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Geek Dad
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Stack Overflow: Here We Go Again
Today's stack is about time travel. Wait, didn't that just happen last week? Maybe you're stuck in a time loop. Costumes for Time Travelers by A. R. Capetta In this book, time traveling is an ability that some people just develop, usually when they enter adulthood, and they find they're able to walk through the mists of time—though it wreaks havoc on regular footwear. Fortunately, most first-timers end up in Pocket, a little village outside of time, the only place to get time boots with specially formulated soles that can survive these temporal trips. It's here in Pocket that we find Costumes for Time Travelers, a shop where you can get tailor-made outfits for any time period, whether you're visiting the Renaissance or the Industrial Collapse. Calisto is an assistant to the store's capable owner, and when Mena takes an unexpected leave of absence, she puts them in charge of the shop. But things get turned topsy-turvy when Fawkes arrives: he's known as the 'time savant,' and he travels through time like a leaf on the wind. He seems to know Calisto already even though it's the first time they've met, and there's something dangerous following him. Costumes for Time Travelers is a time travel romance: Calisto and Fawkes have a relationship that may be a little reminiscent of The Time Traveler's Wife , if only because Fawkes experiences moments in his life out of order, though that's the main similarity. Who are the people chasing Fawkes—and now Calisto—and what is their aim? The pair end up racing through different eras to escape, and I liked the way that different characters perceive and manipulate time in different ways. Although the story is told in the third person, each chapter usually has one character as a focus—I guess it's called third-person omniscient limited. I've always found that a little bit disorienting at first because I don't realize why I'm getting one character's inner feelings but not the others, but I don't always catch when it shifts to another character. The central conflict involves some pretty creepy villains and high stakes, though I don't want to give too much away there. The romance is sweet and the characters take their time getting to know each other, even though Fawkes has already experienced some moments of their relationship in the future. It's not a very long book, but I love the way it introduces you to Pocket, this little place tucked away outside of time. Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau This book is probably more of a traditional romance novel than most of what I usually read—I wouldn't necessarily call it a rom-com though there are certainly humorous scenes in it, and there are also some pretty steamy and explicit scenes later in the book. But before we get to that, let me tell you about the time loop. Noelle Tom has a fairly mundane life as a mechanical engineer in Toronto. She's reliable (which means she gets a lot of extra work dumped on her), deliberate, and ever since a break-up with a serious boyfriend several years ago, she's decided that romance isn't for her. It's too unpredictable and she's not interested in being hurt again. But then she eats some dumplings at a strange little booth at a night market, and she wakes up to find herself stuck in a loop—and soon she's ready to try anything to get out of it. As she goes about different iterations of her day, she eventually wonders if what she's supposed to do is kiss somebody—kisses are supposed to break magic spells, right? But who would she kiss? Maybe Cam, a handsome brewery owner that she keeps running into at different places. Her first few attempts at flirting with him are definitely rom-com material, but when she hits the no-permanent-consequences phase of her time loop, she's able to start taking some risks, and eventually they hit it off. Well, except that every time she wakes up, things have reset and Cam doesn't remember her at all… or does he? There are little signs that maybe some of their interactions are sticking with him, and Noelle wonders if he's somehow key to getting out of this loop once and for all. One of my favorite parts of this book is the way it plays with the question: what happens to everyone else who isn't stuck in a time loop? What version of the world exists once the time loop ends? In almost every time loop story I've seen or read before, when the time loop ends, the world continues the last iteration of the day that the protagonist experienced. This book manages to introduce an alternative that I found really fascinating. If you love time loop stories, this one is worth reading for that alone. I don't have as much of a read on how it ranks as a romance novel, but I did like Noelle's journey through this weird relationship with its ups and downs: getting to take risks without fearing the consequences, but also the feeling of loss every time she had to start over. (And then the opposite when the loop ends: how do you behave when you know your partner will actually remember the things you do and say?) Oh, and if you love Asian cuisine, this book is full of it. Noelle makes several trips back to the night market, figuring that her time troubles are somehow linked to the mysterious dumplings she ate, so over the course of the book we get a smorgasbord of different dishes that she tries. There's also a few different beers (since the brewery plays a significant role in the story), but not quite as many once she finds one that she likes. That's it for today. It's a short stack because I've got a kid graduating from high school this week and things have been really hectic! If only I had a time machine… Disclosure: I received review copies of these books. Affiliate links to help support my writing and independent booksellers. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
3 days ago
- Business
- Geek Dad
Kickstarter Tabletop Alert: ‘Rewild: South America'
Build biomes and populate them with flora and fauna to rewind a damaged landscape. What Is Rewild: South America? Rewild: South America is a tile-laying, tableau-building game for 1 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, and takes about 45–60 minutes to play. It's currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, with a pledge level of 60 Swiss Francs (about $73USD) for a copy of the game. It involves building out a landscape, and then finding synergies between the various plants and animals that can be placed on the landscape. Rewild: South America was designed by Bruno Liguori Sia and published by Treeceratops, with illustrations by Keen Art, Joey Pool, and Johanna Tarkela. New to Kickstarter? Check out our crowdfunding primer. Rewild: South America components. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Rewild: South America Components Note: My review is based on a prototype copy, so it is subject to change and may not reflect final component quality. Here's what comes in the box: Score board 4 Player boards 75 Biome tiles (shrublands, shrubland extensions, grasslands, rainforests) 55 Wildlife cards 26 Predation cards 28 Plant cards 28 Player Action cards 25 Expert Mode cards 4 Overview cards 11 Branch Animal meeples 18 Expert Mode Animal meeples 16 Player markers (4 per player) Start Player meeple 95 Animal markers (paw prints) 35 Minerals 35 Water 35 Seeds One of the first things about Rewild that caught my eye was the illustration style: the animals are done in a cartoon style with sharp outlines, set against backgrounds that have a softer look, giving it a Studio Ghibli vibe. With the recent proliferation of AI-generated images and videos using a similar style, I'm pleased to note that Treeceratops did not use any AI imagery in this game—these images are made by actual people. The illustrations of the various insects and animals that you'll be able to attract to your landscape are all beautifully illustrated, and the style helps the creatures really stand out on the cards. A selection of animal cards showing one of each category: insect, 3 sizes of herbivore, and 2 sizes of carnivore. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu There are several animal categories in the animal and predation decks, each with its own icon: insect, herbivore (small, medium, and large), predators, and apex predators—all but the insects are represented by an animal face icon. My only complaint with the icons is that the small herbivore icon and the predator icon are a similar size and profile, so it can be easy to mix them up at a glance. Treeceratops is a Swiss company with a focus on sustainability, and as such aims to limit the amount of plastic they use, and they also rely on FSC-certified or recycled materials when possible. The wooden tokens in the game come in paper envelopes rather than plastic bags, and all of the game components are cardboard, paper, and wood. The scoreboard is a large board that includes a scoring track around the outside edge, and then has clearly marked spaces for the three types of cards. My only complaint is that because you're constantly taking cards from the board, and then sliding cards to the right to refill, it can be quite easy to bump the scoring tokens out of place. Player board with some terrain tiles and cards added to the biomes. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu The player boards are square, filled with hexes, some with additional icons in them. Along the right side of the board there are some icons indicating the three biomes where you will place cards, as well as a reminder for what's needed to complete a biome. There's a regular side and an advanced side—they're mostly the same except for the completed biome bonus. Animal meeples for the advanced game. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu There's a variety of animal meeples, and it's a shame that the bulk of them are only used in the advanced game, because they're very cool. I suppose it's an incentive to play the game enough to move to the advanced mode! These animals can live in the trees! (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu The meeples that are used in every game are the ones sitting on (or hanging from) branches. These have a small rectangular base, which slots into the top of the 3D cardboard trees. It's a clever design, and it's a lot of fun when you manage to make that happen during the game. How to Play Rewild: South America You can download a copy of the rulebook here. The Goal The goal of the game is to score the most points by building out your landscape and filling it with plants and animals. 2-player setup. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Setup Give each player a player board, four player markers, and 7 action cards of their player color. Place one player marker Everyone also starts with 4 minerals, 4 water, and 1 seed. The player who most recently saw a wild animal takes the start player token. Set up the main board: shuffle each of the card decks separately, and place them on their indicated spaces, and then reveal cards to form the market (5 animals, 3 predation cards, and 3 plants). Place the rest of the components—animal markers, landscape tiles, trees, resources, and animal meeples—nearby as a supply. Gameplay On your turn, you must play an action card from your hand and use its effect; each card has 2 options except for the harvest card. Once you've played your action, you leave the card in front of you, turned so that the action you took is at the top—the landscape icons above the actions may be used for various effects during the game. Each player gets a set of these 7 action cards. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Six of the cards have an option to add a specific landscape tile to your board, which costs minerals and water. Some of the hex spaces on your board show minerals or water—these are discounts for tiles placed on those locations. In addition, each shrubland provides a 1-mineral discount for tiles placed adjacent to it, and each grassland provides a 1-water discount. (Grasslands can be upgraded to wetlands, which provide a 2-water discount.) If you place a landscape tile on a star icon, you score points immediately, with rainforests scoring the most points and shrublands scoring the fewest. There are also actions that allow you to gain minerals, water, or seeds—each of these also discards a specific card from the market. Finally, there are actions that upgrade landscapes: Shrublands can be expanded by adding a single hex shrubland, grasslands are flipped over to the wetlands side, and rainforests gain a tree. (Each landscape can only be upgraded once.) The harvest card gives you 1 water, plus a number of seeds based on the landscape tiles on your board. Finally, it allows you to take all of your action cards back (including itself). After playing and resolving your action card, if it was not the harvest card, you may then attract a number of cards from the score board: up to 5 wildlife card, 1 predation card, and 1 plant card. The Gray Brocket takes up 4 hexes of shrubland or 3 hexes of grasslands, but cannot live in the rainforest or in a tree. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Wildlife cards have an icon showing which landscape types the animal can live on, and how many hexes they occupy. If you have sufficient space in one of the terrain types, you may take the card and place it to the right of your board in the corresponding biome, and then place animal markers (the paw prints) in the hexes. Each hex on your board can only have one animal marker in it. Some animals can live in rainforests or trees—if so, then you find the matching meeple and use that instead. If you already have a tree, or if you upgrade the rainforest tile later to add a tree, then you can put the meeple into the tree, which frees up the rainforest ground space for another animal and also scores you 4 points. Predation cards also have icons showing which biome they belong to, but they also need specific types of prey in that biome. When played, you place the predation card on top of the prey animal, and score points immediately. (Note that this does not remove the animal markers from the board.) Plant cards cost seeds and have a variety of effects. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Plant cards have a seed cost and show which biome they belong to—just pay the cost and place the card to the right of your board in that biome. Many cards have either a lightning bolt effect or an hourglass effect. Lightning bolt effects are immediate—usually scoring, but sometimes gaining resources. Hourglass effects are end-of-game scoring effects. If a card gets covered by a predation card, then it loses its effects and is mostly ignored except for effects that specifically refer to eaten animals. My forest biome has been completed and scores six points. (The insect has been covered by a predator.) (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu You can complete a biome if it has at least one plant, one insect, one herbivore (any size), and one predator (either size). These count even if they have been eaten. The completed biome scores 6 points, and then you mark the completion bonus on your board with a player marker as a reminder that you've already scored it. Game End The game end is triggered if any of the following happens: A player has 8 visible (not eaten) animal cards showing A player has completely filled their board with landscape tiles The last wildlife card has been placed on the board. When this happens, complete the current round, and then play one more full round. All players then score any of their visible end-of-game scoring effects. The player with the highest score wins, with ties going to the player with the most completed biomes, and then the highest sum of rainforest tiles plus trees. Game Variants The solo game is run like a 2-player game, with an automated player. The automated player uses a set of action cards and a sort of flowchart that determines where it places tiles, which animals it will try to attract, and so on. Since it's a simplified bot that doesn't really have a way to react to what you're doing, it gets a score handicap of 1.5x (or 2x if you're playing on hard mode). The advanced game introduces the rest of the animal meeples and some new wildlife cards that get shuffled into their corresponding decks. The advanced animals have, in addition to the regular icons indicating the required landscape, an additional icon showing a particular terrain layout. If you can build that particular layout on your board, then you get the advanced animal meeple and bonus points. Two animals have found homes in the treetops. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Why You Should Play Rewild: South America Rewild: South America combines the tile-laying and a card tableau in an interesting way. The bulk of your points come from the cards—most of the animals offer either immediate scoring or end-game scoring, and a few of the plants also score points. But in order to play those cards, you'll need to build out the tiles on your board to create the space for them, and that creates a different sort of puzzle about using the hex spaces efficiently, particularly taking advantage of the bonus icons. I like the way that it feels like you're building an ecosystem layer by layer. First it's the landscape itself: shrublands, grasslands, or rainforest. Then, once you have enough space, it attracts insects and herbivores, which in turn can attract carnivores. Since the game ends when you have 8 animals showing (or 9 in the advanced game), you can't just expand indiscriminately if you want a good score. I've sometimes taken the first animal that fits in a landscape spot, but then covered it later with a carnivore. If that first animal had an end-game score on it, I've just forfeited those points—better to take an animal with an immediate scoring bonus if you're planning to eat it later, because then you've already gotten the points. If you're not attracting predators, then you have a limited number of available spaces to place cards before the game ends, so you really want good combinations. There's a wide variety of end-game scoring conditions: you might score points for each medium-sized herbivore, or each tree, or each insect. There are also many animals that will give you points for landscape icons, which appear on the landscape tiles, on certain plant cards, and even on your action cards. For those, the timing of your action cards becomes important. For instance, if you'll score 1 point per shrubland icon, then not only do you want to maximize your shrublands (perhaps by upgrading them), you could get as many as 6 more shrubland icons from your action cards, but only if you take the correct actions and the cards are still out when the game ends. If you play them too early, you might end up taking a harvest action and putting them back in your hand. Wait too late, and the game might end before you've played them again. Each card is gorgeously illustrated. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu I mentioned the puzzle of building out your landscape tiles. There are bonus spaces on the board that can reduce the mineral or water cost of a tile, so you can use those to get some things built out quickly without having to spend actions to collect resources—for instance, you could use the 2-mineral discount to build a rainforest, since those provide more seeds when you harvest. However, there are only so many of the discount spaces, and rainforests do not provide resources for neighboring tiles. Shrublands and grasslands provide minerals and water, so if you build those up first, you can set up spaces that will be cheaper to build in the future. Having a good idea of how you want to lay things out will help you ensure that you'll have the right amount of space to play everything you need. Some of the spaces on your board have stars, which give points when you play a landscape tile on them, but you get more points for placing a rainforest than shrubland. The first time I played, I avoided building on them, thinking that I'd get around to placing forests on each one to maximize my score … but then ran out of time and ended up with several of them left empty by the end of the game. It's a tricky balance, deciding when it's time to cash in on the bonus points and when you can wait a little longer to build up to a rainforest. While there isn't any direct player interaction—you can't do anything to somebody else's board or tableau—you can try to scoop up plants or wildlife that are particularly advantageous to your opponents. For instance, in one game where I had a carnivore-heavy tableau, my opponent snagged the vulture, which awards points for each eaten animal. It wasn't worth as many points to him, but preventing me from getting it probably won him the game. Your action cards that claim resources also discard cards from the market; it's the rightmost card, so you don't get to choose just any card, but at the right time you could use it to dump a card before somebody else gets it. Rewild: South America has bits and pieces that remind me of some other games, but as a whole it's a new experience. You're managing both your action economy and your resources, and you're looking for things that will round out each of your biomes. I like both the board-based puzzle of the landscapes and the combo-building puzzle of the wildlife cards. And it doesn't hurt that the illustrations are so eye-catching! For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Rewild: South America Kickstarter page! Click here to see all our tabletop game reviews. To subscribe to GeekDad's tabletop gaming coverage, please copy this link and add it to your RSS reader. Disclosure: GeekDad received a prototype of this game for review purposes. Liked it? 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Geek Dad
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Green Lantern #23: Specters of the Past
Green Lantern #23 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: The Green Lantern Corps have been going around the universe, but now they're in a completely new setting – Hell, where the worst creatures of the DCU dwell for all eternity. Hal is accompanied by Zauriel and Phantom Stranger for a mission relating to his old days as The Spectre, but he soon picks up another unexpected ally – G'nort, the iconic worst Green Lantern ever. What's he doing in Hell? It's not clear, but he seems mostly unfazed by the horrors around him. While Hal seeks out an old enemy of his, Kyle and his crew are having a much lighter adventure – traveling through space with Odyssey, Superboy, and new recruit Dan Garrett – who was thought to be dead for decades. Of course, just because they're not dealing with any existential horrors, it doesn't mean they're having it easy – this issue has them blasting their way out from a giant carnivorous space squid with a taste for spaceships. Dog days. Via DC Comics. One of the most impressive things about this run is how Jeremy Adams is obviously pulling in some deep cuts. Geoff Johns built a huge mythology for the character, but I can't imagine him hinging an arc on something Hal did as The Spectre years earlier. One of the most famous arcs of the book featured a truly vile villain who Hal sealed away with a key artifact – one that could fend off the Starbreaker Corps now. Of course, there's one problem with this heist – The Spectre is still guarding this prisoner, even if Hal isn't one with him anymore. With Jim Corrigan having passed on, The Spectre is now all rage without a humanizing touch, and he wants Hal back. The battle that closes this issue is one of the most exciting of the series so far, and it makes me wonder if the story of the Spectre's new host is being planned as we speak. The scale of this title keeps on building, and this issue is another big winner. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Superman #26: Superman Red
Superman #26 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: After last issue's brutal battle with the deranged clone X-El, the status quo Josh Williamson has built is in shambles. Lex Luthor is back in prison, blamed for the attack and covering for Mercy. His trust with Superman is shattered after he executed the evil clone. Mercy is free, but has lost her alliance with Superman and her control over Supercorp. Lena Luthor is ready to wash her hands of both her father and her mentor, and has headed off to greener pastures – Midvale, where she'll be hanging out with Supergirl (much to the excitement of those who like another kind of Supercorp, no doubt). And Lois Lane has lost her Superwoman powers, burning them out after using her Solar Flare. But unlike with Superman, it seems to have purged the powers from her system entirely – and while she insists she's fine with going back to normal, no one else is so sure. And then there's General Zod in the cosmos, looking for answers. Time bomb. Via DC Comics. At least Superman is okay, right? Well, no – anything but. He's been acting erratically over the last few issues, and it seems the source is Red Kryptonite poisoning from back in the first arc of this series, when he went up against Pharm and Graft. The deranged brothers are now locked up in Strykers alongside Luthor. When Superman arrives at Stryker to confront Luthor, he's ready to end their partnership entirely, but Luthor proposes a deal to try to help Lois. This only makes Superman angrier – and that sends him spiraling out of control. This is a side of Superman we very rarely see, and it's an intriguing choice to make him essentially the main threat of this arc – enough to bring another mysterious hero in to stop him. This issue is chaotic, with a lot of plots coming in and out, but I think it delivers. Only one week after Dan Slott raised the bar for the Superman line yet again, Josh Williamson continues to prove the old guard is just as good. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
6 days ago
- General
- Geek Dad
Flat-Top Cooking With the Slate 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle From Weber
We just passed Memorial Day, which means that grilling season has truly begun. But grills aren't the only great way to do some outdoor cooking! In recent years, the outdoor griddle has become a fun addition to the backyard appliances. Weber recently added a 28″ model to their Slate line of griddles. You can choose between two different models, one fueled by propane, and the other by natural gas. Weber sent me a propane model, as well as a few accessories, to try out for myself. What Is the Slate 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle? The Slate 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle is a 3-burner gas-powered griddle for making anything from pancakes to smash burgers to fajitas. It retails for $599, and can be purchased directly from Weber or from stores like Home Depot. The 28″ griddle is the smallest one in the Slate line, but models are available in sizes ranging up to 36″. The Slate 28″ Griddle has the following features: • Rust-resistant carbon-steel cooktop is ready, not rusty • Pre-seasoned and ready to cook on right out of the box • Even edge-to-edge heat for consistent cooking across the griddle • Reaches over 500°F for high-heat searing and crispy edges • Wind guards protect burners and keep the temperature steady • Precision control knobs adjust heat smoothly and gradually • Independent heat zones expand cooking capabilities • No use of coatings, so you can use metal tools without worry Assembling the Slate 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle The Slate 28″ Griddle arrives unassembled in a single box. Even though the instructions say that assembly is a two-person task, I found that once I opened the box and removed all of the parts, I was able to put the griddle together without any issues. All the parts are packed well in their shipping container, so be aware that there's going to be a lot of cardboard left over once you've gotten all the pieces out. Here's a quick look at the assembly process: This slideshow requires JavaScript. Here's a look at the burners, before putting the griddle surface into place: The three propane burners. Image by Paul Benson. There are four holes on the frame around the burners; there are pegs on the underside of the griddle surface that slot securely into those holes. The griddle surface in place. Image by Paul Benson. As you can see in the above picture, there's an opening in the lower left corner of the griddle surface. The Slate comes with a drip pan, which slides right underneath that opening. Using a griddle scraper, you can get any food stuck to the griddle cleaned off easily. The drip pan in its drawer, ready to slide into place. Image by Paul Benson. The griddle comes with two grill hooks, which clip onto the ends of either of the two side tables. Weber also sent along a few more for me to use. Some of the tool hooks. Image by Paul Benson. There was also a bottle holder, which clips to the side tables in the same fashion as the tool hooks: The bottle holder. Image by Paul Benson. Here's a look at the fully-assembled griddle, with all of the accessories attached and the propane tank installed and hanging from the griddle stand. The tools from the Weber Griddle Essentials Toolkit hang from the tool hooks. Ready to get to work! Image by Paul Benson. The griddle was very easy to assemble. All I needed was a screwdriver. All the parts lined up perfectly, and it didn't take me long to get everything put together. The griddle surface is a bit heavy, so that bit you may need a second person to help lift it into place. But otherwise, it's smooth sailing. Using the Slate 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle The griddle surface is pre-seasoned, so once the propane tank is connected, you're ready to start cooking. The one precaution that Weber asks you to take is to do before firing up the griddle, however, is to do a test to make sure there are no leaks in the propane tank or connections. This is done by simply spraying some soapy water onto the tank and regulator, then turning on the propane. If there's a leak, you'll see bubbles forming. Thankfully, everything was bubble-free, so I was ready to get started. As luck would have it, this last Memorial Day weekend my girlfriend's son and his wife were up visiting from San Diego for his high school reunion. They were available for breakfast, so we invited them over for a home-cooked meal. Some other members of my girlfriend's family who live nearby also came over, bringing our total count to 9. This was going to be a good test of the Slate Griddle. I preheated the griddle, using the suggested low setting for pancakes on all three burners. I had read that 375 degrees was an optimal temperature for cooking pancakes, so I used my infrared thermometer gun to tweak the dials on the burners until most of the spots on the griddle were near that temperature. Once I got the temperature settled, I buttered the griddle and added the batter on the first round of pancakes. This batch of pancakes is almost ready to come off the griddle. Image by Paul Benson. The first round was a success, so once I got those off the griddle, I scraped any scraps off into the drip pan, then repeated the cooking process. I ended up with 17 good-sized pancakes all in all. Ready to serve! Image by Paul Benson. One of my girlfriend's relatives didn't particularly like pancakes, so we quickly made some French toast batter and got some bread dipped and onto the griddle as well. The French toast 'special order' hits the griddle. Image by Paul Benson. We also had eggs and sausage with breakfast, but my girlfriend and her sister prepared those in the kitchen so that everything would be ready around the same time. Slate 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle – Final Thoughts Cooking on the Slate Griddle was a delight. I normally make pancakes almost every weekend, but until now, I had been doing them one at a time in a pan. It was so nice to be able to cook several nice-sized pancakes at the same time, cutting down my labor significantly. Not to mention that I was delighted with how well they came out- so nice and thick and golden brown. It should be noted too that it was a windy morning, yet the design of the griddle ensured that all three of those burners stayed lit. The 28″ size is perfect for a small family, such as myself, my girlfriend, and her daughter. Had we been cooking just for ourselves, we could have made the pancakes, sausage, and eggs all at the same time on the griddle. If I found myself regularly cooking for a larger group of people like we did this last weekend, I'd likely want to graduate to the 36″ griddle, where we could get a lot more cooked at the same time. I enjoyed not just the process of cooking on the griddle, but also the ease of cleaning the surface once I was done. The griddle surface does need to be seasoned after every cook or two, but that's a simple process of applying some oil and then letting it burn off. Weber has made a quality cooking appliance with the Slate 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle. I'm looking forward to the next time I make breakfast, and I'm already looking up recipes for smash burgers to try out. If you're looking to cook on a flat surface outdoors, you should definitely give this griddle a look. For more information on the Slate 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle or to make a purchase, head to the Weber website. Weber provided a griddle for evaluation, but had no input into this review. Liked it? 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