Justice League at Home, finishing up

It took us quite some time before we were able to finish off the stuff in the box, as we needed to wait for a night Eric could try to make the souffle. But we managed it and the results were great. I really liked the souffle, and would certainly like to try that dish again some time.

Eric asked for my assistance in making it, so it was the one dish that both of us put work into. We followed the instructions on the website closely, and prepared two extra ramekins - good thing we did. There was enough batter for three of them. We started, however, by making the dish as suggested in the special Superman collector ramekin. And, frankly, it turned out gorgeous.

Not only did it look good, it tasted fantastic as well. We made up the extra batter into the other two ramekins and had seconds. It was delicious. We also brewed up "Element X" - the Cyborg themed energy drink.

My diet restrictions meant I wasn't able to drink much of it, which was fine. It wasn't really very good. It had the taste of artificial sweetener. The last thing in the box was the Batman themed chocolates.

Ours got a little dusky thanks to the heat, but they were excellent chocolates. Very yummy and a nice finish to the meals. We ended up having them with the marshmellows:

The box itself had an interactive feature, where you aim your camera at it and you see the box change color slightly, glow, and have a beam shoot up from it. Then the logos of the heroes float above the box (on your phone screen) and you can select them to view character bios.

The box also included some beverages that Eric and I don't drink, but I have plans to let other people give those a try (and return the collectible cans to me) so we'll get an independent opinion on them:

Justice League at Home, second meal

The fish dish in the Mother Box is pretty small. Unlike the burger, it didn't feel like a full meal by itself. So we went ahead and made some veggies to go with it, and then we also added the Chocos as an appetizer/desert.

In the DC Universe, the Martian Manhunter's favorite cookie is the "Choco", which is apparently their universe's equivalent of an Oreo or other sandwich cookie. In the Mother Box meal, the Choco is a jalapeño, salsa and cheese cookie. To be sure, I wasn't positive I would like it, since I do not handle any hot-spicy foods well at all. We ate ours before digging into the fish, and I have to say I thought it was pretty bland. Thought. It came back later with a mild kick - very tolerable, but a definite surprise.

The fish dish, called "The Trench", was pretty straightforward. There was a potato "chip" patty that had to be cooked first, then we added the chunks of cod piled on top and baked it a bit longer. It was finished by topping it with the dressing and some crunchy bits. It was easy enough, although difficult to tell when the potato was actually fully cooked. The package came with a "sardine tin" to cook the dish in. Eric did the oven work, and I topped the dish when it came out, before we posed it for a quick photo.

It was very tasty. The dressing had a little bite to it, and the crunchy bits were a very good addition. The potato chips cooked up well enough and blended nicely with the cod. It was a bit messy to serve - not in the comfortably messy Big Belly Burger way - but it tasted lovely. As a full meal it worked nicely.

This leaves us with the Superman Souffle, the Batman Chocolates, and the Cyborg Energy Drink. As the souffle is a little complicated, we're not sure exactly when we'll make it. I also hope to do some more photos and screen caps of the Mother Box AR stuff, so you can get an idea of what it is like.

Justice League At Home

So, back in February, hubby-Eric and I decided to splurge on a very special meal box: Wonderland at Home Justice League Mother Box. It was quite a splurge for us, a lot more than we usually spend on a single thing - but both of us are big Justice League fans, and this felt like a one-of-a-kind experience.

To make the most of it, we planned to have it for Memorial Day weekend. We requested delivery on the Friday before Memorial Day to give us a three day weekend to fully enjoy the experience - and give us plenty of time to put the meals together. Yeah, we watched the movie LONG before we got the box, but we still figured it would be a delightful experience. Right?

Fast forward to May 28th, the day we were supposed to get the package. We waited all day... nothing. Finally I emailed the company, and got an automated response with another email to contact if I considered it an emergency. So I wrote to the other email. No response that night, but the next morning I got a response - for some reason our overnight delivery had been changed to 2nd day and, due to the long weekend, wasn't going to arrive until Tuesday. After many emails back and forth, I was told to toss out the cold food when we got the package because after a weekend in a hot shipping box they weren't worth the risk of eating. And I was told I would get a replacement cold box and a gift card as quickly as possible.

So our Memorial Day plans were pretty much dashed. It happens, I get it. I'm not happy about it, but I get it.

Tuesday, the box arrived. The box itself is really neat, a very cool Mother Box with a magnetic lid. All the food was packed inside, with the cold food in an insulated container inside another box, just to be sure. When we opened the cold box, one of the sauce containers had exploded all over. While the food was vacuum-packed, it was also disturbingly warm. The temperatures in our area were pretty high, and the cold packs just couldn't compete. In addition, the bread and chocolates were less than ideal after a weekend in a hot box.

The company rep replaced the bread, marshmellows, chocolates and the cold box and sent a gift card that basically covered the shipping and tax on the original order. However, she made a mistake when she sent the replacement, and tried to time it for the next weekend. But we live out in the boonies and the major shipping companies do not deliver overnight to our address on Saturday or Sunday, and she tried to send it to us to arrive on Saturday. By the time she understood the issue, it was too late and we had to wait until yesterday (Tuesday, June 8th) to actually get our replacement. That's more than a week after the Friday we expected it to arrive.

To be honest, I'm still a little put out. It was supposed to be a special treat. We still don't know why it didn't arrive on the Friday we were supposed to get it. And while a gift card is nice, the whole thing still feels like a let-down because we aren't going to be able to enjoy the meal as it was planned, and have to make the bits piecemeal as we have time.

Okay, enough with the grumping. Here's the good bits... the box has a number of dishes and some collectable items. The three "meal" items are a Big Belly Burger, a fish dish called "The Trench" and a Souffle with a collectable Superman Ramekin. Other items include Wonder Woman themed marshmellows, Batman themed chocolates, Martian Manhunter themed appetizers and three drinks: beer, cold-brewed coffee and an energy drink.

With limited time and energy, Eric and I decided to try the Big Belly Burger last night, and save the other two items that need cooking for later. So we pulled up the cooking instructions on the website, watched a little video and then Eric jumped in to make the burgers, which came with the patties, buns, two types of sauces (marked as being Condiment King brand!) and rosti patties (basically fancy hash browns). We layered the burgers as suggested in the directions: lower bun, burger sauce, rosti, beef patties, cheese sauce, any other toppings we add, top bun. Then we served them up with some chocolate milk (since neither of us drink beer or coffee and we didn't feel like dealing with energy drink) and chowed down.

So, I'm still annoyed at the delays, right? BUT... Oh that was good. It was really good. I mean, just delightfully good. The sauces were close to perfect, and the beef and rosti worked really well together. It was MESSY, but it was that lovely messy that makes your mouth water. And, wonderfully, there's enough sauce left over for a couple more burgers in the near future. And I plan on keeping the condiment containers, which amuse me because of the branding. We also are saving the burger boxes, which look like fast food containers from Big Belly Burgers, a fictional fast food chain in the DC Universe.

For dessert we had the Ancient Themysciran Fire marshmellows. We didn't follow the instructions closely, which tell you to light a scent stick (included) and listen to a clip from the movie available on the virtual aspect of the box (more on that in a second) and then eat the marshmellows in zen contemplation. We just ate 'em. They were tasty.

We have a lot of the box to still work through, including the fish and souffle, the chocos and the chocolates. In addition, I haven't played with the virtual aspects of the box yet. You see, there's a special virtual reality experience. You go to a special website then point your phone at the Mother Box and... things happen...

But I think I'll do a little more about that later, once I've had time to maybe take a couple of screen shots that actually show some tiny bit of the action, so you have a glimpse at the genius and effort that went into this special meal. We will be giving the beer to some beer drinkers we know and asking for their opinions (and the cans back, since they will be collector items for us) and the coffee to a coffee connoisseur for the same treatment. Which leaves us with the Chocos (Martian Manhunter appetizers), the Trench, Batman chocolates, Souffle and energy drink to make and consume over the next few days. We hope. Updates as they happen.

A Sunday Comic Books Review

Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Nov 21st
• Aquaman #42 - Huh. A neat little tie-in to the boring and way too long Justice League story, in which Arthur, once again, explores his emotional well-being. I've read so many of these types of stories over the years, and this is probably one of the more interestingly framed versions. I'm not totally excited about it, but it isn't too bad. I just wish the crossover wasn't so long.
• Justice League #12 - A very Aqua-centric issue, with Mera, Aquaman and Manta all getting lots of screen time. Sadly, the story is just boring me now, and I just want it to end. Oh, there's a bit of a turnaround here, but it's a few issues too late. I guess I've read too many Golden Age stories now to enjoy the severe decompression of modern comics.
• Teen Titans Go #31 - Origami... the dangerous art. I love it. The idea of paper beating rock in the Titans context is too amusing, remarkably stupid and wonderful. And hey, the second story had an Aquaman cameo, so all is well.
• Doctor Strange #8 - He really is a piece of work, and it's nice to see someone tell him that to his face. I just feel sorry for Bats accidentally spilling the beans.
• Shuri #2 - As this has to fit into an existing canon of Shuri's adventures in the comics, there is a bit here that I don't quite understand. That said, what I did "get" I liked, and I want to see more of the ancestors and everything. Which may not happen right away, based on that wallop of a cliffhanger.

A Sunday Comic Books Review

Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Nov 7th
• Justice League #11 - The art is good, but the story continues to disappoint me. Oh, there are some good twists and turns in this one, but I'm actually really tired of stories that go on too long with repeated failures on the part of the heroes that seem fabricated to extend the story instead of tell a rollicking good tale. And this one just doesn't have enough rollick for me. The art is lovely, but I wish the crossover had ended in this issue.
• Green Lantern #1 - Another good art, story weak, book for me. I love the art. But I've never been a fan of cosmic stories in DC or Marvel, and this just isn't my thing. At least it's better than the last GL book.
• Doctor Strange #7 - I'm not really sure if I enjoyed it or not. I mean, it moved the story along and the ghost dog is keeping me from being completely bored, but it wasn't really fantastic. I guess I'll just keep reading and see if it gets more interesting.
• The Wrong Earth #3 - I wonder if Dragonflyman is worried about what his counterpart is up to, or if the culture shock has kept him from that particular horror yet. As usual, an extremely good issue with lots of stuff, including a back-up story featuring Stinger and three text pieces that were all decent.


• Nov 14th
• Plastic Man #6 - That's just such a Plastic Man way of solving the problem that I can hardly believe no one had already written it in exactly the same way. I mean, it just works for him. And he even managed to get his head out of his... um... posterior by the end of the book as well. Good stuff.
• Scooby Apocalypse #31 - Ouch. This whole book has been insane from the start, but now that Fred is sort of back, it's just kicked up a notch. Add in that we know who is talking to Scrappy now, and it's almost too much. I'm really eager to see how this whole story ends. At least Scooby is able to still be Scooby despite his improvement to his implants.
• Fantastic Four #3 - Well, that was interesting. If the enemy cannot be defeated, delay it? I was amused by all the cameos in this one, particularly the "non-canon" ones. Overall, an excellent little issue with lots of fun stuff happening.
• Captain Ginger #2 - This one ended too soon for me. I wanted to keep reading. The structure of the ship and the feline societies on it are fascinating. I want to see how they are going to solve these problems. The Hashtag: Danger backup was ok, but even goofier than I like. The text pieces, two stories and an interview, were also great. Another solid package.
• Ripley's Believe It or Not! # - Of the five main stories this issue presents, I was familiar with four of them. So, again, this wasn't all new to me. On the other hand, the presentation is SO good, and the stories so compelling, that I didn't mind reading again about some of those odd tales. This is a great book for anyone interested in the strange, and would be a lovely introduction to the world of Fortean phenomena. I recommend giving it to every child in your life.
• Dr Horrible: Best Friends Forever one-shot - Wow, whew. Ok, that was not entirely what I was expecting. On the other hand, it was funny and touching and worked well for what it was worth. You don't even have to be particularly familiar with the original Dr. Horrible to understand it, although it helps.

A Sunday Comic Books Review

Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Oct 24th
• Titans #28 - A Drowned Earth tie-in, with Garth as a main character. The Heroes in Crisis storyline feeds into this one as well, since Titans apparently died in that (hard for me to take any superhero death seriously, sorry). It took me WAY too long to figure out who Steel was, otherwise it was a mostly ok story with some good moments. It showed Garth's powers and referenced the Titans as they were, so I thought it was decent.
• Batman Beyond #25 - This is a perfect jump-on issue, with lots of backstory and explanation of what has been happening in this version of the DCU to get to this tale. A little bit of classic Batman along with the new, and lots of references to the past. A good one to pick up if you just want to know what Batman Beyond is about.
• Scooby-Doo Team-Up #43 - Thanks to watching the Doom Patrol show, I knew what was happening when the Mystery Machine ended up on Danny the Street. It also gave me a good idea of what was happening throughout the rest of the book. I'm not sure if this is the strangest team-up these guys have done, but it's definitely odd.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 #2 - Um. Wow. Ok. That was remarkably confusing and a whole lotta fun. I'm not entirely sure what I was reading there, but by the end I was just enjoying the ride and ignoring the plot, such as it is. I suspect fans of MST3K would enjoy this, as would fans of old comic books.
• Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men #3 - Oh, I had a feeling about that dog. I didn't have the advantage the Wise Dogs had, though, of being able to smell him as well. Still, I had a distinct feeling, no doubt based on subtle clues the artist and writer provided, that they were walking into a trap. And it turns out they knew it, too. So how is this going to play out? I can hardly wait for the next issue.
• Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden #7 - And Sakai nails the landing. This final issue was mostly one big battle over a book, but OH what a battle. And what an outcome! I never suspected, not even for a moment, that final revelation. Of course, if anyone could have pulled it off, it would have been Ishida. Wow. Fantastic. Get this series.


• Oct 31st
• Justice League/Aquaman: Drowned Earth #1 - I want to like this. It's a crossover featuring Mera! But, it's really not that great. The art is weak and the plot is depressing. There's just not a lot here for me to enjoy beyond Aquaman and Mera. There's even a timing conflict with Titans. I'm tired of stories that are about world-threatening horrors. I just want GOOD stories.
• Heroes in Crisis #2 - Yeah, so when I read the first issue I didn't register who had died. And I'm still not sure who was supposed to have perished. And some big part of me rejects this entire storyline, because the heroes/villains supposedly killed off will no doubt be back soon enough. So I'm just not sure how to react to this thing. I just find myself sighing and hoping it leads to some interesting story, because so far I'm not impressed. Um, is it mean of me to say Lagoon Boy's death is no big loss to the DCU?
• Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound Special #1 - I really don't know what kind of story I was expecting with a crossover like this, but it was NOT this story. This was excellent. Huckleberry Hound was less a character than a sounding board, but it made for a good story anyway. I don't really know that much about John Stewart's Green Lantern, so I don't know how much of this is canon in the current DCU, but it worked as a story and it worked for the character. Good stuff. I did not read the back-up story.
• Archie Meets Batman '66 #4 - This is a stark contrast to the dreary Archie 1941 that I'm also reading. But then, anything involving Batman '66 has always been great, particularly when Jeff Parker is writing it. This issue gets Batman/Bruce Wayne into Riverdale and also shows off how resilient Jughead, of all people, actually is. And no, that's not the Bat-signal. I never thought I'd see a Jughead signal.
• Stranger Things #2 - Oh man. When I watched the first season, I wondered how Will had survived there. This comic series gives some answers, and shows how it looked from Will's side. It's terrifying. I really need to go watch the second and third seasons some time, too.
• Edgar Allan Poe's Snifter of Terror #1 - I am not a big horror fan - at least not of gory or gross horror. Thus, the first story in this book really does absolutely nothing for me. The second story made me squee, though, using certain iconic characters the way it did. Now, full disclosure, I planned to only order The Wrong Earth and Captain Ginger from Ahoy Comics, because they were the two that appealed to me. This book got added to my list only because they accepted a story from me, and it was due to be printed in an issue of this title. So I figured I had better read the whole series. Despite not really enjoying the, um, atmosphere of the first story, I'm glad I got it. It may not be completely my cuppa, but it's certainly not bad.