Mae

My only two exposures to mexican rice were: 1) A "meal starter" packet where you toss raw chicken, rice, seasonings, and water into an oven bag and bake and 2) A mix similar to the one you already mentioned... chicken broth, tomato sauce, and a packet of... taco seasoning, I think? I wasn't a fan of either, but my brother and step-sisters loved both.

Many suggestions Yeah, keeping meat is a huge problem. The freezer is really only big enough for a single bag of frozen vegetables, and I have to poke a hole in it first to let out trapped air. I -might- be able to get one or two chicken breasts into it. Sometimes I'll grab a plain steak or chicken sandwich from Subway, just for the meat to use. It's expensive, though >_< Milk and cheese isn't usually too hard to get ahold of, most truck stops stock some variety of both. I keep butter on the truck, as well as sour cream... I can't eat mayo, so I use sour cream as a substitute on sandwiches that are just too dry. Stew didn't work last time I tried it (too long to cook)... any suggestions for curries? I only made curry once and that was a very long time ago, and while I remember it being complicated I have the feeling it might've been due to inexperience.

Why does 427-316=111? Because you had a group of 427 units, then you removed 316 of them, leaving only 111 units left. That's the why. There's nothing magical about it, even with my fail-math brain I understood this logic by 3rd grade at the latest. Someone probably could've shown me this logic in kindergarten with a sack of beans and while I might have struggled to count to numbers quite that high, I would've gotten it. I totally sympathize with "Frustrated Parent". Anyways. "Professional Protesters", GTFO my planet. You don't believe in the causes you 'stand for', you just want to stand somewhere and make trouble because you'll get in the news. Or your protests turn into exercises in hypocrisy.

Hey guys. Sooo... as much as I like to cook I have to admit that after three years living the way I have, I'm starting to run out of ideas on what to make on a daily basis. Before I go and ask for suggestions, though, I feel as if I should share some pictures of the place I both live and work in, and spend on average twenty-two hours a day -- that way, y'all can decide if anything you might suggest would even work. This is my stove... sorta. Really, all I have to work with is a pull-out desk where I can put a rice cooker. Tried using an electric burner, but they get too hot and pull too much power. The cupboard above is actually twice the height you can see in the picture, and it houses all my dry goods and the paper plates/bowls/cups/utensils. Turn 45 degrees, and... this is all I have for a prep area. Yeah, that's my bed. There's actually a second bunk, but we use that for clothes and big-items storage. Turn another 45 degrees, and here is my fridge. Pretty much one of those 'dorm' fridges that you can't stand a 16oz bottle of soda in without removing the shelf and therefore losing more space, and the freezer only fits one bag of frozen veggies. And that microwave isn't there anymore -- first time we used it, it proved to be too much of a power drain. Spin another 45 degrees, and we have this space, which beyond being a place to stick the husband and dog, I cannot utilize. Yes, that was just the entirety of my home. It's an 8x8 space. So, as you can imagine, I've been fairly challenged when it comes to cooking for a few years now. Things were actually going good up until a little over a year ago; my husband went on a high-protein, low carb/sugar diet, and I'm developing sensitivities to various preservatives. Even that was fine for a while, but we're both getting sorely sick of rice/couscous/quinoa with whatever soups we can both eat and omlettes/egg scrambles. We'd do pasta (the rice cooker gets up to boiling temps), but with my husband's diet that's pretty much a no-no. Fresher food would be nice, but between loads and various restrictions we can only really get into a Super Wal-Mart once every two to three weeks to stock up on food, and my fridge and freezer aren't big enough for me to keep things like fresh meat in for more than a couple days before they HAVE to be cooked or tossed. Soooo... any one-pot wonder recipes out there that can be adapted to a rice cooker like this, is mindful of the limited space I have to work with and with the dietary restrictions, can be cooked in an hour or under (we ruined one rice cooker by trying to cook while rolling, but just the movement of the truck caused some of the contents to slosh out of the pot and onto the burner and shorted the whole thing out), and takes into consideration that we can't shop every couple days?

This is true. My grandfather didn't learn to read until he was in his late 60's, and he ran a successful business for years. I actually didn't know he had been illiterate for most of his life until just before he died.

We had a quest in XI that basically had you running around taking Polaroid-style photos in Aht Urghan. Disregarding Garlean tech, XIV and XI have similar tech levels. Reading up on RL photography, we've had pinhole cameras in China since 4 BCE, although these did not take permanent pictures. And using techniques/concepts from The Book of Optics combined with materials discovered/observed about two hundred years later, photography has actually been possible since Medieval times. Sooo... yeah. Take one philosopher, one mathematician, and one alchemist, add one pinhole camera. Pour in silver nitrate, shake, and expose to sunlight. No Garlean tech needed!

I wish I could find it also, but I remember reading quite some time back in either a live letter, in known issues notes, or an interview that the server/world jumping from the Duty Finder was part of the "server congestion" issues that affected character creation lockouts and regular login queue times. Whether or not this has been truly fixed or SE just slapped a band-aid on it and called it fixed is up for debate. And if it hasn't been properly fixed... well, I'll leave it to others to make up their own conclusions. Either way, it's not the amount of people online (people actively engaged in actual gameplay, people idling and chattering, and the people who are AFK), it's again the amount of people attempting to log in, new and existing characters, at any one time. Considering that bots tend to appear in groups of four or more and they're constantly trying to force their way in, that's probably the biggest culprit of character creation restriction. ... I guess in a way, the restriction is the only 'preventative measure' SE can give us and other high-population servers against being totally overrun by bots/gillsellers. Just sucks that actual players get caught in that net.

I use ellipsis' (ellipsi? or is it like moose where it's both singular and plural?) a lot. Probably more than I should, but I find it to be super versatile. I use it to indicate pauses in trains of thought and moments where someone is struggling to find the right word, trailing off, and moments of silence of any flavor. I also use it when someone else has paused for a little bit and I'm not quite sure if they're waiting for me to respond or they're still typing -- to sort of indicate that, yes, I'm still there, I'm just waiting to make sure that they're done. And then, there's my favorite: "..." "... ..." "... ... ..." Which I use for dawning realization.

While Kara is trying to 'be good' these days, she's still unapologetic for her past and how she lived up until over a year ago. She was raised in a bandit camp, so stealing is a perfectly normal and natural thing for her, so I guess she's kind of an 'other'. I definitely do have an "Business Man" type that I play as an alt -- it's a slaver, and it deals in a certain part of the market.

Kara learned enough as a child to help her identify a book that might be valuable from, say, an everyday diary or log, and to be able to wade through a shipping manifesto. She puts up a good show to make it look like she can read well, but she's got the literacy equivalent of a real-world second-grader. ------- On a related note... I've always found it kind of funny that even though the devs say that literacy isn't prevalent in Eorzea, there's a lot of letter/note passing in quests and as far as I remember, only once does an NPC say they can't read...

Start by browning whatever amount of hamburger you want to use in a skillet with tall sides. Add some onion and garlic if you wish (and celery, since I saw it in the picture) while you're cooking the hamburger. Once the meat is no longer pink and the veggies are fairly cooked through, drain meat, wipe skillet clean, and return meat to the pan. Add some tomato paste (couple tablespoons, depending on taste) and a teaspoon of honey (to start), mix, and turn heat to medium. Start adding in either canned plain tomato sauce, canned plain crushed tomatoes in sauce or juice (not in puree), diced tomatoes in juice, or your own roasted tomatoes that have been puree'd. You want to add as much to make the meat to sauce ratio to your preference. Allow to simmer for between a half-hour to an hour, depending on how hungry you're feeling and add the rest of the seasonings you wish (oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, 'Italian seasonings", a bay leaf, parsley, black pepper, etc). Save adding fresh basil and/or parsley until towards the end. Taste occasionally, add more honey in small amounts until the balance is where you want it to be.

Oven roasting or grilling your tomatoes can also help cut down the acidity if you're gonna make your own sauce. A splash of heavy cream can also help. I've also heard that honey instead of sugar (cause I'm familiar with the sugar thing) works and is a bit more subtle/complimentary.

There is a "contact us" tab that brings up the report harassment, cheating, bugs, and suggestions options. Botting and gilselling falls under the cheating heading. Sadly, I've had little luck with reporting botters (see my above post about the group I've been reporting for months) in-game... starting to think I should brave the official forums and just report there cause at least I can see if someone's looked at the report.

I see nothing wrong with boil-in-bag rice >_> Perfectly cooked rice is something that escapes my grasp, even when I very carefully follow the directions on my rice cooker, unless I use boil-in-a-bag. My inability to cook rice is why I eventually turned to quinoa and couscous. SPEAKING OF COUSCOUS (cause now I want some...) Sweet and savory couscous: Pour one part vegetable stock into saucepan Chop dried apricots and dates (you want to chop your own dates -- the already-chopped ones are rolled in a powdered sugar/cornstarch mix and are unsuitable for this) up to a half-part, add to saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and very carefully remove lid -- you want to retain as much steam and condensation as possible -- and quickly add in couscous. Cover, swirl pot slightly to help distribute liquid, then let sit, covered, for five to ten minutes. Remove lid, drizzle small amount of olive oil, a sprinkling of black pepper and some chopped parsley leaves, and then fluff with a fork. A good base/side for chicken, fish, and roasted veggies. I also like to just top it with toasted nuts and goat cheese and eat it that way, or with a dandelion (or other bitter greens) salad and my black or roasted garlic vinaigrette dressing.

From what I now understand, the server locks have to do with how many people are attempting to log in and not how many people are currently logged into the server. That being said... yeah. Holy crap. I saw those guys out there just a little bit ago (I think I see me in one of your screenshots), and from what I understand they've been there since noontime-ish. People have been reporting them, trying to lure them off to random places, and even MPK them, but they keep rubber-banding back to these locations and even somehow magically avoid mobs. I sadly have very little hope that SE will get these guys anytime soon -- I know I've been reporting a party of bots out in North Shroud every time I see them for the past five months. Whoever is on the GM team for Balmung seems to be... very lax.

I don't drink beer either (I drink very little alcohol because I have no tolerance for it), so I don't really know the difference between the types. Budweiser and various flavors of Sam Adams (now that I'm really thinking about it) are the two types I see the most around the campfires and barbecues with my family, and we always just used "what was on hand".

Well... if you're against beer altogether, you can skip it in favor of chicken, vegetable, or seafood stock. If I remember correctly, some friends of the family used some mix of stock and vermouth when they made it for their hotel/inn. If it's just a case where you don't typically have beer hanging around, I know some stores sell single cans/bottles. The idea is that you don't want to use plain water for the steaming broth. I'd guess that maybe a white wine of some sort would work too.

The pot method is perfectly acceptable these days -- a lot of the beaches have banned firepits/campfires, and at home no-one really wants to dig a hole in their backyard. Anyways. Rockweed is sort of the go-to seaweed for this since it's so abundant and easy to gather back home, but kelp will work too (and is good for wrapping up cuts of a firm white fish or scallops to add to the bake). Just make sure that if you're collecting it yourself, you're getting it from a clean source. Use the seaweed or kelp to line the pot and to separate the layers of ingredients. You CAN skip it if it's too much of a hassle or don't want that extra seaweedy flavor. Also, don't forget the beer. You don't need anything fancy, we just used whatever was on hand and being drunk... so probably with my family, it was mostly Budweiser.

Ooh. Pit or pot method? Either way, skip the crayfish and go with shell-on shrimp, mussels, and (if you have the money for it) a lobster or two. And seaweed. *is from New England and grew up on clam bakes* Really, though, you only need four or five items to enjoy clams. Clams (of course), water and/or beer, onions, and butter. Fill a large pot, stock pot, or steamer pot with an inch or so of water and/or beer -- you don't need to cover the clams with the liquid in order to cook them. Peel and chop onions into fourths, drop into pot. Carefully add clams to the pot, cover and bring to a boil. Cook for five to ten minutes or until shells pop wide open. Reserve some of the broth in a bowl, strain the clams (discarding any that haven't opened up) and spread them out on a table covered with a few layers of newspaper. Remove whole clam from shell, remove the... uhh... skin, give the clam a quick rinse in the bowl of broth, dip it in some melted butter, and get it in your mouth before it drips everywhere. And if you've bought your clams from a store/market, don't worry about purging/cleaning them. They've already gone through that process. If you collect your own, put them in a bucket of sea water from where you gathered them and let them sit in it for several hours in a cool, dark place. Purging in fresh/tap water will kill your clams prematurely and result in more bad, unopened ones, and adding table salt won't make it 'sea water' enough. And cornmeal doesn't help purge.

Kara's association with both the Goldsmithing and Conjurer's guilds is the result of not having anyone else to give her even the most basic training. She's not likely to ever be a full-fledged member of either. The Gardener only works with the Botanist's guild on rare occasions, and with extreme reluctance. Luc'a is apprenticed to the Weaver's guild, and it's his dream to become a famous designer >_> He'll be a card-carrying member of the guild eventually.

I stand corrected. Where is that NPC? I'm starting to feel paranoid that I might've missed a pocket of NPCs when I went scouring for lore for Luc'a >_<; From the latest Moogle Delivery quest "The Past Is a Story We Never Tell" which revolves around the Keeper Miqo'te of Gridania and the Coeurlclaw Poachers. *sighs* I really shouldn't be shocked with SE when it comes to how they change or add significant Lore chunks randomly... *is STILL annoyed at the pre-Bastokian Galkan naval/pirate tradition being taken away and the shipwrecked Mithran fishers being changed into pirates/mercenaries that were hired for the war*

I stand corrected. Where is that NPC? I'm starting to feel paranoid that I might've missed a pocket of NPCs when I went scouring for lore for Luc'a >_<;

Real World, cesarean births have been documented as far back as 200BC, it seems? It was typically done only when the mother was already dead. There is some evidence that during the later part of the Roman era that a living mother did survive up to 25% of the time. And during the 1800's, European explorers in Africa observed indigenous tribes performing successful cesarean-sections on numerous occasions, and the survival rate for the mothers was quite high -- the procedures were highly developed among these people, so there was evidence that even though the people were 'primitive', they'd been performing them for a long time. So... in theory, if the practice was achievable by primitive peoples, it could be achievable in a setting like the game has. Keep in mind, though, that at the same time these primitive people were developing their advanced techniques, surgery of any kind was illegal in some of parts of 'civilized' Europe.

This is actually kind of how I imagined things to go >_> The Matriarch is the only one who has children, and she keeps having children until she has at least one son (or at least a son and a daughter, on the chance she has a son first). Having a son is what guarantees the next generation, and she will trade sons with an unrelated/distant Matriarch so she'll have an unrelated male to 'give' to the daughter that succeeds her. Remaining daughters are encouraged to stay around to act as a court to the new Matriarch, but no-one really keeps them from wandering off to possibly find a 'free' male or whatever (less competition/opportunities to backstab). If a Matriarch dies before her mate and before she has a viable successor, one of her sisters can claim the now-free male and become the new Matriarch. ... I guess in a way what I was picturing was a sort of reverse of what the Seekers have when it comes to breeding rights -- a Keeper Matriarch is like a Nuhn, and all her sisters/daughters are like Tias. Since the breeding pool consists of one male, it -is- a monogamous relationship. There's just potential that a male could have multiple partners over the course of his breeding life because he got traded to a family that is prone to drama and backstabbing >_>

Let's upgrade the chihuahua to a pug... downgrade the great dane to a pitbull... ... Still looks like it'd be an uncomfortable situation...