And Now the Tale of Two Nerds is a Trifecta!

Well in July our Family grew by one!

We'd been looking for a while and kept finding dog after dog and it never worked out. They were always adopted within the hour of me arriving at the shelter, or transferred, or rescued and we were about ready to just accept that this wasn't the time and go back to casual searching; you know, whatever fell in our lap. I went to the shelter that day to see two dogs. When I got there, one had been adopted, the other had been taken by a rescue. My heart sank and I just casually walked through to see the other dogs.... and then I saw her.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed she and her kennel-mate (a big black and white husky) were both very personable and very happy to have visitors (the shelter worker and myself). I found out that BOTH had adoption holds but I filled out the papers on her anyhow, just hoping I might have a chance.

Dog Rescue: The Adoption Wars began. The next morning I went back to the shelter and we were in luck, the family that was going to adopt both her and her kennel-mate had decided to just take her buddy (because they heard from the shelter how excited we were about adopting her and decided she would have a good life with us. To those lovely people, thank you so much for the gift of our beautiful girl.).

We knew before we ever met her what her name would be.  If we adopted a boy it would be Han or Chewie and if it was a girl, Leia! Well, she's a girl and her name is Leia. The shelter was able to tell us that she was an owner surrender, about 1.5 years old, and that she was surrendered because her last owner/family had a medical issue and was no longer able to walk her. So they gave her up, hoping for a better life for her.

Leia now gets 30 minute walks each morning, and sometimes we run on the tennis court or go for second and even third walks.  To her original family we also thank you for allowing her to complete our family.





Leia has settled in well in her first few months. She now has a little buddy in the complex, a yorkie and get this, his name is Obi Wan! No joke!

So the Tale of Two Nerds expands to 3!

Star Trek Paintball! - Trekkie vs Trekker

In May we participated in the Trekkie vs Trekker game at The Swamp Paintball Park. This was the first 26 hour paintball game The Swamp had ever held. We decided to camp out and sleep in my car during the course of the game which ran from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.

The premise of the game is that two students at Starfleet Academy decided to see who really was the better captain, Kirk or Piccard. Unfortunately, several holodeck glitches have made this fight interesting.

I played the clerk role, which was Guinan. Needless to say there was one little problem... I'm a little- light, to play Guinan. So I blamed this on a holodeck glitch which effected my graphical rendering.

I did go in costume, as you can see, and yes, when I went on the field I did wear that (talk about a walking target!).

I was lucky in that my character could simply demand that the generals and their representatives come to me, so for a portion of the game I simply remained off field and entertained myself by building castles and Vulcan embassy out of credits.

 Castles of Credits!

Tom portrayed Sarek, the father of Spock. Due to getting a job, he wasn't able to get a costume in time, but team Wolfenkow, his group of assassins, made him match them by spray painting his hair bright pink.

He and his crew quickly became infamous on the field as they constantly switched sides based on who was currently paying them (more credits).

They bought several special roles so that their almost entire team was outfitted with medics, technicians, pilots, and demo experts. Suddenly what was supposed to be a group of hired guns became a powerful giant.

  

Tom with Wolfenkow, the team of deadly assassins.

Our last adventure as role-players.
I (Dale Arden) wore a red formal gown and robe,
Tom (Dick Tracey) wore a dress shirt, slacks, a tie
a trench coat, and a hat.
Here we are with Spiderman and a gunslinger girl.

It turned out, that aside from the game directors,  I was the only one in costume. Most of the other role-players were just in their gear.

I felt that since I got free admission to the game, I owed the park owners and the people running the game and in the past when I was a role player both Tom and I dressed up (and so did every other role player, but it was at a different park.)

The game was well run, and we had a great time (despite my car being exactly one foot too short for us to sleep comfortably in).

The weekend at The Swamp was full of good firefights, great friends and did I mention that when they serve dinner, for $7 you can have homemade fried chicken, "Gator" burgers, hotdogs, potato salad, baked beans and oh man is it all good (That was one of the best tasting and best priced meals we have ever had at a field. When I asked about it, the field owner said "I feed my players!" I like his style!).

Needless to say we had a great time and The Swamp did a great job putting on their first 26 hour game. 

We can't wait to get back out there for one of the next ones!

Part of Final battle at the park!

Happy Birthday Honey! - The N7 Cake!

So, since it is May it is the month of anniversaries and birthdays. 

For Tom's Birthday I decided to make a nerdy birthday cake for him.

Now, this is nothing new to me. I've made several nerdy cakes in the past (some looked better than others) such as:

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• The "V for Vendetta" cake that I made with a team for a college cake decorating contest. 

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•  The "Star Trek Badge" cake for a friend's birthday.

 

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•  and the "Death Star" Cake for one of Tom's earlier birthdays

All of the past cakes were good for when I made them, The Death Star was one I was particularly proud of at the time, but now my skills have grown up a little more, and thanks to quite a bit of practice and several Food Network program I felt ready to try something new.

So, I decided  I'd make a cake that represented one of Tom's favorite video games: Mass Effect. 

My goal was to make a two tier french vanilla cherry N7 cake (which I will now walk you through).

N7 Cake

1. First, I bought two boxes Betty Crocker French Vanilla cake and made them in a 13x9 cake pan  as the box directed (That's right, I cheat and don't make cakes from scratch, sorry honey!).
   
   One helpful hint: Get Pam Baking spray, not just regular Pam. Pam Baking spay has a bit of flour in it which made it super, super easy (After waiting 5 minutes to let them cook a little) to get the cakes out of the pan.
   
   

   

   Bottom tier trimmed and dirty iced, scraps on right,
   second tier trimmed and cooling

2. I put the bottom tier on a cardboard base (Which you can get at almost any grocery store's bakery for a few dollars. Kroger sold me a plastic cake box and a cardboard base for $3.) trimmed it down and "dirty iced" it.
   
   (I took a sharp serrated kitchen knife and leveled the cake, you can see the scraps in a bowl on the right, don't toss them, I'll tell you why later so check out the very bottom of this post.)
   
   Dirty icing doesn't have to be perfect, there can be crumbs in it. Just smack some icing on there.
   
   An additional hint, when leveling the bottom tier of a cake you intend to fill, dip the center a little bit to make a shallow bowl for the filling. I only dip the cake about 1/4th of an inch but it makes a difference.



Bottom tier filled, top tier leveled

3. I trimmed the second tier and let it continue to cool
4. I put the cherry filling on the bottom layer and spread them evenly, leaving a small boarder  around the sides so the filling wouldn't squish out.

   

   Bottom tier filled, second tier iced on the trimmed side

5. I dirty Iced the second tier on what would become the bottom (which was the leveled side of the cake. That way you have a nice smooth surface for the top of the cake {which was originally the bottom of the sheet cake}).
6. This step is a bit difficult. It's time to flip the top tier, icing down, onto the bottom tier.
   
   I used the cake box, flattened, to slide under the top tier and very carefully and quickly flipped it onto the bottom tier, adjusting it as needed.
   
   For this step I have but one thing to say, GOOD LUCK!
   
   

   

   Top tier miraculously flipped onto the bottom tier, Thank God!

7. Next, ice the top tier so that all exposed parts of the cake have a thin layer of icing.
8. Next put a small amount of powdered sugar on the counter to prevent the fondant from sticking. Heat the fondant in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds. It should NOT be warm, It just softens it a tiny bit.
   Roll out the fondant into a wide rectangle. You may have to put more powdered sugar on the counter or the rolling pin to prevent sticking. To put it on the cake, roll the fondant around the pin, then over the cake like a sheet over a bed. Smooth it down and trim the edges.
9. I then rolled out the white and trimmed it into the letter "N" and a "7" using a sharp knife and straight edge (I used a piece of paper but a ruler will work just as well). I used the right side of the "7"  to trace the line on the red "triangle" so it would mirror the slant of the 7 as it does on the true emblem.
10. Using a small bit of the white icing on the back side of the N, 7, and triangle, I secured the pattern to the cake (much like using glue for craft paper, a little bit goes a long way)
11. The final touch ups include smoothing edges of the numbers and using a paper towel with the smallest amount of water on it, to clean away any excess powdered sugar. (The cleaning step can also be done before step 10 so you have a clean surface).

The final product, which was then put in the cake saver
shown in the upper left hand corner.

And that's how it's done. The cake is not a lie and now you can make one too!

As to the cake scraps, crumble them up with a fork, add a lump of icing, mix with the fork and then roll into balls and refrigerate. Honestly, they're great.