Luke, I Am Your Father

What a classic line. Along with "These aren't the droids you're looking for." But as you can see, I found the droid I was looking for! All of this was possible because of MegaCon! Cait and I spent a day at MegaCon 2011 this year and we had a blast! I do wish I had a costume that I could have worn though. But I am working on that. By next year's convention, I should have a costume ready! Man, I sure use lots exclamation points. I guess I'm just excited. We drove down to Orlando on the Friday that MegaCon kicked off and we arrived shortly after it started. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised on how big of a convention it was. Having judged it to be a fairly small convention based off last year's pictures, it turned out to be fairly large. Not nearly as large as Comic Con or Star Wars Celebration, but still good-sized. After we got our bearings and got into the convention, we were greeted with rows and rows of booths.

In addition to the many booths, there were tons of people in costume! As you can see, we have Master Chief from the Halo series. I didn't realize that he was that short... Of course, it could just be a regular Spartan too. But he was not the only Master Chief at the convention either. There were plenty of costumed folks dressed the same. Lots of characters from Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Full Metal Alchemist and numerous others that I didn't recognize. Then there were the video game characters. The most recognizable for me were Fang and Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII.  There were costumes all over the place! I was in nerd heaven. But it was a while before I found the main reason that I wanted to come to MegaCon.

Granted, I did see Obi Wan and Boba Fett wandering around. In fact, as you can see, it seems that everyone wanted to fight the Jedi. Even a Smurf. As Cait and I wandered up and down the rows of booths, we were amazed at how much stuff was for sale. There were weapons (swords and knives and such) vendors, people selling costumes, wigs, manga (drawn Japanese cartoons), anime (animated Japanese cartoons), we even found a booth selling authentic Japanese snacks. Things such a Hello Panda crackers, Pocky sticks, rice candy and so much more than I have ever seen. Now, you can find some of this in the ethnic section of most grocery stores, but the sizes that the vendor had were HUGE! Granted they were imported from Japan and didn't have any English written on them, but still. HUGE!  In addition to those who I've already mentioned, you also had local and small manga and comic book artists, various arts schools plus a few miscellaneous booths that didn't really fit into any other category. You also had various groups displaying what they do best. For example, there was a group of Lego builders that built all sorts of displays. They built the Battle of Hoth and animated an AT-AT (All Terrain Armored Transport) along with a Snow Speeder circling around another AT-AT.

Ah, at last! I have found what I've been looking for! The Florida Garrison of the 501st Legion! The fine gentleman pictured on the right is a Scout Trooper. You might remember them as the Stormtroopers on the speed bikes in Return of the Jedi. I was hoping for more than just 1 legion member, but I was still happy to get this picture all the same. And if you look behind the scout trooper, you can see more costumes. Those were just costumes with no one in them. I did take a bunch more pictures and they can be found in my Picasa Web Album here. I was in absolute nerd heaven! All in all it was a great time. I do wish that we could have spent more time there, but there is always next year. And next year, I will be in costume (I can see Cait rolling her eyes now)! If you are curious as to the costume I will be wearing I'll give you a hint: Google Lt. Galle. That's it for this post about our adventures at MegaCon!

 - Brent

Homemade Heaven

Courtesy of Joy the Baker

Have you ever tasted Heaven? Even just a little slice? Each one of the slices of bread in this picture is a little slice of heaven. All of this is courtesy of Joy the Baker. With our her, this post would not exist. If you love baking (as I do), and you have an RSS or Feed reader (i.e. Google Reader) you need to follow her blog. Conveniently, I have included the link to follow her. It is...HERE! It is definitely worth it. Now, on to my adventures in making slices of heaven in my kitchen.

Although I don't have that many pictures of my process (something I need to work on), I'll show you what I've got. Let me put this out there first. There is a total of about 2 - 2 1/2 hours of down time when making this between risings and cooling down. The wait is so worth it though.



Nothing say good like butter!



I would also recommend that you pre-stage all of your ingredients first. To bring your eggs to room temperature, set them out 30 minutes prior to starting. Or if you forgot to take them out, you can put them in a bowl of warm (not hot!) water for 5 - 10 minutes. More information can be found here. Below is the recipe I used. As I mentioned before, this is courtesy of Joy the Baker. The actual page that I pulled this from can be found by clicking on the title of the recipe. 

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Makes: one 9×5x3-inch loaf

For the Dough:

2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 ounces unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

1/4 cup water

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Filling:

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted until browned

In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.  Set aside.

Whisk together eggs and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt together milk and butter until butter has just melted.  Remove from the heat and add water and vanilla extract.  Let mixture stand for a minute or two, or until the mixture registers 115 to 125 degrees F.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula.  Add the eggs and stir the mixture until the eggs are incorporated into the batter.  The eggs will feel soupy and it’ll seem like the dough and the eggs are never going to come together.  Keep stirring.  

Add the remaining 3/4 cup of flour and stir with the spatula for about 2 minutes.  The mixture will be sticky.  That’s just right.

Dough is ready to rise!

Place the dough is a large,  greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel.  Place in a warm space and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour.  *The dough can be risen until doubled in size, then refrigerated overnight for use in the morning.  If you’re using this method, just let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes before following the roll-out directions below.*

While the dough rises, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for the filling.  Set aside.  Melt 2 ounces of butter until browned.  Set aside.  Grease and flour a 9×5x3-inch  loaf pan.  Set that aside too.

Deflate the risen dough and knead about 2 tablespoons of flour into the dough.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes.  

On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out.  The dough should be 12-inches tall and about 20-inches long.  If you can’t get the dough to 20-inches long… that’s okay.  Just roll it as large as the dough will go.  Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter across all of the dough.  Sprinkle with all of the sugar and cinnamon mixture.  It might seem like a lot of sugar. 

Lots of sugar and a bit of cinnamon.

Seriously?  Just go for it.

Slice the dough vertically, into six equal-sized strips.  Stack the strips on top of one another and slice the stack into six equal slices once again.  You’ll have six stacks of six squares.  Layer the dough squares in the loaf pan like a flip-book.  Place a kitchen towel over the loaf pan and allow in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until almost doubled in size.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Place loaf in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is very golden brown.  The top may be lightly browned, but the center may still be raw.  A nice, dark, golden brown will ensure that the center is cooked as well.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes (I did not do this. Cait and I devoured about 1/2 fresh from the oven).   Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the bread and invert onto  a clean board.  Place a cake stand or cake plate on top of the  upside down loaf, and carefully invert so it’s right side up.  Serve warm with coffee or tea.

The deliciousness!

I think this bread is best served the day it’s made, but it can also we wrapped and kept at room temperature for up to 2 days (if it lasts that long...)

As I have mentioned, this bread is phenomenal! Some of you might think that this a monkey bread. And by definition it is. But I'm a fan of the term Pull-Apart Bread personally. Now go forth and bake!
While I want to leave you with a video, I didn't feel the one I wanted was appropriate for this post. So, you can watch the video here. But for my parting remark: Let's learn the alphabet with Star Wars!

 - Brent

Thank you to Joy the Baker for the use of her recipe. I would also like to thank Bowling for Soup for their album "Sorry for Partyin'" as it was the official music of this baking experience.

The Force is strong with this one...

First and foremost, I wanted the the banner of the Florida Garrison of the 501st Legion on the top of this blog. Alas, I believe that my lack of timing led to no response from the 501st. But, you can find out more about them at their webpage: http://www.fl501st.com/.

On to business then. The reason that I wanted to  have this banner at the top of this post is because the 501st is  making an appearance at MegaCon! That is pretty exciting for me because, Cait and I are looking to attend this year! I can already see Cait rolling her eyes. For those who are wondering, MegaCon is going to be held between March 24 - 27 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. While being primarily sponsored for comics (artists, enthusiasts, etc.) it caters to all of us who enjoy Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Anime and more! It's like a geek's heaven!

I'm even more excited to attend now! Of course, with my recent obsession with Star Wars, I'm always looking for others who share that obsession. And what better place than a convention? Of course, I really want to attend Star Wars Celebration (held in the same location), but that's later in the year. So, for now, MegaCon will have to do. Although, if I do attend Star Wars Celebration, I will make a costume and go all geek. Once again, I can see Cait rolling her eyes at me. It should be fun though. I'll be blogging from MegaCon this year. Please bear in mind that I might not be attending for all of the days. It should be a blast though. I know that this isn't one of my longest blogs and the next few will be longer. And with that, I leave you with this:

Ho Hum

Wow. That's all I'm going to say about my time away from here. Things have been pretty busy lately. Let's do a quick rush through the past 6 months (in no particular order).
 - Savannah turned 2.
 - Cait had emergency surgery that resulted in altered Thanksgiving plans.
 - I discovered that I am capable of cooking a Thanksgiving meal.
 - We celebrated Christmas twice (with both of our parents).
 - We re-decorated the kitchen.
 - I learned how to put up a tile backsplash.
 - That makes me want to tackle re-tiling the bath in our bathroom.
 - Cait painted our bathroom.
 - I put up the light.
 - I discovered that the people who built our house were idiots.
 - I also replaced all of the electrical outlets and light switches in the house (excluding the garage).
 - Learned how to replace the S-Drive belt in my car.
 - Discovered I have 2 alter egos (on Twitter).
And yesterday, my dad helped me replace some (more) siding on the house in preparation of pressure washing.  Following the pressure washing will be painting the house O_O. Can't say that I'm looking forward to that.

My parents are in town for the next couple of weeks. They ventured our way to look for a new trailer, which they found. It's looking like they will pick it up on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to seeing it. You can follow their escapades here: The Idaho Nomads. Their blog is updated more frequently than mine. After here, they're looking to start their journey to the west.

Work continues on the house. As I mentioned, I've replaced all of the outlets and switches in the house. During this "adventure in home ownership," I have discovered that who ever did the wiring when the house was built, didn't have a clue as to what they were doing. For example, the outlets in the dining room and hallway are on the circuit labeled "kitchen light." Really? I thought they would have been on the circuit labeled "living room, dining room, hallway." I guess not. Next step is re-labeling the breaker box. That should be fun. Cait also painted the bathroom a nice blue and replace the shelving along with hanging a picture that matches. I got to replace the light fixture. A normally simple process, but not with my house. Let's just leave it at I'm getting more creative in how I go about mounting lights. I"ll post pictures later. Needless to say, the bathroom looks phenomenal.

We also painted the kitchen green! I know what you're thinking..."Green? Really?: Yes really. I thought that it wouldn't work, but it does. Add to that the slate tile backsplash that my dad and I hung up behind the stove and the repainted cabinetry and you have an amazing looking kitchen. I think I need to post a blog showing just updates completed in the past 6 months.

I think this will be it for my late night / early morning ramblings. Until next time!

 - Brent