Posted in Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Meal of the Day – Mushroom and Spinach Risotto (Winterveil/NYE special!)

So back on the topic of New Year’s traditions. We have poultry so that luck will fly to you. We have something green or orange for money (bank notes and gold respectively). Last but not least, we have something that takes a little bit of time and a whole lot of patience. Colin says that of course, is to always remember that good things take time. The Tauren have their cake ritual, but in Dalaran, Colin says, it was risotto.

What are the traditions of your family? What do you like to do during the New Year?

I have to say that risotto was a bit daunting to  me. It’s always been the fanciest of the fancy, no one asks for risotto outside of ya know… High ranking people. But just  like doing a deglaze and a flambe, it turns out this really wasn’t that hard. Vynluthein helped out, but… well we’ll get to that.

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Posted in Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Meal of the Week: Green Sprouts – Dalaran Style (Winterveil/New Year Special!)

When Colin told me that the second thing we’d be making for his traditional New Year’s meal was sprouts, I was… hesitant.

Sprouts are actually in the same family as cabbage, which is why they look and taste like itty bitty cabbages (See Mrs Bendon? I do listen!). I’ve had them before in Darkshore when I was staying with the Bendons but they uh… They weren’t great. They kinda tasted like mushy little balls of fart. Gilnean cooking involves a LOT of boiling and no offense to the Bendons and their incredibly generous hospitality, but not everything does well being boiled.

Colin said that the green represents bank notes which are apparently a big thing in Dalaran. And I guess Gadgetzan, cuz Pryn uses them to. They’re like gold but lighter? Anyhow, and the carmelized onion represents gold. So it’s to bring good fortune to the new year. And the bacon represents… deliciousness. I guess. Always having enough to eat? Yeah let’s go with that.

Either way, these are WAY tastier than fart-sprouts and just as easy to do!

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Posted in Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Meal of the Week: Roast Elwynn Duck (Winterveil/New Year Special!)

This has been a week of new traditions, and some I’m going to share with you. Every race has different traditions on how to ring in the New Year. When I stayed with Mahina, she showed me the Tauren tradition of drinking copious amounts of mulled wine, sitting around with loved ones grinding grain together by hand and telling stories of our shared past. Once there was enough grain, they would bake it into a cake with a copper piece hidden somewhere inside and share it together. The person who found the copper would be in for an extra-blessed year ahead.

Colin told me that this year, we’re going to make roast duck. He says that when the world is cold, the ducks get fat, and they come bringing luck on their wings. So that our future can really soar, we take their essence on the first day of the New Year.

This is how we do it.

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Posted in Jax's Crystals and Musings

Merry Winterveil!

Wow! So this year was my first Winterveil spent not on the streets and man — it was amazing!!

Lots of great food, SO many cookies, and I’ve been wearing this great headband with antlers all week. It has jingle bells on it. It’s very obnoxious. I love it.

With all the chaos in the Keg, on top of visiting my brother in Silvermoon, I am a little late with this week’s update. So to make up for it, I have a Winterveil present for you all! I am going to provide three new recipes over the next three days, as well as a bonus for a new series I’m considering.

With the new year coming in just a few days, Colin taught me some of his traditions from home. He used to be head chef in the Purple Parlor in Dalaran before… well, he didn’t really want to talk about what happened. But he was kind enough to show me his tricks that he learned from his time there and his New Years traditions, and I’m excited to get to share them with you.

Love you all! As always, let me know what you think and feel free to hit me up if you have ideas or even are just lonely and want to chat. I’m available through email in the Contact tab and my twitter is @jaxkol

Posted in Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Meal of the Week: Happy Troll

Winterveil is really ramping up, and I gotta say, I am enjoying it immensely. I’m going to be honest, this is my very first Winterveil and I was really nervous about it. I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know what was coming. Big dude in a red suit knows if you’ve been bad or good? He knows everything about you? He can see into your soul and judge your sins?!

Yeah. Kinda terrifying.

But I spent some time in Silvermoon this week with my brother Vyn and his fiance. I asked him if he wanted me to make a traditional Winterveil dinner for them but he said no.

He wanted Happy Troll.

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Posted in Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Meal of the Week: Talador Toffee

So many ways to make it unique!

So one problem with making candy is that it vanishes FAST. I swear, ever since this season started up, I’ve been cooking up a storm! Candy and cookies galore, but the hands down winner (judging by how quick it disappears and the amount of orders I get for it) has been Talador Toffee.

This recipe was brought to me from my good Draenei friend, Katychla. She tells me that when she was a girl, they made this as a reward for special occasions. It was very sweet for her to share such an important tradition with me, and I think it’s just sweet enough to share with you. 

Ready?

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Posted in Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Better late than never!

Hey guys! Oh my Light, I thought Pilgrim’s Bounty was busy but man, that’s nothing compared to Winterveil! It’s been a lot busier than I expected and I’ve been making a ton of cookies and candy.

So very many cookies. So very much candy.

It’s made me lose a bit track of time. But no worries! There will be an update tomorrow, with Thursday back to normal. Stay warm everyone!

(Real talk, I’ve been down with pneumonia for the past week. It’s really kicked my butt. Sorry guys!!

Also, I can now be reached on Twitter @jaxkol . Hope to see you there!)

Posted in Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Meal of the Week: Menethil Onion Rings

Loops of ‘Licious

So if you remember back a whole week and a half, we made Green Bean Casserole. And the most important, most difficult part of that recipe was  the fried onions. Why was it difficult? Was it because of the frying? No that was surprisingly easy. Was it because of the battering? I mean, I fucked it up, but no, not at all. 

No no. The hardest part was not eating it all. Oh by the Light it was so good. And every few minutes I’d think “Oh just one more won’t hurt. There’s plenty. I have to make sure it’s not poison after all.”

And eventually, while (presumably) not poison, the fried onions became less for the recipe and more to sate your growing addiction. 

Today we’re gonna feed that addiction.

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Posted in Jax's Crystals and Musings, World of Warcraft

Ninth Crystal – Anniversary

The crystal crackles to life, occasionally distorted by the sound of a breeze. His voice is soft and tired-sounding.

“It’s… been a long time since I’ve done one of these. I’m not even sure why I grabbed the recorder. I guess… It’s been so long since I’ve felt that feeling. This… awful feeling of impending doom. It’s still familiar, of course, but I’ve…. ya know, I’ve felt a lot of other things lately too… Love. Peace. Joy. I guess I was starting to forget.

I guess she figured it was time to jog my memory.

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