The Raven Lord demands tribute… in the form of tasty appetizers!

I have been playing a ton of Heroes of the Storm lately. I’ve been trying to climb the ladder to finally hit Rank 1. Recently, I have been fortunate enough snag Sylvanas in draft. AW YISS BANSHEE QUEEN.

I have no time for games!

I am totally loving Sylvanas’ play style. It’s an awesome feeling to be fighting someone and then throw out your “E” to teleport when the fight gets too rough.

One of the battlegrounds I enjoy playing is the Cursed Hollow. On this map, the goal is to collect three tributes for the malevolent Raven Lord. He’s totally a big jerk.

There’s usually a ton of fighting when these tributes pop up. And that’s what I absolutely love about this map — the team fights!

Hahaha, big head mode!

Since the Raven Lord demand tribute… We better start cooking!

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. 2 tablespoons of butter
3. 4 – 5 cloves of garlic, grated
4. 1 egg, mixed
5. 1/3 cup of milk
6. 1/3 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
7. 1 lb of purple sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters

BUILD ORDER

Prep time for this dish takes about 30 minutes. Cook time takes 20 minutes for boiling the potatoes, and an additional 12 minutes for baking. This makes 4 servings (about 8 tributes).

OPENING

1. After peeling and cutting your sweet potatoes, place them in a pot of large water.
2. Bring that pot of water to boil and cook the sweet potatoes for about 20 minutes or until soft. Then drain the sweet potatoes and return them to the pot.
3. Add in your salt, cheese, butter, garlic and milk. Use a potato masher to combine the ingredients.
   
4. Transfer the mashed sweet potatoes to a bowl.
5. Add in your egg and stir to combine.

MID GAME

1. Place the sweet potato mixture in a piping bag.
2. Lay a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.
3. Begin piping out the shape of the raven lord tributes. Start with an oval, and then a pointed tip for the beak.
   
4. Then, pipe out the wings.
   
5. Use a butter knife to smooth out the entire shape. Use the edge of the butter knife to create the eyes by gently pressing down at an angle.
6. Continue making the tributes until you run out of sweet potato mixture.

LATE GAME

1. Set your oven to 350° F.
2. Let your tributes bake for about 12 minutes. Remove and let cool.
3. Eat!

GG WP, Heroes!

Please note that eating three of these tributes will not cause the Raven Lord to curse your enemies. However, these are delicious and can satisfy a rumbling tummy. MY BELLY DEMANDS TRIBUTE.

By the way, I have set up a Patreon! I have been posting previews of upcoming blog post there, so if you’re interested, please check it out.

In 1998, I was in elementary school obsessing with my friends over the latest Pokémon game. It was the latest craze sweeping the nation — a Japanese RPG with super adorable pets. At the time, I had no idea how much depth these games had. I didn’t understand the stat rolls or the concept of optimizing your team; I just wanted to collect the cool looking animals.

I had this card, but I don’t think I used it in my deck.

Rollin’ with Jolteon, Articuno, Blastoise, Mewtwo, and Pidgeot. I clearly had no idea what I was doing, but I was disillusioned into believing that I was truly a Pokémon Master. After all, I did beat that jerkface, BLUE, to earn that fancy title.

But one thing was always confusing about the entire series… How did any of the inhabitants of the Pokémon world ever get fish? Were those fish also Pokémon or are they just straight-up boring fish? Maybe we should just eat Pokémon…

I mean, c’mon… Look at this Shellder… I’m pretty sure he’d be delicious if you pan seared him!

Plus, I don’t even think Shellder rolls decent stats! You can get much better water-type Pokémon than this mollusk.

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. dill
4. juice from 1/2 of a lemon
5. 3 tablespoons of olive oil
6. 1/4 cup of orange juice
7. 1/4 cup of dijon mustard
8. 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
9. 1/4 cup of shaved parmesan cheese
10. 2 cup of microgreens
11. 1 fennel bulb, chopped
12. 6 sea scallops, “foot” removed*

*Some scallops still have a “foot” (an adductor muscle) located on their sides. Because this part of the scallop is very tough, it’s best to remove these by gently tearing them off.

BUILD ORDER

Total prep time is about 20 minutes. Total cook time will be about 35 minutes (assuming you cook the fennel and the scallops at the same time). This will make 2 servings.

Calories per serving: ~345 calories 

OPENING

1. Preheat an oven to 375° F (~190° C).
2. Place your fennel in a roasting pan and season with salt and pepper.
3. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil over your fennel.
4. Roast your fennel for 35 minutes. While your fennel roasts, prepare your scallops and sauce.

MID GAME

1. Combine your dijon mustard, orange juice, and balsamic vinegar together.
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Set dressing aside.

LATE GAME

1. Set a pan on high heat and add 1 teaspoon of olive oil.
2. Season your scallops with salt, pepper, and dill.
3. When the pan becomes hot, place 3 scallops in your pan. Once you place your scallops in the pan, do not move them! Allow the scallops to cook for two minutes. Flip scallops over and cook for another two minutes.
4. Remove scallops from pan and repeat steps 1 – 3 for the remaining 3 scallops.
5. Place microgreens and fennel on a plate. Drizzle your salad dressing over the salad. Sprinkle with your shaved parmesan cheese.
6. Place three scallops on top of your salad.
7. Squeeze lemon over the scallops.
8. Eat!

GG WP!

See, instead of wasting your pokéball on that stupid Shellder, you could’ve just caught it and threw it in a skillet. SO WORTH IT.

Last week, I spent two days attending the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. I was fortunate enough to be sent on behalf of my company to experience the sights and sounds of GDC ’13. No booth duty, this time!

I don’t have many pictures to showcase because I pretty much forgot about taking photos. Oops! The photos are pretty poor quality since they were taken with my phone.

However, I did manage to score some swag (including a Teemo hat, finally) and attend a pretty spectacular party thanks to my lovely friend at Wargaming.

I have no idea what’s going on!

But, GDC isn’t about just partying and collecting swag around the expo hall; it’s about the developers!

GDC held the 15th Annual Independent Games Festival where indie developers were presented awards for visual design, game design, sound, technical design and more. One of my favorite PC games, FTL received two awards in the categories of “Excellence in Design” and the “Audience Award”.

But that’s not all! They also scored the award for “Best Debut” at the Game Developer’s Choice Awards.  Not a bad day for an indie studio, right?

And that’s why they deserve another recipe (but really, it’s because I like to play FTL)!

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. dill
4. fresh parsley
5. 2 teaspoons of olive oil
6. 1 tablespoon of sriracha
7. 1 egg, beaten
8. 1/3 cup of bread crumbs (I used whole wheat)
9. juice from 1/2 a lemon
10. 1 cup of kimchi, diced (strain most of the liquid)
11. 1 cup of mayonnaise
12. 1/2 lb of lump crab meat
13. 1/2 lb of shrimp

So why not go all crab? Mainly because lump crab is incredibly expensive here (~$22/lb at the local grocery store)! Buying a whole crab is cheaper, however, you’ve got to factor in the labor required to remove all of the meat from the crab.

I wanted to write a recipe that had delicious crustacean, but wasn’t incredibly time consuming nor painful to the gamer wallet.

However, if crab is cheap where you are, then by all means, swap out that extra shrimp for more crab. The recipe will still be the same.

BUILD ORDER

Total prep time will be about 25 minutes. Cook time will be about 24 minutes (about 8 minutes per batch of cakes). This will make about 3 servings.

Calories per serving: ~530 calories

OPENING

1. Combine crab, shrimp, lemon juice, and egg in a bowl.
2. Season with salt, pepper, dill, and some chopped parsley.
3. Add in chopped kimchi, 3/4 cup of mayonnaise, and half of your bread crumbs. Stir to combine.

MID GAME

1. Add olive oil to a pan on medium high heat. 
2. Form mixture into 2″ (in diameter) patties. To create a “rock scout” cake, simply create a small inverted “v” shape (much like a chevron shape) at the bottom of your patty.
3. Coat the patty with bread crumbs.
4. Place patties on the hot pan. Cook for about 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

LATE GAME

1. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup of mayo with your sriracha. 
2. Serve sriracha mayo sauce with the cakes.
3. Garnish with chopped parsley.
4. Eat!

These crab and shrimp cakes should be pleasantly spicy with the sauce. If you can endure the heat like a Rockman, add 1 tablespoon of sriracha to the initial crab and shrimp mixture.

Much like the Rock Scout Ship, these tasty cakes have a crunchy and delicious hull. No need for burst lasers here; just use a fork. GG WP!

I wanted to make these more rock scout-shaped, but they didn’t necessarily go as planned… Oh well, still really tasty!

I guess I made more of a “derpy” rock scout ship…

You won’t be able to escape the rebel fleet on an empty stomach, so take a break and cook up these Rock Scout Ships!

]]> http://www.eatgamelive.com/world-of-warcraft/appetizers/rock-scout-ship-crab-and-shrimp-cakes/feed/ 0 http://www.eatgamelive.com/world-of-warcraft/appetizers/caprese-of-cinders-avocado-caprese-salad/ http://www.eatgamelive.com/world-of-warcraft/appetizers/caprese-of-cinders-avocado-caprese-salad/#comments Sat, 22 Sep 2012 20:47:07 +0000 http://eatgamelive.com/?p=247 Continue reading →]]>

I didn’t start playing PC games until very recently. Sure, I have a gaming resume full of obscure Asian MMORPGs, but that isn’t the core of western PC gaming. I didn’t have the thrill of experiencing Diablo or Diablo II when they first hit the shelves years and years ago. Because of this Diablo void in my life prior to May 2012, I never built up the nostalgia factor for Diablo II.

I never had a chance pour countless hours into a game only to be rewarded with a seemingly meaningless item. But, now it was my time to enjoy the grind for all of its worth. My time to figure out why so many people have figuratively chased the carrot on the stick. My time to become one of them.

But one cannot grind without proper nourishment. So, here’s a quick and simple Demon Hunter dish that can be made before your Nephalem Valor runs out.

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. 1 teaspoon of olive oil
4. 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
5. basil
6. 2 heirloom tomatoes
7. 1 avocado
8. buffalo mozzarella

BUILD ORDER

Prep time will be about 15 minutes. Cook time to reduce the balsamic vinegar is about 5 minutes.

OPENING

1. Wash and slice your heirloom tomatoes into thin slices.
2. Cut your basil into thin strips.
3. Dice your avocado.
4. Roughly chop your buffalo mozzarella.

MID GAME

1. Pour 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar into a small sauce pan.
2. Place pan on medium heat.
3. Let balsamic vinegar reduce.
4. Remove and let cool.

LATE GAME

1. Now it’s time to assemble your caprese salad. Place your tomato slices on a plate.
2. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over your tomatoes.
3. Place mozzarella.
4. Place avocado on top. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
5. Sprinkle chopped basil over the salad.
6. Finish with a drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

And that’s all it takes to create this simple dish.

Now, back to item grinding. Those legendaries aren’t going to find themselves, now are they?

For what it’s worth, I’ve enjoyed my time playing Diablo III. The 200 and some odd hours spent in the realm of Sanctuary have been fun for me. Arguably, Diablo II and Diablo III are very different games. And yes, people have very strong opinions about each game — but I don’t let that bother me. The game is meant to be played, not bickered over. But, to each their own, right?

I like Diablo III and will continue to support it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a carrot on a stick to chase.