Fruity Oaty Bars

After a long, and yet not very diligent search, I cobbled together my own personal recipe for fruity oaty bars. Why you ask? Simply put, I'm in touch with my inner Sci-Fi geek and I thought it would be cool. Or, if that's not good enough, I wanted to make my own energy bars for camping.



The search began with my ingredient list. Fruit and oats, how hard could this be? Well what fruit? I like cranberries, and apples, pineapples, cherries, raisins, bananas aren't an option due to certain health issues in the Sigboy household. I even considered prunes and dates, but I want everybody to eat them. I ruled out dried pineapple because I didn't know how it would take the oven, it would also probably be too acidic. Apples were a serious contender, but they also lost out because of the baking issue.



Without further ado, the recipe:
2 1/2 cups oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup finely chopped homemade honey roasted almonds
3 eggs
1/2 cup cranberries
1/2 cup cherries
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 teaspoon Cherry extract
1 smidge of cinnamon

Combine sugar, vanilla, cherry extract and eggs in appropriate sized bowl, mix. Add oats, mix again. Add Almonds, mix some more. By now it should be fairly sticky and all items should be evenly coated. A mixer may work for this, but I didn't want to clean the wife's mixer, I just used a bowl. Add the chocolate chips and fruit, last time to mix, I promise. I added the fruit last because I didn't want it to get to beat up with all the mixing.

Grease a 9x13 pan, I mean hose it down (my wife doesn't clean up after my little baking 'experiments'). Spoon your mixture of fruity oaty goodness into the pan. Slide it into your oven at 350* (you did preheat it, didn't you? On a side note, turn the oven on before you mix anything. Than it will be ready). Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. 25 was just a bit to long in my oven, just check them at 20 and go from there.

Remove from oven and let cool (I mean it, let them cool), cut into bars and wrap, freeze for a longer shelf life. Finally, clean up your mess before your better half gets home. Just trust me on the last part.

Alright, it's taste test time, the flavor is good but the consistency isn't quite right. They are a little crumbly, they just don't quite stick together like they should. I'm thinking about maybe adding molasses or maybe another 1/2 cup of brown sugar. But I'm really at a loss now, and I'm hoping that my two female readers will come in and save me. So how do I make my bars stick together without ruining the taste? HELP!!!!!

Do I Smell a Comeback?

I was squeeeing like a teenage girl last night during the opener of Castle.

Don't Shoot the Hostage!

Tbolt had a post about hostage targets.He also wondered why anybody in their right mind would want to take this shot. In a previous life, I thought about this shot alot, and I always mentally prepared myself for taking it.

Back when the shooting range was my back yard, I used to practice this shot. I would walk purposefully around the corner of my barn, draw my pistol and shoot the bad guy (in the head) at about ten yards. Average time was about 1.5 seconds.

Do not misunderstand me, I NEVER want to take this shot for real, but I WILL. I have trained for it, I know that I can do it. I will take this shot to protect someone that I care for, friends and family alike. If I consider it to be my responsibility to protect you, I will take this shot for you.

Sci-Fi Hyperbole: SG-1 Style

My newest cousin (will that ever get old?) and I have been discussing the relationship between Jack O'Neil and Samantha Carter(characters on the now discontinued series, Stargate SG-1). For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Jack and Sam always had a healthy attraction for one other, however he was her boss, and they never could get together. My opinion is that they settled into a comfortable, perhaps monogamous, relationship that allowed them to work around the difficulties of the chain of command. Her opinion is that they never consummated their relationship, and as such, their love was buried. So we were left with their relationship 'unsettled'.

My theory is based upon the Season 8 episode 'threads'. At the end of the episode Sam loses her father to cancer. Her and Jack are sitting in the observation room when he passes. It is a sad moment, but the acceptance is there, and life will continue. This is not important, what is important is what happens next. She places her head upon his shoulder. It was a small gesture, completely un military like, but it was loving. You could see all the pent up emotion of every season get released. Of course, you have the other problems, Jacks CIA girlfriend(who I thought was HOT!), Sam's cop fiance. But none of that mattered, they loved each other, and accepted that fact.

Research showed me that there was alot more to it that never made the show:
Taken from Wikipedia:
Over the course of the two series, a number of men are in love with, infatuated with, or attracted to, Carter. This includes Jack O'Neill, the Tok'ra Martouf, Dr. Rodney McKay, Fifth, Orlin, Agent Malcolm Barrett, Narim, Pete Shanahan, Dr. Jay Felger, her former fiancé Jonas Hanson, and her husband of a possible future Joseph Faxon. (Surprisingly, never Daniel Jackson, despite their obvious compatibility.) Many of these individuals have since died, including: Martouf (and symbiote Lantash); Fifth; Narim; Hanson; Faxon; and two alternate versions of Jack O'Neill. This has led many of the cast and crew of Stargate SG-1 to humorously nickname her character Samantha "the Black Widow" Carter.[16]

Asked why the series never confirmed a relationship between Carter and O'Neill, producer Joseph Mallozzi stated in his blog,[17]

"The Sam/Jack relationship was fraught with complications given that he was her commanding officer. Pursuing any sort of relationship would have been inappropriate for both and would only have really been possible late in the series after Jack’s retirement. [...] Jack and Sam could have gotten together after Jack’s retirement, but it was never made canon because, quite frankly, it wasn’t my call. Still, despite the lack of official confirmation, it was only natural that they should get together after the events of Threads and, in my mind, they have been together ever since. An attempt to suggest as much in season 4's Trio unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor when the episode ran long."

When Carter joins Stargate Atlantis as commanding officer, a framed photo of O'Neill is seen on top of a box of belongings she brings with her to the base.

As stated above, a scene was cut from the Stargate Atlantis Season 4 episode 'Trio' in which Carter and Dr Keller discuss their love lives. Carter says "It's complicated", then "He's in Washington, I'm here" and "He's gonna retire soon, so who knows?". From this it can be reasonably extrapolated that she is talking about O'Neill.

So, after all this, I think they ended up happily ever after, just in two galaxies.

Thats enough SCi-Fi for now. No more hyperbole for a while.

Trampling the Alter of Roddenberry

Alot of scifi geekery surrounds the line from Stargate that talks about 'worshiping at the alter of Roddenberry.' Am I the only person that finds that statement scary? Clearly, Roddenberry would be happy with it, but his imaginary world has more holes than a collander.

The idealistic utopia that Roddenberry has created is far from reality. Granted, we call it fiction for a reason. Personally, I don't believe that it is even a plausible reality. Let us begin with the fact that a true Utopian society would not be able to produce a fleet as large and powerful as the ships portrayed in the Star Trek universe. Good cannot exist without evil and an evil force that is not a direct threat is not always strong enough to hold a society together.

What about the people? How does a peaceful Utopian society produce men like James T. Kirk and William Riker? They would be shunned by society for their dominant 'Type A' personalities. Their questionable sexual dalliances could be excused but their liberal use of violence could not. His basic premise is that the human race is driven by the desire of knowledge and the exploration of the known universe. I do not think that this idealistic society could produce such strong characters. I do not believe that the needed stimuli would be available to mold such strong leaders.

This is not to say that all sci fi shows are stuck with a Utopian model. Firefly only ran half a season and their characters were incredibly fleshed out and believable. All of the characters from 'that whore' to 'the captain' seemed real. That world was one of oppression and strife, a world where nothing was given to you. Even Jayne had his bad side, but you understood him, you accepted the fact that he may stab you in the back, but he would never let you down in a firefight.. the fact that Captain Reynolds was going to look after his crew, no matter what and you understood why. Zoe developed her loyalty towards Malcom after years of war and hardship.

Which world produces the most believable characters? Which society is willing to cause violence to survive? Which universe accepts the fact that there is good and evil in all of us? One final twist, how does the firefly universe look from the Alliance perspective? Are they doing what they must to maintain a Utopian society? Or is it the appearance of a Utopian society? How close is that Alliance world to the one that Roddenberry created? Maybe we have approached this all wrong. Maybe, just maybe, they are all superficial Utopian societies that have alot of underlying strife. A perfect world may be unobtainable, but to some, the appearance of one is good enough.