you care about everyone

After waiting as they spent a long, slow afternoon in the oven, I just went to town on some baby back ribs. Holy cats, they were good. Super messy, of course, but delicious! And I have leftovers, so I'll be able to repeat the experience this week!

The pecan shortbread (pic) turned out well, too. I'm a little sad there's no blood orange gelato to go with them, but once the chicken tenders are gone, I will definitely be making it!

In more fannish news, there was a post I saw somewhere on tumblr that talked about a crossover (or fusion? it didn't go into great detail) between Batfam and Dungeon Crawler Carl, and said that the Bats would all be outside during the collapse, and feel obligated to go into the dungeon. And I don't necessarily disagree? But I also don't necessarily agree, either!

In DCC, we're told the collapse happened at approximately 2:20 am PT, which means it was 5:20 am ET, and if you (and by "you" I mean me) believe Gotham is in New Jersey, that is probably after they are all home, and hopefully showering/sleeping, so I'm not sure they survive just by nature of being on patrol. Maybe if Tim is out in San Francisco with the Titans, where it would also be 2:20 am PT, he'd survive, but I'm not necessarily convinced he would go into the dungeon, either. Because there's whatever survivors on the surface to take care of also. Maybe they'd split up? Some would go into the dungeon to see what it was about and others would stay up top to manage any survivors, lead any fighting against alien invaders?

Like, could Kon take being underground for so long without access to sunlight? He should probably stay on the surface and help that way. (I also think this is a hard crossover to make happen simply because...there are canonical aliens in the DCU and also the Green Lantern Corps. So you'd have to do some fast talking/handwaving to get to the interesting parts, because how do the Green Lanterns not know about this? Otoh, you could go full AU/fusion and have Krypton be a world that was stripped ages ago and everyone is shocked to see Kryptonians on Earth. Same with Tamaran or Mars I guess.)

And I do wonder how Batman specifically would fare in a dungeon where killing is the preferred (by the System AI and the Syndicate running the thing and a large portion of the audience) way to survive and advance. He and Cass would find other ways, and I'm sure they would amass fans and, eventually, sponsors, but it'd be harder, I think, especially on the earlier floors. I think we have seen him kill aliens though, at least in the animated universes, so maybe he'd be okay at first with killing goblins and ogres and ghouls etc. Idk.

Jason, otoh, would be all, "I'm built for this!" and shoot his way to glory, or at least do the killing when Bruce and Cass couldn't. Steph and Dick might be pragmatic enough to come around to killing mobs, at least, ( spoiler for Dungeon Crawler Carl )

And while I think a fusion might be a better way to go than a regular crossover (I know there is someone writing a Superman and Carl are BFF in the dungeon, or at least creating art for it, but I don't know what they've chosen to use for backstory), I would love to see Damian interact with Princess Donut. Or the System AI deal with Oracle.

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I made this Shanghai scallion flatbread this afternoon and it is really good but if you should endeavor to make it, I have 2 warnings:

1. whatever you think is "medium heat" when you're cooking it is too high. No, lower than that. Or don't go the full 12 minutes recommended, but I think that might be harder to gauge.

2. be careful when flipping it over! Remember that sesame seeds will pop in hot oil and things will spatter, so really and truly, be careful!

Otherwise, it's delicious, A++ will make again. On lower heat next time. The only thing I did differently was use toasted sesame oil on the inside before I put the scallions on. Also, I think it could hold more than 1/2 cup of chopped scallions, but that is just me. Oh, and I used five spice powder instead of ground Sichuan peppercorns because I don't like that much heat and so I do not actually have Sichuan peppercorns in the house. Anyway, I did it all by hand and it was easy enough. I can't recommend a Danish dough whisk enough if you enjoy making bread and don't have a stand mixer.

I had big plans to also make blood orange gelato - blood oranges are in season right now and on sale! but the ones I got are like, bruised to hell, so that is probably why the sale price - but I don't have room in the freezer for it. Bah. Pre-made chicken tenders were also on sale and I bought them to make for lunch this week and they are taking up a lot of space (there are only about 12 in the bag but the bag is enormous. so annoying! I suppose I could rebag them in something less full of air. Hmm...). Anyway, I am contemplating zesting and juicing the oranges and freezing that, but again, space is at a premium in there. One day I will have a full-size fridge. or a chest freezer. Either way. and I will be so happy.

Soon, I will take the rack of babyback ribs I bought this week (not on sale alas) and give them a dry rub before they go back into the fridge overnight to be roasted low and slow tomorrow. And in the morning, before I have to devote 4 hours of oven-time to the ribs, I plan to make pecan shortbread because I still have like 2 lbs of pecans from my Christmas candied pecans project. It's an Ina Garten recipe, so I anticipate it will be good! And I will eat a few of them for breakfast each morning next week.

And after reblogging this post, I have also been contemplating making gyoza for Easter since I'll have a 4-day weekend and could do it in stages, though I have never done it and don't know how to pleat them so I'm going to have to watch some videos - any recs for that? I'll also try to clear out some space in the freezer to freeze some for later. *g* But they look so good! I do love a dumpling.

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I finally got some Minute Maid frozen orange juice concentrate and Orange Julius take 2 is way better than the watery version I made last month. Woo!

Tomorrow, I have to get up early and bake Irish soda bread to take to the family - we are going out for St. Patrick's Day dinner (and also the NINTH[!!!!!] anniversary of my father's death - it is his recipe I use; I miss him a lot).

TV quick takes:

Shrinking: ( spoilers ) Anyway, the first few episodes of this show are a little tough to take but it has morphed into a funny, endearing, poignant hangout comedy and I recommend it! Harrison Ford is SO GOOD in it too.

The Pitt: ( spoilers )

I am very interested to see where the rest of this season is going.

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