Things Toby says while gaming

I bought a copy of Cyberpunk 2077 for myrialux. It’s been out long enough that the hilarious but game-destroying bugs have been patched (and the PS 5 version had fewer of those anyway). He’s been ignoring the main quest of the main character, V, in favor of side quests to level up, so that may be the reason that neither of us have figured out why so many gamers love it, because far it’s merely adequate. Ah well!

(After almost driving V’s car into the bay, because there’s no railing.) What the hell OSHA shit is this? It’s the future! Deregulation! It cost money!

Hahaha, I love this. hacks into cybered-up dude and reboots his eyes before bringing him down That’s some Ghost in the Shell shit.

[The game has the usual thing where you pick up random junk from everywhere because it’s either good for crafting or you can sell it. V managed to pick a piece of pizza up off the street and sell it to a dealer.]

[when hitting the “loot all” button on a downed enemy.] My God I took his shorts.

V has picked up so many guns she must look like this meme: https://reddit.com/r/memes/comments/xx08ts/i_know_why_russia_has_bad_guns_this_guy_took_all/

Tonight’s dinner!

We had the chocolate chili variation of the Espresso Black Bean Chili from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It was FABULOUS.

Naturally I made it non-vegetarian by adding a tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon chicken base, but that’s me. And I shortened the time by using canned beans instead of dried, and I used a potato masher 3 or 4 times just to crush a few beans and thicken it at the end.

This is pulled from our recipe app, Paprika, and I put it in our “Vegan” category even though it’s got sugar—a lot of sugar is refined in a process using bone, and I’m not sure if brown sugar or molasses uses it. Also this might be a recipe in which agave syrup might actually taste good (I can’t stand the stuff in tea, alas).

I’d advise wrapping the cinnamon stick in cheesecloth—ours shed a few bark bits into the chili. I would NOT recommend using powdered cinnamon because of the grittiness factor and because of the risk of accidentally using too much-the stick was juuust right.

Espresso Black Bean Chili

30 min-2 hours, Entrees, Mexican and Tex-Mex, Soups and Stews, Vegan

Total Time: 45 minutes (canned beans) to 2-3 hr (dried beans) Servings: 4 Source: Mark Bittman, how to cook everything vegetarian, page 608

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons neutral oil light grapeseed or corn

1 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 1/2 cups chopped ripe tomato (about 1½ pounds whole; canned is fine; don’t bother to drain)

1/4 to 1/2 cup freshly brewed espresso, 1 to 2 cups of brewed coffee, or 2 tablespoons espresso powder

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 Tb dark brown sugar or 3 tablespoons molasses

1/2 3-inch cinnamon stick

1/2 pound dried black beans washed, picked over, and soaked if you like OR 3 cans black, kidney or pinto beans, or a combo, don’t drain if you don’t care about it

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Water or vegetable or chicken stock to cover

Directions

Put the oil in a large pot with a tightfitting lid over medium high heat. When hot, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds to a minute or until fragrant. Add the chili powder and cook 30 seconds or so to bloom the spices and prevent them from being gritty.

Stir in the tomato, espresso, brown sugar, cinnamon, and beans and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat so the liquid bubbles steadily but not violently. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans are beginning to soften, 30 to 40 minutes. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper. (Probably not necessary if you added stock.)

Continue cooking until the beans are tender, anywhere from another 45 minutes to 1½ hours. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more sugar, salt, pepper. Fish out the cinnamon stick and throw it away. Serve or store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Notes from the source:

Serve this with rice, a stack of warm tortillas, or tortilla chips, some crumbled queso fresco or sour cream, and parsley or cilantro. Other beans you can use: earthy flavored beans that can stand up to the other flavors — pinto, kidney, or dried soy beans — work best.

Variations

Smoked tea chili:

the rich and smoky flavor of Lapsang souchong – the Chinese smoked black tea – is fantastic in this chili with other Chinese flavors: add 1/2 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger; omit the tomato; replace the espresso with 2 to 3 cups freshly brewed Lapsang souchong tea or any smoked black tea, and the chili powder with hot red pepper flakes to taste. Substitute 1/2 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns for the cinnamon and dried soy beans for the black beans. Add water to cover the beans if necessary and proceed with the recipe.

Chocolate chili:

closer to a deeply flavored Oaxacan Mole: replace the espresso with 1/4 cup chopped Mexican chocolate or 2 Tb (1/2 oz) chopped bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate. Decrease the sugar by half if you’re using the Mexican chocolate.