#cm1

To put it extremely simply, part of my brain is protruding out of my skull, and into my neck.

Hi! My name is chiariokart, and two weeks ago I was diagnosed with Chiari 1 Malformation. CM1 is a congenital neurological condition, where part of the cerebellum extends through the base of the skull, and into the spinal canal.

We just found out about it, but I've had it since birth.

This is CM1 — Test of the Warlords (1984). CM, I believe, stand for CoMpanion Rules and, unsurprisingly, it is for characters level 15 and above — the highest published difficulty for the basic D&D game at that time. The Basic box tackled dungeons, Expert tackled the wilderness, Companion seeks to tackle landholding and politics. This is an uneasy alliance.

Warlords basically gifts the PCs with their own fiefs, maps out a campaign frame accounting for about two years of game time (structurally, it reminds me a lot of RuneQuest’s Borderlands box set in scope), utilizes two new rule systems from the Companion box (Dominion for land management and War Machine for mass combat) and sets up years of plots and warfare that will occupy the the rest of the Basic line to some degree for the rest of its lifespan — the enmity between the countries of Thyatis and Alphatia. And beyond, since Mystara for AD&D second edition takes up several of the threads, or at least is set in their aftermath.

In the end, though, Warlords doesn’t seem to know what to do with itself and eventually settles down into some dungeon crawling conflict with some frost giants (excellent Easley interior illustration for that). Which is fine! It honestly makes sense — the Companion box set is hardly assured as to what it is supposed to do, so it would be weird if the modules supporting it were more decisive. It doesn’t really get clearer as we go, and that’s a shame, because Dominion is a cool concept. I suspect it doesn’t really square with the core D&D experience, though (but then, there is Birthright, so maybe I’m wrong!).

Unlike a lot of Pop’n Sweet Cafe stories, Carlo’s Level 1 story doesn’t give us a lot to go on.  He is in the process of creating a Fancy Appetizer when MC comes to see him, and the only thing we really get is him mentioning “borrowing” organic vegetables from Joshua’s kitchen.  The Pop’n Sweet picture we get is a kind of...vegetable blob??  Not really understanding what we are seeing here.

So in the spirit of WTF Carlo, I found Squash Blossoms with Pimento Ricotta.  If that isn’t fancy, I don’t even know what is.

INGREDIENTS

24 squash blossoms 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper 15 ounces fresh ricotta (1 1/2 cups) Kosher salt 2/3 cup well-chopped drained pimentos (from one 8-ounce jar) 3 ounces cream cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

In a food processor, puree the ricotta and cream cheese. Add the pimentos and crushed red pepper and pulse until the pimentos are minced. Season with salt.

Remove the pistils from the squash blossoms. Spoon the pimento ricotta into a sturdy resealable plastic bag and snip the corner. Pipe about 1 tablespoon of the ricotta into each blossom and transfer to a platter. Serve with toasted baguette slices.

So...if anyone thinks of any other “fancy” organic vegetable appetizers, please contribute!

"Ça c'était donc ce qui commence à se passer en milieu agricole, mais pour nous en ville..."

Et là une enfant jusqu'ici extrêmement calme toute l'animation bondit de sa chaise comme un diable à ressort, et s'exclame sans lever la main :