Argh! Stupid blindness! I paid $300 for new glasses today. Yes, that’s with insurance. They better look as cute to everyone else as they do to me! The frames were not the expensive part. The expensive part was the thinner lens that is not covered at all by insurance but which I need to buy or else my glasses would be too heavy and look weird. People with prescriptions less than -7.00, I envy you.

And I still need to buy contacts. It looks like I can get them pretty cheap online. Pretty cheap is still $150, though. Damn, damn, damn.

Egads. This column by Mark Morford frightens me. Usually I find his work amusing, over-the-top, and rather polemical, but this is just scary.

(And yes, I had to look up “polemical” to see if that was the proper adjectival form.)

Okay, I’m making something involving fava beans, bacon, garlic, onion, olive oil, and salt and pepper. I hope it turns out well. I want to post something that’s not just me blathering on about nothing of consequence. (And there’s nothing terribly interesting on eGullet at the moment.)

(Eh… it was okay. Not as good as I was hoping. I mean, fava beans! From someone’s garden! But they just weren’t great. No recipe to post. Sad.)

I haven’t made anything since the bread before Fanime… last month. Oh, that’s pathetic. I need to get back in the game! I’m just… tired. The only thing I’ve thought about making recently has been chocolate chip cookies, but that’s not anything new. Crap. I impressed someone yesterday with my ability to work with avocados. Again, not interesting. I just need to throw a dart at a cookbook or something. I’m going over to Jon and Ryan’s after work to do laundry and iron, woo. Wonder if I’ll get struck by inspiration or something. I need to cook. It’s been too long.

Katamari Damacy Pictures from Fanime 2005!

Well, here’s what you’ve all been waiting for.

In case you missed it the first time, you must look at Lionel’s photoshoot of the Katamari Fantasy Night! And even if you did look at them before, you really should look again. They’re fantastic.

Lydia and I put up some of Branden’s photos in our galleries. Here are a few more of his pictures. One. Two. Three. Four. And he took a picture of my pesto bread, hee!

This post will be updated with more picture links. I have a lot of them. But right now, I’m going shopping with my mommy.

Okay, updating this post on the 14th. Less description. More links.

First, there are people who took one picture of us and moved on.
Felicity869
Kokuu
indie_chixor
latrodectra
5p1ic3
Dr.Noe
jenjenkc
Glitchwire
PanDo (who was a really nice guy, Lydia styled his wig- and no, that’s not a euphemism)

Then, there are people who were not satisfied with only one picture!

DeepSetThinker.
Katamari in the background as the Prince… punches Kuro?
The Prince hits Kuro with the katamari!

J_Krolak.
Together (one)
Together (two)
Kuro (one)
Kuro (two)

Eurobeat King’s pictures from Friday.
Without heads
Prince (one)
Prince (two)
Kuro (one)
Kuro (two)
Together (one)
Together (two)
Together (three)

Eurobeat King’s pictures from Saturday.
Together (one)
The visor in action
Together (two)
The Prince hits Kuro with the katamari. Kuro says, “Oh dear me.”
Together (three)

Brocas’s pictures (click on the pictures for a bigger version). In these pictures, we learn that Lydia is much better at looking like she’s pushing a ball. I need to learn how to bend.
Headless
Removing heads
Together (one)
Together (two)
Together (three)
Quite unflattering
Kuro (one)
Kuro (two)
Kuro (three)
Kuro (four)
Kuro (five)
Kuro (six)
Kuro (seven)
Lydia removing her head
Prince (one)
Prince (two)
Prince (three)
Prince (four)
Prince (five)
Prince (six)
Prince (seven)

Okay, here’s the news. I am still working on collecting all the pictures of our costumes. I am trying to decide whether any of the other breads are worthy of recipe-posting besides the spice bread. The cheese and mustard bread is definitely out. I should have just made the Cook’s Illustrated “Quick” Cheese Bread. The pesto bread was, in my opinion, on the dry side. It tasted better with cheese. The French herb bread needed toasting and was better with butter. I wasn’t overwhelmed with any of the new breads I made except for the spice bread. That was quite good, although a little overcooked and strangely shaped on top (which is why I specified the smaller loaf pan in the recipe).

We had D&D tonight. New location, over at Cameron’s place. Nice. Big table for gaming. A bottle of Diet Coke in the fridge just for me (which was an “Aw” moment for me). A little sparsely furnished. One neighbor with incredibly sensitive hearing. But hey, we levelled! Now we’re second level feebs. Everyone except Jessa ended up getting beaten unconscious (and in some cases, very, very close to dead) by a big ol’ spider. That sucked. I was just running around healing, trying to keep people on their feet. Didn’t actually get hit at all.

I need to go prop ingredient shopping.

The trains were six minutes late today. That’s inexcusable!

I went to the optometrist today. I have a bunch of color contact samples and a new pink lens case.

Sara, I’m working on the tag thing, it’s just rather embarassing how little I’ve read recently. I mean, comics and cookbooks probably don’t count. And anthologies of fairy tales seem to be not mature enough. And I’ve been inheriting a lot of books, not actually buying any. I think the last time I actually spent money on books was… well, the White Elephant Sale (cookbooks) and Christmas (books about cooking that were going to be a gift to Jon, but then I found better presents for him).

I need to call my mom tomorrow.

When Lydia and I are in our Katamari Damacy costumes, we are rock stars. We got mobbed. I had girls launching themselves at me. Glomping, it’s called. It was weird.

When Lydia is in her Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles costume, she is a teen idol. Seriously. Girls were swooning and squealing. I may or may not have been one of them.

I’m still getting together all the picture links. For now, enjoy the amazing and incredible pictures Lionel took of us on Saturday night. I can’t get over how cool we look. I mean, we look like major dorks, but INCREDIBLY COOL major dorks.

Pain d’Épices
Adapted from Great Breads

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
1/2 cup strong-flavored honey, such as buckwheat honey
3/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp table salt
Nonstick cooking spray

Heat the oven to 375 with a rack in the middle. Spray a loaf pan (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches recommended, although 9 x 5 x 3 works, too) with nonstick cooking spray.

Cream the butter and honey together in a stand mixer or large bowl with a fork or electric mixer. Beat in the milk and egg.

Sift the flours, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the liquid ingredients and mix together until combined. Do not overmix.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. Turn out onto a rack. Let the bread cool completely. Wrap tightly in foil, and let sit at room temperature for several days to develop the flavor before eating. Keeps for two weeks. Excellent with tea.