Note to self: If you’re going to invite people to a potluck involving chili, be sure to delegate the bringing of chips to one person and one person alone. Otherwise, be prepared to horribly torn between the fatty salty goodness of Fritos and the light crispy goodness of Xochitl.

This meeting was extra fun for 2 reasons: 1. It was at my house. 2. We made playdough.

Or, to be accurate, our fearless leader Kelli Shewmaker made playdough. She had the sneaky idea that playing with playdough would free our subconscious creativity during our planning discussion. And boy was she right! While we made bees, flowers, tiny vegetables, sheep, and things disturbingly shaped like human organs, we had really productive conversations about event scheduling, venue, attendees, website, eventbrite, ticketing, meals, etc. I think we even impressed our newest member who was attending her very first meeting and decided to come again (although it could have just been the excellent food).

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• food coloring

Preparation

Mix flour, salt and oil in a saucepan on the stove, and slowly add the water. Cook over low heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Remove to a plate or wax paper and let cool to a temperature where you can handle it easily. Knead the playdough to desired consistency. Use as is, or divide into balls and add food coloring. Playdough remains pliable for about a day in open air. After a day, it begins to harden and will be completely hardened in 2-3 days.

Preparation Note: Do NOT make playdough shortly before a job interview, fancy dinner party, or anywhere else you might be embarrassed by technicolor rainbow hands. The more deeply you work the dye into the dough, the more deeply it gets worked into your skin.

1. Think deeply about its name.
2. Download new icon sets for it from the IconFactory.

It’s hard to find an old skool mac junkie who hasn’t spent way too much time shift-reloading their homepage just to watch the random animated pixel-logo gifs (RIP-ing along with other OS9 awesome stuff.. kaleidoscope, anyone?). Just about the only thing said junkie might have spent more time doing (well, besides working and playing Marathon) is getting into silly debates with Windows fanatics about multi-button mice.

But I digress. The Iconfactory has really grown since their days of just making cool stuff for macs – they now do beautifully drawn software icons for Windows and Mac, make a host of icon-making tools and really, really sweet iPhone games.

Frenzic was the first one I played. Forget the fact that it’s completely and infuriatingly addictive. It’s GORGEOUS. Ramp Champ was the second – so stuffed full of beautiful, intricate illustration that I almost forget how fluid and intuitive the interface is. Which brings me to Pickin’ Time.

It’s really just a glorified version of Memory (you choose a veggie to pick and then pick it out of the subsequent screens.) Sounds easy, right? I’m sure it is – at least when the freakin’ tomato isn’t doing some kind of secret ninja mind game to get you to click on it when you really meant to click on the apple.

Download it to your iphone through the app store or online.

And, if you’re a still an icon junkie, be sure to pick up Dave Lanham’s beautiful Pickin’ Time icon set for Mac, Windows & Candybar.

You are standing in a kitchen. An open door goes to the west. A window faces to the south. There is a heavy cellar door beneath your feet. Before you is a heavy butcher block table. On it are two avocados, a small jalapeno pepper, a tomato, a small onion, a lemon, and several cloves of garlic, a medium-sized Bowl of Pyrecks, a large carving knife and a nicely curved spoon.

> Cut avocado with knife.

You don’t have a knife.

> Get knife.

But I couldn’t sustain it. The only other joke I can think of to make about Zork is that you are likely to be eaten by a grue.

The whole point of the Zork post, which actually started as a Choose Your Own Adventure post, was that this guacamole recipe is an excellent base for further customization and experimentation. Some options are listed after the recipe – post your variations in the comments.

Guacamole

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1 onion
• 1 jalapeño
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1-2 garlic cloves, depending on your garlic-love
• 1 small tomato
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

1. Scoop the guacamole from its shell. Mash in bowl. Grate the garlic and add to the guacamole mess.
2. Chop the onion, jalapeño and tomato finely. You can add them to the garlic-guacamole mess as-is for a chunky guacamole or give ‘em a few spins in a food processor for a smoother guac. (I did this in the photo above).
3. Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Pimp your guac with a little cumin or chopped fresh cilantro. Or, add corn and another chopped tomato for a veggie-er vibe. I sometimes use the juice of a whole lime for the lemon juice. Bacon, which is not so great on ice cream, is really tasty with guac too.

And now for some product placement:

Eat Xochitl White Corn Chips. They are incredibly tasty. If you’re a heavy dipper, there will be a period of technique adjustment to the thinner and more delicate Xochitl which may prove frustrating at times. You will be tempted to plunge the chip deeply into the bowl and excavate a hefty scoop of guacamole. Do not stray from your new path. Unlike heftier chips for the heavy-handed, Xochitl chips are designed for elegantly slicing through the top layer of guac/salsa/what have you. Think speed, not power and be patient in your practice. I assure you, the effort is worth it.

180/sec @f/11 ISO 200. Canon EOS 5D w/ 50mm macro and ST-E2 wireless transmitter. 580EX II manual slave at 1/8 power. Manfrotto 5-section super light stands with Adorama umbrella adapters. Tinfoil reflector.