Dinner and a Roleplaying Game

We had another good, full weekend, which seems to be forming a pattern of busy but fun weekends I'm entirely okay with. We had a pretty quiet Friday evening mostly composed of shopping, I think. Honestly, I can't really remember. Saturday I finished Fable II in the morning, which was fun. I have to say the ending is pretty anti-climactic. Definitely not the best. I worked a little on a few projects in the middle of the day, then Devon and Rose called to see if we wanted to come over for dinner. We went over there about 6 and stayed until like 10:30 or so, eating steak, playing games, and generally having a great time. They're a really good family. Devon and I are absolutely brutal with each other verbally, but it's all in fun. Their son is a really cool kid, too. He's showing signs of true geekiness, and that's something I like to foster in young folks. Devon and Rose aren't geeky at all, so I think they like having me and Jenna around to show him that you can be a geeky grownup and still dress yourself and talk to people and all.

Sunday was really fun. We cleaned up the house in the morning, then everyone got to our place around 1:30 or so for the Rifts game. The group is really fun. Everyone's cool and nice and everything. No more super creepy freaks. The game is getting cooler, too. We're learning more about how we need to be working as a team, how to use our skills and abilities in innovative ways to fight the sorts of enemies we find, etc. We're also meshing together better as a team, learning to rely on one another and all that. We're playing in an environment of scarcity, which is different for me as a player. I'm not used to keeping track of my food and water, but it adds another interesting element to the game. It really drives home the desolation of the area our characters are exploring.

Dinner on Sunday was a great big success, it seems. I made a big-size chicken pot pie thingy we've tried before, but not with the same topper. Everyone really enjoyed the food, which always makes me happy. I simplified the recipe a bit, and tried some advice from Kristie, and it turned out better than it has in the past. Here's what I did:

Take half a stick of butter and a quarter of an onion, diced. Melt the butter in a 4-quart pot and put the onion in there. You're looking for a sweat, not a sautee, here. You want the onion to soften up a little and get translucent, not brown. It'll take a few minutes. Keep moving everything around so it doesn't burn or anything. When you've got the onion done, sprinkle in 5 tbsp of regular all purpose flour. Whisk this into the butter. This is called a roux, and it's going to thicken up really quickly, so you want to have some chicken broth to stir in there as well. About one and a half cans works. Something like three cups. Add it very slowly. As you add it, whisk it in until it's thoroughly combined with the roux. Keep adding it slowly and mixing it in until all the broth is in there. Now you'll want to let it simmer for a while. I had to let mine go for about 30 minutes ot get it to the consistency I liked. While this is happening, you can prep a few other things. Cook a couple of chicken breasts in your preferred method. Essentially they just need to be cooked through, so whatever you like is fine. I like cutting up my chicken before cooking and this meant that my chicken was done in almost no time. Once you have it cooked, you can add it to your gravy. Also add a bag of frozen mixed veggies. I thawed mine first, but you don't need to. It's a good idea to get the whole filling miz warmed up at least a little, though. Now, you need to preheat your oven to 375, open up a tube of crescent rolls, pull out a 3-quart Pyrex dish and get ready to finish this beast off. Pour the gravy/chicken/veggie mix into the pyrex. When you've got the crescent rolls unrolled, break them apart on the perforations and lay them on top of the filling. You want some gaps between, but not too much. Just enough to let some steam out. I ended up with two extra cresent roll pieces when I was done and you can toss these or throw them onto a baking sheet in the oven when you cook the whole thing. Pop the dish into the oven and let it be for about 12-15 minutes. Your indicator is the rolls on top. the filling is cooked already, so the oven just finishes the rolls, brings everything to the same temperature and helps tighten it all up a bit. When the rolls are golden brown on top, pull the dish out and let it sit for a few minutes. Serve and enjoy.