These are a few of my fava beans….

Comic Con Rewind: Day 2.5 – Friday July 13 – to the tune of “My Favorite Things”

Browncoats on tall men, Strawberry elation,
Knit hats, dinosaurs and Ariel Station
Shepard Book’s wild locks make River scream,
These are a few of my favorite scenes

Nathan tears up but jokes keeps us roaring,
Alan just wants to be on the wind soaring,
Everyone still agrees that Fox is mean,
These are a few of my favorite scenes

When hung-over,
and running late,
arrived at the line,
Friends let me cut in just moments before it’s
the Firefly panel time!

I woke up hung-over. Not epically but on a large enough scale that I did not get out of my bed until 8:30 am, which for me during con, is about 2 hours later than the average wakeup call. The firefly panel that day was the 10 year reunion and people had been lining up as early as 10pm the night before. I was only just getting started on my tequila and grapefruit juice around then. Luckily I had a few friends who weren’t into the comic con party scene as much waiting in line around 4 or 5 in the morning and who were kind enough to indulge my vices and still hold me a spot.

This of course was predicated on whether or not I could get to the convention hall before the line started moving and they were in the room. Once crossed over the panel room threshold I would not be able to join them and be TSOL. The line was going to start moving at 9AM. That left me 30 minutes to get a very uncoordinated and off balanced body to the convention hall a mile away…oh and get dressed and cleaned up. Somehow I did it. I RAN to that convention hall and did not stop until I got to the top floor. The line had just started moving when I arrived and I hopped in with a fellow guildie.

The panel was wonderful and while nothing will ever be as satisfying to a Firefly fan as more Firefly would be, I was happy if not also very gross. Initially I intended to remain after the panel and see some of the smaller ones like Bones, Green Arrow etc but I desperately needed a shower. So instead I ditched out, walked the floor for a few moments and then went back to the hotel to recover from my night of badness. I even switched into cosplay and then went back to the convention hall to swindle my way into the Joss Whedon only panel. I always go to Joss’ panel. Thankfully there are some tricks to gaining admittance to ballroom 20 due to establishment of an actual seat savers network and I got in. Several years ago I would have been in that line at 10PM the night before and waiting in the room all day just to see Joss. I know some fans did…. There was talk of Avengers, Cabin in the Woods and that horrible question: What Next? After making a billion dollar movie that is now number 3 in top grossing films of all time, where do you go from here Mr. Whedon?

Much ado about Nothing would be the reply. So excited to see this. I stuck around post Joss for the Breaking Bad panel in order to hang out with another friend who’d just arrived at SDCC. Just arrived?! But we’re already on day 2.5…. I don’t watch BrBa but I will probably start now, that panel was really great.

The evening finished at the Guild of Extras townhouse on 5th Avenue. Sad that this is my first time getting to know that spot and we might not have it next year. I arrived in costume to discover to my horror that no one else was cosplaying that day. While some people applauded the fishnets and lack of pants, I eventually made a few friends feel like pervs, did a quick change at my hotel and ran back for an evening of Cards Against Humanity. I hands down have one of the most obscene minds in my group…. So to give that mind a fresh clean feeling, here is one last chorus of my song and a delicious and healthy dish to pair it with:

Ancient greeks used them in all of their voting,
I’d rather eat them, in a minty creme coating,
Add grated lemon peel, yummy citrine,
This is a plateful of my fava beans

Fava Beans with Mint and Crème Fraîche
from Bon Appétit March 2009

• 2 pounds fava beans in the pod
• 1/2 cup crème fraîche
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup mint leaf chiffonade
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

To prepare the favas, split open the pods and remove the beans. Meanwhile, bring a saucepan filled with salted water to a boil over high heat. Place a bowl filled with ice water near your stove top. Drop the beans into the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes (this is longer than most recipes instruct because the beans are not cooked again). Drain the beans and quickly plunge them into the ice water. With your fingernail, pierce the skin of each bean near one end and squeeze the bean gently to pop free of the skin. Don’t worry if the beans separate into halves. You should have about 2 cups beans.

In a bowl, whisk together the crème fraîche, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the fava beans, mint leaves, and lemon zest and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours before serving to chill and allow the flavors to meld.

Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper before serving. Serve chilled.