I’ll admit that I am a horrible fisher in World of Warcraft. Since I started so incredibly late, my fishing skills are insanely sub-par. I basically can only catch the dinky little fish. However, on the rare occasion when I can catch a normal sized fish, it’s pretty exciting.

AWW YEAH, NOW I ONLY HAVE TO CATCH 9 MORE OF THESE INSTEAD OF 19 MORE SO I CAN COMPLETE THIS GARRISON DAILY! 

I’ve been trying to simultaneously level up my fishing and cooking, so I’ve been spending a lot of time sitting in my garrison next to a roaring fire.

When I first stared cooking in WoW, I thought that Sturgeon Stew looked amazing and I had to recreate it somehow. So, I did some research and looked around at my local grocery stores for a fish that would vaguely replicate the appearance of the actual in-game item.

However, I honestly didn’t expect that I would find sturgeon at my local grocery store…

But lo and behold, there it was! STURGEON!

If you can’t find sturgeon, you can substitute another fish such as swordfish or cod.

Since the Sturgeon Stew in game has a reddish broth, I decided to create a tomato-based soup. This is similar to a bourdeto, which is basically a Greek fish stew similar to the Italian cioppino.

Let’s get cooking!

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. 1 teaspoon of olive oil
4. 1 cup of white wine
5. 2 cups of fish stock
6. 2 bay leaves
7. 1/2 onion, roughly chopped
8. 5 sprigs of basil, roughly sliced
9. 5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
10. 4 red potatoes, quartered
11. 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
12. 1/3 lb of dandelion greens
13. 1 1/2 lbs of sturgeon, deboned

BUILD ORDER

Prep time for this dish is roughly 30 minutes. Cook time is about 45 minutes. This makes about 4 servings.

OPENING

1. Set a large pot to high heat.
2. Once the pot is up to temperature, add in your olive oil and sautee your garlic and onions.
3. Reduce to medium heat and add in your tomatoes and basil.
4. Stir the ingredients gently and allow the vegetables to sweat.

MID GAME

1. Add in your white wine and fish stock.
2. Add in your bay leaf and stir.
3. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add in your chopped potatoes.
5. Let this cook for about 30 minutes.

LATE GAME

1. After about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft, add in your sturgeon.
2. Gently ladle liquid over the sturgeon.
3. Add in your dandelion greens.
4. Cover the pot with a lid and cook for ~15 more minutes.
5. Remove your 2 bay leaves.
6. Eat!

So my goal was to try to make the stew look exactly like the in-game item. I think I got pretty close?

I didn’t actually serve the dish like that though. I’M A LIAR! I cut the sturgeon into more manageable pieces:

GG WP!

I’m sure if you sit there and eat this sturgeon stew for at least 10 seconds, you’ll gain some sort of haste buff… or at least, you’ll feel well fed for a while.

For Halloween this year, my team decided to show great office synergy by coordinating our costumes. We held a secret ballot to choose which theme to roll with for October 31st. And the winner by a land slide was Bomberman.

The theme was set and I was ready; ready to do very little to contribute to the actual theme… Luckily, our super star graphic designer / part time costume designer (?), pulled through and carried most of the weight of the project. His shoulders probably ache from toiling away on these costumes. However, the results were pretty badass:

Blue Bomberman don’t give a sh*t

While everyone else kept their papier-mâché heads intact, I was a bumbling idiot as usual and dropped mine on the floor. Luckily, the damage was minor and all-mighty duct tape came into play to help fix what my butter fingers could not. Thanks, duct tape.

The moral of the story is don’t give me nice fragile things because I’m clumsy.

With October over and gone, it’s time to buckle up for winter. When I think winter, I think of tons of blankets and soup. I don’t think of snow though because I’m from California and we don’t have an abundance of snow.

Soup is tasty, but let’s make it tastier by adding some meatbombs. Yes, meatbombs. We’re gonna roll like Bomberman and start throwing bombs into everything.

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. 1 teaspoon of oregano
4. 1 tablespoon of worcestershire
5. 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese
6. 1 teaspoon of olive oil
7. 1/2 cup of bread crumbs (whole wheat is optional)
8. 3 – 4 cloves of garlic (chopped)
9. 1 egg
10. 1/2 yellow onion
11. 1 sweet potato
12. 1/2 lb of kale
13. 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef
14. 1 quart of chicken broth
15. 1 cup of water

BUILD ORDER

Total prep time will be about ~30 minutes. Total cook time will be about 1 hour and 10 minutes. This recipe will serve 4- 6 people. 

OPENING

1. Skin the sweet potatoes with a peeler.
2. Chop sweet potatoes and kale.
3. Combine chicken broth and water in a pot and set to boil.
4. Season the broth with salt and pepper.
5. Place sweet potatoes and kale in the pot.
6. Reduce to medium and let simmer.

MID GAME

1. Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).
2. Mince garlic and onion into fine pieces.
3. Place ground beef in a bowl.
4. Combine salt, pepper, oregano, parmesan, onion, worcestershire, and garlic with the ground beef.
5. Add in egg and bread crumbs.
6. Combine thoroughly.
7. With a table spoon, portion out the meat and shape into balls.
8. Place in a baking dish and drizzle olive oil over the meatballs.
9. Cook for 45 minutes or until golden.

LATE GAME

1. Remove meatballs from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
2. Place meatballs in the soup.
3. Remove from heat and serve.
4. Eat!

And now you’ve got tasty soup! GG WP.

Unfortunately, if you’re rocking a big ol’ Bomberman head, it’s going to be quite difficult to enjoy soup — especially ones that contain meatbombs.

Om nom nom nom…