HoCo Pirate Treasure Hunt July 2021

To see previous pirate adventures, go here.

The July 2021 Pirate Treasure Hunt was the search for The Colors of Clemens Crossing. The colors were represented not just by the chalk, but by flags in the trees. The flag colors helped to decode the combination to the treasure chest at the end. 

Start of the walk

The first color was yellow, an easy find.

Making the discovery

The trail had fun activities, like walking the plank. At least, this was a fun activity because it was not actually walking the plank.

Dangers everywhere!

We passed a few playgrounds and stopped at one.

A happy pirate

This gate struck me as odd, mostly because it was cut off by vegetation. Do the people ever use it?

Speak "Weedwacker" and enter 

The concrete path we were on clearly did have other users, even exotic ones.

You might say an ocean lady "mer-made" the prints!

The neighborhood streets have fun, piratey names, which I am sure was an accident.

Maybe not appropriate for kids

Can you spot the green flag?

Our pirate map labeled the next stone the "Jolly Roger Rock." My daughter got a yo-ho-ho in as we passed.

Showing strength

Another challenge was a set of exercises. My daughter floated right through.

Parents are exempt, I think

Toward the end, the path diverged for those using their wheeled conveyances. 

What if I'm a strolling pirate?

Off the path was another clue and also a surveying mark from the original land grant in the 1700s. Lord Baltimore gave Rev. James Macgill 400 acres and named the area "Athol" after the Macgill ancestral home in Scotland. The neighborhood of Atholton is nearby!

The border stone

We had the final clue and had fun opening up the chest at the end. Another successful adventure!

Opening the chest

Book Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender: Katara and the Pirate's Silver by F. E. Hicks et al.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Katara and the Pirate's Silver script by Faith Erin Hicks and art by Peter Wartman

On the run from the Fire Nation, Team Avatar is enjoying riding on Apa the Flying Bison. Toph gives Katara a hard time about being too soft and nice. The others more or less agree, which makes Katara mad. Before she can come up with a good rejoinder, they are attacked by the Fire Nation. Katara falls off, plunging into the river below. She's ok but needs to find her way back to the gang who were forced to fly off without her. She winds up in a seaside town and is recruited by a band of Earth Kingdom pirates who need a waterbender to help them get back upriver with their contraband. She decides to be tough like Toph and joins up with the crew.

The story is fun and exciting, following the typical themes and twists from the television show. Faith Erin Hicks is proving herself to be on par with Gene Luen Yang in writing the characters well and expanding the (already impressively broad) Avatar world.

Recommended.

Brownie-filled Cookie Experiment Part II: Brownie Recipes

To find out about the first part of this project, check out Part I!

After making a variety of cookie recipes for our brownie-filled cookie experiment, we switched over to brownie recipes to see if one would make a good candidate for stuffing inside some cookie dough and baking for an ultimate dessert treat.

The first recipe we tried was from a website that promised "Rich chocolate chewy brownies, not cakey at all!" The description is optimal for what we want to do, so we went in with high hopes. Also, the recipe is very simple and involves no refrigeration (which we found a bit annoying with the chocolate chip cookies). Once we were done mixing the dough, it was very dry.

Brownie dough, not brownie mix

The one finicky thing in the recipe is lining the 9 by 13 inch pan with greased parchment paper. To my untrained experience, that sounds redundant. Either you grease the pan or use parchment paper, right? My other cooking principle kicked in--Do not improvise on a recipe the first time you make it. Sometimes adaptations are necessary, like the fact that we only had one and half teaspoons of vanilla at home, not two. We thought it was close enough for this recipe, or at least we were too lazy to run to the store for half a teaspoon of vanilla.

We put the dough in the pan and thought it looked awfully close to already cooked.

Pan of raw brownie mix

Pan of baked brownies

We definitely did not skip the baking part, though if this one makes it to the brownie-filled cookie round, we will use the raw brownie dough with a cookie-dough wrapping.

The brownies came out very well. They were very thin and very chewy, almost like fudge.

The recipe for the second set of brownies came from this website. The recipe was nicely unfussy except for the whole "grease and flour the pan" routine which I am not used to. It did make brownie removal easy. Mixing up the dough was also easy. This dough was much wetter than the first recipe.

This photo brought to you by Black & Decker

In the oven to bake

The results looked great. By "great" I mean "cooked."

Those are not all toothpick holes

This recipe calls for homemade frosting. Those ingredients turned out the exact opposite of the batter--they were very dry, still powdery. We added drops of water until we had a more frosting-like consistency.

This photo brought to you by Pringles

We won't use the frosting on the final project (frosted-brownie-filled cookies?) but thought we should follow the recipe. After the addition, we were back to the raw look from the first brownie recipe.

Regression!

The brownies tasted great and were thin enough to be good candidates for the final project.

The third recipe was from a very finicky cookbook that we used for the chocolate chip cookies. The recipe is one of those with volume and weight measurements (imperial and metric) which I don't particularly mind. The recipe also includes premium ingredients and premium tools, like cake strips. We don't have cake strips and are not going to buy them for one recipe! So we did not exactly follow directions on this one, though we did by some premium ingredients (a couple of them were on sale!).

That's a lot of sugar

Mixing up the batter was not too difficult. This recipe also called for greased parchment paper to aid removal from the pan. We did a much less professional job cutting the paper so it stuck out more.

Raw brownies

The brownies cooked well, though at 300 degrees it took an hour to bake. We took them out a little early since we didn't have the cake strips.

Cooked brownies

These were thin and tasty, another strong candidate.

The final recipe was from The International Chocolate Cookbook and called for foil as the pan liner. Otherwise, the recipe was fairly simple and easy to execute. The batter came out nicely though it might have been too liquidy for the final project.

Raw dough #4

The final product was a little underdone and, while tasty, is not as good as the others above.

No brownie is all bad

We planned ahead this time and had samples of the earlier brownies for a "taste off" with the whole family. The final victor was #3 though #1 is the backup.

I hope you are looking forward to the next stage--integration!

Movie Review: Baahubhali 1 & 2 (2015, 2017)

Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) directed by S. S. Rajamouli

The infant son of the ruler is taken from the kingdom to save his life from ruthless relatives. He grows up in obscurity with foster parents who do not tell him his true origin. He wants to climb the great mountain nearby, because he feels its his destiny. The kingdom he came from is on top of the mountain. His foster mother doesn't want him to go but he eventually succeeds at the herculean task. He's pulled into the court intrigue above when he helps a beautiful woman on her quest to free her queen (who also happens to be his mother). The kingdom is ruled by an iron-fisted ruler who has kept the true queen as a scorned hostage, living in a town square chained to the pillar. She's been collecting twigs and branches that fall into the square, preparing a bed of fire for the illegitimate king. Who does she expect to throw him in there? Her long absent (25 years!) son Baahubali. He's returned just in time to make things right!

But before he can start, he finds out the backstory of his parents. His father and his uncle were rivals for the throne and had to compete in tests of intelligence and bravery. They were equally matched. Then another nation attacked the country and the queen, whose word is law, declared that whoever killed the invading king would be the next ruler. Battle plans were drawn up and both brothers went to fight. Baahubali Senior fought nobly and fairly (which is more than can be said for his brother) and has the enemy king at sword point when his brother uses a ranged weapon to deliver the killing blow. Their queen (who is the biological mother of the uncle and adoptive mother of Baahubali Senior) declares Baahubali Senior as king and his brother as leader of the army. As with many political decisions, things do not work out the way she planned--a trusted advisor stabs the elder Baahubali in the back literally. With that revelation, part one ends.

The basic plot of the movie borrows a lot from other fantasy epics and follows the standard hero's journey. The young Baahubali is earnest in his desire to climb the mountain (he doesn't know the tunnel that brought him down has been sealed up). He starts doing fantastic feats even before he climbs the mountain, indicating his destiny as a great hero. When he unintentionally rescues his mother in the kingdom, many of the slaves in the city recognize him since he looks just like his father (the same actor plays both characters, so it's a natural identification). They declare him their hero, which gets the evil king's jealous attention and his chained-up, true mother's instant acceptance. In the meantime, his foster family has cleared the tunnel and come up the mountain, giving Baahubali additional confirmation about his true parentage. The drama follows a standard story arc that we've seen from Moses to Luke Skywalker--the unaware hero destined to save the people.

The execution of the story is fantastic. The movie is visually opulent in direction, cast, costumes, and sets. Some stuff is CGI, like every scene where an animal is part of the action (they even have a little "C.G.I." reminder in the corner of the screen to reassure viewers that no animal was harmed). The CGI looks good for the most part, only occasional brief scenes are obviously digital. The action is exciting and enjoyable, even when it goes over the top (it's a fantasy epic, after all). The actors and actresses are all convincing in the action scenes. Following the Indian filmmaking tradition, there's some musical numbers and singing that fits well with the story and shows off the beauty (both visual and vocal) of the cast (both male and female). The movie is a sheer delight to watch, except for the cliffhanger ending, with the promise of the next film in two years! Happy me, to watch it six years after release, so they are both streaming on Netflix.

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) directed by S. S. Rajamouli

The story picks up right where the first movie left off, i.e. in the middle of the flashback explaining the events that lead up to Baahubhali Senior's assassination (not everything was explained in the first film). He fights a long, losing political war against his brother even as he woos a neighboring princess (the woman who will be mother to Baahubali Junior). Eventually the Queen Mother is tricked into authorizing a death warrant for Senior, which is executed by another set of political machinations. Senior is killed just before his young wife gives birth to a child destined to change their world. Her mother-in-law sneaks the child off to the lower kingdom, dying in the effort and sealing the secrecy of his origin. With all this information in hand, Junior is ready to retake the throne. And, quite frankly, most of the regular people in the upper kingdom are ready to rise up against their dictatorial king. Junior leads an army to the capital city where a massive battle takes place. While viewers can guess how the battle will turn out, it's the journey to that end that is the great joy of the film.

This sequel follows on perfectly with the first film in tone, storytelling, and enjoyment. The battle tactics are creative, interesting, and occasionally ridiculously over-the-top (in the most enjoyable way). They dropped the "C.G.I." warnings about the animals. Some bits are more obviously CGI but the movie has so much heart and momentum that it's very easy to pass over relatively minor flaws. The cast does a great job in their performances, making their characters a believable part of the epic plot swirling around them. Junior is an exemplary and inspirational hero.

Highly recommended--these movies tell an epic romance/fantasy/action story that is wonderful to behold.

DVDs are a bit hard to come by, it's probably better to watch these movies streaming. I saw them on Netflix.

The movies are discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast #264.

Broken Spoke, Austin

Broken Spoke claims to be one of the last authentic Texas honky tonks. For those who don't know, a honky tonk is a bar/restaurant with live country music and dancing. This particular establishment opened in 1964 and has kept going strong even as the neighborhood around it gets more gentrified. 

Broken Spoke out front

Tombstone or cornerstone?

More of the exterior

They have live music in the front room/restaurant from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and then live music in the back dance hall from 9 p.m. till closing time. We took the kids in for dinner and caught the front room show with Tracie Lynn. I had their famous chicken-fried steak which was very yummy, along with a Lone Star draft which was also good.

Dinner

We took the kids back to the hotel to hang out with grandpa while my wife and I returned for the 8 p.m. dance lesson. The dance instructor was very colorful. She spent the first ten minutes talking about proper dance etiquette (which way to go around the floor, etc.) and the basics of the two-step. She was quite salty and gave advice to the bachelorette party that was clearly there for a good time more than to learn the two-step. She also had some choice words about the "younger generation" and how they are not good at listening, among other flaws. She finally taught the steps and had us practice. She then paired up one couple at a time to give them pointers in front of everyone else. She started at one end of the floor and we were in the middle, so we got to see her instruct others before she got to us. When our turn came, we got by well enough not to get too much salt.

A band led by Tylor Brandon played music that we danced to. We practiced the two-step and snuck some swing dancing in too.

A view of the dance hall

It was a fun night and an experience of classic Texas culture.

Book Review: Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard

Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard translated by Lee M. Hollander

Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish theologian, philosopher, and pundit in the mid-1800s. He struggled through life with melancholy, often putting up a light-hearted exterior. He also struggled with his Christian faith. His father was a dour and difficult man and not much of a Christian. He did leave much of himself in his son. Higher education gave Soren a taste of the intellectual life and he spent a lot of time, especially later in life, reflecting on and arguing with others about faith. This book excerpts several passages to give a broad overview of his style and content.

Diapslamata (from Either--Or Part I)--Kierkegaard reflects on the nature of humor and sorrow. Poets are so focused on sorrow, as if their work is the product of their sorrow. Fans who want more poetry in a way want more suffering for the poet. Kierkegaard, being melancholic, has the tendency to wallow in melancholy as well but has sought out humorous aspect to help him cope with reality. 

The Banquet (From Stages on Life's Road Part I)--Kierkegaard imitates Plato's Symposium by having five male friends get together for a party where they discuss love, specifically love between a man and a woman. Each friend has a unique viewpoint on the issue, from the youngest member who speaks with passion about how comically misadventured lovers are, to John the Seducer who speaks cynically and happily from his abundance of experience. A lot of different ideas are present with no seeming solution though the writing ends when the revelers leave and happen upon an actually happy couple who deal with each other in heartfelt ways.

Fear and Trembling--This classic text takes a deep dive into Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac on Mount Moriah (see Genesis 22). Abraham is the Father in Faith for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, so his ultimate expression of faith in God deserves serious consideration. Kierkegaard looks at the story from Abraham's point of view, trying to understand his mind and heart. What is the core of faith that Abraham expresses in following God's order to kill his only son? The text is fascinating and brings up challenging questions.

Preparation for a Christian Life--"Come hither unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28) is the starting point for this reflection. Kierkegaard emphasizes the shocking choices of Jesus to help the sick, the lame, the outcast, and even the possessed. These aren't people who are going to give Jesus anything in return. The authorities (religious, intellectual, and secular) are jealous and befuddled by His actions. Why identify with the most miserable people? If Jesus is really God, as He claims, you'd think He'd have higher ambitions. Secular and Church historians have tried to fill the gap here. Kierkegaard rejects these interpretations as inauthentic understandings of Jesus, colored by time and consequences of His actions. Kierkegaard gives no clear substitute other than an extremely personal awareness of one's own sinfulness and how we are more like the wretches Jesus helped in His time.

The Present Time--Kierkegaard casts a sarcastic eye on the lackadaisical piety of his contemporary Christians. They behave more like club members who include all and require very little in the way of life commitment to Gospel teachings or ideals. He mocks Baptism and Confirmation as sacraments that are more of an excuse to have a family party than to follow the New Testament. Making the decision to follow in Christ's footsteps is not something that infants or teenagers are qualified to do according to Kierkegaard. It's more of a plan by "ordained ministers" to keep their ministry going and to obligate people in their childhood to vows that they might not take as adults. The text is shockingly cynical.

Kierkegaard is a bit difficult to read. In a way, he is like Nietzsche, his writing very artistic and has a deeper, often buried, meaning. Unlike Nietzsche, Kierkegaard is a theistic existentialist and takes the humble life of Jesus Christ (which should be imitated by Christians) as the highest life. Doing the will of God, not your own will, is what is important. Discerning God's will seems like it was tough for Kierkegaard, and that difficulty comes through in his writings.

Mildly recommended--this is not the easiest read, it requires patience and probably multiple readings. I have another book with Fear and Trembling in it which I will read sooner rather than later, probably in the next year. 

Book Review: Resident Alien: The Sam Hain Mystery by P. Hogan et al.

Resident Alien: The Sam Hain Mystery written by Peter Hogan and art by Steve Parkhouse

The space alien masquerading as Dr. Harry Vanderspiegle has another adventure, this time investigate whether a favorite author from the 1970s really lives in his quiet adopted home town of Patience, Washington. The light mystery leads to a darker mystery. The on-going story of whether Harry will be rescued by his people or discovered by Earth people moves forward a bit too.

This is an entertaining, quick read.

Mildly recommended.

Just South of Austin Is Bats

A popular tourist attraction (so popular, even locals come to see it) is the flight of the bats off of South Congress Bridge on summer evenings in Austin, Texas. Before going in the evening, we went to scope out the area. We took a walk along the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail which is on the south side of the Colorado River and goes under the bridge. We had some really nice views of the skyline.

Pretty buildings

Google is building a new skyscraper in front of its other skyscraper.

Google and Google the second

More skyline

The above set of buildings had a fun mural on the side of a short building.

Wonderful!

I saw a bell tower that was intriguing because it seemed out of place, like it was part of a building from over a hundred years old.

Mysterious tower

Another nearby building had a fun, Inception-like top.

Maybe it will transform?

Not much further along we saw the famous bat-bridge. 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats have taken up residence under the South Congress Bridge. They fly out at dusk nightly during the summer months (and Texas has a lot of summertime). We first saw the bridge from a distance.

South Congress Bridge

We walked along the trail, eventually going under the Congress Bridge. We heard some weird noises and smelled some weird odors. Our trip was two hours before sunset, so no sign of the bats flying around for their nightly feeding.

At the bridge

View to downtown

One of the cottage industries that's grown up around the bats is boat rentals and cruises along the river. We passed four or five launch points offering sales and deals. My favorite was this round boat because of its bumper sticker.

Various ways to see the bats from the water

Awesome bumper sticker

We went later one evening and saw the bats flying out.

Brownie-filled Cookie Experiment Part I: Cookie Recipes

The grocery store cookie aisle is full of all sorts of amazing (and horrifying) combinations of classic cookies. Oreos come with a variety of filling flavors: mint, peanut butter, birthday cake, carrot cake, etc. Chocolate chip cookies have all sorts of good additives like nuts, M&Ms, peanuts, peanut butter, peanut butter cups, etc. One particular cookie was a favorite of our kids: Chewy Chips Ahoy with Fudge Brownie inside. I decided we should try to recreate them at home as a summer project. Like any proper project, it got the whiteboard treatment:

What's worse, the handwriting or the lighting? Be honest, this is for posterity...

Each of us had to find a chocolate chip cookie recipe and a brownie recipe. First, we would make each separately and judge which would go together best. We figured we need a cookie dough that can hold the brownie mix inside. The brownie mix would have to be thicker so as not to spread around if it leaks out of the cookie dough ball. Maybe we should pre-cook the brownie part? Or partially cook it? There were a lot of questions but a clear first step: make a lot of chocolate chip cookies.

The first chocolate chip cookie recipe from BakeWise by Shirley Corriher yielded delicious cookies that may not be the best for this project. Part of the problem was leaving out an ingredient. The recipe calls for taking pecans and turning them via food processor into flour (not butter--don't overchop them!) and adding that during dough creation. The addition would have added more volume to the cookies but the chef does not like pecans so they got dropped. 

Dough sans nuts

We had to refrigerate the dough overnight after giving it a cylindrical shape. We made the dough round like a log and wrapped it as well as we could with plastic wrap. The idea was to cut cookie-sized chunks off the dough the next day. So the dough seemed like it would be thick enough to have a fudge brownie mix center. We didn't achieve the most round or shapely of results.

Logs, huh?

Even with all the hassle and changes, the recipe still turned out well if a little thin. The cookies were tasty but probably won't hold the brownie inside. Maybe they'd make a bullseye cookie/brownie combo?

Finished product

The second recipe (from this website) was much more satisfactory on the thickness if somewhat equivalent in flavor. The recipe called less refrigeration though they do say the dough could go for three or four days of refrigeration. The cookies came out well and could be a candidate for the final cookie dough.

Finished product

The third recipe (from this website) also resulted in thick chocolate chip cookies and could also be a contender. The at-least-a-day refrigeration requirement also resulted in nicely flavored cookies though scooping the dough into balls after refrigeration was tough. We tried just using our hands but that was very messy and maybe warmed up the dough too much? 

Hand-fashioned dough balls

Finished product

The fourth recipe (from this website) only required ten minutes of refrigeration, though the cookie dough was supposed to be separated into doughballs before going in the fridge. The recipe recommended using a 2-3 tablespoon scoop, which we did. The cookies came out gigantic. And flat. So the recipe tasted great but probably won't be good for stuffing.

We kept some notes (i.e., I wrote this blog post) and then moved on to testing the brownie recipes, which will show up soon in their own post.