Pleasin' with Parppardelle's Pasta

All us foodies out there know the pure, singular joy of making as many ingredients from scratch in our recipes as our time and our wallets will allow. However, foodies get to also enjoy the magnificent ingredients of others on their own or part of our own meal creations; we really do, it's in the charter. I love this club.

I have recently moved to a new part of Orlando to me, but old to most residents, called Winter Park. The Winter Park community is just that, more of a community and less of a tourist spot or university town. Since moving I'm also trying to make more positive economical, social changes such as buying produce from local growers, using cloth shopping bags, and visiting private restaurants and markets when my dogs are barking too loud to be schlepped around my kitchen. While doing two of these activities at two completely different times, I was introduced to a gourmet pasta company called Pappardelles Pasta out of Colorado.

The first time I met Pappardelle Pasta was at our Lake Eola Sunday Farmer's Market in downtown Orlando. Under a welcoming, shady tent two gentlemen helped me to taste as many of their delicious, flavorful, raw pastas as my little heart desired. While I tried MANY, the Sweet Valdia Onion, Lemon Basil, and Fruit pastas all really tantalized my taste buds. Alas, at $4.00 a half-pound I could only bring home two telling myself I'd go back for the fruit pasta.

Not only are these pastas gourmet and flavorful, them come packed with awesome recipes. I made the recipe that came with the Sweet Valdia Onion pasta and served it with my mozzerella stuffed meatballs (no picture, I could just kick myself). The Lemon Basil went to Mr. T. (Pete's Dad) and we actually ended up eating my meatball dish and his shrimp dish using the Lemon Basil pasta in one Sunday night dinner! It was very, very bella!

My second encounter with Pappardelles Pasta arrived in the form of a gift. When I came home from the market that day, I gave Pete a menu from a new restaurant/market right around the corner of our place that sells this stuff in the store PLUS making their own new age, American bistro style food with a healthy touch. This magical place is The Virgin Market in Winter Park, FL. One day Pete wanted to get lunch with his business partner some place new, so they visited The Virgin Olive Market. Upon eating a wonderful lunch, my wonderful boyfriend brought me home a half-pound of Lime Cilantro Pasta and a half-found of that same Lemon Basil pasta.

Beer-battered Tilapia with Fresh Peppers Salad and Lime Cilantro Pappardelle Pasta

Instead of following a Pappardelle recipe, this time I opted for making pasta ala Rachel 'Tha Pizza Cutta' Style. I make a killer beer-battered tilapia so I whipped up some of those, but first I mixed a fresh salad of cilantro, a red bell pepper, a orange bell pepper, celery, red onion, fresh lime juice, and salt and put it in a covered bowl in the fridge while I prepared the fish and pasta. Once the pasta is cooked and dressed lightly with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper and the fish is on the place, break out the salad, put it on top of the pasta and THAT'S IT! Savor these light, exuberant flavors over and over again; I promise you will not only love it, you'll devour it.

Italian Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Lemon Basil Pappardelles Pasta with Lemon Butter

Even though I've had "0" success in the commercial recipe contest racket, I'm still trying. This dish was born out of practice for the National Chicken Cook off. I love this Italian Stuffed Chicken Breast and will blog about that on its own later, but look at how beautiful that Lemon Basil Pappardelle Pasta is! Making it even more special, Pete made the pasta and the lemon butter that dressed it. Of course, Pete and I LOVED it!

...And the Blog Magically Reappears!

To whom it may concern,

I am hopeful that there might be a reader or two out there for Laptops and Stovetops that isn't completely peeved at me for pulling a disappearing act from online the past couple of weeks. There aren't any great excuses for not keeping up with my fellow foodie friends, but this past month I moved in my boyfriend Pete-my number one food fan.


Moving isn't so bad but work has been overwhelmingly busy. Over the month of June, 1 large grant contract magically multiplied into 4 grant contracts with a fifth on the horizon plus a paper and presentation looming over my head for the August SALT (Society of Applied Learning and Technology) conference. Don't get me wrong-being busy is where I am best but it did distract me from posting my cooking adventures; it certainly didn't stop my cooking adventures. :)

Oddly enough, there is a theme in my amazing reappearing post: the magic of moving. Yes, moving took my attention and energy away from blogging but it also forced me to try and clean out my cupboard. The following three dishes were born out of the necessity of not wasting food while simultaneously having to cook great food turning my lonesome, leftover ingredients into tasty, beautiful dishes as if by magic!

Sausage, Peppers & Onions in a Cheesy Farafelle with Fresh Basil
Albertson's (a supermarket here in Florida) has a regular BoGo sale of Florio's Italian Sausage Family Pack at 2.5lbs. Being the good guido that he is, Pete loves Italian sausage almost as much as I do! However after making your favorite dishes with the first 2.5 lbs, you have to get creative with the other 2.5 lbs left in the freezer.


The first dish our sausage supplied the protein to is my Cheesy Farafelle pasta dish. First, I fried up the sausage until cooked in a medium pan. Next, I sauteed the onions and green peppers in olive oil and fresh garlic until a medium firmness all while the my leftover 1/2 lb. farafelle boiled away. Putting the cooked sausage and peppers and onions aside-still separate-I began to melt the leftover cheeses in my fridge. I had 3/4 full large container of ricotta cheese, 3/4 cup of shredded romano cheese and about a 1/3 of a cup of crumbled Feta cheese. In a small sauce pan over medium-low heat, I melted the cheeses together with about a 1/3 cup of milk. If I had cream, I would have preferred to use that. As I pulled the pasta out just shy of my desired doneness, I seasoned the cheese sauce with salt and pepper. In the end, everything was mixed together and topped with freshly chopped basil taking our old favorite of sausage of peppers to a whole new level of cheesiness!

Chicken Riggies Ray J's Way!
Love her or hate her, Rachael Ray brings a ton of great recipes to us common folk. This dish one is a variant of her Chicken Riggies and Escarole Soul. Instead of pairing this blush, spicy pasta dish with escarole I made it a stand-alone by making it with two complimentary proteins that also happened to be leftover from previous meals-chicken thighs and chorizo. If you read RR's recipe linked above, you'll see that chicken and a variety of peppers are two accessories with the pasta. In my dish, I used 4 kinds of peppers vs. RR's three. I used the 3 large roasted red peppers, 1/2 a yellow pepper, 1/2 green pepper and about 10 small, yellow chile peppers. All of these of course were chopped and I believe I also added half of a red onion for even more sweetness. This dish had a few steps more than a regular dinner prep, but the payoff in deliciousness is way worth the effort.

(PS - that Romano cheese is what ended up in the cheese sauce in the first dish of this magical post.)

Sweet Onions & Peppers with Spicy Mojo Chicken and Basmati Rice
Finding the right heat of a dish is a new obsession of mine that, as you have read, spawns experiments with established recipes as well as my own concoctions. The flavors of sweet and spicy or even tangy truly get my goat and inspired this dish which combines chicken tenderloins marinated in mojo dressing and topped with raw, chopped yellow chiles (wow, I wonder where they are leftover from?) with a quick vegetable sautee side dish of red, yellow peppers and red onions. Breaching the two flavors with a mild flavor is my favorite Basmati rice flavored lightly with salt, pepper, and cumin.


Not only did this last dish payoff in the flavor department, it's very low in fat and is a great choice for healthy, balanced dinner.

Petey's 25 Bday Dinner & Dessert Delights

Dating an Italian boy is my bread and butter except he can't digest the tomato sauces too well which, at first, I thought limited my breadth of cooking loveliness in the kitchen but boy was I wrong. Pete's citrus-induced ageda has inspired me to break out of my traditional Italian box and find some new-to-my-cooking-skills flavors.

Lemon Pork Chops with Sweet & Spicy Potatoes

The chops are a piccata-kinda. I dredged the pork chops in flour while I had extra virgin olive oil, 1 large scallion, and 2 chopped garlic cloves. This isn't the traditional preparation, but I really love garlic with the flavor of lemon together. Also, because of the dessert I ran out of butter to make the lemon sauce so I substituted it with shortening. Of course it wasn't the same but it was good! Funny how those little mistakes make a great new difference.

While the chops were really moist and yummy, the potatoes were my pride and joy. I really wanted to go for sweet and spicy, so while 3-4 tblsp. of vegetable oil heated up on high and my thinly sliced potato chips were in the oil cooking up, I cut up half of a large red onion in nice big crescents, chopped up 4 large dates, and 2 pieces of pre-cooked, extra crispy turkey bacon. These were my sweet and fatty flavors. I seasoned all of it up with lots and lots of red crushed pepper. Then some dry parsley and garlic salt and VIOLA! The most flavorful potato dish to date. He loved it, I loved it and we love each other and isn't that what potatoes are for? Love.

For dessert, Pete picked out a recipe he really liked in the Taste of Home's 5 Ingredient Recipe book called Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars.

The original recipe simply called for store-bought cookie dough, 1 80z. cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1egg and that's it! First, preheat to 350 and spray on some cooking spray on whatever 8" or 9" baking pan. Then, whip up the cream cheese, sugar and egg in a medium mixing bowl. The original recipe calls for most of the cookie dough to be pressed into the bottom of the pan. Then, pour the cream cheese mix on top. And lastly before putting it into the oven, crumble the last bits of cookie dough on top.

For me, I just love to make cookies so I didn't buy any dough-I made some! The twist this time was using about 1 cupish of the leftover coconut from the macaroons. Tasty and textural interesting. I call this one home run of a birthday meal for the man who can't eat tomatoes!

Is My Family Italian Wedding Soup a Winner?

Before I graduated from UCF this past May I pre-supposed that without a full-time school schedule I would have A LOT of constructive energy idling in my hands, and I wanted to put that time to use on things I love to do. One evening I was at home with friends with a chocolate chip cookie Food Network Challenge came on television. I adore making chocolate chip cookies and have been cultivating my recipe since I was 11 years old so when I saw what looked like mildly atrocious cookies from the contestants on TV, I jumped off my couch and immediately began baking. It was an instant epiphany of, "I can do that!" That's when it dawned on me to start entering cooking and recipe contests for fun. I've entered two so far and just submitted my family' Italian Wedding Soup recipe to Cooking Light Ultimate Reader Recipe Contest.

Wish me Luck!

Meatless Italian Wedding Soup

What a Macaroon!

Last weekend Pete and I did one of our favorite things and browsed the local bookstore. While he was on the search for Wizard magazine to price his childhood comic book collection, I was elbow deep in Food & Wine, Bon Appetite, and well you get the idea. Being ever the gentleman Pete told me to pick a nice food magazine out and he' d buy it for me. I ended up walking out of there with Taste of Home's 5 Ingredient Recipe book.

Many of the cooking dishes are straight forward preparations so it's no surprise I found the baking section a bit more interesting. The first recipe I prepared are the chewy coconut macaroons on the very last page. The 5 ingredients for this simple cookie are non-fat sweetened condense milk, almond extract, flour, salt, and coconut flakes. To make it my own and closer to my favorite cookie flavors, I crushed up about 1/2 cup pine nuts and added them to batter for texture and flavor enhancement. Plus, I had them leftover from the pignolis and didn't want to see them go to waste!

Chewy Coconut Macaroons. Pete took this photo and did such a great job! I've got to figure out how to get him to photograph all my food which shouldn't be too hard since he eats it all anyway. o_O

Pizza & Pies to Cross Your Eyes

I am on a constant search for easy meals with undeniably great flavor but really, what modern meal maker isn't? In my particular case, I work days and my boyfriend Pete works nights. Some times I make meals he heats up when he gets in after midnight, but sometimes I like to throw something together nice and hot for him on the spot (he deserves it)! While I am on the lookout for new 'quick-n-easys', having a few go-to dishes you know like the back of your hand such as cheesy chorizo and rice with cilantro or my famous original Philly cheeses teaks, or the meal one featured in this post:

Boboli Pizza Creations

Boboli Pizza Creations started with my dad's own Mexican pizza. It's so simple it's astonishingly and delicious! First, preheat to 350. Take a schmear (that's a technical term) of cream cheese and spread it around. Go light or generous, but not too generous. Too much cheese makes a moist crust and that is a total bummer. Next, take about 2-3 tblsp. Hormel Chili No Beans (or with beans if you don't mind) and spread it on top of the cream cheese.

Mexican Pizza

My twist on the fam favorite is halving fresh jalapeno slices and tossing those around on the chili no beans before spreading any cheddar-jack cheese you got. In this picture, I only had mozzarella which works just fine too. The second real key to great pizza is sprinkling the cheese all the way to the edge. When the cheese melts, it binds all the toppings to the crust just like in the sausage and double cheese below:

Sausage & Double Cheese Pizza w/side of sausage & onions

Bake these beautiful pies at 350 for 25-35 minutes until you've got a nice crispy brown. There we have it! Two small Boboli pizzas will most definitely feed two young professionals late night, but wait-see that lil' bugger back there? What is in that small, orange cup fabu thrift store find are the leftovers from the sausages I fried up with extra virgin olive oil and onions for the pizza topping. Pete is like me, half-Irish and half-Italian and I know that even his sausage double cheese pizza as well as some of my Mexican pizza aren't going to fill him up, so why not make a side out of a pizza topping? This idea can really work with any veggie or protein pizza topping of your choice, hot or cold, and makes sure to fill up even the hungriest of eater.

Switching gears from 'quick-n-easys' to involved and intimate, I bring you artichoke pie!!! I ate my first artichoke pie, I'm sorry to be correct, Uncle Louie's Artichoke Pie when Mr. T (Pete's Dad) prepared it for one of weekly meals recently. I was dumbstruck when I devoured two slices instantly. Fluffy and light yet so rich in flavor, it's complexity was as moving as symphony. Shortly following that life changing event, my very last graduate class decided to end the semester with a pie party. "Let them have pie!" my professor often shouted, and we did. My classmates brought in lots of amazing sweet pies. That night as I tried my first buttermilk pie as well as strawberry rhubarb so it's not like education wasn't achieved that evening. Whiel all the sweet pies were t-a-s-t-y tasty, I dared to be different and brought the only savory pie; my first attempt at the glorious artichoke pie.

Artichoke Pie

In the words of the Borat, "Great success!" All my classmates really enjoyed it and most had never had or heard of artichoke pie. The only folly of this dish was an Islam classmate of my mine took a few bites before realizing that prosciutto is Italian ham and she doesn't eat pork. Doh!

Life is Super Lame Without Friends

Taking my eating and cooking addiction online was one of my best decisions of the year as I have found more people like me with amazing ideas and uber warm personalities. Thanks to many a blogger, I found my way to the Leftover Queen and then to the Foodie BlogRoll (psst, look to your right) and then onto FoodBuzz.com. This network is so exciting and I can't wait to see where it will take my cooking and more exciting, what it's going to do to my palette. ! GRAZIE !

Becky Osborne, an incredible friend of mine in the physical world, visited me this past weekend to celebrate her birthday. We met over metal music, if you can believe it! Both of our boyfriends were the guitar players in an independent metal band and we definitely did a lot of what we call 'hardcore hoedown' (I hope you all laugh at this as hard as I do):

She hijacked my kitchen last weekend!

Becky has been telling me cooking Asia food has got her goat; for her bday gift I gave her a big ole Foods and Recipes of Thailand cookbook. One of our fav past times was finding the best pad thai in all of Orlando before she left me for West Palm Beach, so I thought the gift appropriate.

Well, who knew that on her birthday celebration she would end up making me a chicken mushroom coconut milk soup and a shrimp pad thai!!

Even though I was the maid of honor at her 2006 wedding, I still wish I would have married her. :)

Becky is an amazing visual artist unafraid of taking on any new medium. Her eye and ability to create baffles me waaayyy beyond the kitchen and the meals we've shared together. Her 2006 wedding was totally DIY from start to finish. I made the wedding invitations, she sewed her veil, we both cooked along with others to feed all guests, her handmade decorations put Martha Stewart to shame, AND she made her own wedding cake and the groom's cake in her mother-in-law's kitchen.

2006 Becky's Wedding Cakes by Becky

2006 Adam's Grooms Cake by Becky

Guests at her wedding were so impression, she started getting orders. What you see is what Becky can do in an apartment kitchen!

2007 Wedding & Groom's Cakes for Friends Chuck and Traci
2008 Wedding Cake w/Gumpaste Orchids for Corrina & Tyler

2008 Groom's Cake for Tyler

She is most def an Ace of Cakes, and when she tasted the cookies stashed from the trio platter I made we both bounced around the idea of opening our own bakery in Orlando, FL specializing in custom cakes and confections!! This is just the very inception of this idea because, well I just got a Master's in a technical field so I think I should use that for a minute. But the idea of running my own bakery with a friend I love and respect is so tempting. Who knows what will happen but I do wonder if a custom cake bakery will rocket in Orlando? Anybody out there with some input on this adventure would be greatly appreciated. I love making new friends!!

Appetizers for Mr. T

Hopefully you've seen part 1 of Mr. T's birthday gift package in the last post and you drooled sufficiently over the sweet delights of the trinity cookie platter because now I bring you the succulent, savory appetizers. Since Mr. T (Triolo, that is) is a master of the eggplant parmigina, capponata, rigatoni with sausage and peppers dishes he prepared for his friends and family to share, I opted to show my savory skills with my original portobello rockefellers, my mother's acorn squash dip, and allrecipes.com artichoke bruschetta.

Sadly, I have no pictures of the artichoke bruschetta because I had to make it on the spot. I followed Roxanne Blesh's Artichoke Bruschetta recipe published in the May 6th issue of the AllRecipes.com Newsletter: Fast and Fresh Farmer's Market, but I exchanged the mayo for plain yogurt to keep it a bit healthier and to let the artichoke and onion take center flavor stage. Other than that one adjustment, this recipe is easy, light and super quick for such a great taste.

Here's the apps I do have pictures of!

This is the third time I've made my Portobello Rockefellers. Here they are whole and just out of the oven. I also waited for them to cool and quartered the caps to create the bite-size, well bite. :) What a crowd pleaser this one was! Another bit of prep info; I made these the day before the party and reheated them in the oven at 350 for about 10-12 minutes or until the cheese melts again.

Acorn Squash Dip: This is probably best served in the Autumn but the taste is light and decadent and the presentation is not only beautiful, it's self-contained!!! This dish was also prepared prior to the party but needs to refrigerate for 24 hours anyway to firm the up the dip as well as absorb more of the acorn squash flavor from the shell.

Cookie Monster-no Master, wait...

What do you do post Masters media degree? BAKE of course!! My boyfriend's father throws himself a surprise birthday party every year and with the last name of Triolo you know he is very, very Italian; what can be said other than he cooks almost as divinely as my late great-grandmother Elviria Ferrante. My presents to a fellow foodie and Sicilian were cookies and appetizers. I thought about making some Italian dishes, but why compete with the best? I've always been a believer in doing what you know and playing to your strengths so all last week after work I was working away in my kitchen preparing buckeye balls, almond raspberry shortbread thumbprints, pignolis for a cookie platter as well as appetizers acorn squash dip, portobello rockefellers, and an artichoke bruschetta (apps to be posted later).

Cookie Platter

Pignolis: This is actually the first time I've ever made these and they came out absolutely perfect. I received rave reviews from family and friends. The secret to prefect pignolis, take the time to break up the almond paste into pebble pieces before starting. It's a labor of love but well, well worth it!

Almond Raspberry Shortbread Thumbprints: These are my second batch. I made a ton over Christmas for a work party and one co-worker ended the night eating 15 in all!

The last confection I created for Mr. Triolo are my mother's Buckeye Balls. These are basic peanut butter balls mixed with sugar and then dipped in baking chocolate. While I grew up with our version, most powdered sugar boxes have a similar recipe on the back of the box.

Look for an upcoming post of the appetizer delights tailor made for Mr. T and other cooking related posts such as, "Will a custom cake bakery do well in Orlando, FL?" Let me know what you think!

You May Call Me 'Master'

I did it. On the morning of May 3rd 2008, I walked the academic plank and graduated with my Master of Arts in Interactive Media and Visual Language from the University of Central Florida. The ceremony was heads and shoulders above the ceremony for my bachelor's in 2004 due mostly to the keynote speaker choice. This year the speaker was an accomplished female business owner and FL senator, while in 2004 I was tortured by the utterly annoying Miss America whom also happened to be a UCF student - whom had yet to graduate. But I digress, my dad and stepmom attended along with the lovely Triolo family. The ultimate highlight of the two hour ceremony was my moment on the MegaTron!! UCF recently finished remodeling the arena and my moment of triumph and glory was HUGE, so thanks UCF. That $80 robe rental was now and only now, worth it.

The week after the ceremony, I headed to Naples to celebrate with the Joyce family. Their big, their Irish and if you mess with one of us you mess with of us. Check out my pics from the whole shabang:

Building the Dynamic Dimensions Brand

Tile sublimation is complicated process involving heat presses, inks, polymers and other such things that are too technical for me to explain all in blog post. In short, tile sublimation is a process that prints whatever images you want onto tiles permanently. This fun new tile application is what Dynamic Dimensions of Winter Park, FL specialize in.
For example, this tile piece to the left of a montage of Tramine Dion's art. Check out his art show next week at Built 4 Speed Tattoos in Downtown Orlando.

If you recall a few posts back, I designed their business card and they liked it so much they came back to me for their brochure. Everything I ever learned about designing marketing materials is about creating a look that is consistent and instantly recognizable plus distinguishable. This is the essence to it means to build a brand (visually speaking). Since design is about behavior, I thought the best plan was to take the business card design and transpose it to a brochure design. What is below is the trifold brochure outside in its first inception. The inside is still under heavy construction so I'll post that later in the game. There will be many more drafts before its complete but I like where its going.

Can't Beat Sweet Treats

Who can possibly resist a really yummy dessert or snack? In fact, I defy any one who may actually read this blog to NOT want to snack on at least one of my sweet treats in today's post (email me about it, please). Making home made baked goods is a simple and always appreciated way of doing something nice for you or someone you love. My first at-bats to the stove top were applications of baking. That's way I=tt's funny to me watching these Top Chefs on TV quiver at the thought of having to bake a lovely dessert when I fret over what in the H to do with chicken on a regular basis. Baking is easier than most think and a tradition in my family. I've recently baked the classic chocolate chip cookie, super sweet lemon squares, peanut butter & honey granola bars and a no-bake chocolate cheesecake from Philadelphia cream cheese website.

First up is the classic-the chocolate chip cookie. I've been making this cookie in various ways for more than fifteen years of my life. This batch admittedly are not my best, but still good enough to dunk into a fresh glass of milk.

Pete and his zombie hand looovvvee chocolate chip cookies & milk almost as much as brains!

My second favorite flavor for desserts (chocolate is first of course) is lemon. Lemon can be sweet, tart, light or heavy. It's a very versatile ingredient that pairs really good alongside something like, I don't know....Chocolate! Below are my homemade lemon squares right out of the oven (still need refrigeration and cutting). A few years ago, I would buy the lemon bar mix at the store until it dawned on me that I probably have all the ingredients needed to make them in my house regularly.

Sweet treats are totally wicked for desserts but it's important to make healthy choices for day-to-day snacking. I absolutely love dried fruit sometimes alone or sometimes with some really good nuts and other trail mix accessories. One of my mom's oldest recipes and one of my fondest is peanut butter & honey granola bars. Not only is this snack sweet and healthy, it's easy as 1-2-3. Mix 4 cups granola cereal, any nuts you'd like to add and any dried fruits you'd like to add. Melt 1 1/2 cups peanut butter and 1/3 cup of honey in a saucepan until totally melted. Mix melted mixture in with the granola totally through. Spread on a baking sheet, bake for 20 mina at 325, cool, cut and serve.


Now, the granola bars are easy but this beaut right here is so easy you will kick yourself for not trying this no-bake cheesecake recipe from Philadelphia cream cheese.Above are all the ingredients you need and it totals less than $10 at the grocery store. See the chocolate squares on the corner? Those are Ghirardhelli semi-sweet baking squares, 2 actually. Break them up and melt them down in a small saucepan over low, low heat. Careful not to burn it! Once the chocolate is all melted, take the saucepan off the hot surface. In a mixing bowl, cream together 2 cream cheeses and one 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Next, mix the melted chocolate in totally. Up to this point, use a hand mixer. The last ingredient is a regular size of cool whip. Make sure its defrosted, spoon it into the chocolate, cc and sugar mixture gently until all ingredients make a velvety goodness of no-bake cheesecake. Spoon it into the pre-made crust of your choice and let refrigerate at least 3 hours until 24.

With food prices rising everyday, its smart to stock up with more raw foods and learn to cook and bake for yourself instead of paying out the nose for convenience. It doesn't take much to make your own sweet treat that can't be beat.

Lunar Quest gets Femm-i-nized

The NSF funded project of developing a hybrid MMOG serious game we've titled Lunar Quest, is coming to a close. We project to wrap development for Phase 1 of this game by the end of May before it's June 2008 online Beta release. Lunar Quest runs on the Multiverse engine and to play the game, you can download the client from www.multiverse.net and start playing (so long as you have a Windows OPS).

The game is to serve as a new tool for learning Physics informally, and was designed by gaming professionals, Physics professors, Psychology Research Scientists, and Flash developers. Lunar Quest takes place in a 3D Moon environment but the Physics lessons actually pop-up in 2D integrated Flash minigames. We not only are trying to innovate classic education but we are also pushing the limits of the technology we use to innovate MMOG game design and status quo. And in addtion to all that, we got ourselves one hell of a Lunar Colonization Authority Female Cadet Squad! Check em out--> (By 3D modeler/animator Brent Hermanski)

Portobellos, Sweet Potatoes, Salami and Spinach

Today I entered my first recipe contests and even if I don't win any cash prizes or get my food printed in a magazine, at least I get to eat really delicious food all this week! I entered three dishes to two different contests. I entered my Portobello Rockfeller and Spinach Salami Sammies to the Taste of Home's Party-Perfect Appetizers. Pictures of the finished dishes are below and I'll be sure to post the recipe once the contest is over.

Portobello Rockefeller

Spinach & Salami Sammies

The last dish I entered is dear to me and I've been indulging myself in it's yumminess since I was even shorter than I am now (and I'm 5'1"). My mother Loretta Festa would make this dish every Thanksgiving, but only at Thanksgiving making my older brothers and I salivate all year for it. She never formally named her dish so I call it Mama's Sweet & Nutty Sweet Potatoes and I entered it for the a grand prize of $3000 in the Get Fresh with North Carolina Sweet Potatoes Recipe
Contest.

Mama's Sweet & Nutty Sweet Potatoes

Wish me luck, but either way, boy did all of this taste realllll good.

RETRO hit 2008 GDC anndddd...a New Business Card!

Although a bit after the fact, my RETRO Lab cohorts and I took our serious game, NSF funded, research product MMOG with integrated Flash minigames designed around classic Newtonian physics, Lunar Quest to the 2008 Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco, CA last month. Our partners in technology and distribution Multiverse provided a demo kiosk for us on the Expo Floor in their booth. Thanks to their public relations generosity, we made great waves and came away with good meetings and some odd but super fun press.

First, Belgian filmmaker Steven Dhoedt emailed me after the conference stating that he would like to incorporate our project into his upcoming creative documentary about the virtual universe or, The Metaverse. So we thought it was cool and are in talks with him currently (we's gonna be in a movie!). We also were mentioned-name dropped if you will-during an interview with Developer Ryan Creighton on an online Toronto TV show called The Agenda with Steve Paikin. The only bummer there is he said the University of Florida was developing Lunar Quest when in fact we are the University of Central Florida, but what do the Canadians care? Lastly, our game designer Tim Holt Skyped the following link to us in the lab in Orlando from his home in Oregon from MMORPG.com giving us props for making physics information into a more "digestible" form for learning.

Currently, we are wrapping our Phase 1 of development as our research/usability testing portion of our grant contract will begin in the start of summer. To see/read/watch more about Lunar Quest, visit www.lunar-quest.org or read our development blog at lunarquest.blogspot.com

----> IN OTHER NEWS
A business card I designed for Dynamic Dimensions, a custom tile sublimation company, went off to the printers yesterday. I have slowly come to grips with simple graphic design over the years, but I feel really good about the style and organization of this piece.

Built 4 Speed Tattoo Website

It has been quite a while since I've posted any new work, but I swear I've been working! Since May freelance slowed a bit because I've been hired full-time at the RETRO Lab at The Institute for Simulation and Training. The only project outside of RETRO that I've completed is the Built 4 Speed Tattoo site. The graphics were done by Beth Burkhart, so my major contribution was implementing the dynamic functionality via JavaScript for the rollover menu, Lightbox gallery and the Switch Content Script which expands and contracts content. Of course none of that could have been acheived without the awesome online sources dynamicdrive.com and huddletogether.com.

This first pic shows the Switch Content feature for bios. By choosing a tattoo artists hyperlink name, their biography with their photo will expand or contract depending on the user's desire. You can also expand all and contract all with this great script.

This next pic shows the Lightbox Gallery feature. I have traversed the Internet searching for non-Flash galleries in both sites and development boards and lightbox is the best display and the most functional. Basically, if you've got to build a gallery, go with lightbox and definitely use the board provided for questions.

Writing Samples of the Past

In addition to visual prognosis' and treatments, I can also script out your media wants and needs in a variety of areas: music reviews and interviews, pop culture news and even educational literature. Below are some samples of each topically-applied written treatment.


POP CULTURE:
This article was written in April 2007 for MVWire.com:
In a follow-up to the book and film An Inconvenient Truth, former Vice President Al Gore is a major partner in an organization “designed to trigger a mass-scale movement to combat our climate crisis,” called SOS, or Save Our Selves.

Al and other SOS members are organizing the upcoming Live Earth Concert scheduled for 7.07.2007: 150 musicians, 24 hours of music, 7 concerts on all 7 continents broadcast on TV, radio, film and the Internet. Other major SOS partners putting on the Live Earth 2007 include Kevin Wall, an Emmy Award winning producer and CEO of Control Room, the production company for Live Earth and leading global provider of live digital entertainment along with The Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group and MSN.

Since Al Gore’s plans for the North American show to be in Washington, D.C. have failed due to political red tape, the US show has retreated north to Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Fortunately for Live Earth and SOS, Madonna has agreed to headline the Europe concert in London and the US lineup is potpourri of popular American music: Kanye West, AFI, Kelly Clarkson, Akon, KT Tunstall, Alicia Keys, Ludacris, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Dave Matthews Band, Rihanna, Fall Out Boy, Roger Waters, Smashing Pumpkins, John Mayer and The Police.

SOS organizers also announced that Live Earth will stage concerts at Sydney's Aussie Stadium; Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach; Johannesburg's Cradle of Human Kind; Tokyo's Tokyo Dome and Shanghai (location TBD).

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 16 and will be available at livenation.com/liveearth or by calling Ticketmaster at (212) 307-7171. All proceeds will go to The Alliance for Climate Protection and other international NGOs.

June 2004 Review printed in aXis Magazine.
2 Stroke America
Self-released DVD
2 Stroke America is a film documenting the inception of Central Florida’s foremost scooter club for avid scooter enthusiasts and I recommend anyone see this little flick to once again feel proud about the community you live in. From Orlando’s mods to metalheads to foreign journeymen to Frenchmen, apparently a lot of people enjoy a brisk ride in the open air on a Vespa (who knew?) Not only is there unity and diversity among these extremely low-riders, they party, get drunk and tattoo themselves all over just like the rest of us! Hark, ye Holy Alcohol!

Structurally, this shot was filmed in standard form of underground skate videos (sans the climatic crashes) full of interviews, music video-esque footage and stupid stunts. Overall, it’s a fun DVD to watch just about whenever: pre-parties, circle sessions and fashion shows. Plus, you can play a form of Where’s Waldo. I saw a guy from some of my classes at UCF, who knows whom you might see, as they say, “Cruisin’ on the open road enjoying the nature.” For info on how to get this local piece of treasure, visit www.midemag.com or www.2strokebuzz.com.

Florida Gets it Right for College Voting printed in aXis Magazine.
25 June 2004
Young Americans have recently been bombarded by media campaigns from MTV’s Rock the Vote to the government’s 18 Million Strong in 2004 to Fat Wreck Chords Punkvoter.com in order to increase the 18-24 year old age bracket turn out in this up and coming presidential election. Political analysts have been predicting that the young adult vote will make a difference this year - a difference in what exactly is being withheld due to the lavender homeland security alert-yet, local governments all over our vast nation are discouraging college students, presumably the future of America, not to vote by setting up unnecessary, and sometimes illegal, voter registration protocol.

In the year 2002, election officials handed out pamphlets about voter fraud and how it could adversely affect financial aide and taxes to students as they arrived to cast their vote at the University of New Hampshire. Intimidated, the majority of the students went home without their guaranteed voice in this great democracy. In Texas of that same year near Prairie View A&M University, a judge published a letter stating the penalty for illegal voting due to “feigned residency” could get you up to ten years in federal prison and $10,000 in fines.

William and Mary, America’s oldest and supposedly finest educational institution forced student voters to fill out two pages of paper work when they arrived to vote requiring detailed information from finances to car registration. This tactic also intimidated the Virginia students and many left without voting. Other colleges from New York to Arkansas have resisted setting up polling places on campus and even going so far as to illegally announce that students simply can not vote in their town of schooling because they aren’t permanent residents, (“Mock the Vote”, RS #947).

The illegal practices of some state’s election officials are coming under fire due to President Bush’s HAVA laws passed in 2002. The Help America Vote Act is a set of new election laws passed by the federal government requiring states to meet the federal government’s new election standards. These laws are a direct byproduct of Florida’s national embarrassment in back in good ‘ole 2000. In 1979 the U.S. Supreme Court established that college students may in fact vote in the town/county in which they go to school if they establish residency; however, the criteria of residency was left up to local and state governments. It is here that other states are illegally turning away their educated youth and Florida actually embraces them.

With the help of Florida Consumer Action Network volunteers who spend endless hours in the hot sun getting students to register to vote in between classes at the UCF main campus, I found out exactly how each and every Central Florida college student can participate in the democratic politics that run The City Beautiful.

• First, any student can register to vote in Orange or Seminole Co. as long as they cancel their registration in a previous county. Www.ocfelections.com is your one stop site for finding your polling place, printing out a registration form, requesting an absentee ballot or verifying your registration.

• Second, transient students can vote via absentee ballot but cannot vote in Orange or Seminole Co. local elections. The bitch about this is, sometimes absentee votes are discarded due to unknown tampering and the ballot must reach the election official in the county of registration by 7pm of the election day or it expires. For the low down on absentee voting, go to http://election.dos.state.fl.us/ and choose Voter Registration.

• Third, it is illegal to have a different address on your driver’s license than your mailing address and it is required by the HAVA laws to present a picture ID when voting; yet (and remember this when a cop tries to bust you for this when you pass a breathalyzer) in the state of Florida, college students do not have to change their permanent address on their license and can register to vote in the county they attend school.

Because the state of Florida and the university system facilitate and actually encourage the college students of Central Florida to vote, forget about Greek Week for one second and get your lazy asses out there! Take the giant step for mankind and press that button that simulates your vote via an electronic pulse and let your individual voice ring.

MUSIC:
The following reviews were printed in aXis Magazine from 2005.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah
Fat Wreck Chords

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes’ sixteenth release is more of a documentary than an album. The greatest cover band of all time was hired to play a bar mitzvah somewhere in California, and in either great reverence or ever greater irreverence, the Gimme Gimmes recorded their bar mitzvah set forever sealing the embarrassing moment when Jonny became a man. Known for refurbishing beloved pop songs with the pace of punk and guttural vocals, the Gimme Gimmes pulled no punches on Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah when playing the ancient “Hava Nagila,” to the tune of, “We Wish you a Merry Christmas,” as their set’s grand finale. This record has it all: band fights over missed cues, audience insults and harmonics so piercing, even Yenta had to get down.

Mastodon
Leviathan
Relapse Records

Dynamic. Calculating. Anthemic. Brilliant. Oh yeah, and fucking rocking. There isn’t much more you can say about Mastodon’s latest masterpiece, Leviathan. From the first note of the first riff, you are drawn in to their murky musical waters; a prominent and purposeful theme throughout song titles, lyrics and licks.

A Leviathan is a whale of biblical proportions and myths known for channeling the wrath of God by toppling ships while ruling the tumultuous seas. Mastodon’s tasteful name choice for their hard rock symphony is but a mere signal to their comprehensive talent that spans from musical compositions to the message it carries. Mastodon keeps the foundation of rock holy, i.e., rebellion in all forms while simultaneously taming their rock beast with their tight regiment of expansive ideas and expressive songs. In short, this is what modern, hard rock should sound like. It should sound like a whale that could swallow your house. It should sound like Leviathan.

This article was written in 2005 and published by aXis Mag:

MASTODON HOT TIX
House of Blues - Thursday, May 19^th

If you aren’t aware of Atlanta’s underground heaving behemoth that is the Mastodon heavy foursome, then you might as well take your own ‘hardcore music fan’ privileges away because Mastodon was not only one of Rolling Stone’s “10 Artists to Watch in 2004” and Kerrang! declared, “Best Band on the Planet,” they are a highly talented band with a sick concept album, even sicker live performances and a Viking-esque quest for musical domination. Given the opportunity to talk with Brann Dailor, Mastodon drummer, I did just that. Prepare to fall head over heels for Mastodon.

aXis: Since we got the press creds out of the way, let’s talk about your monstrous album, Leviathan. The Moby Dick inspiration has been widely published, but I am wondering how classic literature influences the musical composition of metal?

Dailor: Well, it all kinda moves like water. Water was in everybody’s minds when we were writing at the time, and we were like, ‘Let’s make a record about water.” Reading Moby Dick was a help because we had subject matter to draw from – Ahab’s psychotic behavior, Ishmael’s obsession, etc.

aXis: How does all of that directly translate into actual music?

Dailor: Well, when writing riffs or whatever thinking about crashing waves, churning waters, you get a feeling that you can translate into music. I think emotions are equally translated into music. One of the most important things is to be able to express some kind of feeling or a picture in your mind. To be able to listen to music and see or feel what the music is saying is what we want to do with our music.

aXis: The sound Mastodon has created seems to be the most powerful part of the music. It continually hits hard yet clear tones pontificate each instrument and you just thrash on the drums. How in the hell do you keep your kit together? Duct tape?

Dailor: Me? Oh, I am more of a finesse guy.

aXis: Oh, come on.

Dailor: I like to go crazy sometimes when I am alone, but my drums sound so good because of everyone else in my band. It’s everybody (Bill Kelliher guitar, Troy Sanders bass and Brent Hinds vocals and guitar); its like, I wouldn’t be inspired to play my drums the way I do without them.

aXis: You are such a nice guy! If only everyone went to metal shows to see how great all of the tattooed and pierced people are. On the same subject sort of, last time Mastodon was here you guys killed Hard Rock Live with Slayer and Killswitch Engage. We (my boyfriend and I) introduced ourselves to Brent right after your set. He was just drinking a beer and hanging out in the audience. He was so approachable. It is rare to see a band hang out like that at such a huge national show.

Dailor: We always try to do that. We never want to be inaccessible to the fans. We never want to be the dudes or the band that runs to their bus right after their set or just stays backstage and can’t come out to introduce them selves and mingle.

aXis: Mingle, huh.

Dailor: (laughing) You know, I like to mingle. And if it gets to a point at the end of the night and have to sign 100 or 200 autographs, then I’ll be signing autographs until the last one gets signed.

aXis: This time Mastodon will be at House of Blues.

Dailor: Is that in Disney?

aXis: Well, it’s in Downtown Disney – not the theme park.

Dailor: Sweet, I want to go the Haunted Mansion. Tell the people in Orlando that if they get there early, they can come to the Haunted Mansion with me.

aXis: You paying?

Dailor: I don’t need to pay; I have my All Access pass.

aXis: Do you seriously own an annual pass to Walt Disney World?

Dailor: No, I have my, ‘I am in Mastodon and we are playing House of Blues tonight,’ pass.

aXis: Lucky you. I know Mastodon is slotted to play the second stage of Ozzfest this coming summer so congratulations, but other than that, do you guys have any other future plays – recording, relaxing, jazzercising?

Dailor: After we finish up this tour, we are starting recording our new record. We’ve already begun writing and some concepts have come up.

aXis: Have you chosen one yet?

Dailor: We don’t know which one yet. Some are piquing our interest. I just went to Barnes and Nobles and found some really excellent books that might help us out.

aXis: As a book nerd, can you pretty please tell me some of the books you picked up?

Dailor: No, I don’t think I can. One of them might be the inspiration for the next record, so you are just going to have to wait and see.

EDUCATION MATERIALS:
Dr. J has spent some time in the university classroom teaching the un-rulies from 18-30 in the ins-and-outs of Digital Media and Writing for Media. However, samples from those courses will not be reproduced here, so contact me if you're interested in my instruction materials. Below are chapter supplements printed in the textbook, Integrating Technology in the Classroom by Randy Gunter and company. Although the book was scheduled to be out Fall 2006, publishing has been delayed into 2007.

Chapter 1 Supplement - ‘What is Digital Media in Education’?

Although most of today’s fast-paced society doesn’t have the first hand knowledge of computer science that actually makes media ‘digital’, they live, work and play in a digital society as their means of obtaining information, or medias, are all available in the faster, preferable digital format. Without a lengthy mathematical and socio-historical discussion of how this technology came to be, let us begin at a point of acknowledgement that we are in a world dominated by the power and flexibility of all things digital and at this point in history, it is safe to say, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

Using applications of digital media in the everyday classroom is not only a wise choice, but a necessity for reaching the youth of today as their rapid-fire attention span reflects the speed of their personal digital media interactions. Video games didn’t exist thirty years ago yet today are a multi-billion dollar a year industry with a market of thirty to five year olds whom entertain themselves playing video games either on a console such as Microsoft’s Xbox or on their home computer of choice. This is just one example of the enormous impact one digital media has had on our society. Those in the field of digital media call this phenomenon Edutainment. Video gamers must learn about a world entirely foreign to their own in order to conquer it in a timeline that could be as short as a few days depending on the dedication of the gamer. That mindset is the goal – excite them all about what they are about to learn so that they simply can’t get stop learning more.

Digital Media’s key to unlocking the minds of younger generations for fun learning is Interactivity. Interactivity allows a user or a gamer or a student to receive immediate feedback concerning their performance, i.e. without direct input from the user, the game, the website, or the simulations simply won’t ‘go’. This structure of information transfer does not construct an immediate hierarchy which puts the ‘learner’ or student at the bottom of the food chain where the mother bird must feed them bit by bit; they play an intrinsic role in the interactive transfer and thusly accept the information without interrogation. There is no need to question authority when hunting for your own food.

Edutaining the youth of today about the invaluable information of the past by using the technologies of tomorrow and beyond is the future of education. Without prior training in utilizing interactive digital medias to edutain a classroom, this may seem like an impossible task to teachers. However, another wonder of the digital technology responsible for digital media is its usability ease and fairly inexpensive price tag. Incorporating videos, animations, modeling and simulations, digital music, hypertext, and much, much more is truly just a click away.

Chapter 2 Supplement - ‘Digitally Enhance a Classroom with Digital Media Software Applications’

Software applications are not only today’s paints and pencils, they are also our graph paper, sheet music, canvas, notebook as well as any and all other types of creative interfaces we have known and utilized since clay was crushed to make pictures inside caves. Software applications for digital media bring our most creative ideas to life through a GUI, or a Graphical User Interface such as your PC or MAC and accompanying monitor. Although only computer scientists called software engineers posses the knowledge of computer code or computer languages to produce digital media software applications, they are designed from a user-friendly point of view so that these applications can accomplish many tasks in a variety of ways to be used by multitudes of people, including children.

One of most popular digital media production software application packages is the Adobe Creative Suite 2005 available online at http://www.adobe.com. The Adobe Creative Suite Package includes the widely used imaging editing and compositing PhotoShopCS, the vector-graphic and illustration creator IllustratorCS, the website development application GoLive, the page publisher InDesign, and the file compatible transformer Acrobat 7.0. Abode’s applications popularity are due in part to their high performance on both Windows and MAC platforms as well as their .PDF or Portable Document Format file option throughout all of their document or image producing applications. When a student has to create a poster to accompany a history report, they can create a visually dynamic presentation in Illustrator at school, save it as a .PDF file, email to themselves or parents, and view their school work at home without having to purchase the entire Adobe package through the freeware viewing application called Adobe Reader available online at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html .

Although Adobe Creative Suite has highly effective software applications, the price may be a bit high for individual student purchases starting at $999.00. However the true educational beauty of teaching digital media software applications in the classroom lies in the methodology of using many applications, not just one brand. By learning how to navigate inside a software application, students can apply that knowledge to any and all software applications they can acquire. For example, GIMP is a freeware application that is a direct competitor to Abode Photoshop offering high quality photo re-touching, image composition, and image authoring. In addition to all that capability and non-arguable price tag, GIMP also provides free, online tutorials for using GIMP at their site http://www.gimp.org where you can also download this imaging freeware.

While Adobe leads the way it paved for graphic and imaging software applications, another brand entitled Corel has expanded on what Adobe has accomplished and may be very useful in classrooms in the future. Corel’s applications such as Corel Painter IX and CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 offer more detailed options for creations such as simulated art materials and textures to digitally manufacture the appearance of a wet, oily canvas. Called, “The world’s most natural media,” Corel can produce graphic design, page layout, digital imaging, and motion graphics by utilizing a piece of hardware called a Wacom tablet which will be discussed at length in the next chapter. For summary purposes, a Wacom tablet works as a digital sketch book. A student uses the electronic pen and draws until the sensor-filled tablet. Whatever the student creates on their tablet shows up in real-time on their GUI through a Corel software application.

This phenomenal capability to digitally capture visual thoughts and ideas instantaneously opens up worlds of possibilities for the classroom. For example, currently at the Digital Media department at The University of Central Florida, the MAC lab or thirty computers are all accompanied by a Wacom tablet and pen. This way, when giving lectures on how to master an application such as Corel Painter IX, the students can scribble along and experience interactive education and experiential learning at its best! Corel offers an educational package of software applications with the above named products and more called Corel eDucation Solution Packs at http://www.corel.com along with free Lynda.com tutorial CD’s to be played for the instructors or the students depending on the needs of your particular classroom.

Other new and exciting software applications that allow for real-time interactive learning are Macromedia’s Captivate and Tech Smith’s Camtasia Studio. Although from separate companies, both of these software applications allow a user or instructor to record their onscreen activities in a compatible movie-type file, and then play it back as that day’s lesson in accessing email, searching the Internet, or creating any visual document. Marcormedia’s Captivate instantaneously creates a Flash .SWF file that can be a plug-in to a Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation in Windows or MAC, or run on its own through the free, downloadable Flash Player available at http://www.macromedia.com. Similarly Tech Smith’s Camtasia, captures a user’s interactions but is only compatible with Windows OPS technology. Available at http://www.techsmith.com, Camtasia Studio is purchasable solo or in a bundle with another product entitled SnagIt 7.2 which allows a user to capture and save not only screen shots of their GUI, but also all files located on a webpage such as audio and video files for the reasonable $319.00. SnagIt is an application that makes for easy creation of interactive lessons incorporating digital media using Windows-based programs so that in the future we can attract the auditory, the visual, and the experiential learners all with one comprehensive, digitally dynamic lesson plan.