Draenei Beef Stroganoff

Vhat do you vant? Oh new recipe, da?

Is for Draenei specialty. Is very fillink and deliciously flavorful too. I zhink you vill enjoy it as much as ve enjoy makink it.

Vhat you vill need for zhis recipe:

1 1/2 lbs cubed round steak
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, sliced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 can beef broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
1 c. sour cream
Cooked egg noodle

Season ze meat vith zhe salt, pepper and garlic. In a large skillet, quickly brown zhem on all sides in zhe olive oil and butter. Remove zhe steak from zhe pan.

Add zhe onion slices and mushrooms to zhe pan drippings. Saute for a few minutes, until the onion is tender.

Put zhe steak back into zhe pan with zhe onion and mushrooms. Add mushroom soup and beef broth.

Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, covered.

Adjust seasonink to taste, adding salt and pepper, as needed. Stir in zhe sour cream zhe last few minutes, right before you serve. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

Zhis is a very yummy meal and makes enough for four servinks. Make sure you be keepink a look out for ozzer recipes from ze Draenei.

Vindameriel Baque'mitore Wolf-Heart

With a mouth full of name like that, it can only be assumed that she is an elf. Which she is. Vindy, as she prefers to go by, is a Sin'dorei (Sin-door-ay) or more commonly known as a blood elf.

When I first made Vindy, I had no idea what I was planning to do with her. What I did know is that she was a mage, she was my first real attempt at a role play character in World of Warcraft. Vindy's story was fairly simple and used in such a away to cover my back-side so I wouldn't immediately be called out as a new player.

The game had been out for nearly seven year when I created her. During which time I went with the back story of what happened when the scourge came to Silvermoon and ravaged the grounds. Vindy's parents were killed in the battle to defend their homeland. Having saw them die, Vindy retreated to her family's small house north of the major city. Locking herself away until she needed to come out, Vindy gave up all of her magic. Returning her eyes to a crystalline blue color.

As the years passed, she ventured out when she needed to, but never for too long. Finally, for what was apparently no good reason, she returned to Silvermoon City. It was there she found her first companion, and her eventual mate, Branam.

Branam sensing that the small elf was in over her head, he quickly took to protecting the girl from the dangers of the vastly different city. Their relationship grew, it would be several months and several different lovers before Vindy would finally confess her attraction to Branam. It was several weeks after that that Branam finally admitted that he had feelings for Vindy.

Vindy

Recovery!

I'm doing a lot better but still not 100% better just yet.

I am planning out menus and cosplay ideas as well doing more than a healthy amount gaming on my newest toon.

A worgen!

I enjoyed playing through the opening story, I enjoyed creating a background for the character. Over the next couple of days I think I will gradually introduce my characters and explain how their story is. Also tell details of any cosplay that may or may not have planned.

Please bear with me as I try to recover as gracefully from this illness that seems to be plaguing me like Sylvanas did to Gilneas.

Love Is In The Air Special: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I love chocolate. I love strawberries. And today is a special day to show your significant other just how much you love them with these delightful little treats.

One thing I will be covering in this is tempering chocolate. Sure you can do it in a microwave, but my microwave has a little pixie in it at the moment and it starts to spark when I turn it on, making it a microrave. Cute...but deadly

Here's a picture I drew of such thing.

To make a double boiler if you do not have one already (which I don't) you need several things

A large heatproof bowl
A medium size pot

Fill the pot just enough so that water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Place on high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Turn heat down, place bowl on top of pot. Keep an eye on the water level.

For the berries

1 lb fresh strawberries
6 oz semi sweet chocolate chips (or if in bar form chopped)
3 oz of white chocolate

Did you know that white chocolate is not actually chocolate? It's not, I swear!

Anyway back to the berries!

Remember that pot and bowl you have on the stove, put the semi sweet chocolate in there. Keep a close eye on it. Once it starts to melt, stir and stir and stir until no chunks are left. Make sure that you do not get any water or other liquid in there otherwise it might seize up and give you a lump of goo that is useless!

Once chocolate is melted, you will need remove it off the heat but keep the bowl over the water. Take each berry and dip them in about 3/4 of the way, hold over the bowl letting the excess chocolate drip back in. Place the berry on a wax paper covered cookie sheet.

With a clean bowl, melt your white chocolate. Using a fork, dip into the white chocolate and gently drizzle it over the strawberries. Set them aside for 30 minutes or until the chocolate has set.

Conjured Mana Muffin

I completely under why mages conjure this food and don't take the time to go through by hand to make these. My shoulder is killing me from the amount of mixing that had to be done. The batter is more of a dough at first and you may find it easier in the beginning few steps to mix it by hand.

To make mana muffins, the first thing you need to keep in mind is not to over mix the batter. You end up with a muffin that has a huge bubble like dome.  I did this and some of my muffins look goofy. They still taste good, though. I also cut back on the amount of sugar in this recipe, which I lovingly adapted from here.

Components you will need:

1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 large eggs at room temp.
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c raspberries, whole
1/2 c strawberries
Turbinado sugar

Preheat the over to 375ºF. Line muffin tin, or grease only the bottoms. Muffins tend to rise better when they have something to cling to.

Using a mixer (hand or stand,) combine all the wet ingredients until well blended. In another bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.

This is where you may want to use your hands if you don't have a stand mixer. Takes the dry and wet and mix until just combined. It should have a semi-crumbly look. Fold in the sour cream. Make sure that you do not over fold as you will need to add the berries next.

Be gentle with the berries, they are soft and you do not want your mix to be exploded with bursts of pink and red from berries that have have turned to mush.

An ice cream scoop will be useful to spoon in enough mix into each muffin cup. Sprinkle a little bit of the sugar in the raw on the tops for a nice crispy sweet top. Fill about 3/4 of the way and put in over for 20-25 minutes. Check the centers with a toothpick. When you remove them, carefully pull them from the muffin pan and cool on a rack. Wait 10 to 15 minutes before eating.

Enjoy with a nice large glass of Ice Cold Milk.

Crystal Song Carrots

While I was doing my daily in Dalaran today, I thought to myself, what else can be done with crystal song carrots. The carrots I came up with and adapted from Wegman's turned out to be perfect!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut on the bias (that means slanted)
1/4 tsp. thyme
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 c. no pulp orange juice
1/2 c. chicken stock (I use bouillon granules to 1 c. boiling water)
1/2 c. heavy cream (see below on substitute for this.)
2 tbsp butter, diced
3 green onion stalks, greens only, thinly sliced on the bias
1/2 tbsp parsley (fresh or dried)

Put olive oil in pan and heat on high for a few minutes, add carrots, thyme, vanilla, and chili powder. Salt to taste. Braise in pan for 5 minutes or until carrots become just slightly tender. Stir frequently.

Add orange juice, stock, and heavy cream. Bring to a boil for 12-15 minutes. This will cause the liquid to reduce into a syrup like consistency. Turn heat down to simmer and let cook until carrots are fork tender.

Remove from heat and add butter, green onion and parsley. Stir until butter is melted. Let cool for 5 minutes to allow the liquid-syrup to thicken more.

To make your own heavy cream:

2/3 c. whole milk
1/3 c. unsalted butter

Stir in pot over medium low heat until butter is melted. Add to dish.

I didn't have a solid pound of carrots, to make up for this I added some frozen. This did not affect the taste.

Sick

My cooking and my cosplay for next few days are going to be seriously lacking. The Dress-Up Chef is extremely ill.

So here is a picture of my impish kitten looking at 'her' mice.

I'll return with more tasty, non-plague carrying food soon! Though I suppose anything I cough/sneeze on could be considered fit for a Forsaken. (Just kidding)

Back to bed with me and my sick self.

Moonglow: Experiment 1

I'm not a big drinker. My characters in my games however would be perceived as alcoholics. During the Lunar Festival, there is a drink called Moonglow, it's classed as a strong alcoholic beverage. This mean HARD LIQUOR. Now I'm a Jack Daniels sort of girl, but I love mixed drinks and slushies. I decided to take on the task of figuring out how to make Moonglow.

Warning: This drink contains alcohol and shouldn't be given to anyone under the age of 18(in most countries) and 21(in America.) I will be not held responsible for the consumption of alcohol for those under these listed ages. Cheers!

Experiment 1:

5 oz Hpnotiq
8 oz Smirnoff Whipped Cream flavored Vodka
Ice
Sprite
Whipped Cream (optional)

Take ice and fill blender. Chop ice by pulsing a few times.

Add booze and blend until slushie-like consistency. Add to glass until 3/4 full. Fill rest of the way with sprite. Top with a swirl of whipped cream, add straw and enjoy.

I enjoyed this first glass it was sweet with a hint of whipped cream in the after taste. You can adjust this easily to suit your tastes. This is experiment one. I have several more days to mix and match and figure out which one I like best.

Frosty!

Lunar Dumplings

The great thing that I love about World of Warcraft is the holidays that they set up and have throughout the year. Each one is uniquely different as it is in the real world. Currently, characters in Azeroth are celebrating the Lunar Festival. The holiday coincides with the Chinese New Year. Players can set off fireworks, honor elders, don festive dresses and suits and my personal favorite; eat good food.

Like Lunar Dumplings. Yum!

The recipe I am following is borrowed lovingly from Use Real Butter. This is a first attempt. I'm sure that if keep practicing they will come out perfect. Now you can make these with shrimp, or with pork. I'm going with pork because it's fairly inexpensive. So here we go.

What you will need:

Time, and lots of it. There is an insane amount of chopping and mincing involved as was state by the author.
2 lbs ground pork
8 large napa cabbage leave, minced
14 shitake mushrooms, minced (white mushrooms will not do as a substitute as they don't have the same flavor.) If you buy sliced shitake, you will need about a cup of minced mushroom.
1 c. bamboo shoots, minced (see a pattern yet?)
1/2 c. ginger root, ready for this? Minced.
1/3 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. seasame oil
1/4 c. cornstarch

Hey guess what! You don't need to preheat the oven.

Mix all the ingredients listed in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge while you make the dough. I had difficulty with the dough, it was either too wet or dry. When I finally got it work for me, I was be annoyed.

For the dough you will need
4 c. all purpose flour
1 c. warm water

Add water little at a time, mixing it until it's a pliable ball that peels away from the edges of the bowl. Trying to do this with nails and not get dough under them is impossible. (Getting a dough blade.)

Take pieces of dough and roll them into an oval, put a small amount of the meat mix into and follow the pinching-pleating technique shown on the site listed above. I cheated. I have a dumpling maker and was able to make the seals without too much issue. I then pan fried them in a little oil, adding a 1/4 cup of water to the pan (use caution, it will spatter.) and covered with a lid 5-6 minutes until the water mostly gone. Remove lid and cook a few more minutes to allow the dumplings to dry out.

At first I was not impressed with them, but with practice and a lot of flour, I had made a batch that was edible and not falling apart. I had a lot of meat mixture left over. Having purchased wonton wrappers from the store, I put some of the mixture in there, sealed the edges and boiled them for a few minutes.  After that, I still had meat stuff left over. So I made meatballs to go with it. Adding some flour and pan frying it over low heat.

The reason I had so much meat left over was miscalculation. However, I think I apparently had enough to make several fancy Lunar Festival platters. 

Meatballs resting on napa cabbage with green onion on top, Pork potstickers, Wonton, and dipping sauce.

Item: Food Processor of Agility (and death)

I'm fairly sure that this is a machine of death.

Or a Ninja.

Or both.

Today, I bought a new kitchen appliance. A food processor. I had one growing up but like everything else in the kitchen short of pots and pans it rarely got used. I like having my nails pretty with acrylic and polish. Touching raw meat disgusts me and I start gagging when it gets under my nails. I have deep seeded fear that if I get stuff under my nails they will get moldy and nasty. This is terrifying to me.

So, to avoid this, I bought a food processor in hopes of being able to make my dumpling dough in it. NOPE. I don't have the right blade for it. I have one for chopping, and one for shredding, slicing and apparently grating. It also has suction cups.

This is where the ninja part comes in.

I was playing WoW trying to build up the courage to go make the dough by hand. I stated that my machine had suctions cups.

Conversation:
Me: Side note: My food processor has suction cups.
A: WHAT?!
M: On the feet of the machine... suction cups
A: WTF? That gives me crazy ideas.
M: It makes me think it will come alive and make that weird popping sound.
A: IT CAN SCALE WALLS! @_@

A few minutes later I stated that I was going to attempt to make dough in my new machine. Upon reading my recipe, it said I needed to dough blades. I do not have a dough blade for this machine...yet. Some how this made the machine that much more dangerous. Even more so when I read that i should handle the blades carefully because they are sharp.

M: I'm gonna go press buttons on my machine.
D: LOL
M: And hope it doesn't start scaling walls.
A: >_> *locks door*
M: :D
A: Still don't see why it needs suction cups.
M: To keep it from bouncing all over the place.
A: Still...more exciting that way.

A few minutes later I return.

M: Apparently, I don't have the right blade.
D: What blade?
M: For my food processor.
D: What's it called?
M: I need a dough blade. I have a chopping blade.
D: Ah.
M: Which makes this machine that much more scary.
M: A...
M: It will launch it's blades as it scales the wall.
M: LIKE A F**KING NINJA!
A: O_O No. *makes crying face*
M: I r skerred. I may take it back out of fear.

And this is why I am certain that my machines will kill me in my sleep. Suction cups and whirling blades of death. But it should make mincing that much easier for me and less hazardous to my nail health. I'm also getting a dough blade. Speaking of dough, off to make it by hand.