In computer games, most computer-controlled foes have a low degree of artificial intelligence. Were we to peer into their skulls, so to speak, we will see that their random spellcasting and erratic movements are not unpredictable at all. The first step, then, to victory is knowing your opponent thoroughly. Unfortunately for you, doomed reader, I am no cyclic automaton and, perhaps, by now you've realized how completely useless this preface is after all.
Cuisine
By no means a culinary sensation, I have no creations I could confidently call my own. My kitchen philosophies are, in a way, similar to the Urban Peasant, James Barber: you don't need to go out to find fancy ingredients; you can make the most with what you have. However, I am also aware, due to experience, that having a lack of certain ingredients in the kitchen is as much a disaster as a careless mix-and-match of reagents. The absence of bread, butter, eggs, pepper, potatoes, salt, sugar or vegetable oil is cause for worry. The absence of all of those is a dire kitchen emergency needing immediate reinforcements from the nearest grocery.
The most common dishes I mix-and-match are mixed fried rice, omelettes and sandwiches. Coming from a country where rice is the staple food of most lower middle-class to upper-class citizens, the first one is completely reasonable. So is the second one; eggs are, by far, the easiest things to fry and it really doesn't matter much as long as something else goes with it. The third one was borne by need, during those times when one feels a bit tired of having rice for every meal of the day.
While water is one of the central elements of the kitchen, I find myself abhorring the substance as a beverage. I find it too flat, gray, boring, flavorless and uninteresting. Even when chilled, it doesn't always taste good. I prefer to drink flavored drinks like diet cola, de-fizzed regular cola, iced tea, green tea, sago-gulaman, lemon juice and other fruit juices. The most memorable beverage I've had was a mixture of cantaloupe and watermelon juices.
I don't usually drink coffee or wine. I try, as much as possible, to avoid mind-altering drugs like caffeine and alcohol, although I do know enough to enjoy their flavors from time to time. I have morning coffee only in times that I direly need to be awake; it is pretty much the same with the nightcaps of red wine. Instead of coffee, I usually just drink chocolate milk with a dash of cinnamon. When the craving hits me, I add a very small portion of coffee, to be counter-acted by a generous amount of brandy. On evenings, I drink milk; no, I don't add wine to milk.
I also usually drink milk, often as a substitute for water, for everything it contains: calories, calcium, vitamins and all the good stuff your body uses to foil your most recent suicide stratagem. Really, my daily glasses of milk and juice are probably what keeps me in a relatively healthy state and sustains my abnormal normal disposition.
Of course, disasters always happen at one time or another. Rice gets burnt, omelettes stick to the pan, potato fries turn out soggy, fishes smell fishy, beef turns out tough, fishes grow bones or the delicious tuna omelette you ingested caused interesting intestinal effects. Still, it's all in a day's work for someone who had no choice but to cook in order to eat what he likes.