PixlBit

Be my guest. I stole it from Gabe ;)

Charles de Lint uses a lot of mythology in his writing, which may be what drew me to it in the first place, and I quite liked the combination of celtic mythology in an urban setting. He's branched out into other cultures, but they're almost all set in modern urban areas. His early books were usually set in Ottawa, Canada, which is where he lives, and his newer books are set in a fictional anywhere town called Newford.

Never made it to Spain. After barely remembering France, I decided to slow down and just relax. I ended up spending four days in France, five weeks in the UK, six weeks in Ireland, three weeks in Norway, and a couple of days in Luxembourg. Which is a pretty awesome little country, by the way.

You've never had Indian food?! I'm so sorry! Naan bread is the best, especially when dipped in tamarind sauce or mango chutney. And then there's biryani, which is rice flavored with saffron and other spices, with vegetables and usually either chicken or lamb. And pakora, which are little vegetable fritters. Now I'm drooling, dammit!

I'd recommend Jack the Giant Killer and Drink Down the Moon. The two books go together. Moonheart is also excellent, as is Greenmantle, and any of his short story compilations are really good, too.

And now it's 2 degrees.

My friend Shawn makes a pasta dish with anduille sausage and peas in a garlic alfredo sauce that is to die for.

Digestive biscuits are British. Kind of like a round wholemeal graham cracker. They go good with anything - peanut butter, cheese, chocolate, by themselves, they're just really, really good. There are a couple of different brands, but McVitie's are my favorite.

As for tonight, I made a wicked good pot of chili using a kit from Carroll Shelby's. It's Texas style, but I tossed in a chopped onion, a couple of chopped green peppers, a can of kidney beans, a can of diced tomatoes, and a can of corn. i forget to grab a box of corn braed mix at the grocery store, that would have made it perfect.

What? The food I ate when I was traveling? Not very exciting, I usually went to the grocery store and bought whatever I could afford because it was cheaper than eating out and this way I could stay longer. I ate a lot of bread, cheese, muesli, milk, canned soup, and digestive biscuits. The few times I ate out, I went to a Greek restaurant in Paris and had moussaka, I ate at a little restaurant in Chartre that was in the home of an elderly couple and got the most amazing three course meal for cheap (40 Francs, no idea what that translate to in dollars, but it was dirt cheap) - crudites (I tried 'em and didn't like 'em), roast beef with gravy and mushrooms and fried potatoes on the side, and brie, fruit, and crackers for dessert. Their dog slept under our table while we ate, and there was a bird in a cage behind us that whistled and chirped the whole time. The couple who owned the place didn't speak any English, and we didn't speak any French, but we managed to understand each other.

I stole the idea from Gabe, one of the two originators of BaD, so help yourself.

I needed a year off after high school, and it was my step-dad who suggested that I take the time and do something I wanted before I got bogged down by adult life. We'd lived in Norway for a few years, my step-dad is German and we'd visited his family in Germany a few times while we lived in Norway, and I'd always wanted to see more and travel by train. So I got a new passport, a two month Eurail Youth Pass, a one year IYHA (International Youth Hostel Association) membership, a copy of Let's Go! Europe and a copy of Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door, a really good back pack, and really cheap airline tickets and off I went.

I shoveled. A lot. And then I shoveled some more. And went out for a cheese steak with Jason during his lunch break. And the temperature here is currently 8 degrees here and falling rapidly, so no whining about the cold in Texas or I will mail you an envelope full of glitter.

Oh, a Clash reference! And that's a common issue when playing Japanese RPGs. You think you're at the end, and then...you aren't!

I really like the Sackett series. The first three are kind of meh, I can't remember if I read the next two or not, but the series really gets good starting with The Daybreakers. I also like the Kilkenny trilogy - The Rider of Lost Creek, The Mountain Valley War, and Kilkenny. He also wrote Hondo, another favorite. You can usually find them for cheap in used bookstores.