[NEWSLETTERS] 03.27.08 - Tryst News in a Letter v.13

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                                           RELIC                                                      Serendipity Studios
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Sanctum Sanctorum | Templum ex Obscurum | Intemptesta Nox | Ad Lucem                                                              http://mytryst.net
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Inside this Edition
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• The Rambles: Baron's on about textures and the DIY lifestyle

                          Sue's on about endorphines and the Sister Tryster Slumber Party

• The Latest Freebies: "What did you miss?"
• The Photography: The Arizona Ren Faire(again), a corner of Baron's garden, rustic cabin, some cooking.
• Our Recipes: Baron's Basmati Rice with Corn and Pesto, Sue's Tuscany Roasted Fig Sauce Over Chicken Breasts
• Tryst @ GroupRecipes.com - group submissions
• Personal links of interest: DIY schtuff, Freecycle, Crochet & Knitting History for MEN,
• Weekly Poetry: Baron is currently reading...Paper Model Instructions for recreating architecture

                            Sue is currently reading Walt Whitman.

• WTF?: 1) do you realize that chocolate is the food closest to a drug

                2) it's alll about the milk and the chill..because cookies can bring peace
                3) My water just broke
                4) Fork! Spork!

• Epitaph: "On A Rich Virgin"

       
   
 

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Baron's Ramble
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Hello hello hellooo.....please excuse my jerky start. I seem to have lost a part of my mind that controls organisation as well as focus....Textures....I'll get to textures later because it's rather heavy. I need to work up to that sort of writing. Even though me da told me..."work first, play later" I just cannot go into the subjects  I consider work first. So...my first stop this evening is DIY. Which is short for "Do It Yourself". I was into DIY as a lifestyle long before it became cool, ecologically sound and/or earth friendly. I recall it being a rather secret fetish...a fool's devotion. I had contacts with like-minded fools with whom I could always call on. "Look mate, after class meet me around the corner to hit a few junque shops." We could afford new clothing..but new clothing was devoid of personality. I still altar my clothing I wear in RL now. I can find new clothing that suits me but it doesn't have a soul. When you DIY you put your soul into it. I had a girlfriend once I recall giving my fucked up jacket to wear for a day. She lost it and I took it hard. It was irreplaceable. I dumped the girl and made another jacket. (god it was a cool jacket with anarchy symbol on the back and drawn black wings and patches and safety pins. ~sigh~)
   
My mates and I would look for certain things like military boots and clothing, bags of grommets and D rings to make bdsm straps. We would mark up our clothing with ink and entertain odd experiments. Our parents hated how we dressed...our schoolmates thought we were either cool or freaks. It was fun to stand on corners and smile like angels staring at everyone going by just to make them look away a little quickly...take on the most idiotic dares... Ah the virtuous life of a young hooligan. I always considered myself rather dark and alternative growing up, before the entire movement used the label "Goth". Punk was around...and strong..but our music was darker..ambient...ethereal. Actually...Goth came from Punk. At one time I considered myself "punk" though I was not a "skinhead"...and though to reject even that label because wha I was..was then was uncategorised. I began to call myself alternative for lack of a better word. Instead of a label of dress or lifestyle I became my name again. Oh jaysus christ would you look at that. It's Roan again. I don't know when it became "goth" actually. That still irritates me to this day...having a label. The point was simply to be oneself without conforming to the public tide of ideals and certainly to mark myself as visually different so that you knew on sight I didn't prescribe to the norm. Goth today is unlike the Goth of yesterday.. It wasn't a set list of items you could wear that made you goth. It was a mindset, almost a theology.  DIY is a lifestyle. It is a personal religion. It is a willingness to commit to your overriding preference that you can do something better than anything you can purchase.  DIY is embracing alternatives and expressing yourself.
DIY is yours alone...and thus...better.

I'm 35 years old. I'm one of those parents that hopes with all my might that my son will one day ask me if I'll allow him to dye his hair blue..or get a tattoo...or a piercing. I want to be able to be the cool parent that I had wished my parents were when I had wanted to do all of those things and instead had to fight for. Anything worth having btw is worth fighting for..so perhaps with my luck my son will bitch to wear cargos from The Gap. Please no....

...oh hell. I forgot where I was going with this thought. It was going to tie in I swear...lol I was just lamenting to Sue my inability at times to concentrate and stay on one subject. I showed her my unfinished thought and she reminded me it's alright...as this is conversing with you. And being that conversations tend to meander...this is perfectly alright. Good...welcome to the mind of someone with a very mild but persistent ADD disorder. Actually...I don't have enough traits to "consider professional diagnosis"...just enough to fucking irritate me.

So...I'll just take us back towards DIY lifestyle. In general I take a measure of pride in using something of my own making/modding. Perhaps it should be called Mod-It-Yourself. I build in SL -- excuse me, in the Second Life® virtual world -- but in RL I tend to be a "Modder". So some of the ways I bring this social and personal ethic into my life is:

1) Shopping at junque shops for various treasures that surface when they're ready to be found, to be modded appropriately.
2) Learning crafts that are rare or becoming rare. Much like the 70s move towards self sufficiency.
3) Closely related to #2...one of my hobbies is teaching myself to shoot cameras with film instead of going digital. It forces me to become adept at something that is fast disappearing. My son for example...had never handled or used a film camera until I began collecting. One reason I do this is to become familiar with the product of those cameras so when I reproduce with digital means there is a realism there borne of intimate knowledge...and thus a realism that often cannot be reproduced well by someone that has never experienced the process of film development.
4) My mind is a blank..it's late. How about something more like automatic writing on this subject?

crochet/knitting(recently popular even for us guys...remind me to prove it soon), cooking something that actually takes skill though it's easy picked up in the market and ready to pop into the microwave, learning how to look at your belongings and sort out need/want/recycle/give away..truthfully..and then realising the things you would normally donate can be recycled into the things you would covet. I challenge you to pick one thing you have never done..but always wanted to do or learn...and do it.

For me it was knit. It started when I saw that they taught knitting to inmates in prison to help alleviate stress...lol...and thought..hmmm..if it works for them. I was always ashamed that I wanted to learn.  Finally I research it a bit and found knitting historically was an equal opportunity activity. Men crocheted as well...their fisherman's nets. In world war two it was common for men to knit their socks and repair other items. The problem I had found was that on-line knitting patterns were rather girlie. I wanted something more along the lines of a sweater with a skull..or a knit belt with knit bullets or...mitts for winter in the shape of circus freak lobster claws. I've found a few things. I'm slowly learning how to crochet as well..god..I cannot believe I am admitting this...it's very hard. ~laugh~

Dammit it...my goal is to prove these things aren't JUST for girls. I'll be damned if I go out and someone looks at my crochet and studded wallet chain and DIY duct tape wallet and says I'm revealing a little too much how in tune with my feminine side I am. My mum would be proud of me. Who doesn't want their mum to be proud of them. Go forth young rebels and pick up your new art to conquer...and jump your hurdles. Think a bit outside the box and simply learn how to accomplish the goal.

I actually have a lot of fun trying to solve a problem. Take for instance...gardening. I live in a flat at the moment and I do not have a lot of gardening space. I'm not on the ground floor.  I have one balcony. In a previous life  I was a bottle of poison. With Sue's help I went about learning basics. Wha grows in my zone. Am I going to have enough light to support plants. Wha will plants need to live. I understand despite growing up on a farm I'm quite stupid where plants are concerning. I'd learnt quite quickly my biggest hurdle was the heat of a Vegas summer. High desert...highs sometimes above 49°C(120F) on a bad bad day. Normally lower...43°C/110F. Planters with deep reservoirs would do well but I would be damned if I was going to spend that much money for special reservoirs for each and every plant... because as you may have guessed...as a black thumb I over water AND underwater as my dual murder talent. Thus came the advice for a moisture metre as well. Thank you Sue.

DIY kicked into gear. I looked around my flat and had about 3 Victorian styled bowls on a pedestal. I placed them underneath the thirstier plants (tomatoes). They look rather smart now and very "goth" ~gag~. For cages...I went out and found some straight and long pliable branches I could tie together into pyramid shapes. Once the plants went in, I became very aware of dead space and balance of light and dark elements. Thus...in one of my donate piles from my spring cleaning in RL...I reused 2 Gothic arched windows sloppily repainted in crackle blues and reds. Very cottage as me mum would say. Being in a flat  I am limited in how I can decorate when it comes to pounding nails into the walls. So..I hung over the door hangers. The Gothic windows went onto the knobs and from that I also hung a planter with an heirloom tomato. My fucking god...I had a garden. This must read rather simple...obvious and linear..the steps I went through to get my garden. ...but I couldn't see the steps. I was too close..and it was too ingrained in my mind that nothing would survive my dodgy watering arm.

Jaysus...I've been talking all this time and I've only covered DIY...and not even the fullness of DIY. ~smooths my hand across my forehead and over my hair exhaling~ Alright...I'm going to need to wrap this up and hand it over to Sue very soon. I want to leave you with some resources. PLEASE check them out.

There are certain things I believe in...and passionately believe in as I grow older. One is...my youthful ideals of DIY have changed. I have seen the world getting smaller and our non-renewable resources wasted. I see a lot of stupid politicians blocking ways to live smarter lives and large companies that loathe the coming of greener ways...as many loathers as there are lovers of ecologically sound products/items/ services. So...all I ask of you..is to think first. Think of use.

If something you have cannot be used as it was intended..can it be used for something else.  if it cannot be used for something else, can it be sold/donated/bartered/given away. Can it be placed anywhere but in a landfill. I live a rather subtle DIY/recycle lifestyle. It's seamless...I'm not a hippy nature lover...but I am smart and smart is sexy...and I'm too smart to turn my back on the facts that humans are by and large wasteful creatures. Knowing this...I have the ability to make decisions. I hope if after my rambling you're not too weary eyed. Just pick one little thing you can do that is different from how you have always done something. Go mark up your trousers with an ink pen. lol you know you want to be 15 again. Go learn to shoot something with film...Go ask that grandmother or father or uncle if they have an old camera around...then mod the hell
out of your pictures and make some art. Go learn how to knit and make things that would scare the kids.

Just do anything but wha you're doing now.

 -Baron
   

      

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Sue's Ramble
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“ Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day.  You shall begin it well and serenely...”  -- Ralph Waldo Emerson. (1803-1882)

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Second Life Does a Body Good!
Sue's Ten Tips for a Natural High with Endorphines and Your Online Life
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Some Very Smart People[tm] decided that Second Life -- excuse me ... the Second Life® virtual world (must follow their brand name with a generic noun so I don't get busted by the Branding cops ~winks) -- was all about sex.

They were right.

Go ahead and deny it, but at the end of the day, what we gain most from a sensually rendered virtual world is the endorphines!  Whether or not you act on any variety of impulses and temptations that cross your digital path, with or without the dance poles we are constantly feeding the biggest sex organ on our person:  our brains.

The visual buffet of art and sound and the suspension of disbelief stimulates our pituitary gland and hypothalamus to kick out opiate-like analgesics:  happy drugs.  In fact, this natural pain-killer not only makes us feel better, it actually increases our immune function and makes our bodies more resistant to disease.

(Take that, you smarmy opinion-makers who say we need to get a -first- life ~winks~)

So, armed with this brand spanking new argument in support of your favourite virtual addiction, why don't I give you 10 more good reasons to continue to cultivate your Second Life? -- er ... your fashionable alternative pixel lifestyle in the Second Life® virtual world.  (Stupid lawyers ... they have absolutely no sense of humour and could use some of these digitally channeled endorphines, dammit!)

Which leads me to my first tip ...

1)  Elevate jackassery and honour it every day of your life.

Yup, that's right:  laughter really -is- the best medicine, and if the flying penises and tipped loos full of freebies don't tickle your funny bone, the good lord knows there are plenty of other things to make you giggle till you pee your pretty little pixel pants in the SL™ community.  (There, brand monkeys, are you happy?)  Speaking of monkeys,
go chase a chimp through the Imagine! Living Jungle out at Bushside, or maybe some of those crazy giant Greenies out at Rezzables.  Laughter is one of the easiest ways to coax out the endorphines, and this place is a veritable factory of yuk-yuks waiting to set you free.

2)  Pixel sunshine is good shit.

Seems like those tanning queens are onto something afterall.  In spite of the dangers of too much UV light, sunshine boosts our endorphines.  So kids, listen up, because I'm about to give you the Coles Notes version of faking your way through a tanning high while skipping the skin cancer:  it seems that even "thinking" about it being sunny outside gives us the same endorphine boost.  That's right: log on and sit your pixel arse down on your favourite digital beach or in a nicely rendered windlight sunny window, and you're golden, mate!

3)  And yes, Virginia, it really -is- all about sex.

Even your doctor will tell you that a good old fashioned orgasm is as powerful an endorphine-factory as a hot, sweaty workout in the gym.  Forget about vox.  Get your fingers on that keyboard and pen your partner a titillating text romp that will prolong your mental field-day and work you both up into a state of digital euphoria.  Skip running for an hour to get that runner's high and just say cyber, dammit!

4)  Bust out the chocolate!

That's right.  You heard me.  Snack a little while you play.  Set some of those tantalizing little neurotransmitters free to course through your body just by munching on some nice, dark chocolate as you wander through your favourite haunts.  As foods go it's the closest thing there is to a drug, and a mighty fine addiction to get well on.

5)  Go to your favourite rp (role play) SIM and scare the shit out of yourself.

Yup:  fear floods us with endorphines.   Hit the City of Lost Angels, or maybe Tombstone Arizona for a little good old fashioned Wild West rp.  Get involved in a little first life television sleuthing when the CBS TV show "CSI:NY" comes inworld again.  Go lean over the edge of a cliff out at The Abyss, or check out The Morgue in Slurry, or if you really want to scare the hell out of yourself hit your friendly local prim baby clinic complete with birthing room and stirrups ~winks~

6)  Toss that mouse out and hook your computer up to a CyRun® or other avatar-enabled virtual treadmill device.

Don't pretend to fly ... run, really run, through your favourite SIM, and get some cardio in!  That's right:  the workout just got a virtual twist with a good old fashioned physical endorphine-milling booster.  You could have been running in the virtual Iditarod out at Anchorage.  Go kick a soccer ball around in Parioli or chase some dumbass kid on a broom around the arena trying to catch that stupid Snitch on Harry Potter Island to get your ticker going, but do it with a virtual treadmill instead of a mouse.  Go ahead and Google it.  You know ya wannnnna ....

7)  Get emotionally involved with your Second Life

-- I mean, with your fascinating alternative life in the Second Life® virtual world!  Things that move us emotionally -- art, music, drama (and god knows we've got plenty of -that- in here) -- are all great endorphine boosters.  Go eat up some art out at The Cannery or The Second Louvre Museum in Tompson, catch the real Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra or take in a live music event when B and I throw the next crazy-ass bash, pick free flowers in the beautiful Serenite cutting garden or hang out in the Lost Gardens of Apollo, hug a baby drakelet at Grendel's Children in Avaria Tor, go riding out at the AKK Horse Ranch, or run around on a pirate ship saying arrrrrg! a whole lot and scaring the wenches (know where you can find one of those, don't you? ~winks~)  Of course here's always a SIM full of giant tipped toilets waiting to cheer you up.  Yup ... anything that propels us emotionally, especially in a positive way, releases endorphines.

8)  Geek right the hell out!

Yeah, baby!  Hit the Sci-Fi Geeks Museum & Theater out at Indigo, or the International Spaceflight Museum at Spaceport Alpha, grow a bigger brain at the Science Museum at Midnight City, romp gleefully through YadNi's junkyard in search of more crap to rip apart and learn from, or go mess around with some of the crazy-ass toys when you get off the subway at Shaka.  Geeks know all about endorphines.  Yes, we do, uh-huh ~hits my comm badge and summons B to Sick Bay to play doctor~ ...

9)  Be a digital playground tranny.

Mix it up.  There's more to your Second Life than just Second Life (fuck it .. the lawyers are just irritating me now).  Break bread with Tryst at GroupRecipes.com.  Flash yer pixel junk at Flickr.  Document your digital life in multiple spaces and have a little fun with it.  Cathartic romps through the ridiculous are an instant feel-good addiction, and a guaranteed muse for those saucy little endorphines.

10)  Keep it real, baby!

That's right: your second life is supposed to be a supplement -- not replacement -- for your first one.  Use this space to inspire you, but for God sakes get your arse out that door and enjoy a little more meatspace, will ya?  Go build a strawbale house, or hit the road and hang out in hostiles for a week (dammit ... Roan tells me it's "hostels" ... I always bloody do that ... ~laughs), or eat big-ass turkey drumsticks at a Ren Faire.  Whatever you do, get your butt out of that chair and out the door to live a little.  The real sunshine and a nice walk will spank that pituitary gland into action and make you feel downright perky.

(Okay ... so why is Sue so cranky with the lawyers?  Read on if you want to kill that nice little endorphine buzz you've got going now ...)

http://secondlife.com/corporate/brand/trademark/reference.php

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Sister Tryster Slumber Party
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Couldn't let the opportunity go by to thank my sister Trysters for helping me break in the new home that Baron has been building for us on Ad Lucem, and for thanking the boys for leaving us to it without panty raids or other tom foolery.  (Okay, so truth be told some of the girls were disappointed ... ~laughs~)
      
What do girls do at a slumber party in the Second Life® virtual world that they don't do in first life? Not too damned much ~grins~  It was the same kind of salacious gossip about sex, and boys, and chocolate, and more sex, gender benders, virtual affairs, more chocolate, and more sex, all while donning curlers in our hair (thank you, jeaniesing Trilling!), cucumbers on our eyes,  and glowing hula hoops on our hips (thank you, partner in crime, Arteer Oliva ~grins~), all while bashing the the crap out of each other with pillows and jumping on the bed.
      
Here's a baker's dozen of the blackmail pics from our little soirée ...
      
[pic: Slumber Party 01 - It started out innocently enough]
[pic: Slumber Party 02 - and then the pillows started flying]
[pic: Slumber Party 03 - and there were feet in then air]
[pic: Slumber Party 04 - and hula hoops & Sue bragging about Baron]
[pic: Slumber Party 05 - and chocolate chip cookies]
[pic: Slumber Party 06 - and very bendy girls shaking their junk]
[pic: Slumber Party 07 - what do girls talk about at a slumber party?]
[pic: Slumber Party 08 - and there were more bendy girls]
[pic: Slumber Party 09 - and the hippy, hippy shakes]
[pic: Slumber Party 10 - and flying pink elephants]
[pic: Slumber Party 11 - cucumber eyes, cold cream and babies, oh my!]
[pic: Slumber Party 12 - then someone passed out the munchie-inducers]
[pic: Slumber Party 13 - and finally we all said goodnight]

Even my closest friends will tell you what an incorrigible hermit I am in here, so it was really great to be able to crawl out of my shell a bit and enjoy the company of the estrogen army for a night.
      
Thank you, ladies, for one bodacious hoot and hollar of an evening!
      
-- Sue.
      
                  

    
    
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The Latest Freebies ..."What did you miss?"
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03.08.08 - [A GIFT FROM TRYST] White Band Campaign Wristbands ... click me
03.12.08 - TRYST 1st Annual "Group Colonic" Texture a Toilet exhibit kit
03.14.08 - RELIC - "The Amazing Flushless Toilet", Jules Verne Tribute
03.16.08 - Amor Vincit Omnia Jewellery Chest
03.17.08 - Shamrocks in a Wee Terra Cotta Pot
03.19.08 - RELIC - Baron's bdsm contest entry (La Cadre), my own poses
03.20.08 - RELIC  Justice Strauss's Home fm A series of unfortunate events
03.26.08 - Baron's RL Collection/Spartus Press Flash Camera, NM/C/NT
03.27.08 - Crate: Serendipity Studios FREE Retired Old Crap (Atrium in a Box
    (including water features and sound ... nice instant shop) [Copy/No Trans])

Miss one of our releases or gifts?  Open up the Tryst group info panel and click the "Notices" tab. You'll find our most recent notes and freebies still there for you to pillage and plunder.
      
   
                  

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The Photography
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“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.  The mission of photography is to explain man to man and each to himself. And that is the most complicated thing on earth.”  -- Edward Steichen. (1879)

 
[pic: p_00247]
[pic: p_00246](Baron's son as king)
[pic: p_00227][pic: p_00262][pic: p_00254]
[pic: p_00335] (B's homemade Chicken Posole as he looooves Mexican cuisine)
[pic: p_00302][pic: p_00301](B's art shots from a Goodwill "thrift"/junk/junque shop in Sun City, Arizona, USA)
[pic: p_00293] (everyone loves winey goat)

Baron and I often like to start our mornings out having a little breakfast together and plotting out the day.  Sometimes I like to tuck a note under his pillow because I'm in a timezone 3 hours ahead, and up a little earlier than he.  This is a quote that I shared with him because each time I read it I think immediately of him, and of the ways that he does in fact use his art in all of it's forms to tell a story that explains something of ourselves through his keen eyes.   His photography is such a great example of that, whether capturing "The Hotdog Fairy" or some etheral landscape of ghost towns and their soulful, storied scuttle.  -- Sue.

[pic: p_00277][pic: p_00276][pic: p_00275][pic: p_00274][pic: p_00273][pic: p_00269][pic: p_00266][pic: IMGP3851][pic: IMGP3830]

“Once you really commence to see things, then you really commence to feel things.”  -- Edward Steichen. (1879)

[pic: IMGP3927][pic: IMGP3915](my office and then a corner of my balcony container garden)
[pic: IMGP3882][pic: IMGP3862][pic: IMGP3859][pic: IMGP3858][pic: IMGP3857][pic: IMGP3856][pic: IMGP3855]

“I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself.”  -- Edward Steichen. (1879)

      
    

    
    
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Our Recipes
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Please forgive me...my metric is rusty. Everything here in the US is a little fucked up as you know...they should have gone metric. Anyways, all of my measuring utensils are american now and finding the metric is a fucking pain...but  I did this for you mum.
 
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Baron's Basmati Rice with Corn and Pesto
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• 2 teaspoons olive oil (about 10ml)
• 3 big handfuls of sliced mushrooms (i like mushrooms)
• 1 big handful of sliced green onions
• 2 cups uncooked basmati rice (about 370g)
• 3/4 cup water(185ml)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt(1 ml)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper(1ml)
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans of chicken broth (905ml)
• 1 (10 ounce)  package frozen whole-kernal corn, thawed and drained (285g)
• 3 Tablespoons pesto(45ml)

      

1. Heat up your oil over medium high and add  your mushrooms and onions. Saute for 3 minutes.
2. Add rice, saute 2 minutes
3. Add water, salt, pepper, and broth and bring to a boil.
4. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.
5. Stir in the corn, then cover and cook another 5 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the pesto.

      
8 servings
      
This week at the GroupRecipes.com site I also shared a handful of other personal recipes:

• Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Dates With Balsamic Reduction Sauce (this is my recreation of a plate of tapas I had in a spanish bar)
• Basil Lime Fizz (this is very much like a non-alcoholic mojito as basil has undertones of mint and pepper. The pepper reminds me of the bite of tequila)
• Roans Perfect Chocolate Chip Biscuits(these are my mum's btw and they are gooooood)

  ..and lastly..

• Orecchiette Pasta With Kale Pancetta And Oregano

      
My recipe URLS can be found in the main listing of recipes down below. -B
      
      
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Sue's Tuscany Roasted Fig Sauce Over Chicken Breasts
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[pic: Tuscany Roasted Fig Sauce Over Chicken Breasts]

This is one of my favourite ways to chase the winter cold out of my kitchen and warm it with the heady aroma of figs and exotic places.  If you're a member at GroupRecipes.com, you can grab it here to tuck it into your recipe book:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/46375/tuscany-roasted-fig-sauce-over-chicken-breasts.html

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 1/2 cups chopped figs
• 1/2 cup sweet vidalia onion finely chopped
• 1/4 apple finely chopped (Braeburns, Galas, Honeycrisps and Winesaps are lovely in this)
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 garlic bulb, crushed
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions:

1. Mix all of the ingredients (except for the chicken) into a food processor and puree. I like to do the figs first and slowly add the other ingredients in.
2. Add additional liquid (soy sauce and/or orange juice) if too thick, or additional figs if too thin, until the paste is the consistency you want. It should be a nice, chunky paste.
3. Spread over chicken breasts and roast.
4. Serve with a nice pan of baby potatoes and asparagus spears roasted in butter, minced garlic and a sprinkling of freshly grated asiago cheese.

[pic: Kiss it with a little Wolf Blass Yellow Label Chardonnay]

This week I also shared my "Winter Spinach Potato Casserole" ...
http://www.grouprecipes.com/45117/winter-spinach-potato-casserole.html

      
                   *:-.,_,.-:*'´ `*.¸.*´`'*:-.,_,.-:*    
  
    
    
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Tryst @ GroupRecipes.com - group submissions
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Last week Baron dug up a wonderful little gem of a web site!  We've wanted to make it easier for you to share some of your own favourite recipes with us, and here's how we're doing it:

Tryst at GroupRecipes.com:      http://www.grouprecipes.com/group/719 

Want to join us? Simply head to the web site above, sign up for a free account, then had to my link and send me a note from it so I know who you are there.  Just say "Sue, let me in!"

Your hosts:  Baron Grayson:        http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/baron_grayson
                   Sue Stonebender:     http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/suestonebender

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A Welcome to Our Newest Tryst Foodies!
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(Reverse alphabetical order, because dammit, it's always the other way around, no? -Sue)

Wilma Delgado:            http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/wilmadelgado
Teya Castaignede:        http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/lady_teya
Tanith Catteneo:           http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/tanithcatteneo
Tallulah Bourjade:         http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/onegypsy
Saiyge Lotus:               http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/saiyge
Pet Freenote:               http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/pet_freenote
Pascale Illyar:              http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/pascale
Miralee Munro:             http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/miraleemunro
Minuete Noel:               http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/minuetenoel
Kaja Lurra:                   http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/kajalurra
Ilianexsi Sojourner:       http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/ilianexsi
Haya Maktoum:           http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/hayamaktoum
Elinor Mariner:             http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/elinor
Bradford Blanco:          http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/bradfordblanco
Anoron Hanson:           http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/anoron
Alicia Cyr:                   http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/alice_in_texas

Take a peek at their recipe pages above to smell what our friends have been cookin'!  Here's a quick sample:

• Rustic Harvest Apple Pie
• Flakey Pie Crust Pastry
• The World's Best Tomato Basil Soup
• Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Dates with Balsamic Reduction Sauce
• Sweet Potatos Ala Heather Marie
• Torta Della Nonna
• Congee with Mustard Greens
• Thomas Keller Mon Poulet Roti
• Seafood Enchilladas
• Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce
• Pyrohay
• Heart Shaped Cinnabon Rolls
• Winter Spinach Potato Casserole
• Roan's Perfect Chocolate Chip Biscuits
• Basil Lime Fizz
• Cranberry Blue Crostini
• Vineyard Leg of Lamb
• Southern Lane Cake
• Christmas Ribbons and Roses
• Wild Rice Salad
• Ravioli With Gorgonzola Artichoke Hearts And Peas Sauce Recipe
• Orecchiette Pasta With Kale Pancetta And Oregano Recipe
• Saiyge's Hazelnut Scones
• Spaghetti Squash With Honey And Ginger Recipe
• Eggs With Prosciutto Or Salmon Recipe
• Parmesean Peas
• Woodford Bourbon Steak Au Poivre Recipe
• Mustard Cream Sauce
• Gingersnap Cookies
• Easy Beer Bread
• Mom's Italian Bread
• Amandari Smoked Salmon Pasta Recipe
• Tuscany Roasted Fig Sauce Over Chicken Breasts

(Thank you everyone for helping me to gain a few pounds last week. ~exhales~ It's incredible the variety of cooking styles within the group. Absolutely incredible and international. You feed my armchair travel needs. -Baron)

    
                     

    
    
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Personal Links of Interest
__________________________________________________________________________________

The Partial History of Men Knitting
http://menknit.net/history.html

Crochet for Men
http://crochetformen.blogspot.com/

LifeHacker (geeky DIY)
http://lifehacker.com/

Freecycle
http://www.freecycle.org/

In their own words "Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste,
saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to
benefit from the strength of a larger community."

Adobe Photoshop Online
http://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html
This is not the full photoshop suite online but very cool regardless. -Baron

Dave's Garden
http://davesgarden.com/
This is an incredibly rich resource for gardeners. I spend more time here than I care to admit. -Baron      

      
                     

    

__________________________________________________________________________________
Poetry we lurve
__________________________________________________________________________________

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What Baron is reading right now:
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Not traditional poetry. To me architecture is poetry. I've been reading instuctions for architectural paper models in Italian. I picked up a new hobby at the Arizona Ren Faire. Being a builder and loving classical architecture I fell in love with "papercraft". There is a company out of Italy that makes the most amazing paper models. I just bought two. Oh my god I get warm just looking at the models.

The first is the Basilica di San Marco in Venezia Italia. Beautiful work and I cannot wait to build this and display it in my office. I drool over this new hobby daily..and it's dangerous. I need more space to display my models now. Want to see a picture of this beauty?    http://www.daedalusbooks.com/Products/Detail.asp?ProductID=52791&Media=book&SubCategoryID=2107&ReturnUrl=%2FProducts%2FDetail%2Easp%3FMedia%3Dbook%26ProductID%3D52804%26SubCategoryID%3D2107

...and here is my Notre Dame Architectural Kit
http://www.daedalusbooks.com/Products/Detail.asp?Media=book&ProductID=52804&SubCategoryID=2107

Official website of the maker of these architectural kits:
http://www.domuskits.com/

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What Sue is reading right now:
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Chocolate, sex, art, endorphines ... I love the sensually rendered world.  What better way to explore it and wrap it around every nerve and fiber and firey tongue than through a little Whitman?  He was incredibly self-aware and a decadent explorer of our relationship with the world and each other.  Here's one of my favourite manifestos for thinking for yourself rather than plodding along in that well-worn path of what every other damned person thinks you are or should be:

      “This is what you shall do:
       love the earth and sun, and animals,
       despise riches,
       give alms to every one that asks,
       stand up for the stupid and crazy,
       devote your income and labor to others,
       hate tyrants,
       argue not concerning God,
       have patience and indulgence towards the people,
       take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men;
       go freely with the powerful uneducated persons,
       and with the young, and mothers, of families;
       read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life;
       re-examine all you have been told at school or church, or in any books,
       and dismiss whatever insults your soul.”
      
       -- Walt Whitman. (1819-1892)

      
                    

    
    
__________________________________________________________________________________
WTF?
__________________________________________________________________________________

WTF #1)
     
Sue: do you realize that chocolate is the food closest to a drug, because it actually causes your brain to release more endorphines than anything else?
Sue: and that sex ... orgasms specifically ... is recommended as much as a good work out and wandering an art gallery? lol

Roan: are you saying that eating chocolate whilst playing SL...like paylov's dog...with time will train your brain to do similar when you play SL without chocolate?

Sue: you're a freak
     
WTF #2)
     
Sue: I'm a Very Bad Girl [tm] now and no longer give a shit except when I choose to ... lol

Roan: but baby don't you know that YOU are the key to saving the world..one person at a time and that if you don't you're going to lose the battle and likely send the earth into a spiriling descent into hell
     
Sue: ~smacks the living shit out of you, laughing my head off~
     
Roan: laughing hard lol
     
Sue: Very nice of you to recognize the obvious, darling husband  ~smacks you again~
     
Roan: wha....I'm...yes...you're welcome. just playing at being that little angel on your shoulder
     
Sue: from your mouth to god's ears ... god help us all ... lol
     
Roan: lol
Roan: it's alll about the milk and the chill..because cookies can bring peace

WTF #3)

Sue: do pg up when you're on the bed ... ~laughs~
Sue: I need to adjust the bounce for you big boys
Sue: damn ... ~laughs~
Sue: my water just broke

WTF #4)
     
Baron: Fork!
Baron: Spork!
Baron: I like Fork..because it elevates a daily utensil to something more.
Baron: Spork is already special.

      
                  

     
    

__________________________________________________________________________________
Where are Baron and Sue outside of SL?
You're  welcome to visit our other homes on the web.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Our Website: http://mytryst.net/
     
Flickr:

• Baron's Flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barongrayson/
• Sue's Flickr Stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stonebender/

 
GroupRecipes:

• Baron Grayson:  http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/baron_grayson
• Sue Stonebender:  http://www.grouprecipes.com/people/suestonebender

 
Vox:
Baron's non-commercial blog: http://coldlogistics.vox.com/
Sue's non-commercial blog: http://suestonebender.vox.com/
  
Customer service issues will not be handled at our VOX blogs, which are home to us. Please contact us through our second life profiles. Thank you. : )

--------------------------------------------
Flicker
--------------------------------------------

This is where we are the most active, with our art and ramblings:
Baron's Flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barongrayson/
Sue's Flickr Stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stonebender/

Our Flickr SL/RL Photography Group: 
The Templum ex Obscurum League EP,  http://www.flickr.com/groups/the_leagueep/
...EP stands for extraordinary photographers
    
This group is not as active as our personal streams, but we are planning on streamlining our groups and making this the one we will use most. The basic concept is a community of photographers that value all art photography that breathes out a little of the magic felt within Second Life (SL) and Real Life (RL)...when reality is suspended in that one moment and evolves to something more than a pretty picture. When open we plan on hosting weekly photo challenges for RL and SL. The group gallery is open to any member of the public.  Comments are open to all. : )
     
The League is a society of RL and SL photography lovers of alternative, vintage/collectible camera, "junk" camera, early photography enthusiasts exploring SL/RL la vie boheme. Content may cover virtual/real architecture, the beauty of virtual/real objects, macro/micro photography, replicate/real tilt shift lens photography, lomography, "trash" cam styles, portraiture...and more.
     
There are very few rules:

1. Upload something you are proud of.
2. Keep daily contributions to 5 or less per day.
3. Post processing is allowed...artsy, tasteful erotica/soft porn is allowed...dark themes are welcome...disturbing...Mmm bring it on...humour..always.

--------------------------------------------
TRYST retail website    
--------------------------------------------

You'll find all of the information we post to newsletters, press releases, and forums at our official website.  http://mytryst.net/

--------------------------------------------
VOX Blogs
--------------------------------------------

Baron's non-commercial blog: http://coldlogistics.vox.com/
Sue's non-commercial blog: http://suestonebender.vox.com/
  
These were active last year but I am finding I like Flickr better. However...I am contemplating redoing my blog. You may like our older posts as we talked about food, hobbies and day in the life issues.
     
I gutted my vox blog because I am the sort that must has a clean slate in order to begin anew. I get caught in the details of the old if I don't wipe things completely clean when I change directions. So...at my blog you'll see recent things...nothing old. I double post all of my photos to my Flickr stream as well...but if I chat I take my chat to my blog. If all you want are pics..I will blog the first to Vox but post the rest to Flickr. So....Photos at Flickr. Chat at my Blog.
     
Customer service issues will not be handled at our VOX blogs, which are home to us. Please contact us through our second life profiles for work related inquires/issues.

Thank you. : )
     
     
__________________________________________________________________________________
Epitaph - From Baron's collection of curious epitaphs through history
__________________________________________________________________________________

As I have always had a fascination with obituaries, I began also to collect interesting historical epitaphs. This is one from a collection.
      
"On A Rich Virgin"
      
The Following singular epitaph is really to be found in the Parish Church of Braunton, in Devonshire. Her grateful heirs could not too warmly commend the virtue(celibacy) to which they were indebted for the inheritance, and thus they celebrate it.

      

     
     
     
Someone once asked me wha I wanted on my own epitaph. My answer was "Only minutes away."

I bid you peace and short lived moments of celibacy in your old age. -Baron