Stella May I know why you finally watched Hocus Pocus?

5:31 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Of course you may. Hocus Pocus is one of those movies that I really should have watched sometime during my childhood, but some how I seem to have avoided watching the classic film. Like it airs every year on Disney Channel. But this past weekend me and Mister finally watched it! (He hasn't seen it either.)
It's a silly film but there are so many funny moments that I would watch it over and over again. (Which we never do as Mister has a thing against that.)
SJP
Sanderson House. Can I please be the fourth Sanderson sister?
I think we all need a Thackery Binx.
I put a spell on you..
Did you see Bette Midler dressing up as Winnie recently? #voteforhocuspocus2

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SMI Happy Halloween!

2:09 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Happy Halloween!
This year me and Mister have been in the festive spirit and watched lots of Halloween films! Including Harry Potter (Socerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Prisoner of Azkaban) and we stopped there since I havent't finished the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire yet. Have you noticed Halloween is always such a notable event in the books, but they don't dress up? It's always a big feast, complete with lots of carved pumpkins.
We also watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. I remember Linus meeting the Great Pumpkin in the end, it that just me and my faulty memory?
Also finally watching Nightmare Before Christmas (first picture in the post) and Hocus Pocus! My Hocus Pocus post following this one later today, because really, how could I not.

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Stella May I know why you just bought a Rubik's Cube?

9:30 AM Unknown 0 Comments

 Why of course you may. I got the Rubik's Cube because it's one of those things that have been on my unwritten ever growing bucket list: solve a Rubik's Cube. Why did I get one now? Well that's simple. It's because the cube is on sale at Target! Now I don't usually wander through those Rubik's cube aisle, but since me and Mister have been on the board game train, I spotted this.
 What threw me off a little was that the whole thing just came with the cube and a little stand. I would have thought it provided the solution. I was so hesitant to move the cubes as I don't know how to solve it, but Mister already knows how to solve one.
There are 43 quintillion different ways to arrange the Rubik's Cube. 43,000,000,000,000,000,000.
a little Cumberbatch with the Rubik's cube.
Me after I finally solved it! Now my goal is to solve the Rubik's cube under one minute. (I don't ever plan in getting it in that 10 second range..)

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Stella May I know how you like King of Tokyo?

3:29 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Of course you may. As you know from Monday's post me and Mister got us some new board games (or tabletop games). For today's post I will be unboxing the King of Tokyo and give you our initial impression of the game. We opened this one first since it's lower on the BGG rankings and it's the shortest game play time.
Opening the box: first thing is the rule book,
Then the very simple board and punch out tokens. This is one of the simplest boards out there. One two spots and the second spot on the board is only used for 5-6 players. I still don't know how I feel about these punch out tokens. It's kinda neat that I get to be the first to use them, but I never get it clean and there is always a little tab left. Which I guess with use the tabs wear down and I wouldn't know the difference.
Even though it has just that one simple board, there are still a lot of other componets to the game. A very big stack of cards, energy cubes, and 8 dice. To note the cards smell a little funky when you first open them.
In this game you are a monster, alien, or robot and you are trying to become the King of Tokyo. These cute little holder is your game piece that holds your place on the board. You can play 2-6 players.
Each player also gets this score board to keep track of your Victory points and health. To become the King of Tokyo, you have to be the first to reach 20 Victory Points (top right with blue stars) or be the last one standing after every one else has lost all their health (bottom right with hearts.) It doesn't really matter which monster/alien/robot you chose since it has no bearings with the rest of the game play, but of course you want to pick out your favorite. (Mine is Baby Gigazaur, which is a Target exclusive character.)
At the start of each turn your roll 6 dice and over 3 dice throws you decide which dice you decide to keep or keep throwing. The 6 sides: 1, 2, 3 Victory Points, heal, energy, and attack. You decide if you want to attack the current monster in Tokyo City or gain Victory Points. You are either in the city (on the board) or outside of the city. Then who ever is inside the city attacks those outside and vice versa. This part of the game doesn't really matter for the two person version as one of you is always outside and one of you is always inside. For every turn that you are in the city you get two Victory Points, but you can't heal yourself. So you gamble whether you can get 20 Victory Points first or just attack your opponent 10 times to become King of Tokyo.
The energy you roll gets your energy cubes and you can spend them on special cards that give you temporary or permanent powers. Like growing an extra head for an extra dice when you roll or spending energy for Victory or healing points.
Overall I think this game is probably better with more people, but me and Mister still really enjoy playing this game. It's very fast game play and it doesn't require a lot of set of time. We only go through an average of 5 cards a game, but it's easy to just take out some cards, the dice, and your markers to start the game. Most of all I really like throwing dice. That luck element makes the game exciting!

As I am slowly realizing that I am becoming a board game geek, I was thinking about making it a permanent weekly feature to Stella May I. Me and Mister are very likely going to pull out a game every week (more than a few times a week if we are honest) so there will no doubt be a lot for me to say about board games. Every Thursday? Any suggestions for titles?

links: Monday's board game haul

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Stella May I know what's in October's Play by Sephora Box?

3:23 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Of course, today let me share what I got in this month's Play by Sephora. Play is a monthly subscription box that includes 5 beauty samples (makeup, skin care and hair) and 1 bonus perfume sample. (Is anyone else receiving their subscription boxes later and later in the month?)
Even though the back says lipstick and chill there aren't any traditional lipsticks, the bullet form anyway.
There are two skin care items this month. I am probably in the minority, but I actually really like getting skin care samples. This one is the Skin Inc. Pure Revival Peel. It's one of those that you slowly slough off the dead skin after you apply it to your face. I have never been a fan of these masks (mud masks ftw!) so we shall see how much I like this Skin Inc. one.
 The other skin care item is the Too Cool For School Egg Mellow Cream. It's made with just egg extracts, not the whole egg, and it's suppose to be an all in one product. Serum, moisturizer, eye cream, neck cream, and sleeping mask. All of which I can probably do with any of my moisturizers now.
But it's one of those products that has sounds interesting but I haven't ever bought and tried it. So I am glad I get to try with this sample box.
 Then the two lipstick-like products. First is the Nudestix Intense Matte Lip + Cheek Pencil in Belle. This is another kind of product that I have never got along with. A creamy lip and cheek product that comes in pots, crayons, twist-up sticks, the list goes on.. The Intense Matte claims for up to 6 hour wear. It's a pretty and basic rosey color.
 Just after proclaiming my love for glossy lips in last week's post, Sephora lets me know that the world is still very much on the matte lip train. Included in this month's box is the Smashbox Always On Matte Liquid Lipstick in Driver's Seat. Did you know that Smashbox is a makeup brand founded by the great-grandsons of Max Factor? Anyways this is a water-resistant and non-feathering formula. I tried it on immediately after this picture and while it wasn't feathering, it wasn't pretty either. I probably applied way too much of it as it started to clump and it became very apparent that I had just painted my lips. So be sure to take off as much of the product from the wand before applying. (btw how unique is the wand? Although I am not sure about that diamond hole in the middle since it holds a lot of product.)
Smashbox Always on Matte Liquid Lipstick on top and Nudestix Intense Matte Lip + Cheek Pencil on the bottom. 
The last sample product is the Verb Leave-In Mist. I just had to show you this unscrewed. It's like a very thick gel formula. The leave-in mist moisturizes, smooths, detangles and protects your hair from heat. The only hair product I use day to day (outside of the shower) is a leave-in conditioner. So I am looking forward to comparing this to my favorite Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave In Conditioner.
What's inside: 
Verb Leave-In Mist
Too Cool For School Egg Mellow Cream
Skin Inc. Pure Revival Peel
Smashbox Always On Matte Liquid Lipstick in Driver's Seat
Nudestix Intense Matte Lip + Cheek Pencil in Belle
Tom Ford Orchid Soleil perfume

Were you excited about this month's offerings? It seemed very mismatched, but I am looking forward to trying the products out.

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Stella May I know how you make BBQ pork ribs at home?

9:00 AM Unknown 0 Comments

Of course you may. It's kind of daunting when I first though about making ribs at home. The very first time I ever made ribs was back in Cali and I had a proper oven (we use a toaster oven here) and I was roasting beef ribs for hours! It was on a low heat and the ribs made the whole house smell of BBQ. When we spotted these pork ribs at the market I got to thinking: What if I made them in our sous vide machine? &that's what I have did. This is our first and very certainly not our last go at making ribs at home. For today's Tutorial Tuesday I am showing how we make BBQ ribs at home! (yes, there will be that smokiness!)
First off the ribs. This is a full rack of pork ribs. I mean if you are going to attempt this why not make a whole rack! I think next time we might make two and freeze half. Did you know ribs are super inexpensive? This rack here was only $6. First off is to remove the silver skin. (I already removed it, but my tip is to use a paper towel.)
I know it would make a pretty presentation to have the whole rack cooked, but that's just not practical and it cooks the same in the end. So cut them in half (or 3-4 ribs) so that they fit in a standard quart size zip bag. If you really wanted to cook the whole rack at once then use a 2 gallon sized freezer bag and make sure it'll fit in your oven!
Season! Make your favorite dry rub and season your ribs. I use my hands and really massage the rub into all the crevices. Then I put each rib rack into a freezer bag and using the water displacement method, vacuum seal the bag. Let the rub marinate into the rib for at least 24 hours. This is by no means a short cut, fast way of making ribs at home, but it is simple. Just a little planning and maybe even having the ribs cooked days beforehand can make a BBQ dinner come together really fast.
After 24 hours your ribs are ready to start cooking. We cooked our ribs at 152°F for 30 hours. Yes that is a very long time. Again this is not a short cut BBQ ribs recipe. So what makes this different than just sticking the ribs in the oven? Well using the sous vide method ensures that your meat comes out at the perfect texture/temperature/flavor and it's a smaller appliance than an oven.
After the long cook time, this is what the ribs look like. I know it's not very appetizing. It always reminds me of that frozen dinners actually look like inside the box. But we aren't done! We are going to finish the ribs in the oven. (What! Yes we are still using the oven.) Then is when you decide if you like the dry or wet finish on your ribs.
We chose wet. Look at that thick coat of BBQ sauce!
Yes we also made our own BBQ sauce. I would say this method of cooking works best with a ketchup based sauce, as it's thicker and able to stick on the ribs.
After baking on two layers of sauce, it's time to eat! This is Serious Eat's Kenji's recipe so I will direct you there. I would definitely suggest giving it a read as it's full of information!

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Stella May I know what new board games you have?

3:56 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Of course you may, Me and Mister are still on the board game obsession train. & We recently added to our collection! Here's what we got:
This is 7 Wonders Duel. Most of the time we play with just the two of us. We came across this game (in my hours of researching the board game forums, I'm telling you, I am obsessed!) and this one is so highly rated. It's the two person version of the original 7 Wonders game. We don't have and haven't played that one but I insisted that we get the Duel version first anyways. Why? Because we are more likely to play two person that any other number. And while the original 7 Wonders can play 2-7 people, this version is made for 2 and rates even higher than the original! We got this game from Barnes and Noble. (Really good game selection there!)
Rivals for Catan Deluxe. This is again the two person version of an already popular game, Catan. I remember when it used to be called: Settler's of Catan, now it's called Catan. We got Rivals for Catan Deluxe since it was on sale at Target! This deluxe version comes with some extra promo cards that were exclusive to the board game conventions (can you just see my geekiness coming through?). It's not rated as well as the other two games me and Mister got, but since Mister just played the original Catan and really liked it, we thought why not pick it up while it's on sale.
The last game we got is the King of Tokyo. This particular version you see above is exclusive to Target. The gamemakers switched out one of the characters with the cute pink Baby Gigazaur you see on the top middle of the box. So Baby Gigazaur is an exclusive character to Target. King of Tokyo is the only game that is not limited to two persons. It's also a very quick, dice game. So far we don't have a board game where we can throw dice, and I think there's just something about chucking dice that makes it so satisfying. This game is made by the same maker as Magic! The Gathering, but I don't think it's anything like that trading card game.
Are you getting on the the board game train yet? I think they are really making a comeback and there are so many different types out there! Me and Mister are slowly building our collection and it's almost taking up the shelf. I think we can fit two more, and after that I do a collection/organization post, 
links: other board games we have Carcassonne Ticket to Ride 

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SMI International Sloth Day

9:00 AM Unknown 1 Comments

Happy Thursday and International Sloth Day!
Some of my favorite sloth images.

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