Gingerbread Popcorn

 This is from TheChunkyChef.com.  My daughter had made it one year for Brownies.  It is an odd taste.  It's not one of my favorites but it is a hit with a lot of people.

Ingredients

- 14 cups popped popcorn (try to remove unpopped kernels)

- 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed

- 1/2 cup light corn syrup

- 1/4 cup molasses (we usually use cooking, but have also used fancy)

- 2 tsp ground ginger

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- pinch ground cloves

- 1/2 tsp kosher salt

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Lightly coat a large mixing bowl with non-stick cooking spray.  Add popped popcorn and set aside.

2. Line two baking pans with parchment paper and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

3. Add brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt to a heavy bottomed saucepan and heat over MED heat, stirring constantly.  Bring to a boil, and then boil without stirring for 4 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and baking soda.  The caramel will foam a bit, that's okay.  Working quickly, pour the mixture over the popcorn and mix as well as you can.  If not all the popcorn is covered, that's okay, as it bakes the caramel with thin out and be easier to stir and coat.

5. Transfer the popcorn to the prepared baking pans.  Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 10-15  minutes.  Let cool in the pans, and then break apart any large clumps and store in an airtight container.

Back in Office

November 22 I went back in to work.  My wife has been going in to the office two days a week for quite some time but, this was the first time back for me since we became isolates.  I was lucky enough to be in a job where I could work from home but they feel that they miss us enough to bring us back.

 

I carried all my equipment back and was able to get everything set up and working at the new desk within an hour.  Someone had moved all of the rest of my stuff that I had left back from the before times to my new desk.  If you know anything about me, you can picture how much stuff that was. 

 

The big difference is that I’m now working on a left hand desk.  I was on a right hand desk for over ten years before we went out and on a straight desk for the last two and a half years.  I’m trying to see if I can get it to work of if it’s going to be too much of a struggle.  The last time I had a left hand desk, I had a bad kink in my shoulder within two days.  I’m working slightly differently now, but we will see how it goes.

 

On the up side, now that I am back in the office, as of Dec 7, I now have my weekends back, as my department only works from Monday through Friday.

 

Figure Painting Total - October 2022

I was hoping to get more painting done but alas.  I had thought that I was easily on track for another 100 figures this year but now we will have to see if I can get the momentum back in time.

Bought

DLB: The Curse of Oak Hill – 2

DLB: Supporting Characters – 6

 

 

 

Painted

 

 

Oct total – 8 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2022 – figures bought 189, figures painted 75

Holidays, hobby, health, and happiness

 I just finished two weeks of holidays from work.  More and more, I am liking taking the two weeks containing Halloween and Remembrance Day.   Since we aren’t doing costuming as much or conventions really, I usually take Christmas to New Years, and then these two weeks.  I try to spread my remaining holidays around the year but these two picks mean I usually don’t get anything in the July to August part of summer.

I had hoped to get a lot more hobbying done – both painting and playing some games.  Neither happened.  Well, no figure painting.

I did end up finishing painting the living room and front hall.  We finally assembled the replacement wall unit.  We went with a Besta from Ikea.  The wall it goes on isn’t quite long enough for both cabinets but we replaced the other with a Billy bookcase.  This gives plenty of space for the dvds and knick knacks.

We hadn’t really decorated much inside for Halloween, but we did decorate the yard.  The weather held this year, giving a lovely night for Trick or Treating and we had 36 kids visit.  Not a ton compared to some, but a solid number for our area.

We found time to make it to the local ComicCon, which was the first time since the new owners came in just before the lockdowns.  We didn’t go last year, but since Bruce Campbell was the guest, we were pretty much swayed.  Lea Thompson, who is filming a series locally, also ended up attending as a replacement guest at the last minute for Lou Ferrigno.  She was lovely. 

After Halloween, we transitioned right into Christmas.  We got the tree up and house redecorated.  We managed to get the winter tires on ahead of the snow fall.

My wife had taken the second week off as well and we spend the week catching up on the new season of TV.  Thursday through Sunday though, the household came down with some malaise, likely flu, and we were all just sleeping and coughing, and huddled on the couches in blankets watching TV. 

Even still, it was a pretty relaxing time off.

 

Figure Painting Total Sept 2022

 

I picked up the last two Operations for Dust Tactics that I could find.  I still need Operation Cerberus but, since that came with the building it is hard to get.  I don't need the building as I bought three of the Tenements but do want the booklet and figure.  I was also finally able to get a Green Lantern from DCU.  Now I just need to get the Justice League set.

Sept

Bought

DCU – Green Lantern – 1

Dust Tactics: Operation Hades – 1

Dust Tactics: Operation Icarus – 2

Dust Tactics Allied Pelican P-48 – 1

Dust Tactics Axis Horten HO-347 – 1

  

 

Painted

MU – Sabretooth – 1

MU – Wolverine – 1

 

 

Sept total – 6 figures bought, 2 figures painted

Running total 2022 – figures bought 181, figures painted 75

Figure Painting Total - August 2022

Bought

 

Painted

Unmatched – Deadpool – 1

Unmatched – Hell’s Kitchen – Bullseye, Daredevil – 2

Unmatched – Redemption Row – Cage, Moon Knight – 2

BM – Joker’s Gas Canisters Objective Markers – 2

DCU – Superboy – 1        

  

MU – Captain Marvel – 1

MU – Deadpool – 1

MU – Ms. Marvel – 1

SWNYC – New Yorkers – 2

 

Aug total – 0 figures bought, 13 figures painted

Running total 2022 – figures bought 175, figures painted 73

Books read - May to August 2022

 May

Dust Tactics by Olivier Zamfirescu

Street Wars NYC by Iain McDonald

Dust Warfare by Andy Chambers and Mack Martin

Dust Warfare: Campaign Book Zverograd by Andy Chambers and Mack Martin

Airframe by Michael Crichton

US Army Uniforms Europe 1944 – 1945 by Cameron P. Laughlin & John P. Langellier

Dust Warfare: Campaign Book Hades by Andy Chambers and Mack Martin

 

June

Dust Warfare: Campaign Book Icarus by Andy Chambers and Mack Martin

iWoz Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I invented the personal computer, co-founded Apple, and had fun doing it by Steve Wozniak with Gina Smith

 

July

Commodore – a company on the edge by Brian Bagnall

Beast – Peter Benchley

 

Aug

Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin

The Science of Battlestar Galactica by Patrick Di Justo and Kevin R. Grazier

Colonies in Space by T. A. Heppenheimer

Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future by Pope Francis and Austen Ivereigh

Getting Dustier

I got the Revised Core set and have had a few chances at the Original Core.  I remain hopeful that I will be able to get one eventually.

I have ordered Operation Hades, and Operation Icarus.  It seems that Icarus will come with three of the Quonset huts.  Operation Cerberus will be a real challenge due to the inclusion of the building.  I hope to be able to at least get the rules and scenarios, as well as the figures.

I still need to get more walkers, but the Core will take care of that.  I want to get the Allied Heavy Ranger Attack Squad.  For the Axis, I need the Axis Heroes, some basic Zombies, and a few Gorilla units, and at least one Gorilla Support Unit.  I have also ordered a Pelican for the Allies, and a Horten for the Axis.

For the SSU, I would love to get three KV47 walkers, so I can field all three variant - Nadya, Natalya, and Natasha, as well as another KV47 Recovery unit.  If I get at least one regular KV47, I can use the extra arms from it to mix with extra recovery units to make another regular walker.  I would also like to get at least a helicopter.  Due to the scarcity of these units, I will probably need to get some conventional troops instead.

I will need to get some bunkers, preferably a SSU or Axis one.

I would love to get the Japanese IJN troops from Dust 1947.  The ninjas, and sailor scouts look pretty cool, as do the Tesla Walkers.  They also came out with Cthulhu troops which would be cool, as well as the Mercenaries.  These three factions came near the end of the run and would be very difficult to get but I have seen some offered, a few even at non-insane prices.

Now I just need to get my son to play some games with me to see if it is worthwhile, as well if I should put the effort into painting them.

Figure Painting Total - July 2022

 I had a line on an original Core set for Dust Tactics and the Operation Cerberus set but that fell through.  I was able to get a revised Core Set though in great condition.  

 

Bought

Dust Tactics Revised Core – 28 (15 Allied, 13 Axis)

SWNYC – Black Cobras – 8

SWNYC – Ghetto Lords – 8

SWNYC – Mollies – 8

 

Painted

BM – Objectives Game Markers – Titan – 1

BM – Objective Game Markers Set 1 – medical supplies – 1

SMMU – Elektra – 1

DCU – Steel – 1

Wizkids – Cowboys repaint – 1

Unmatched – Hell’s Kitchen – Elektra – 1

DLB – Final Girls – 1

SWNYC – Lee Raven – 1

SWNYC – NYPD Cops – 2

 

 

July total – 52 figures bought, 10 figures painted

Running total 2022 – figures bought 175, figures painted 60

Old Toys

 As a child of the Eighties, I lived through a golden age of toys.  With the adoption of plastics, there was very little that could not be done for toys.  Model kits were still a common thing and, even though I never managed to get into them, model trains and rockets were readily available.

 

I had a few early Lego sets, from before the minifig, and some of the early space sets.  The non-rectangular fancy elements were very few and far between back then.  We would build spaceships, and hide secret compartments inside of our builds, but Lego was fairly pricy back then and I did not amass a huge collection.

 

I had even less Playmobil.  They were even more expensive than Lego back in the day but have become much more reasonable as they haven’t increased nearly as much as other toys have. 

 

Both of these companies have embraced licensing.  I picked up some Lego Scooby Doo sets, including the big castle.  I have yet to get around to building it though as I don’t yet have a good place to display it.

For the Playmobil, I bought a bunch of the Ghostbusters figures, and the Ecto-1.  I did not buy the building as again, I don’t have proper room for it.  I picked up the Scooby Doo gang and the Mystery Machine.  They had blind bags of the ghosts/creatures and I got most of the first wave.  I even picked up the Back to the Future figures, and got the Hoverboard Chase set and the Advent calendar on sale.  I finally saved up enough to get the Delorean.  I don’t have any interest in Marty’s Pickup Truck set except it includes the Jennifer Parker figure.

The James Bond vehicle and the A-Team Van are priced much too high for me, being over $100 each.  I don’t have enough interest to justify the cost.  The same is true for the Enterprise.  While it would be neat, at over $500, the price and size are so out of scope to even consider.

 

Now I have to save up for a Detolf from IKEA to be able to display them.  I have a space between the bookcases already.

Figure Painting Total - June 2022

I got some more Dust Tactics, giving me enough to field an Allies force.  I had a line on a core set that ended up not panning out.

Bought

Unmatched – Jurassic Park – Dr. Sattler VS T.Rex – 2

Dust Tactics – Allies – Corps Officers – 3

Dust Tactics – Allies – Tank Busters – 6

Dust Tactics – SSU – Hero pack – 3

Dust Tactics – SSU – Commissars – 5

Dust Tactics: Operation Cyclone – 2

Dust Tactics: Operation SeeLowe – 2

 

Painted

DLB – Starter – 1

DLB – Final Girls – 2

Reaper – Zombies – 5

 

 

June total – 23 figures bought, 8 figures painted

Running total 2022 – figures bought 123, figures painted 50

Figure Painting Total - May 2022

 I finally took the plunge and started to get into Dust.  I’m a bit late to the party, with the newest version, Dust 1947 being cancelled last September.  I was not able to find any starters yet but I was able to find some figures and Operation boxes which gives me the maps.  I have enough Axis for a starter army minus a walker, and have more figures on order.

I also started getting figures for Street Wars New York City, picking up some noble warriors – The Braves; as well as some extra figures.

 

 

Bought

Dust 1947 Allies Pounder/Hotdog – 1

Dust 1947 Allies Heroes of ASOCOM – 5

Dust 1947 SSU PLA/Spetsnaz Red Rain/Red Fury – 1

Dust Tactics Axis Ubertoten Assault Squad – 5

Dust Tactics Axis Ubertoten Suicide Squad – 5

Dust Tactics Operation Achilles – 3

Dust Tactics Operation Zverograd – 2

Dust Tactics SSU KV47 Recovery & Demolition Walker – 1

SWNYC – Braves – 9

SWNYC – Lee Raven – 1

SWNYC – NYPD Cops – 2

SWNYC – New Yorkers – 2

 

 

Painted

 

Dracula’s America – The Salem Sisterhood – 8

Dracula’s America – Spirit Creatures (Ghost Witch, Bukwus, Angry Spirit) – 3

DLB Starter – 1

DLB – Death on the Line – 1

Wizkids – Cowboys repaint – 2

 

 

May total – figures bought 37, figures painted 15

Running total 2022 – figures bought 100, figures painted 42

Figure Painting Total - April 2022

 I assembled the Necromantic Horror Blood Bowl team.

Bought

Unmatched – Hell’s Kitchen – 3

Unmatched – Redemption Row – 3


Painted

BM - Batwoman

DLB - 4 heroes, and 1 killer

Wizkids cowboys - 2

April total – figures bought 6, figures painted 8

Running total 2022 – figures bought 63, figures painted 35

Books read January - April 2022

 Jan

Italian Aces of World War 1  by Paolo Varriale

Mister Rogers Neighborhood: A Visual History by Melissa Wagner, Tim Lybarger, Jenna McGuiggan

American Aces of World War 1 by Norman Franks

 

Feb

Austro-Hungarian Aces of World War 1  by Christopher Chant

Early German Aces of World War 1 by Greg VanWyngarden

The Costume Technician’s Handbook by Rosemary Ingham & Liz Covey

 

Mar

Blood Bowl – Spike! Presents 2021 Almanac! by Games Workshop Limited

Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago: Lost Colossus by Joseph A McCullough

Frostgrave: Forgotten Pacts by Joseph A McCullough

British and Empire Aces of World War 1 by Christopher Shores

Aces of Jagstaffel 17 by Greg VanWyngarden

 

Apr

The Art of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge by Amy Ratcliffe

A Billion Suns: Interstellar Fleet Battles by Mike Hutchinson

Aces of Jagdgeschwader Nr III by Greg VanWyngarden

 

Dust Tactics to Dust 1947

I keep looking at Dust but never got into it.  I had thought that it was in the same vein as Tannhauser, which I already have, but it is it’s own thing.

 

Tannhauser, the board game and expansions was published by a French company, Take On You, in 2006.  The system was bought by Fantasy Flight in 2009, and a revised edition was released in 2010.  The background is that World War 1 did not end and that it still rages on 35 years later.

 

Dust was created by Paolo Parente, a former fashion designer, who then became an artist for games and Magic cards.  He designed Dust as a series of 1/6 scale action figures, and then comics to go with them.  In his design World War II did not end thanks to the discovery of a crashed alien spacecraft in Antarctica.  This tech leads to the creation of large walking vehicles. 

 

He worked with Rackham to bring this to a game but they did not like the WW2 German forces, so they changed the setting slightly and designed AT-43 (After Trauma: 43) in 2006.  This was a miniature game with Weird War figures and man-sized walking tanks.  The company was spending more money on its fantasy line Confrontation, and ended up closing.

After that ended, he brought out Dust Wars with Image comics, and model kits in 1/35 and 1/48 scale.  There was also a Risk-like game that came out in 2009.  I had a bit of trouble finding it but was able to track down a copy of that when I thought it was an extension of the Tannhauser milieu.  I have also picked up the Battlefront Dust Tactics rules in a previous sale.

 

AEG helped bring together Dust Tactics as a board game with figures but this was bought by Fantasy Flight just before being released in 2010.  There were expansions and a revised set was published in 2011.  This led to Dust Warfare in 2012 as a gridless miniature game.  Another edition came out with a messy kickstarter in 2014 through Battlefront.

 

Then they got it back and published it themselves in 2016 as Dust 1947.  They had upgraded cards to be able to use figures from all the sets, and even brought out new factions in Cultists (Cthulhu), (Japanese), and Mercenaries.  They always had figures available in prepainted and also just primed but finally sold unassembled figures as well for a lower cost.  I just found out that they have stopped publications last year in 2021 partly due to the complications of production with the pandemic.

 

It’s a big system to get into.  I don’t know anyone locally who plays it.  I’m not looking to buy and store multiple forces for another game.  I’m not even a big World War 2 fan.  Now that it is a dead system it is going to be hard to track down figures.

But it is a pretty looking game with a great table presence.  It’s supposed to be fairly simple compared to heavy wargames, and has a really strong supportive following.  It will probably come out again at some point, especially since Paolo had plans for taking it into space and moving the setting forward to 1963 during the Cold War.  The rules are still available on their website so I will probably download them and give them another look.  I can keep an eye out for clearance sales and for people clearing their collections in lots.  If I can find someone to play with, I can always design counters for the figures and vehicles to try it out. 

Miniature Market is having a Spring cleaning sale and I missed picking up a few Dust Tactics operation/mission boxes for the figures and maps.   But I was able to pick up the Dust Warfare rules and a couple of the campaign books.

Figure Painting Total - March 2022

 I also picked up a second MU Wolverine that was already painted.  I just repainted the base to match my colors closer.  I’m not going to count that on the painting total.

 

Bought

BM – Red Robin – 1

DCU – Batman Villains – 6 (Bane, Clayface, Ra’s Al Ghul, the Riddler, Scarecrow, Solomon Grundy)

DCU – Legion of Doom – 6 (Black Manta, Cheetah, Grodd, Joker, Lex Luthor, Sinestro)

DCU – Superboy & Steel – 2

MU – The Incredible Hulk – 1

MU – Ms Marvel – 1

 

Painted

Black cat – 1 – Heroclix rebase

DLB – Attack of the Greys – 3

 

 

Mar total – figures bought 17, figures painted 4

Running total 2022 – figures bought 57, figures painted 19

Making Gold Town

 Whitewash City: Gold Town – The Mining Town game is based in the old West but it is more about the experience of a miner visiting the local town than about shoot outs. 

 

I have had the Gold Town CD for over a decade and haven’t got around to making a playable copy.  This changed recently.

 

I printed out everything with my ink tank printer, and glued many of the sheets of pieces to medium weight chipboard and cut them apart with an Olfa knife. 

 

The Task Cards were printed onto 100 lb cardstock with the backs printed on the reverse.  The Gold Cards were printed on 100 lb cardstock and the backs were printed on a separate sheets and the two parts were glued together and then cut apart. 

The money was printed out on pastel printer paper and cut with a paper cutter as was the Gold Cards and Task Cards.

 

Figure Painting Total - February 2022

 I worked on assembling the Marvel Universe figures and getting them ready to prime.  I worked on the Don’t Look Back figures, and bought some Stirland Mud texture paint to use for their bases.  But I didn’t manage to get anything finished and clear coated.

 

Bought

MU – Doctor Octopus – 1

MU – Thanos – 1

SMG – Goblin Cult Starter – 4

SMG – Superior Spider-Man Starter – 4

SMG – Spiderbots – 3

SMG/MU – Elektra – 1

 

Painted

 

 

Feb total – figures bought 14, figures painted 0

Running total 2022 – figures bought 40, figures painted 15

 

Filling in the gaps in the Marvel Universe

 There were still a few figures from the Knight Models Marvel Universe game that I was missing.  I had bought the cards only from someone last year for the Spider-Man Miniature game figures.  This uses basically the same rules as the Batman Miniature game.  This year the same guy decided to sell the figures.

Luckily, I was online when he posted and was able to snap up the figures to match the cards, and a lot of the remaining figures that I am missing from the Marvel Universe game, including a lot of the more rare ones that were released just before they lost their license – Doc Octopus, Elektra, and Thanos.

This is good, as I was having a hard time finding good alternate figures to use for Doc Ock and Thanos.  Usually I can find a decent Heroclix version to use, but nothing really looked right.  I was concerned that I might have to get the Marvel Crisis Protocol figures to use.

While a bit pricey, these will fill in most of the gaps I have.  I still need the Hulk, Loki, and Venom but I have Heroclix alternatives for these already.  I would also like to get another Wolverine, and another Ms Marvel to use for Carol Danvers.