Flashback for the PS2

for some of us, the game Flashback gives us memories of cool graphics and nights of gun-slinging action. and now we can play that very same game we've grown to love on our PS2s (modified) by checking out this site. just download the image, burn to CD and play!

3,000 hits!

i know this isn't something that great to brag about, but for a rather obscure blog, i've managed to hit 3,000 hits over the course of its ~ 2 years of existence. and just as i'm about to make my 300th post too (i'm on my 299th now)! that means that on average i'm making 10 hits per post...

hmmm... that can't be right. ah well, never hurts to dream. :)

cooking experiments - Episode 2

i'm back with another episode of my cooking experiments. this time, i literally took a leaf out of sacha's CookOrDie. sorry i was too lazy to bother posting it in right after cooking it up.

Episode 2: Twice-baked potatoes (November 5, 2005)
ingredients:
1 medium (about the size of a adult fist) potato (any size would do, but the bigger, the easier)
grated cheddar cheese or cheese spread
small bowl
a sheet of paper towel or a few sheets of tissue paper
knife, spoon and fork

1. wash and scrub potato clean of any dirt or eyes (the growth-like members coming out of the potato itself) on the skin. you may use a small brush if it helps with scrubbing. do _not_ use soap.
2. while still damp, pierce the potato with the fork thrice, making sure not to break the skin through. wrap potato with a paper towel, or a few times with some tissue paper. the idea is to get the paper towel just a tad bit wet.
3. put in microwave and zap. the length of time and power will change depending on the size of the potato, but for a medium-sized one, i put the microwave on high for 3 minutes for each side.
4. take out the potato (hot!). using the knife, cut off the top portion from the wider portion of the potato. then using the spoon, scoop most of the potato out and put it in the bowl. leave enough to create a potato "bowl".
5. combine the cheese with the scooped-out potato, and mash well.
6. put everything back into the potato bowl. i also put the "cap" back on top for good measure. put a bit more cheese on top.
7. put the potato in the bowl and microwave on high for a bit (30 seconds or until the cheese bubbles, whichever you prefer).

there you go - a quick meal you can prepare almost anywhere (with a microwave). enjoy!

free streaming media server

for free video/audio streaming and storage, check out Castpost - and it looks like it'll be free for the next few months. now i have no reason not to get my creative juices flowing for those tunes in my head (as promised earlier).

Katamari madness!

i've been so fond of playing Katamari Damacy (and its equally cool sequel We Love Katamari) ever since i got my hands on them for the PS2. but i don't think i'd ever be as crazy as to do something like this. it's really wicked though - and if someone gave me one of these, i'd flip, tumble and roll it straight up... into my stomach. :D

i will, however, go here to get more Katamari goodness!

the new Chicken Little trailer (AKA the Numa Numa dance)

i saw the trailer lately, and the catchy tune hit me hard - i need to know what the song was!

so i searched around for anything online that might tell me a bit more about the song, and wouldn't you know it, it's already some sort of cult classic on the 'net - check out its own Wikipedia entry. of course, now i know what the song is too.

and please do check out the guy that started that all with his crazy moves.

i'm beginning to notice a trend here... do people really love making fools of themselves for the world to see by lip-synching to songs (like these Asian nuts (AKA Backdormitory Boys) who did a Backstreet Boys song)?

hmm... i think i went link crazy back there.

cooking experiments - Episode 1

i mentioned planning to do something similar to sacha's CookOrDie sessions some time back, and since i couldn't wait to categorise my entire blog up to put this in, i just decided to post and hope that i manage to do the categorisation someday.

Episode 1: Baked Mussels (October 30, 2005)
i remember seeing this done a dozen of times already, be it homemade (my mom did this before) and outdoors (Dencio's comes to mind), so i figured, heck, this shouldn't be all that hard.

to prevent killing myself with salmonella, i decided against grilling them straight. that plus the fact that i realised too late that the entire batch of mussels my mom bought that morning were boiled in classic broth fashion (nooooo!) for lunch. oh well. i figured it would make for cleaner mussels anyway (since they usually have some grit inside them). so i decided to just prep whatever mussels that would be left over from lunch.

30 minutes before dinner time, i shuffled over to the kitchen and assembled my ingredients:

- 3 tsps. garlic margarine
- 2 tsps. butter
- 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 30+ mussels (in shells), boiled
- 2 cups cheese, grated (i used old Quezo de Bola shavings)
- microwave oven
- small oven toaster
- small brush, knife and tongs
- ground pepper (i used a pepper mill)

1. combine margarine, butter and coarsely chopped garlic in a small bowl and microwave for 45 seconds on medium high or until fully melted.
2. preheat oven toaster (there's no temperature setting on mine - just heat it up as per instructions, which is one minute on mine).
3. extract mussels from broth and discard shell (the half where the mussel doesn't stick). use a knife to cut the mussel loose from the shell. clean any excess grit that is visible.
4. brush mussels with garlic-butter mix until coated.
5. add a small amount of finely chopped garlic on top of each mussel.
6. put a generous amount of cheese on each mussel, making sure to cover the mussel and shell.
7. arrange on the metal plate that comes with the toaster (if yours doesn't come with one, just use any other plate that would fit), and heat for 45 seconds or until the cheese starts to bubble.
8. take out mussels, arrange on a plate, and lightly top with pepper.

obviously 30 mussels isn't something i could manage to gobble down on my own, so i shared it with everyone else at home. i think it was pretty good - would have been better if i had some cheddar or quickmelt cheese to use though.

if anyone else has tried a similar recipe, do let me know. i'd love to finetune my cooking skills (even if they are half-assed at best. heheh.)

[edit: thanks for spotting the typo claire!]