trying to do, what I was trained to do," Dahlia argued.

"That is exactly why we need an insider with them. Pellyth may spend some time training you and giving you a license for a cover job. From there we need you to do your job, take care of the human mages who are far from our battle lines."

"Learn from Pellyth, infiltrate the Seekers, travel along that coast looking for human warcasters we cannot yet reach. Can you do this?"

"Without a doubt, sir," Dahlia said.

* * * * * *

Arriving in Ord it wasn't long before Pellyth contacted her and told her to meet him at a local pub. She arrived early so she could observe those coming in and out of the pub, looser lips there than anywhere else. An Iosan came through the door and she could tell right away that was Pellyth even before he spotted her and came over.

"I hear you are in need of some extra training," he smiled.

"That is what I am here for, yes." Dahlia confirmed.

The discussion lasted for at least an hour before Pellyth grinned, "I could tell you were a Seeker from across the room, but I had to be sure. You are very good, a bit serious but good, yes I will train you. I will set you up as an Investigator in town, you won't have any trouble with a job like that, I can tell you're bright and I'll find someone to train you a little bit in what you should know to at least be useful in the area. From there if there is anything else you need to learn come through me and I can find someone to train you. Give me a week, I will have the papers for you, until then you'll be getting tutored for your job.

Dahlia spent the week being trained in forensics, even being taken around by the tutor to his own jobs. She got hands on experience, which was what she was grateful for because that was how she learned the best. During that time she got plenty of practice in learning Ordic.

She was given her own license after the week and continued working under her trainer for a few months. By the time she was sure she had the language and the necessary skill to get started down she started looking for work, Pellyth putting word out into town that an investigator was looking for work. She had been contacted by several people but it all meant that she would be staying in the city so she declined their offers.

Finally she was contacted by a mercenary band. They were a bit of an odd group but she accepted their offer either way. Now, the real work was to begin.

She proved herself to be a vital asset to the group and quickly rose to a high standing in the band. They hadn't pried too much into her past, they didn't need to know her history to know that she could do her job and for that she was grateful. If the time came she was an exceptional liar, always had been and now with this covert ops job it was being put to good use.

Goth

I've spent the last week digging through my closet, looking for some of the old clothes I wore in high school. I will say, I was a goth with purple hair for awhile. After I graduated and spent some time out in the college world, my closet and my personal style transformed into brighter pastels or geeky t-shirts. Lately, I've been yearning for my black clothes again, wanting to wear my dark lipstick, and paint my fingernails black. Even while I had worn the brighter colors, I still loved the goth and punk styles but guided myself towards clothes that were "more adult" in my mind.

I've been looking online and in thrift stores for clothes that look like what I want to wear with not much luck. The closest that I have been able to find has been the Maleficent line at Hot Topic

Who wants to pay $50+ dollars though, and unfortunately by the time I can swing that extra money around it would have gone out the doors and into other's closets. I can sew, however, so I will have to get back to designing clothes and actually going through with making them. First though, I will need to make a dress form as described in the pinterest pages I have come by. Hopefully by that time I can maybe go back to purple hair, with a 9-5 job.