Adventures of a tribal dancer...

First, the recipe as originally written, from this PDF. I have transcribed it at the end of this post, in case the link ever dies.

What I Actually Did

Overnight poolish (ingredients for one)

250g all purpose flour
250g cool whey (straight from the fridge)
1g Active Dry Yeast

Remaining ingredients

240g bread flour
30g hard white wheat flour (stone ground)
8g salt
6g Active Dry Yeast
125g warm whey (microwaved until warm to the touch)
50g honey
50g butter, softened

Let poolish rest under cling wrap in a bowl for 14+ hours up to 24 hours. Warm whey in microwave at half power until warm to the touch, not hot. Add honey and yeast and stir to incorporate. Let rest 10 minutes. Measure out other flours and ingredients into large tub so there is room for the rise. Add softened butter to melt in warm whey/yeast mix. Incorporate whey mix and poolish gently into the flour and salt in the tub. Mix and squish until dry ingredients incorporated well. Does not need to be perfect, will be pretty shaggy and sticky. Using water on your hand helps, but still this stuff sticks.

Cover and proof over 3-4 hours. In first 90 minutes, stretch dough every 30 minutes, pulling up edges and folding into middle. Then just let it do its thing until you're ready for the final rest. It will double or triple in size beautifully!

Pre-heat French or Dutch oven in 500* degree oven (475 is fine, I usually account for lost heat during the time I transfer the dough, keeping the oven open for a minute or so).

For this final rest, gently transfer dough onto floured surface. Stretch gluten cloak however you like. In this recipe, it pulls from the edges up to the middle, putting the "pretty" side on the bottom. You can also do it more traditionally, pulling the edges under, so the stretched gluten cloak is on top. So, too, when putting in a proofing basket, you can do it pretty side down or pretty side up. When transferring to your French oven, you can do it either way as well.

HOW I DID IT: I did as the recipe called for, pretty side down to stretch and proof in the basket on a well-flowered cloth. When turning out, I turned it pretty-side-up onto a piece of parchment paper. I sliced the top in a swirl with a wet knife. Using the parchment paper, I lifted it gently into the French oven and covered with the lid.

Decrease temp to 475 after transferring the dough. 35 minutes lid on, 10-15 minutes lid off until deep golden brown. Remove from French oven using the parchment paper as a sling, remove parchment paper and let rest on a cooling rack for 10-20 minutes. Don't cut in too early! You want it to cool enough that the crumb settles. This last bit of steam from the oven needs to stay trapped in there to have the bounciest crumb.

* Bottom of my bread turned a burned color, but did not taste overly burned. I think I would just have it at 475 the whole time after all, so the bottom doesn't get heated so much.

*************************************************

Original Recipe

Overnight poolish (ingredients for one)

250g strong white flour
250g cool whey
0.5g dried yeast or 2g fresh yeast

Remaining ingredients

175g strong white flour
60g strong wholemeal flour 30g
dark rye flour
8g salt
2g dried yeast or 6g fresh yeast
125g warm whey (40ºC)
50g honey
50g butter, softened

Method

The evening before mix the poolish ingredients in a large bowl so that the mixture will have 12 to 14 hours fermentation at around 20/22ºC.

Next day start by dissolving the yeast and honey in a little of the warm whey and leave for 10 minutes. Meanwhile weigh out the remaining flours, salt and butter. Add the remaining flours, salt, butter in small pieces and warm whey to the poolish and mix by squishing between your fingers. Wet your hands first so the dough doesn’t stick.

The dough is going to prove now for 3 to 4 hours, kept warm and covered. At the start of this time give the dough 3 folds at 30 minute intervals. Make the folds by going round the dough (in the bowl) pulling the dough up and out as far as it will go without tearing then folding it back into the middle.

At the end of the proving, ease the dough out onto a floured surface. If you are making two boules now is the time to divide the dough. Go round the dough pulling an edge gently away from the centre then folding it lightly back into the centre. Do this till you have a neat high mound of dough.

Lay the dough, pretty side down in a well floured proving basket or bowl lined with a well floured tea towel. Let it prove for about 40 minutes in a warm and moist place (covering the dough bowl with a larger bowl works). Around 20 minutes in advance heat the oven to 240ºC with the casserole plus lid. Gently tip the dough onto floured work surface.

Take the (VERY HOT) casserole out of the oven, pick up the dough with well floured hands and ease it into the pot. Replace the casserole lid Bake at 230°C (fan 220ºC) for 35 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 25 minutes.

Overnight poolish ingredients for two: (literally just double all ingredients)

home neighbors

Neighborhood Happy Hour Joy

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Tuesday, August 30, 2022

ASL culture Deaf

Evolution of Language: ASL

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Wednesday, July 27, 2022

My friend Jonobie shared this excellent NYT article over on Facebook by Amanda Morris, a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). This touches on something I have been experiencing--and MOSTLY enjoying--about re-engaging with my Deaf culture studies and studying ASL again.

I was in an interpreter program back in the 90's in Seattle. At that time in my school, social justice, gender identity, and even LGBTQ+ signs were not in common use enough to be taught as part of the program. So I never learned terms for concepts we use more commonly today, like "trans" or "gender identity", or even the phrase "social justice" itself! Emergent phrases like "Black Lives Matter" have been added and changed in just the last few years and are now common parlance, but still not universally settled upon. For instance, I learned from my Deaf black ASL instructor to use the term "cherish", while others use the term "important" in the same phrase. And there may be different signs for concepts based on if you are a member of that culture or not. The sign for "Black" in this same phrase has a variant which may be used by POC, but is not appropriate for white people to use--like using "the n word" is okay for those of the culture and definitely NOT if you aren't. ASL has similar rules.

I took a short class last summer which was taught by a Deaf Queer drag queen, and there was a lot of emphasis on these newer signs and increasingly common-use concepts. My instructor before that, at the beginning of the pandemic, was a queer black woman, and she, too, gave us a lot of social justice vocabulary. These were concepts that were important for all of us to learn quickly, given the George Floyd demonstrations were going on all over the globe and the landscape of language was shifting before our eyes as history was being made.

This article touches on the sign for phone right from the jump, which is familiar to me. My signs for phone, computer, video, and more were all outdated. My sign for dog was already a hybridization of the old and the new sign, so now I can just drop the awkward first half (patting the thigh), which doesn't read on camera. And some common concepts don't even have agreed-upon signs yet. For instance, some people spell out "Netflix", while some regional signs have popped up. No single one of these has been widely adopted enough yet to settle into the lexicon. Somewhat related to this, I recently learned that the Art Director at Amazon, Michael Nesmith, is Deaf--a fact I discovered when I went to look up if a sign had been codified for Amazon. He made a video showing how they sign it internally. (He also has a TED Talk on the importance of Universal Design, HERE).

My teachers have been great about imparting this information, often showing the old and new sign side by side and helping explain why the change, if it wasn't obvious. And there are still localized variants, where from teacher to teacher I learned different signs because of where they first learned ASL, or what their immediate community have adopted. Thanks to the ubiquity of online remote learning, in the past two years I have taken classes with teachers in Michigan, Rhode Island, and once even from Mexico. Their vocabulary and teaching approaches have all been unique, and I have found incredible value in this diversity of experiences to draw from.

All that is a longform way of saying that while it is challenging at times, I am for the most part enjoying seeing my own time-capsule understanding of ASL now evolving 25 years later. It can be challenging to change something ingrained for so long, but I can't help but be excited by seeing how language changes and adapts to the communities it serves.

Bonus link: A NYT article, also by Amanda Morris, about origins and meaning of ASL name signs.

beef instant pot italian pasta recipes

Shredded Beef Ragu - like grandma used to make! (sort of)

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Sunday, July 10, 2022

death family livejournal

Dear beautiful grandma...

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Wednesday, June 29, 2022

From my Livejournal, April 25, 2005

So I woke up today to phones ringing. I hate phones ringing. The night my father died, I knew that call was important because not only was it late, but first my home phone rang....then my cell phone...then my work phone. Anyone who has all those and tries them has something important to tell me. It was never THAT important until the night they called to tell me my Dad was dead.
So when the home phone, then my cell phone, then my work phone rang, I was checking to see who it was as Chris' cell phone rang. It was my sister and I called her back. Seems Grandma has pneumonia, and they have her on antibiotics. But when Ev consulted G-mas wishes for life-saving measures, she lists antibiotics as a no-no. Ev was calling all of us sibs to poll us as to whether we believed the page said what it said, and how we wanted to handle it. We are all in agreement that this would be a life-saving measure she has asked not to be given. So we are telling the doctors to stop giving her antibiotics, and we will see how she does...

Ev was in "practical" mode, and commented that it would probably hit her hard later. I told her if she needed company, Chris and I would come be with her. Ev had moved G-ma to a facility in Des Moines, and has been staying nearby all week. She took us up on it, and after a late breakfast we drove down to see G-ma and Ev. Ev had had a really hard cry before we got there, and was back in practical mode.

Grandma is small and tired, but of good color. She can't really speak, and is not really cognizant anyway. She would sometimes nod, sometimes mumble something, would freak out if you tried to move her even a little bit, and looked so tiny in that bed. She didn't seem to recognize me at all, and was fading in and out of sleep, partly due to a combination of vicodin and oxycontin they have her on for her hip pain. She is also sometimes on oxygen, being given insulin a few times a day due to abnormally high blood sugar levels, and goes on a medicated breather a couple times a day to help keep the plegm in her chest from solidifying. She trembles a lot, and has a look like she wants to say something, but says nothing, and her eyes drift shut.

I sat on the bed and held her hand, studying her face. Even as drawn and marked as it is at this time, she is so beautiful to me. Her silver and black hair so sparse on her head now, so silky to the touch as I stroked it and looked at her. I wonder what she thought of this stranger touching her with such familiarity and gazing at her with a half-smile as I did, but she didn't push me away or seem irritated by me. As I stroked her hair, she seemed to drift into a comfortable sleep, but her eyes would pop open when I stopped. Her skin felt soft and elsatic, but fragile and thin. Her lips tremble a lot, and her brow furrows in frustration, but her eyes don't focus on things much, and she lays awkwardly in the bed doing nothing. She can't hear you unless you lean in and yell, and I fear I will startle her if I do that too much. Hell, the sound of my own voice sounds so harsh and startling to my own ears in this quiet place. I feel completely at a loss as to what I am supposed to do. So I just try to touch her and let her know I am there...somehow.

We go grab an afternoon snack at Anthony's in the Marina, sitting in the spring sunshine having a drink to calm our nerves. We talk amiably, and enjoy the smell of flowers and ocean. We drop back in on Grandma briefly to see how she is doing, and she is unchanged. The nurse comes in and pokes her harshly with an insulin needle. Grandma, startled and pained, yelps out, her trembling fingers trying to reach the point of the puncture, but not having the strength to rub her wound. She begins to cry, and Ev wipes her tears and tells her it's okay. "We're here, Grandma," she says, stroking her hair back and kissing her forehead. "We're here. Calm down. It's okay." I hold her hand and feel helpless.

Ev is gentle and patient with Grandma. She puts on her oxygen tube, and sits her up slowly. She is obviously wanting to hear something from Grandma. Some sign that she is lucent, and understands what choices are being made. At one point, Grandma's eyes take on a brief, seconds-long clarity, and she quietly but clearly says, "I understand..." and trails off. "You understand what, Grandma?" Evelyn yells, taking her hand in her own and kissing it gently. "I understand..." but she can't seem to finish the thought, let alone get the breath in her fluid filled lungs to finish a sentence. Unspoken, I know we both wish we could believe she was saying she understands that she is on the brink of the abyss, and she understands that we won't pull her back because she asked us not to. We hope that her words mean she understands that we love her, and that we want the best for her. That we don't want her to go, and in our hearts know that she wants to go, and so we will let her. We pray that it is her somehow surfacing from the deep waters of her muddled consciousness to tell us "It's okay." But there is no guarantee that her words meant anything at all...

We decide to head to Saltwater beach park for a stroll. We take our cameras, but there is little of interest to photograph. We chat, pet dogs, and leave. We aren't hungry yet for our favorite Chinese restaurant, our intended dinner destination, so we need to kill some time. We decided to drive around Burien, looking at how much it has changed since we lived there. We go past the old house I lived in after Evelyn had long since moved away. We drive past schools and shops, reminiscing about our childhood, and marvelling, as we always do, how two sisters' lives can be so different thanks to the 10 years that separate our age. And yet, so much of what we remember is the same. Like Wah Ku's, were we head next.

We eat a meal far too large to be eaten so soon after our appetizers and beers on the deck, but it's so delicious we can't stop eating. We roll out of there with overfull bellies and a bag full of leftovers to last several days' lunches. Chris and I drive Evelyn back to the facility, and go up to see if Grandma is awake. But she's not. She is bright red--too hot from the coating of blankets they have on her. Evelyn gently peels back the blankets and wakes Grandma to say hello, but she is too tired to open her eyes more than a second or two. I sit on the bed and rest my palm on her forehead. "Ooh, you're cold," she mumbles and almost smiles. She never opens her eyes and she doesn't say anything else. I tell Ev I don't want to bother her any more, and we say our goodbyes and leave.

On the drive home, Chris asks me how I am doing. I can't find enough words to thank him for being there all day. Never once seeming impatient, or mentioning the dozen errands we were supposed to run that day. He doesn't bring up the work he was supposed to do this afternoon, and instead has to go into work early tomorrow to complete. He never sighed heavily, trying to let me know how much he would rather be someplace else. He never did the things I would do in his shoes. I am unworthy...in the best most blessed way. I want to be more like my husband. He is a good man, and a remarkable human being....

So that was my day. I got to see my beautiful Grandmother. Maybe she saw me. I think in some way she did. I hope to see her again before the end. I do and I don't... I was pleased to realize as I studied her face that I would not only remember her this way. that was my greatest fear. That the image of her today, weak and delirious, would scar my other memories of her. But it didn't. I added it o my memories. She was beautiful...

kitchen products recommended

Shay's Totally Mundane Product Recommendations - Food Waste Bin

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Thursday, June 09, 2022

I will never be an influencer, for many reasons. But a primary reason is my recommendations would be so utterly mundane. So here I am, sharing a couple awesome products I have enjoyed, which are very, very boring indeed.

FOOD WASTE CONTAINER - Joseph Joseph Stack 4L Food Waste Caddy

I have had many food waste container solutions. The most common one I see around is roughly the shape of a scaled down garbage can, looking like any minute a scaled down muppet would pop out of the top. I always felt that those were too narrow at the top, and larger food waste wouldn't fit well. They were otherwise fine, but just didn't work well for me.

When I moved into the new house, I tried an OXO brand one which was more of a tall rectangular shape. It was better, but had no filter or way for it to breathe, so everything inside would get very soggy in short order. And though it looked fine, it was a bit more utilitarian than I had hoped for something that will sit prominently on my counter in an open concept kitchen.

Some algorithm got me with this one, from of all places World Market. I found it on Amazon at a similar price, free Prime shipping, and would arrive a week sooner, so I grabbed it. And I instantly knew it was what I was looking for! It even solved problems I wasn't seeking to solve, not knowing there WAS a solution to those issues.

Firstly it looks great. The color I love, and the form factor is a bit more modern and sleek. The plastic is matte and sturdy, and the handle is stainless steel. It all feels very strong and well-built. There is a filter in it, and replacement filters are cheap and easy to come by, but check out the filter SYSTEM. It doesn't have giant holes where fruit flies and other critters are drawn to it. There are hidden side ventilation for intake, and the top ventilation and filter area is very low profile, under the brand nameplate on top. It allows it to breathe, but without the gaping holes.

But the solution I didn't seek, but was glad to find, is the rim which hides the excess bag hanging over the edges, AND secures the bag in place more snugly. They have their own branded bags which fit more precisely, but we use Bio Bags. The rim/lid lifts off, you put on the bag, there is a little hole to tuck any excess bag edge into to hide it and make a more snug fit, then slip the rim/lid back on. Voila. Looks great, stays put. And bonus, separating the lid from the body makes both easier to clean.

So that's my Very Mundane recommendation today. If you aren't into the Amazons, this is sold many other places online and in store. And there is a door caddy version as well, which is slimmer and hangs inside a cabinet. Go forth and cook!

illness migraines personal

Not Me Any More?

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Saturday, June 04, 2022

breakfast recipes sauces

Shay's Hollandays...er...Hollandaise.

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Sunday, May 29, 2022

construction home whimsy

NEW CONSTRUCTION - we're doing it again!

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Tuesday, May 10, 2022

crock pot easy meals meal prep Mexican pork recipes slow cooker

Slow Cooker Shredded Pork

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Monday, May 09, 2022

My favorite, easiest food-prep thing is making a giant pork shoulder--as big as I can fit in the slow cooker--shredding it, portioning some of it for this week and some for the freezer. This takes me about 10 minutes of prep on the front end, and 10 on the back to shred and portion. The rest is waiting on the slow cooker to cook it up, and at the end waiting for it to cool down before portioning.

Last week being Cinco de Mayo, the grocery store had large bone-in Boston pork butt on a wicked sale, so I got one. It was so big (around 6 lbs), I had to throw out a small hank of meat I could not get to fit in the slow-cooker and keep the lid tight. You can cut think into 2-3 hunks of meat if it helps to fit it into your slow cooker.

Rub with cumin, rosemary, garlic powder, salt, pepper. Cinnamon and any hot spice you like also goes well (cayenne, chili powder, whatever).

Place pork fat cap up in slow cooker.

Toss in 6-8 crushed garlic cloves, a rough chopped white or yellow onion, and if you have oranges and/or limes, juice one or both, and throw the orange peel in with it (never the lime peel/rind, it can be bitter).

Pour in a 1/2 to 1 cup of chicken stock, or water if you don't have that. If I know I plan to have this as carnitas, I will pour in a jar of green salsa as well minus some to put on the tacos later. If you want to keep it more neutral, just stick with the ingredients I already mentioned.

Cover. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, high for 5-6 hours. I try to go the full 10 whenever possible, or start with two hours on high, then drop to low to speed it up a little and land somewhere between these timings. Unlike some cuts of meat, I have never ever had any issue with going too long with pork shoulder when on low, so you can finesse this.

Pull pork out with tongs and transfer to a wide, shallow dish or baking pan to cool a bit. If you did it right, it will absolutely crumble to bits as you're pulling it out because it is so moist. Shred, then add back some of the cooking liquid and stir up.

IF EATING NOW:
If eating any or all of this now, put whatever amount you want onto a baking tray and you can throw this baby under the broiler to get some crispy bits going. Turn frequently with tongs to get more crispy bits.

IF FOOD PREP FOR LATER:
If you don't plan to eat this now and just are prepping for days and weeks ahead, let cool enough to portion into ziplocks/freezer bags, label accordingly, and voila! You have a bunch of delicious meals done with minimal hands-on time. Just defrost and either crisp in a pan or under a broiler before serving with your desired accompaniments.

Serve up for tacos, burritos, BBQ sandwiches, whatever. I love to crisp some up and serve with avocado and a fried egg on top for breakfast. YUM!

adulting cleaning tips

ADULTING: CLEANING TIP

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Friday, May 06, 2022

Friends, I really really wish someone had told me about this decades ago. Well, some of them did I am sure, but it sounded too simple to work, so I glossed over it. But now I have tried it and can say firsthand it works just as great as they say (and reading the comments below the blog post shows even more effusive praise).

Literally, simply this:

Mix 1 part Dawn dish soap, 1 part vinegar, put in spray bottle
Spray evenly on surface, let sit a moment or 5
Wipe down with sponge or moist cloth
Rinse
Nearly weep with joy

Our new shower is all glass...6+ feet of glass tall and wide. It's a lot of glass. We got a special coating on it which is supposed to help combat soap scum, and we also use an after-shower spray on all surfaces. But of course, nothing can stop soap scum completely.

When we started to get build-up, we were worried that the special coating we were using would be damaged if we used anything too harsh. We had tried Windex and gentle bathroom cleaners for the last few months to try to clean up the soap scum that was accumulating; but it wasn't working, and the build-up continued to get worse. Given this seamless glass it is kind of a showpiece of the bathroom, I was getting sick of looking at it like that. So in desperation, I thought it couldn't hurt to just TRY this. It's cheap, I had the ingredients in my house right now, so what could it hurt?

Like, yo. YO. Do it. I used it on the glass, on the tiles, on the floor. It's...magic? I don't know. For something so simple, why aren't more people in my life using this and absolutely **crowing** about it? Stop buying all the cleaning stuff you've ben trying up to now and try this NOW. I am going to try it on my toilets, too, which several commenters said they started doing to great effect.
WARNING: DO NOT USE ON NATURAL STONE. Vinegar is too caustic and catch etch those surfaces. But on pretty much every other surface, it should be fine.

DAMN I wish I had this at our old house with the vintage tub which I could never get clean. I used Soft Scrub with bleach and a lot of elbow grease and still never got that tub "clean" by my standards (and my standards aren't that high, the tub was that bad). I wonder if this would have done the trick back then...
Anyway, all that to say: try this! Let me know how it works for you! Because it was a minor miracle for us.

Link to one of many blogs about this, including some extra tips:
https://saraheverafter.com/the-best-homemade-soap-scum-remover

games gaming video games

My Oculus Meta Quest Game Recommendations

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Thursday, May 05, 2022

My awesome husband gifted me a 128G Oculus 1 in September of 2020 for my birthday. In less than 6 months after that, I decided to upgrade to the Oculus Quest 2 256G version, as I was already filling my headset with games such that I was running out of space. In the intervening time, I have gotten a gaggle of friends to purchase the Quest 2, which is now known as the Meta Quest 2, and have tried and fallen in love with many many games.

Recently some friends got new headsets, and I realized it would be helpful to list some of my favorite titles. I will break them into four categories: Movement & Music, Action & Shooters, Casual & Social, and Puzzle & Story. I am not really into sports games generally speaking, so you won't find much in that category for me, and what could be loosely called "sport" games I would put into Casual & Social.

In a future post, I am also going to list my top favorite accessories for the Meta Quest 2, to make game playing more comfortable, and so you can play longer!

Movement & Music

Beat Saber - $29.99
While it is not my favorite of the category, in my opinion, it is one of the must-haves for every Quest owner. It is a great intro to movement and rhythm games, has a good tutorial, has a reasonable footprint to play in (so small spaces won't keep you from playing it), and various play options to tailor your experience and level up as you gain skill. The base music catalog is not my favorite, but it'll get you moving, and there are a lot of DLC (downloadable content) in-app to expand your repertoire, including Imagine Dragons, Green Day, and most recently Billie Eilish.

Note: Beat Saber does not support custom song maps natively, but it can be done via SideQuest. However, it does break periodically when BS updates their software and the third party app that allows custom songs hasn't updated yet. And even then you have to go through SideQuest to set it all up again. I don't use custom songs for BS for this reason.

SynthRiders - $24.99
This is my favorite of the category, in both play style and music catalog. Bonus: it supports custom songs natively! So my catalog of available music is large for this title. I feel most like I am actually dancing in this one, vs Beat Saber which feels more like a sword-wielding ninja. It offers similar customizable experiences, where you can dial up or down the difficulty by changing the difficulty level, adding or removing barriers, 90 degree and 180 degree play, etc.

Others:
I have tried Pistol Whip, Smash Drums, Audio Trip, Supernatural, FitXR, and Dance Central. I just wasn't into them as much as these top two I recommend. Pistol Whip is fun for a shooting game, but isn't as exciting as a rhythm game; and there are simply shooters I like better. Audio Trip is most similar to SynthRiders, but I found the game mechanics less enjoyable for me. Supernatural and FitXR are really for, well, fitness. I LIKE that I get fitness benefits from my rhythm games, but it isn't why I play them. I play them because they are fun, but the fitness part is more incidental. And Dance Central I might enjoy more socially, but just wasn't fun for me solo, so I returned it. Your mileage may vary!

Action & Shooters

The Walking Dead - Saints and Sinners - $39.99
This is probably my favorite title on the platform, and it bridges between action/shooter and story. The story here is incredibly rich, the voice acting top notch, your sense of place is strong. You will be solving some puzzles and doing a lot of decision-making in conversation trees that will drive your unique story, and there are multiple endings to explore. But make no mistake: this is an action game where you will be sneaking, running for safety, stabbing wildly with whatever you have handy, and shooting guns you find and make. This game experience includes resource gathering and crafting elements as well, which are top of class. It scares the hell out of me, and I couldn't stop playing it until I had played it all the way through. Then they released bonus content and more story, and I choked back my fear and dove back in. Utterly addicting. Premium price tag, yes, but for a game that will deliver 100% and then some. (And another chapter is coming soon! AHHHH! CAN'T WAIT!)

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge - $24.99
SW: TFGE + DLC Bundle - $34.98
A longer title than even the full Vader Immortal Series combined (see below), and with more varied action and storytelling. You will visit a bevy of locations from the movies, picking up weaponry and money along the way. You'll buy upgraded equipment, make allies, and enjoy some side-quest fun in the form of finding colorful droid units as easter eggs in the environment. There is full questing in this one, and unlock-able achievements to keep the completionist in you happy for hours on end. I prefer this title over Vader Immortal--and there is certainly more content here--but it will be more challenging for casual gamers. If you want a more dip-your-toe storytelling experience with a little action, try Vader Immortal. If you're into the action as a primary player, this is the better choice, IMHO.

Vader Immortal Series - $29.97
You can buy each chapter individually for $9.99, but if playing in a virtual Star Wars universe interests you even a little, just get the whole thing. Around May 4th, it often goes on sale for 50% off (like right now), but I'd pay full price for this myself without complaint if I have the money. Each chapter has you playing through a short story, with you as a lightsaber-wielding protagonist. There is some light puzzling here, but largely you will be exploring, climbing, and waging battle against various enemies. The battles are not difficult, so even those who aren't familiar with this genre of gameplay will feel like the hero they were meant to be. Excellent graphics and voice acting.

Drop Dead: Dual Strike - $14.99
Good old fashioned shoot-em-up! Take the zombies out in various environments, from farms and cellars, to desert canyons and evil scientist lairs. This game is "on rails", which means it will bring you from point A to point B, and you don't have control over the path like you would in an open world like Walking Dead: S&S (above). Various zombies come at you from 180-270 degrees around you, and you'll use a myriad of guns and melee weapons to take them out. At the end of each chapter, you get a star rating for accuracy and speed, so if you like arcade style shooting games where you can replay levels to improve your score, this will be right up your alley.

Puzzle & Story

This is my favorite category of gaming, so you're gonna get a lot of suggestions here.

Puzzling Places - $14.99
I have been playing this since it was $4.99 on SideQuest, and backed their Patreon for months before their full release title. A full release which I gladly paid for all over again, and am enjoying the bells and whistles they added to the experience. Through the magic of 3D photogrammetry, the developers have created an interactive, immersive puzzle experience that I find incredibly challenging and relaxing at the same time. I love how this game gives me locations and objects to try to assemble, encouraging me to really appreciate the smallest details. A small corner of carpet I may never have appreciated before is suddenly my sole focus as I try to find its place is a palace sitting room scene. A particular shape of a rooftop in a faraway country demands my utter concentration as I seek the villa it belongs to. The full release added ambient soundscapes from the location of the photo, so you can hear music from the harpsichord, or bustling traffic and children playing from the park. You can choose easier or harder challenges by choosing your puzzle be split into fewer or more pieces.

This title overlaps between puzzle and casual, because it really is the kind of casual game you can just pick up and put down anytime you feel like it. but obviously...it's literally puzzles!

Red Matter - $24.99
This is right up among my top experiences on the Quest. It is a story-driven puzzle game set in a dystopian future, as an astronaut sent to a moon of Saturn to investigate...shenanigans. The graphics are excellent, the story engaging, and the puzzles just the right level of difficulty to make it challenging but not tear your hair out. It is suspenseful without being stressful, and does not rely on jump-scare type action to create a sense of foreboding. I was so sad when I was finished, wanting more; and the good news is, it is so popular a game, they are making a Red Matter 2!

Note: Some people said they got motion sickness from the movement style of this game, but I am sensitive to that and I did not personally experience that.

Down the Rabbit Hole - $19.99
I am a sucker for Alice in Wonderland themed games, and this one does it justice. If you like games like Moss, you'll appreciate the immersive environment and charming characters in this puzzler. It is clever how it draws you in, the artwork is playful and lovely, and the puzzles are right in the middle of the difficulty spectrum. Hidden collectibles throughout as well, to get you really scouring your environments, which are deep and beautiful.

The Room VR: A Dark Matter - $29.99
I have played every The Room game available from Fireproof Games, so knew I was going to really love this game. 3D environment with physical puzzles to solve, in order to unlock...more puzzles! If you want to know if this type of game is to your liking before sinking $30 into it, the original The Room is something like $.99 to put on an iPad or smart phone. $4.99 each for the next three titles, as of this writing. It is low on story, but high in ambiance. Beautiful environments, creative puzzles. And the VR chapter of this series delivers on everything I love about the original series of games.

A Fisherman's Tale - $14.99
This is a title developed by a French team, and their unique approach to the art and puzzle mechanics shines through. It is just so CLEVER. The way you interact with the environments is like nothing I have ever played before, and will have you feel like Alice in Wonderland (no relation to Down the Rabbit Hole above LOL). Let's just say you bend the laws of physics to achieve your goals.

Time Stall - $14.99
In A Fishermans' Tale you bend physics, but in this title, you bend time. You are on board a futuristic space liner, and the robots have gone rogue. Using a limited ability to slow time, you can avert disaster by leveraging items in your environment to undermine the robot's murderous intentions. The game is cheeky and slap-sticky, and it will get your heart racing in the best way possible.

The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets - $9.99
Guided by your grandfather's voice, unravel the mystery of the stolen pets! A story-supported puzzler, with adorable miniature claymation-style environments to interact with as you try to solve the physical puzzles. This one can be fun to play with hand tracking, which makes you feel even more immersed in the scenes. While it misses the tactile feedback from the grips, it frees you in other ways-- turning, pinching, grabbing, nudging. And the environment itself encourages you to bend down, lean in, peek into and around obstacles to see all the details. Really adorable.

Ghost Giant - $24.99
A gorgeous game with a bit of a heavy story from Swedish developers Zoink Games. You really enter the world, reaching through the 4th wall to share in the environment with the characters. Similar to Moss, in that you will manipulate the environment for your tiny protagonist to be able to solve various puzzles. The world often offers dioramas you can turn to examine and interact with to discover what needs to be done to advance the story. I said heavy story, but don't let that scare you off. It is ultimately a story of courage and hope, and worth every minute spent helping your little friend in his time of need.

Shadow Point - $19.99
Let's be honest. They had me at Patrick Stewart narrating it. But the game itself has a unique puzzle mechanic in using shadows and mirror images to manipulate your environments, unfolding a story chapter by chapter.

Casual & Social

AltSpace - FREE
This is a free platform for world building and social connection. Which means it will have its downsides, too (people online can be awful, but the community here is one of the best I've experienced in VR, truly). It is strange at first to talk to people in VR, and I was very shy when I started out. Luckily, I stuck with it, figured out what kind of spaces I wanted to occupy, and what experiences I wanted to seek out, and fell in love with it. Some of my favorite things to do is attend lectures or poetry readings, and go to "the movies"--virtual movie theaters playing blockbuster movies. I got to watch a rocket launch in real time in a space dedicated to learning about modern space travel, complete with a museum full of ship models, bios on astronauts, and more. There are virtual art installations, nightclubs, escape rooms/mazes, and classrooms to learn new things. Every day is different, so keep an eye on upcoming events to pop in and check out what you're interested in! (downside, you must create or have a Microsoft account for login to this platform. Microsoft purchased them not long ago, and made it a requirement.)

Walkabout Mini Golf - $14.99
This is just casual, social fun. Carve out a 3X3 space in your living room and hop back into your childhood playing mini golf. Make a room with friends and compete with each other while you chat. Lots of different courses to choose from.

Premium Bowling - $19.99
Multiple different themed bowling alleys, a simple interface, and a chance to get to the lanes from the comfort of your home. Bonus: no tennis elbow!

Cook Out! - $19.99
You are a sandwich chef, trying to fill orders at a breakneck pace! You have to prep and stack the ingredients properly to fulfill the orders, and achieve the best score possible. You can play solo, but the real fun is in cooperative play with friends, where you divide tasks between you and have to communicate as best you can, coordinating the sandwich artistry between you to fill the orders in time. This will get your heart rate up, and elicits a lot of laughter.

Honorable Mentions

Demeo - $29.99
I don't know where to slot this one in, and my recommendation for it would really only go to very specific gamers, so I put it down here. It's like a D&D game meets a deck builder, with a 3D game board in front of you, where all your minis are playing out the battles in front of you. You can play solo and up to 4 players. There are ways to get matched with strangers online, but I don't prefer to trust that, so I've mostly played solo and a bit with my husband on a second Oculus. For me it was a little bit challenging to learn at first, and the scenarios are not easy, but once you get the rhythm of your character class, the options become more clear and you will get closer to beating the biggest bosses.

Alcove - FREE
Clearly looking to harness Boomers and their immediately adjacent aging generations, Alcove transports you to a calm home with a big TV with curated content, a collection of simple virtual games, walls where you can put up photos of your loved ones, a virtual world tour to visit unique locations around the globe in full surround, and more. While it isn't very deep, developers are actively trying to increase content. It is completely free, so worth getting to check it out.

Pottery VR - $19.99
Learn pottery skills, including shaping, firing, and painting your pieces. Increasing skills gets you not only money to expand your set of tools and glazes, but also some popularity. You start to receive commission requests. Do your best to match your masterpiece as closely as possible to the inspiration item to receive payment and more commissions, or make your own creations to sell at auction. This game is just very...chill. The kind of game where you do very little, so it's relaxing, but you still feel like you have something to work toward, so you aren't bored.

RealVR Fishing - $19.99
I hesitate to list this one, because I think it's kind of a high price for what you get. But people who get into this game get REALLY into this game. If you just need a quiet escape from the outside world, doing a casual activity, this might hit the right note for you. Travel around South Korea to the most beautiful rivers, lakes, and ocean views (they added the US West expansion recently as well). Collect fish in your giant fish tank at your own personal cabin on the water. Upgrade your fishing kit and boats, buy hats and clothing. You can crate a room to play with friends and chat while you fish. You can always try it and return it if it isn't up your alley, so I include it for your consideration.