eldritchhobbit

I've been trying various new foods from Aldi (and experimenting with ways of cooking them in some cases), and I've found my new favorite comfort food for cold winter nights.

A bowl of their creamy curry bisque with toast made with bread, butter, and their shredded swiss & gruyère cheese is absolutely delicious. I've found it works really well for when I want something relatively quick and filling that's not too heavy.

I've also found a yummy way of using up russet potatoes that are starting to go a bit wrinkly or getting too many eyes on them, which I have happen way too often since it's just me eating them and even I struggle to make it through an entire small bag of potatoes before they start showing their age. I'll peel one and chop it up into something resembling cubes, toss it in a teaspoon or so of olive oil, and then add garlic power, onion powder, salt, pepper, and paprika. Then I dump it in my air fryer on 400°F for twenty minutes, shaking them halfway through.

The potatoes are great by themselves with some sour cream/ketchup/ranch/whatever you want to use, or they work as a side dish for breakfast or dinner either one. I especially enjoy them with an over easy egg and a slice or two of bacon (which I've also started making in the air fryer since my microwave here in the hotel is on the fritz again).

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Two days of work down, three days to go. Let's see if I can make it through them. Preferably without strangling any coworkers. 🙃

Overall, it's going to be a busy week. I have D&D tomorrow night, as usual, but my Friday game is also supposed to start back this week after three months of not playing. I'm sure that's going to be very chaotic as everyone tries to remember how to play their characters, both mechanically and personality-wise. Especially since we kinda left off on a cliffhanger thanks to my cleric succeeding on a Divine Intervention.

In addition to that, Critical Role starts back this week after several weeks off. And I still haven't watched the last episode of 2025, because I knew it was going to be entirely combat-based. So, uh, I should probably try to do that during work tomorrow or Thursday if I want to be able to try to watch live on Thursday night.

On the fannish side of things, the first quarter of this year is surprisingly exchange-filled for me, mostly because there's a bunch of new Dragon Age exchanges cropping up that are run by people that I know. In the past, the late autumn and early winter has been the busy season, but several of those have died off the last few years (you're very missed, femslashex) so that time of the year isn't nearly as exchange heavy as it used to be for me.

Holly Poly (multifandom poly relationships) and The Platonic Ideal (Dragon Age platonic relationships) both already have assignments out, the Crow Contracts Exchange (Dragon Age Crows focused) is in the middle of nominations, Spectre Requisitions (Mass Effect rare relationships) starts nominations later this week, Pride's Solace (Dragon Age Solas focused) starts nominations later this month, and Gaatlock & Lyrium (Dragon Age dwarves and qunari focused) is supposed to be sometime in the spring.

In addition to all that, I'm trying my best to set aside at least a little time most days to play video games. It's easier to find the time some days than others, but I'm doing my best. I've learned from past experience that it's healthier for me overall to, you know, set aside some time to actually do things that I enjoy. So I'm giving it a whirl at least. Right now, I'm mainly focusing on Baldur's Gate 3, but Animal Crossing: New Horizons is getting a free update in the next day or so which may see me playing a bit more of it for a while.

Speaking of health, the less said about my sleep schedule lately the better. It's very much its usual chaotic self, which is about as fun as it sounds.

Okay, I'm going to spend all day tomorrow playing video games if it kills me. My plans to set aside time for gaming over the holiday break never actually happened, and with everything going on in the world right now it will do me good to just get offline for a day and spend it wandering Faerûn or Thedas or the Andromeda galaxy.

I'm not sure yet which game I'll focus on, but it's definitely going to be Baldur's Gate 3, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, or Mass Effect: Andromeda because I have ongoing playthroughs in all of them that have been gathering dust for too long.

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.