"This burger captures the scent of a Bavarian meadow after a fresh winter snow. Inspired by the German people who invented the Hamburger outside of Hamburg, Germany. Mushrooms are collected by manly fairies in the upper Alp valleys. The tomato was hand grown using fertile techniques of hand patted manure. Note the glimmer of crystalline fields covered in dew drops. Therefore the perfect burger." Love, dad
This isn't my burger, and it's not my flavor text (ha, get it, "flavor text") but it's not far from me genetically. It's funny because when I got this email from my Dad titled "Burger Wars" earlier today I had to laugh. It looks like one of my burger pics (for those keeping score here and here) and the text certainly sounds like my usual self, it basically could be one of my own random blog posts...without any editing either.
So it got me thinking as to what it is we do here gaming-wise. Often we reminisce about what games we first started playing, but why did we play them? Dungeons and Dragons was forbidden in many childhood households in the 1980's, so kids rebelled and played it at friends' houses. On the the flipside there were a lot of parents out there who encouraged it (yes, reading, writing, and imagination might actually be good for a ten year old).
I don't know, as I'm pushing forty I guess I'm still recognizing how much all the moms and dads, aunts and uncles, grandparents and the like influence us more than we realize. As for the burgers themselves above, I can only surmise the following since the email lacked any meat to it (ha, I'm on fire today!). It looks like Swiss cheese generously melted over a heaping mound of sauteed mushrooms and served up on an onion roll. If this is indeed the first salvo in a "Burger War" then it was pretty good one.
Well said and I have had these sorts of thoughts recently myself. For me as another in the "pushing 40" set I wax nostalgically about the days when we had to get our games mail order or in my case from the really poor local book store, in a very piecemeal fashion. Ending up with odd supliments, random issues of Dragon or White Dwarf (in the early days when it was as much a D&D mag as anything). In terms of D&D my parents at first were reluctant but I was able to convince them it was a game about good triumphing over evil, about problem solving, teamwork, etc. and they took the time to investigate it themselves and look past the demonic cover art on a few of the books. I think today the rebellion is universally taking place with video games and forever with music. I am sort of scared about what my own children will encounter and how uncertain the constantly online/plugged future they face is. I can only imagine the things they'll be "rebelling" with five or ten years hence. For me I did rebel a bit with D&D as a 8-12 year old, by high school it was football, booze, girls, and the like and gaming was but a distant childhood memory that I wouldn't return to until I was an adult. I can only hope my kids get caught up more in tabletop gaming and sports than in other things ... I'll do what I can to nudge, not push and hope for the best. As for the burgers ... that is indeed food porn of the highest order :)
ReplyDeleteThat's the biggest trick of all, the subtle influence, the nudging...not pushing. With videogaming being such a huge industry now I worry about tabletop gaming (RPG's and minis) being a 'lost art' on our kids' generation. I don't want it relegated to something "dad used to do" either. I left my own story out of it somewhat, but my parents were incredibly encouraging when it came to the gaming scene.
ReplyDeleteI'm 39. When I got hold of D&D in the 80's, my parents were worried I would become mentally lost in an imaginary world. In exactly the way Tom Hanks lost his mind in the awful scaremongering film "Mazes and Monsters". It's possible they mistook it for a documentary.
ReplyDeleteThey were always very skeptical about gaming, and by extension video gaming for most of my life. It is only in the last couple of years that video games have become mainstream enough that they have begun to think I might not be wasting my time having made a career out of it.
PS- Your blog makes me hungry.
Brilliant post :) my parents always encouraged me to make things, which might be the reason I'm much more of a painter/modeller than a gamer - my dad is a Joiner/Carpenter by trade, and whilst we have very different interests in most areas (he loves watching sports, for example, whilst this could not bore me more), I've picked up lots from him. I'm always surprised at the little handy things I've picked up from him. He also used to take me out to nature reserves and the like, and brought me books on wildlife. My mum is very creative and green-fingered - that's something I think I've picked up quite a bit of too :)
ReplyDeleteThis post inspired me to make the following the other evening: http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff386/abDeserter/burgers.jpg
Similar, but with cheese rolls and a slightly more processed cheese. The mushrooms absolutely made it - I sliced them quite thin, to be able to spread them on the burger (as my burgers always seem to be absolute towers of gluttony) and sautéed them with puréed garlic and butter, adding a slight glug of port in at the last minute.
Bloody brilliant - thanks!
Very cool stuff, thanks for sharing Chris. As for your own burgers...wow, they do look (and sound) truly glutinous. In a good way of course!
ReplyDelete