And just like that, it’s all over.

It’s been a tough week, but I feel like I can finally say that TwitchCon was a success for Tempo Storm. There’s still another day left tomorrow for exhibitor move-out, but I won’t be participating in that because I need to be somewhere else for some other Tempo Storm related work.

I’m not a fan of big parties and I just feel overwhelmed and irritated when I go to them, so instead, I prefer to either go back to my lodging area after the convention hours, or at the very most, I am ok with going out in small groups. That’s what I did instead of attending the TwitchCon party at Dark Harbor – I went to get some dinner at Yard House near the convention center.

We ordered a ton of dishes as a table, and I was sitting at the corner of the table (like I usually do) so I wasn’t able to snap photos of everyone’s dishes, but here are the ones I got. The ahi tuna nachos were my appetizer, and the burger was my main dish.

The biggest part of the month is over, and now all I have left is a bit more traveling, another activity with Red Bull, BlizzCon Opening Week, and BlizzCon.

The end is getting ever so slightly closer.

The convention preparation scramble is still going on, but with the few off days between strings of events, I’m getting in some extra catch-up work and other activities. Today, I went to the Offline TV gaming house with a friend to meet up with scarra and get some dinner.

… Yes, that means more food photos.

Fun fact that I discovered today: scarra is a speed eater. He finished his entire dinner in about 4 minutes. lol

Today was the first day of our playoffs, and our Heroes of the Storm team swept the series 3-0 to advance into the final round. This is essentially a gauntlet, where the winner has to play through all higher-placed teams and defeat them all in series in order to qualify for the prize. This particular gauntlet is for BlizzCon qualification, and Tempo Storm is now one series away from going to the global championship.

Because our team won 3-0, the games ended a lot quicker than anticipated, so we got a chance to go out and grab some food during the day. The team really wanted ramen, so I went in assuming I would do my normal strategy of just ordering a dry dish, but the ramen house literally had zero dry items, so I decided today was the day I actually eat a hot-liquid dish.

It actually wasn’t really that terrible (and it’s not even like I actually dislike it in the first place, it’s just that I don’t prefer it), although I wish the portion size was a bit larger. I feel like liquid dishes put way too much actual liquid in the dish and not enough solid food, so I feel like I’m wasting money by paying for a ton of seasoned water instead of actual real food.

I’m still on my mission to try out as many different food products as possible, and this time, I snatched up some albacore tuna to cook up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t eat this entirely raw because there was no confirmation whether or not it was appropriately flash frozen, then kept at appropriate temperatures for safe raw consumption, so I seared the outside. But, I kept it borderline blue rare.

Unfortunately, I forgot to snap another photograph after I cut into it, but this was an interesting experience – my brain couldn’t figure out whether I was eating cooked fish or sushi the entire time.

When I was focusing in on the taste of the center of the meat, it distinctly tasted like sushi, but if I were to have cooked it through the whole way, I think this is pretty much the same as any other fish – a lot of the flavoring comes from the seasoning instead of the actual meat. (Or my taste buds just aren’t properly fine tuned yet to tell the difference.)

While I was out grocery shopping, I noticed that a new shipment of swordfish had randomly come in. I had never tried swordfish before (the closest thing I’ve had to it was shark’s fin, and I don’t even remember what that tasted like), so I wanted to get the experience. The filet was also unexpectedly expensive, at US$17 per pound.

I cooked it how I normally cook meat – I minimize seasoning to just the essentials, like salt and pepper, in order to get the most flavor out of the actual meat as possible. I also added a dash of lemon juice after it was done cooking.

Basically, my conclusion is that there is no other meat that is as not worth it than swordfish. Sure, it’s possible that I just cooked and seasoned it completely wrong, but there is barely any flavor, and it just tastes like a tougher and milder regular fish.

Am I glad that I tried it? Yes. But will I ever have it again? Not unless someone else cooks it for me for free.