JAMSquared

The title of this post could be interpreted two different ways. One: Wow, baby! Or two: World of Warcraft baby. The  following pictures make the second choice more correct. Will, our friend and former guildie, gave Jessica this adorable onesie for Christmas. In World of Warcraft, BOP stands for bind on pick-up. It refers to gear or items that drop and bind to you on pick-up, meaning you cannot sell it to another player in the game. I think it is rather fitting onesie, because Jessica is definitely bound to us as we are to her. Thanks Will for giving two gamers untold amount of laughter as we watched Jessica in her little onesie on Saturday.

As most of my faithful blog readers know, James and I play World of Warcraft, a massively multi-player online game. Our small guild consists mostly of friends here in Austin, but we have a small number of guildies who live elsewhere. Back at the beginning of May, Mona and Dean, who both live in the San Francisco area, and Eric, who lives in Atlanta, came to visit. We had a lot of fun visiting, doing touristy Austin stuff, and of course talking about WoW.

Friday night, we went to Salt Lick so our visitors could experience true Texas barbecue. Then we played pool and hung out at Aric’s house. I think we had enough non-WoW conversation that my friend Kristy, Aric’s wife and lone non-WoW player, wasn’t bored with us.

Saturday started off pretty early (well early for me who typically sleeps until 10 or noon Saturdays) with Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake followed by visiting the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It was too late for bluebonnets and a tad too early for the cacti blossoms, but it was beautiful and the weather was really nice.

For lunch, we went to the Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin movie theater original that serves food and beverages (what other theater can you buy and drink beer at?) and saw X-Men Origins: Wolvervine, an excellent movie. Then we visited the Texas Capitol. I totally think no visitor to Austin should skip this attraction. The Capitol is a beautiful building constructed of Texas granite and completed in 1888. I especially love the dome: outside with the lady liberty at the top, inside from the ground floor looking up or inside from the 2nd or 3rd floors looking down at the five different Texan crests in the marble floor.

Afterward, we went back to our house where I put Dean and Ranger to work (they offered) helping me prepare the food for the guild party, which was a lot of fun.

On Sunday, we went to Mount Bonnell, the highest point in Austin (which isn’t saying much). You do have some nice views of the Austin downtown skyline and Lake Austin, but the views weren’t quite as good as I remembered. Of course, since the last time I was there was almost 6 years ago when James proposed, tree growth and euphoric romantic feelings could bias my memories.

We then had lunch at Texadelphia, another Austin original that serves a Texas version of the Philly cheesesteak. We then checked out the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. It was the first time James and I had gone there even though it opened in 2001. I really enjoyed the museum, especially the special exhibit about immigration through the port of Galveston (ya’ll know my love of genealogy). It is definitely a museum that I would enjoy spending some more time visiting. Keep in mind photography is not allowed. It is also home to Austin’s only IMAX theater.

After dropping Eric off at the airport, we went to Chuy’s, another Austin original (we can’t take guests to any old restaurant) where we chowed down on excellent Tex-Mex and chatted with current and former guildies (it is sad to say, but people do come and go in the land of WoW).

James dropped Mona and Dean off at the airport Monday morning before work and our weekend came to a close. It was a great weekend and it is safe to say that Mona, Dean and Eric enjoyed their trip to Austin.

We had friends visit from out of town the first weekend in May. While they were here, we had the rest of our WoW guild (well, those that live in Austin) come over Saturday night for a get-together. One of the things I prepared for the party were these tasty cookies. I had made them once before for a holiday party and they were as good then as they are now. As you can see, they have two of James’ favorite dessert flavors: mint and chocolate, plus they were quite easy to make. So they will stay in the go-to pool of cookie recipes.

Mint-Topped Chocolate Cookies

Source: Taste of Home Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook 2007

Ingredients:

• 1 18.25-oz. package devil’s food cake mix
• 1/2 cup shortening
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 tablespoon water
  
• confectioner’s sugar
  
• 40 chocolate-covered thin mints (I used these found at my local Walgreens)
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, shortening, eggs and water. Shape into 1-in. balls; roll in confectioner’s sugar.

Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes or until slightly firm to the touch. Place a mint on each cookie; remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: 40 cookies

Oh my gosh. The following video is hilarious. I am sure it is not that funny if you don’t play WOW, but I was rolling on the floor from laughing so hard. Enjoy!

BTW, my guild regularly runs Karazhan and sometimes it is tough to get all 10 people, but lately we’re kicking butt and taking names, so we’ve been able to 9-man and even 8-man parts of it.