dragon’s crown kraken cacciatore [octopus cacciatore]

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Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time playing Dragon’s Crown on the PlayStation 3. Since I’m quite partial towards ranged classes, aka, shooty people, I opted to pick the Elf as my main character.

Most of the game is spent running through dungeons and completing objectives given to you by the various NPCs in town, however, on a few select dungeons, you have the opportunity to play the cooking game! Ok, it’s not called the cooking game, it’s called the camp, but it’s basically a silly, yet addicting, cooking game. The objective is to cook and eat as many dishes as possible within the time limit.

There’s a bunch of ingredients to choose from; varying from delicious and exotic meats such as Kraken Tentacles or Minotaur Tongue to common and simple vegetables such as shallots and peas. If you kill a boss, sometimes their meat appears in the ingredient piles. Om nom nom Harpy Eggs…

Of course, if you’re playing online or with friends, you’ll end up fighting for the best ingredients available. You do have the option to add seasonings such salt, pepper, or garlic to your dish as well and you are given extra points for flavor! However, if you don’t stir or flip your food, it will burn and it will taste horrible. I will admit I have burnt food in this game, and because of that, I now mash my X and L1 buttons in order to prevent future cooking mishaps.

The food always looks so delicious in-game, so I’ve decided to try taking on and bringing some Dragon’s Crown delicacies to life. This time, I’ve decided to take a stab at creating Kraken Cacciatore. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my hands on any kraken, so octopus is the best I could find.

Now, let’s gather around the campfire and start cooking!

Eat well, for you will need to be prepared for the day ahead. 😀

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barcraft bites [hors d’oeuvres trifecta]

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Over the weekend, I attended a BarCraft event at my friend’s home. We’ve had BarCraft events here before (with the occasional karaoke involved), but none of this caliber. Blizzard, being the awesome folks that they are, sent Ray some StarCraft swag to help with the festivities.

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PRESENTS!! A GSL calendar, TONS of coasters, authenticators, stickers, and lanyards!

To prepare his bar for eSports, Ray put decorations honoring all of the international StarCraft teams.

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Unlike Joeyray’s Bar on Mar Sara, Ray’s Bar in California does not stock Benson Cognek or Scotty Bolger’s Old No. 8, but there is a plethora of other fine spirits…

blog_barcraftbites_barNo shortage of refreshments here. 

In order to have a proper BarCraft, we had to have proper bar food and that was my job. I created a menu full of finger food that could be easily enjoyed with a beer-in-hand. Each race is proudly represented here in a very foodie fashion:

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For Terran, I’ve created the Hellbat Sliders, turkey sliders with a spicy BBQ base and apple coleslaw. These hellbats won’t damage your economy.

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For Zerg, I’ve created Swarm Host Bites, stuffed mushrooms with mozzarella cheese and Italian sausage. Warning, unlike in-game swarm hosts, these swarm host bites cause major splash damage!

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Finally, for Protoss, I’ve created Tempest Croissants, prosciutto, spinach and mozzarella stuffed croissants. Let these croissants siege your taste buds.

These recipes are meant to be very simple and I will be taking some shortcuts in order to reduce the prep time and the ingredients list.

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