I spent some time in the booth this morning, recording some pickups on an audiobook I still can’t believe I was chosen to narrate. I believe it will come out in March, around the same time as two other books I narrated.
March could be a big month for me, professionally. A project I have been developing and working on for almost two years may be ready in March, as well. After years of gratefully doing what I call “other people’s work,” I have been focusing intensely on something that is all mine. I’m even spending my own money on it, something they tell you to never do.
Whatever. They aren’t the boss of me. It’s worth it, and I believe in it.
Anyway. Since I’m coming home to my blog, how about one of those old school posts about random stuff I’ve been doing? It’s on the other side of the thingy.
* The news is all terrible, and it’s all overwhelming, so I’m looking for the helpers. I’m doing my best to be a helper when I can, too. I am fiercely proud to be from Los Angeles. I love our culture, our diversity, our endless collection of unique neighborhoods that generally coexist in harmony. Nearly everyone who lives here knows someone who was affected by the latest firestorms. It’s been so wonderful to see people from all over the county come together to support and help people from other communities who have suffered terrible losses and traumas.
It’s equally infuriating to see so many despicable people (who absolutely know better) spreading so many lies, and so much disinformation, all to get clicks and clout. I say this with all sincerity and full offense: Shut the fuck up forever, you pieces of shit. And to the incomprehensibly stupid people who credulously believe those lies: the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.
* I’m about halfway though The Ministry of Time, and I continue to love it. The way Kaliane Bradley uses her words is inspiring me to level up my own writing, which is nice.
* In November, I was talking about video games with a friend. I’d been in Fallout 4 for nearly 800 hours, and my experience in the game had shifted from story missions to building settlements. She asked me if I’d played Fallout 76. I told her I had not. I really don’t like games that require me to interact with other people, given the overwhelming volume of loud, angry, unaccountable, toxic masculinity I encountered literally everywhere. Hearthstone? Toxic men. Destiny? The MOST toxic men. WoW? I don’t like anything about this, and it’s not worth crawling over the broken glass toxic players kept scattering in front of me.
Like, I know that not all games are like this, and maybe I was just unlucky, but … it just wasn’t worth it to me, navigating all that shit for games I didn’t even like that much.
She told me how Fallout 76 encourages cooperation, how I can just mute other players and only use emotes, and her experience — as a woman, no less — was in a community of overwhelmingly supportive and chill players.
While I was processing this, she told me about settlement building, crafting, and her conviction that I would love all of it.
I saw that it was included in my PlayStation+ membership thingy, so I decided I’d spend at least an hour in it, using the settings she advised (turn off pvp and mute all players). I will admit that, at first, I wasn’t getting it. I was very skeptical about a game that wanted me to spend money on it every month, because most of the games I have played that have a “you don’t have to pay to play” option also have a “you must pay if you want it to be fun” requirement. I’m going to jump ahead and tell you I have about 120 hours in 76, haven’t spent a dime, and absolutely love everything about it. I am absolutely going to be spending some Fallout 1st money on this game, so I can design and build settlements.
It’s been such a fun escape for me. I feel like there’s a ton of story left for me to explore and uncover, and I haven’t even been into all of the areas on the map. I figured out early on that a lot of my fun and joy comes from just wandering the map and seeing whatever I come across. I haven’t yet done the Nukashine (is that what it’s called?) challenge where you ditch all your gear, get blind drunk on it, wake up in a random place on the map, and try to find your way home without using the overview map. That sounds epic, and I want to do it when I have an hour or more because who knows how long it’ll take and I think it’ll be more fun if I do it in one session.
And the community I have encountered has been awesome. People keep giving me really good gear and mods, and every player I come across either ignores me (best) or exchanges hellos (second best).
I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what is available in this game. I hope I’m right, and it’s going to be as much fun and as satisfying as I think it’ll be for hundreds of hours.
* Speaking of video games, I’m building the NES LEGO set. I have completed the console, and started on the TV yesterday.
Check out this Easter Egg that’s hidden inside!
When I’m done with this, it’s either Endurance or the Batmobile.
* Did you hear about the rumored TNG LEGO set that’s allegedly coming out next year? It’s the bridge of my Enterprise, and it includes minis of all of us — including Wesley! — and I hear a rumor about a GWP shuttlecraft with Ensign Ro. Dude, if LEGO goes nuts with Star Trek the way it has with Star Wars, I could be in some real trouble.
Good trouble, to be sure, but still. I’m running out of space and … oh, I hear myself. Never mind.
Earlier this week, I made the most amazing chicken soup I have ever made in my life. I wanted to write a post about it, but I couldn’t get it to a place where I thought it could be its own thing … so here it is in its imperfect form:
In every partnership, a division of labor emerges over time that allows each partner to play to their strengths, stay out of each other’s way, and efficiently get shit done together.
In our house, I do most of the cooking, because I genuinely love everything about it … with one very important exception: I always fuck up the salt.
So I’ll do everything in a recipe until the “salt to taste” step. At that point, I summon Anne (usually with my voice, though in my imagination I am using a bat signal that projects the Morton’s girl with the umbrella) and she uses whatever weird magical skill she has to put in exactly the right amount of salt.
A few weeks ago, I was making soup. Anne had to run to the store when I got to the “salt to taste” step, and I would be lying if I told you that I did not panic, hard. I mean, a normal person would be, like, “Oh, I guess I’ll wait until she gets back,” but not me! Bill Junior was a DAREDEVIL! Just like his old man.
“Look on the Internet,” a mysterious voice echoed in my head, “look for ‘how much salt for two quarts of soup’ and math will save you.”
The voices in my head have never lead me astray (well, except for all those times they did), so I did a quick search.
This is where I tell you that this post isn’t about the salt, but I know at least one of you wants to know the answer, so I’ll also tell you that it’s about a teaspoon, which is what I put into my soup, with trembling hands.
Fuck yeah, math! It was perfect.
But that’s not what this is about. This is about an entirely different recipe that I saw a little further down in the search results; it’s about the Martha Stewart recipe for basic chicken soup.
Martha Stewart always makes food in such interesting ways, I was curious to know what her take was on chicken soup.
Oh my god, it’s incredible.
She tells us to buy a whole chicken, cut it up, and use it to make the stock. Then we pull it out of the stock, cut the meat off the bones, and return that meat into the stock we just made.
Quick aside: this is the point in writing this post that yet another voice in my head asserts that this isn’t interesting and I should just delete it. I’m doing my best to push on through, though.
I showed the recipe to Anne when she got home (after I asked her to taste my properly-salted soup — she loved it) and then texted it to our family chat, because Ryan likes to cook as much as I do (I love that I passed that along to him, without even trying). We all agreed that it looked amazing.
Last night was the first opportunity I’ve had to make this recipe and HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS.
It’s so much fun, it’s so satisfying, and the resulting soup was so magnificent, I almost couldn’t believe that I made it.
And yet, I needed to go further. I needed to make some matzo balls.
That’s also something I’d never done before, but I knew it was simple enough. So I made some matzo meal in the food processor, followed a simple recipe, and ended up with something that wasn’t too bad for a Gentile’s first attempt.
I put it all together and …
It was so good. The matzo balls were a little too big, but that’s an easy fix for next time.
Oh, and the most important thing? It was perfectly salted.
Have a good weekend, everyone. Enjoy the last few days of America, and stay safe.
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Thank you, Wil, for a post that is effectively a “good news News” post, showing how all is not poop.
If it weren’t like posts like these and cat videos I’d be (more of) a basket case.
There was a chicken restaurant in Anaheim called the chicken pot pie shop. Unfortunately they went out of business a couple years ago. The old man retired, and his family did not want to take over the business but they had the best chicken soup I’ve ever had in my life. I wish I had that recipe. The broth was creamy not a clear, liquidy broth. It was so tasty. I miss that place.
Wil, Thanks for the invitation to the light, from the dark side, where I used to enjoy your commentary. This is better. You are but the 2nd blog I have ever subscribed to, the other being a friend, so … It seems I can count you among my friends. Today’s message is, you are an inspiration. Thanks.
Mazel Tov on your first Matzoh balls!!
I’ve made scratch chicken soup twice. The first time, I used a raw whole chicken, and although I did all of the seasoning and salting and such, it still wasn’t as flavorful as I would have hoped. The next time, I used a Costco rotisserie chicken. The seasonings, that they used, were just right.
I thought about that as well. I just checked online for the prices of raw whole chickens and the cooked rotisserie chicken. And the cooked rotisserie chicken is, believe it or not, less expensive AND tastes pretty darn good too!
It looks great! Crock pot soup is usually my go to. I miss the days of simmering brews on the stove though. I can practically smell the picture.
Cooking rocks. I want to make chicken & noodles and beef & noodles next. Once I have those down, I’ll move on to beef stew & chicken soup – all low-sodium. Just have to overcome my Autistic loathing of raw chicken. Sidebar: I want to cross a Lego Next Gen bridge offa my bucket list. Be well!
Omfg Star Trek LEGO?! And TNG specifically?!?! I will lose my Ever. Loving. MIND!!!!! I have that NES set and I love it; it lives with my TLOZ set 💜
Also, I am loving how your chicken soup recipe went. Good on ya!
That soup is a lot like my family’s favorite “chicken dinner” soup. I’ve always used Amish style wide noodles with it, but now I’m intrigued by the idea of matzoh balls instead. I’m chagrined that my Yiddishe kop didn’t think of that before! Thanks for that, and thanks for being one of my lifesaving flashlights amongst all this darkness.
I love everything about this, and now I reallyreallyreally want to make some chicken soup.
Now I’m good and hungry!
Those of us that love cooking, love hearing about others finding amazing recipes and sharing them! I’m glad you worked out the salt!
Self trust never fails,life changing decisions always come from within …shine🌱
Growing up when we did, there was constant messaging about the “dangers” of too much salt, so we ended up never adding it during cooking. This feels like it has meant a whole generation don’t know how to season properly and aren’t sure what just-right looks/tastes like. Thank-you for the gentle prod to address this in my own cooking.
Wow, this soup looks absolutely divine! 🍲 The vibrant colors and the hearty ingredients make it so inviting. I can almost taste the warmth and comfort through the screen! Perfect for a cozy day.
My husband and I have been playing Fallout 76 since the beginning (we pre-ordered) and in the beginning there was about an even mix of exactly what you expect from Fallout online and helpful, kind, collaborative fellow players. There were of course exactly the kind of jerks you imagine, but the difference was both in the players who if they saw a bad thing reacted by being the helpers , and in the devs who reacted and worked to make us safe and protect our progress. There were growing pains, but 8 years later my husband and I have a standing date in West Virginia when he gets home from work. I’m glad you gave it a try and so glad you’ve joined the community! If you were on Steam I’d be dropping an invite to holler if you need gear, but I know our fellow players also have your back.
I bought atoms last night so I could build a movie theatre and speakeasy camp today! I’m so excited to stock it with candy and popcorn machines.
Hi Wil; just wanted to mention that you bear a striking resemblance to the Ukranian head of espionage. Look up Kyrylo Budanov. I read his story and he is amazing. Cheers Dan.
Damn that soup looks amazing! I have a chicken defrosting in the fridge, hmmmmmmm.
I bet some adhesive vinyl could be cut out into a little silhouette on a cricuit and attached to a maglight flashlight to form a mini batsignal.
Thank you for such a wonderful, fun and positive post Wil. Much appreciated, given the current state of everything. That soup looks amazing!
Happy to see this email! Looking forward to more of your blog. F Meta anyway. 🤭 Why not continue to do a vlog or podcast on YouTube?
Like your tasty, perfectly salted chicken soup turned out for you – reading this post was chicken soup for my soul. Math + matzo balls will never lead you wrong! I’d add dill to that equation, too, but then the alliteration wouldn’t work. Perhaps math(dill + matzo balls) could be something…
I miss blog posts like this. Thanks for sharing.
Here’s a pro tip: You don’t have to cut up the chicken first. You can just chuck it in the stock pot whole. Your soup looks delicious, those little glowing pearls of schmaltz, yummmm.
Important question from your Jewish followers: are you a fan of floaters or sinkers when it comes to matzah balls? Consider your answer carefully! 😜
I love them both. If I’m forced to choose, I guess it would be sinkers, because that’s the way I remember my great grandmother making them when I was a young.
I’m similarly thrilled by the news of LEGO finally getting some Star Trek builds. That would be AMAZING to have Wesley as a minifig! I also have the Endurance set on my horizon (got it for Christmas), and my husband is getting the classic Batmobile for his birthday in a week.
Can’t wait to hear about your project in March!
I’ve been a fan of Fallout 4 for YEARS (even though I’m terrible at video games… I’m also cozy game kind of person so I don’t have to fight) but I’ve always heard negative things about Fallout 76… you have inspired me to go play it. I have Playstation + so I’m gonna go look for it! Thanks!!
Fantastic catch up post! Congrats on your professional moves. I trust they’ll all turn out wonderfully! I will absolutely give the MS chicken soup recipe a try and will be on the lookout for these rumored LEGO sets. Very exciting, indeed! Stay safe out there.
Soup looks great!
Love that you love legos
My boyfriend is working on tuxedo cat. Has built chess set, guitar and amp, corvette with working parts, and thanos glove from marvel.
All displayed proudly in lighted cabinets.
Thanks for having me.
I am delighted to know that you have new audio books coming out! I was recently doubly delighted to find that you narrated a part of the Amber series written by Roger Zelazny. The Amber series has been a favorite of mine for years. I am sure you don’t need me to tell you that your narration was wonderful but your narration was wonderful! Thank you so much for bringing a loved story to life!
I enjoyed this post – and I’ll echo most other folks saying I love a pointer to a quality recipe on the Internet. There is so many iffy recipes out there, having a pointer from a trusted source is definitely valuable, so tell your voice to shut the F* up!
I, for one, am glad you shared that soup recipe!
“but not me! Bill Junior was a DAREDEVIL! Just like his old man.” This is why I come here. Everyone knows a burrow owl lives in a hole.
Oven chicken stock will change your life, Wil. I promise. I make this about once every 6 weeks because we use chicken stock in everything around here.
1 whole roasting chicken (try to get one without added salt/water).
1 whole yellow onion, cut in half (skin/paper and all)
3-4 carrots, unpeeled
3-4 stalks of celery (I use the hearts from a bunch)
1 whole lemon (cut in half)
3 bay leaves (good ones that still have that strong bay scent)
Roast the chicken in the oven. You dont’ have to be fancy with it. Put it in any kind of ovenproof pan, set the oven to 400 and roast it for about an hour. You don’t need to butter it or season it or anything. Very basic.
Take your roasted chicken out of the oven and strip all the meat off of it. Set the meat aside to use later in … everything. Soup. Enchiladas. Whatever.
Put everything leftover, skin, bones, and all the fat in a large, oven safe stock pot. I think most cookware sets come with a 6 quart pot which will work, or if you have one, an 8 quart pot. Scrape all the drippings and brown stuff off the baking sheet and add that to the pot.
Add everything else to the pot. Don’t peel anything (wash the produce, of course). Just chunk it all in there.
Add water to within 1″ of the top of the pot.
Set the oven to 210F. Put the lid on the pot and put the pot in the oven. Leave it for 12 hours. (I put mine in at night and pull it out in the morning, but you can do the same putting it in first thing in the morning and then pulling it out at night.)
You’ll know you’ve done it right if the bones are crumbly and soft. That means you’ve pulled out all the good gelatin and minerals and you’ll have a really rich and flavorful stock.
Strain off the liquid. Some of it will have evaporated, but not a lot. From a 6 quart pot you should get ~18 or 20 cups or a little over 4 quarts of stock. I portion it out in quart sized mason jars and freeze them, then when I’m making anything that needs stock, I can just pop a jar in the microwave. You’ll never go back to store bought stock again.
Oh, I have to try this! Thank you, Kara. I don’t always make stock, but I often keep all the trimmings from various vegetables and such in the freezer for whenever I actually do make it. I shall be attempting oven stock soon!
Oh, and you can skim off the fat from the stock and save it to cook with, too. Schmaltz is amazing stuff.
Cooking is so good for you, making people happy with food, making up your own recipes, perfection!
First, thanks for introducing me to The Ministry of Time. I jut finished the first chapter, and I love it! I agree with you that Bradley’s use of words is inspiring. PS I always love books with maps!
Second, just wanted to say that I try time and again to make good chicken soup, usually a big fail for me. I have even poisoned myself a couple of times. So, I’m now gonna* try Martha Stewart’s recipe. Here’s hoping.
*How’s that for inspired use of words?
Congrats on all the things! I like this for you!
Next, you’ll be using the recipe that starts with a fertile egg and an incubator!
Both of your next Lego builds sound amazing.
Exciting news about the legs. On the cooking side I don’t tend to add salt to anything whilst I cook and don’t notice the difference. I use other herbs and spices for flavour.
Wil, I think something weird is going on with your website. When I type in https://wilwheaton.net, it says SORRY!
If you are the owner of this website, please contact your hosting provider: [email protected]
It is possible you have reached this page because: (followed by 3 troubleshooting steps). It’s as if the URL is being redirected to a broken link or something. I was only able to get here by googling your name and clicking on the old WWDN In Exile page, then clicking on the link to WWDN (which is the exact same URL as I typed in to begin with). I use MS Edge, so it could be an issue with that browser, but I’ve replicated this issue on two different devices. I am not very tech literate, so I don’t know what the issue could be, and for all I know it’s a skill issue on my end, but I thought you’d want a heads up.
My wife and I just backed the lasted Martin Hench Audiobook. Your naration is a big part of the reason for us backing all the Martin Hench books. My wife especially loves to listen to you reading the books.
Awesome! It’s some of the best work I have ever done, and it is such a wonderful story.
Keep looking for and being a helper, enjoy the Lego (and I’m so excited about TNG set!), happy for your upcoming works, and contrary to what you said, that chicken soup is VERY MUCH worth writing about. I have a cookbook with that recipe in it and have loved it.
These are times when chicken soup is needed for the mind, body, and soul. Be well. <3
Nice Lego set. Looks just like the real thing.
I too played Fallout 4. A lot. I love the Settlement Building and wish for a different ending that the options in the game. I also played Fallout 76 when it first came out, and reached a point that I needed to work with other people, got headphones, and then was sexually harassed. Gamer Girl here. So I stopped playing until recently. It is a much better place now. I’m glad you are enjoying it too.
Oh man, I’ve been subscribed for so many years, but don’t think I’ve ever commented? But returning to blogs feels a bit magical. Thanks for what amounts to a refreshing slice of life post. Your holiday post helped me get through a hard time as well. Wishing you the best.
Shipping can be a bit expensive if your order is too small, and it’s not genuine LEGO, but:
https://www.bluebrixx.com/en/sets/star_trek
I do all the cooking for our household as well. <3
Thanks for being a light in the darkness right now.
I’m making chicken soup in the crock pot right now! I added MSG along with salt. Try it next time! Your soup look delish and the matzo ball is perfect (Jewish girl approves). I’m going to cook some jasmine rice to add to the soup tonight for dinner. Thank you for always being here for us!
I just made a chicken ravioli herb soup that turned out really well(minus the chicken, cannot have a lot of protein), I love reading about your cooking adventures.
Hey, now; the chicken soup part was my favorite part, though largely because of the bit I totally heard in Rodney Anonymous’s voice. You know what, Wil? I like you. You’re not like the other people here, in the trailer park.
I used to hate to cook and rarely did it, other than some baking, which I’ve always enjoyed. In the past 2 years, I’ve really grown a love for cooking and I’m always looking for new recipes to try out. So thank you for sharing your experience with Martha’s chicken soup recipe!
On another note, I am not a Lego person but I would absolutely invest in anything they made that was TNG related, ESPECIALLY if it included Wesley!
Also, I named my sourdough starter Wil Wheaton, with an emphasis on the T.