Last night my family and I went downtown for the lighting of monument circle in Indianapolis. This was our second year in a row going and I think it may become a tradition. We stayed at the Sheraton which is overlooking the circle and we had a great view from our room and the hotels 9th floor balcony. This was the view 30 mins before the lights were turned on (images from my iPhone, not the best):
Circle of Lights - Pre Lighting
and this was after the switch was flipped:
Circle of Lights - Post Lighting
Sadly after the lights were turned on we went straight to our room (to avoid waiting at the elevator with the many guest who were on the balcony), so we missed the fireworks which happened to be going off over/behind our hotel view. Hopefully next year I will remember my good camera and we will stand outside or down the street so I can capture the fireworks as well.
Here is a photo from a previous year courtesy of Fun City Finder:
Tomorrow my mother turns 50 so for her Sunday celebration dinner I made a dish that she enjoys. I learned how to make this Cambodian (maybe influenced from other cultures) dish from my son’s Aunt back when she visited last year and have since had to make it multiple times as my family enjoys it. It is a very simple dish made with beef, tomatoes, leaf lettuce, onions, cucumber, garlic and oyster sauce. Then the dipping sauce pictured is made from the “juice” from the beef/oyster sauce cooking mixed with freshly squeezed lime juice.
So for anyone possibly wanting to try I’ll list the way I cook it, but not amounts because I just use what I use without measuring anything. Everything is eaten over rice, sorta like a lettuce wrap. Grab a piece of lettuce, tomato, cucumber and beef. Dip in the sauce and eat with rice. Yum. So here it is.
- Cut beef in thin slices. (I place it in the freezer for a bit first so it firms up and becomes easier to cut.
- Marinate beef in oyster sauce. I pour enough to cover the beef, with maybe a bit extra to help make the dipping sauce.
- Heat a little oil in pan and place a bit of chopped garlic in. (Garlic amount varying on how much you like).
- Place meat in pan with a little bit of thinly sliced onion and cook until done. (With it being thinly sliced it probably will take 15-30 minutes depending on how much beef you use).
- While beef is cooking I was the leaf lettuce and place on serving tray. (I rotate it around, but not a must). Then I thinly slice peeled cucumber, tomato and onion and place on top of lettuce. Set aside.
- After beef is done I remove it while leaving the juice in the pan. Place beef on top of vegetables. Take remaining juice in the pan and add lime juice, salt, and pepper to your taste. I like to add quite of bit of lime juice.
- Enjoy however you want with rice! You can eat it like I do above or any other way you choose.
Cambodian Beef Dish with Bean Curd (Fried Tofu Skin) Sushi made by my brothers girlfriend. (Bean curd skins stuffed with rice)
When Prototype was released I admit that I had high hopes that this game would rock. The concept of running around consuming people, using my powers to kick ass, or changing into another person sounded awesome. But due to financial reason I was not able to pick up the game the day or even week it came out. So as I normally do I went to Justin.tv to watch someone else play.
Upon first finding a cast that was playing it one of the first things I noticed was the way you “climb” buildings in Prototype. Instead of climbing them (well you can climb, but it is much slower) you instead just run straight up them. In my mind I was imagining playing and it just seemed like the game was all about running up and down buildings fighting the military. I had watched a bit of Swiftor playing as well as 4Player Podcast’s Brad play and just had decided that it was not a game for me.
Fast forward to two days ago (Jun 29th) when my son was at the store with his Grandparents. As always my son being the spoiled kid he is he came home with a game. What game you may ask (as if the title of this post or the first paragraph isn’t enough to give it away)? None other than Prototype. (For another topic or discussion. Yes my son plays games some may feel he shouldn’t). I thought oh boy, why in the world did he get this, but I also figured I would give it a try. [click to continue…]
